Blackpool boss outlines the lessons he's learned so far

That’s according to Blackpool’s boss, who has still only taken charge of seven competitive games since taking over from Simon Grayson in March.

Prior to that, Critchley had spent a number of years working in youth coaching, making this his first job as a manager of a senior side.

When asked what he’s learned from his time as Blackpool manager so far, Critchley said: “The line between winning and losing is very fine, there’s not a lot in the games. There’s crucial moments that make a big difference in games.

“The first goal is proving crucial in all of the games and there’s not a big difference between the teams and that will be the same again on Saturday.

“The detail of certain situations is really important, so I’m learning but I’ve been learning for the last 20 years of my coaching career so it’s nothing new.”

The Seasiders haven’t made the start they would have hoped for so far, losing two of their opening three league games.

But with such a high turnover of players during the summer, Critchley admits it might take time for the new players to find their stride.

“That was really evident from the Gillingham game,” he said.

“When you have the ball, you have more decisions to make and you make more technical actions and more passing sequences. That’s when the understanding of the players can get tested.

“Last week showed the understanding and the movements and knowing what each player is going to do with the ball and what runs they’re going to make and the timing of those movements is not quite there at the moment. It will take some time.

“Cohesion and consistency is something that develops over a period of time, but there were lots of positives to take from that performance.

“It will take time, however. It’s a results-driven business and we need to pick up wins along the way to give us that time to improve what I believe will be a strong team this season.”

Blackpool will be looking to get back to winning ways today when they take on Lincoln City at Bloomfield Road.

Critchley will certainly be looking for a much improved performance too, having been disappointed at Pool’s showing in their 2-0 defeat at Gillingham last week.

Despite the poor display and result, Critchley still believes there were some positives to take out of it.

“If we had gone there and lost 2-0 with our backs to the wall and we were lucky to keep the score down to two then you’d come away thinking ‘we’ve got a lot of work to do,’” he said.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do but there were still a lot of positives to take from that performance.

“Yes we dominated possession but it didn’t take a football genius to work out we didn’t do enough with it. We didn’t threaten the goal enough, we didn’t get the ball in the box enough, we didn’t shoot enough.

“But we still controlled large parts of the game away from home at a tough place to go to, so I still think we showed who we are and what we’re trying to become.

“We showed belief in our identity, but we’re a work in progress. We’ve got to improve, we know that, but other than one or two moments in the game, where we didn’t defend well enough in those moments, our goalkeeper has had nothing to do in the game and the spirit and the character of our players was excellent.

“We kept going right until the end and we nearly scored in injury time, so it wasn’t a case of a lack of effort from the players. We just didn’t do enough with the ball with the possession we had.”