Why Blackpool fans should take great heart from slender defeat to Norwich City

Against Rotherham United, the Seasiders chucked in their worst display of the season in their insipid 3-0 defeat at the New York Stadium.

Three days later, Michael Appleton’s men were improved – but still not particularly great – in their 2-1 reversal to Millwall.

But against Norwich City, Blackpool went toe-to-toe with arguably the Championship’s best side and took them all the way.

A gift

The most frustrating element of Saturday’s defeat is that Norwich, who are widely tipped to return to the top flight at the first attempt, as they so often do, weren’t made to work for their match-winning goal. It was put on a plate for them.

I have a great deal of sympathy for Dom Thompson, because you could tell how much it hurt him at full-time. He had to be consoled by the returning Chris Maxwell before embarking on a lap of the home stands where he held his hands up to apologise.

Thompson won’t need me or anyone else to tell him how bad a mistake it was. His stray backpass, which I’m still not entirely sure who it was directed to, couldn’t have landed at a worse place.

Norwich’s talisman Teemu Pukki gleefully swallowed it up before firing past Maxwell, giving the visitors the lead with their one and only opportunity of the game at that point in the encounter.

That’s because Blackpool had started superbly. When you talk about wanting to see a reaction following the back-to-back defeats prior to the international break, the Seasiders couldn’t have been much more positive. Their intent was clear to see from the very first whistle.

But, and there always has to be a but, Blackpool, as has so often been the case, failed to capitalise on their bright early start. Theo Corbeanu thundered an effort against the outside of the post, Ian Poveda flashed a shot just wide and the more advanced Kenny Dougall squandered a priceless chance after winning the ball back high up the field.

Sadly, in many respects, Norwich’s goal against the run of play wasn’t that surprising, because it’s happened so many times now. It was just the manner of it in this instance which was so painful.

If we’re being fair and balanced, the Seasiders were fortunate to maintain the one-goal deficit up until the half-time interval, because Dean Smith’s side had three or four clear-cut opportunities to double their lead.

But the hosts showed great spirit and courage to take the fight to the Canaries in the second-half and on another day would have come away with a hard-earned point. But on this occasion, it wasn’t not to be.

Taking the positives

People will look at the hard, stone cold facts of three successive defeats and begin to panic. That’s only human nature. But if we look at this game in isolation, there’s not a great deal to be disheartened about. In fact, there are a number of positives.

Blackpool made a very good Norwich side, who will inevitably be back in the Premier League next season before coming back down again, one would imagine, look very average.

That’s some achievement because they’re clearly not average. They’ve got some excellent players on their books, players whose salaries will dwarf their Blackpool counterparts. Aaron Ramsey, Marcelino Nunez and Onel Hernandez looked especially good, while everyone knows by now how deadly Pukki is at this level.

Where’s the quality coming from?

But there is one nagging concern that simply won’t go away and that’s Blackpool’s lack of quality in the final third. It was a problem under Neil Critchley at times and it still hasn’t gone away.

Appleton did everything right on Saturday from a setup point of view. The return to 4-3-3, while overdue, worked well. When Blackpool pressed high up the pitch and played at a fast tempo, they caused their opponents all sorts of problems.

But, irrespective of whether it’s Appleton at the helm, Critchley or someone else, there’s not a great deal they can do when a player makes such a poor individual mistake as Thompson did.

And the man in charge can only do so much in terms of ensuring the ball is worked into dangerous territory, as Blackpool did and so often do. At that point, it’s then down to the players to make the final pass, to pick out a teammate in space or to finish off a move in clinical fashion. On too many occasions it’s simply not happening though.

Trying to make sense

The only thing I can question from this particular game was Appleton’s somewhat surprising decision to drop Dan Grimshaw.

That’s not because Chris Maxwell is a poor deputy, far from it. As backup keepers go, there won’t be many better out there at this level. But what exactly has Grimshaw done so wrong to deserve his axing?

Some might say Blackpool’s record of 12 goals conceded in their last six games prior to this encounter might be evidence enough, but having witnessed all those games I can confidently say the goals conceded column would be looking a lot higher if it wasn’t for Grimmy.

When quizzed about his dropping after the game, Appleton said the keeper had “obviously” had a couple of indifferent games. But I can’t say I recall those games in question.

If the 24-year-old had dropped a number of clangers and had two, three or four poor performances on the spin, I’d absolutely understand. But I’m really struggling to think of one poor display, never mind three or four.

Unless there’s something more to this than meets the eye, it seems like a bold and risky move with one of Blackpool’s most talented and prized assets.