Stoke City will be fired up after Cardiff City capitulation, says Blackpool boss

Neil Critchley expects Blackpool to be facing a fired-up Stoke City tonight.
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The Potters squandered a three-goal lead at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday to draw 3-3 with struggling Cardiff City.

All three of Cardiff’s goals came in a five-minute spell during the second-half, leaving Michael O’Neill’s side winless in their last five outings.

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Seasiders head coach Neil Critchley said: “If you take the five minutes of madness out of the game, you’d say Stoke are 3-0 up at home and they’re comfortable.

“That shows you the quality and the ability they’ve got because they’re winning the game comfortably.

“Three goals in five minutes have basically cost them a victory, which can happen. We saw that against Huddersfield, when they scored three goals in nine minutes or something like that.

“On that occasion, the game completely got away from us after we had arguably been the better team in that game. So it can happen, it’s football.

Blackpool boss Neil CritchleyBlackpool boss Neil Critchley
Blackpool boss Neil Critchley
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“It just shows you that in this division, even if you’re 3-0 up you can’t take your foot off the pedal. You have to be concentrated all the time.

“Perhaps Stoke just had a lapse of concentration on Saturday which ended up costing them, but I’m sure they’ll be more determined to put that right on Wednesday night.”

The Potters got off to a strong start this season and were flying as high as third place at one point, but O’Neill’s men have stalled a little in recent weeks.

Nevertheless, they remain well placed in the division, sitting in ninth, just two points adrift of the Seasiders.

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Critchley added: “They had a really good start to the season. They’ve not quite maintained it but when I look at the squad of players Michael has got I can see them challenging for promotion.

“He inherited a lot of the players but he’s changed the squad around and it’s becoming more of his squad and his team.

“They’re improving on where they were last season and they’ve got a formation they play and stick to, and they’ve got good players.

“I’m sure their result at the weekend will spur them on even more. It will maybe give them a kick up the backside that we didn’t need at this time.

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“But they’ve got good players. They’re a good team with a good manager and Michael is definitely putting his own mark on the team.

“It seems so long ago that we played Stoke in the Carabao Cup first round before the first league game last season. That seems ages ago.”

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