Upcoming free week 'most welcome' admits Blackpool boss as he maps out plan ahead of Charlton Athletic visit

The Seasiders have endured a busy schedule over the last month, with a combination of the Christmas period and a number of cup games filling up their schedule.

Ahead of Saturday’s game against Charlton Athletic at Bloomfield Road, Critchley will have the first opportunity for a while to work on certain things with his squad.

“I’m a coach and I want to get on the training pitch,” he said.

"I want to improve my team and work on certain aspects of our performance. I can’t remember the last time we had what I would call a real training session where you tactically get better; we’ve not had a chance to do that. It’s been pretty much maintenance in between games and preparing for the next match, so we’ll get a chance to do that, which will be most welcome from my point of view.

"After a couple of midweek games and that period around Christmas, we’ve got a free week now- which is much-needed. We’re building a little bit of momentum in the league, so we need to keep winning. If we want to be where we want to be at the end of the season we need to keep picking up points.”