"We have things to work on" - Blackpool boss' honest assessment as Seasiders suffer defeat to non-leaguers
Neil Critchley admitted Blackpool “have things to work on” after seeing his side suffer a 3-1 pre-season friendly defeat at the hands of AFC Fylde on Friday night, writes Dane Massey.
It all started well for the Seasiders as Jake Daniels struck one in on the half volley. But hosts Fylde hit back thanks to goals from Jon Utabasi, Adam Long and Nick Haughton.
Critchley said: “It was nice to just get back out on the pitch. There was a little bit of rustiness in our play, making mistakes.
“We worked physically hard so I think you could see a little bit of tiredness mentally, but fingers crossed everyone has come off unscathed injury-wise. We have things to work on.
“It’s good to be back out on the pitch. The competitive juices are flowing. At a place like Fylde it’s a good place to play and the most important thing tonight is building match fitness.”
Critchley played several senior players, but he made 11 changes at the break. Many came in for debuts and a taste of what it’s like to play for the first-team - an opportunity they will be hoping to build upon ahead of the new season next month.
While he acknowledged the “rustiness” of his team, he knows that it’s very early days. The Seasiders boss added: “I completely mixed the team up, and the work you see in training you want to start to see that on the pitch. There was rustiness, we haven’t done much defensively in training and we need to work on our pressing.
“There were more than 2,000 fans here tonight and some of the lads haven’t played in front of 2,000 fans before, so good experience for them and good to get them on the pitch.”
Blackpool’s players head to Spain for some warm-weather training on Sunday, and will play Cadiz on Friday. It gives the boss a chance to assess his squad further as they soak up the Andalusian sunshine.
Critchley added: “The more time we spend together, the more work you do together, the better you get. You can’t read too much into pre-season scorelines and results. It’s about building your performances. As we move closer to the start of the season, the team will start to take shape.”
Blackpool will be targeting promotion in 2024-25 after narrowly missing out on the play-offs in May following a 3-2 final day defeat at Reading, which proved to be costly.