Blackpool’s players have enjoyed hearing what new boss Neil Critchley has had to say

Blackpool’s new head coach says he wants to see an attacking and entertaining brand of football from the Seasiders.

Critchley has started work on that this week as he prepares his side for his first game in charge against Fleetwood Town today.

Reflecting on Critchley’s first week, Virtue said: “It’s been good, I think there’s a buzz around the place.

“We loved David Dunn coming in as caretaker and I think we could have won all four of the games he was in charge of.

“But the new manager has come in and he’s got his ideas and he knows how he wants us to play. In the two days we’ve been on the training field he’s implemented them and we’re working on it.

“The lads are buying into it and we all like his ideas.

“He wants us to play an exciting, attacking brand of football where we get after teams.

“I’ve played under him before and I’d like to think I have quite a good idea of how he likes to play.

“We want to go out on that pitch and we want to dominate the ball, play in the opposition half and win it back off them, counter and score goals.

“I think he’s going to help us implement that and that’s how the lads want to play.

“The lads want to play on the front foot, we don’t want to be sitting back, defending one-goal leads and being nervous all the time.

“We want to be dominating games and scoring goals and that’s exactly how he wants us to play.”

Virtue knows all about Critchley’s methods having previously played under him at Liverpool, but the midfielder warns it may take time to get right.

“What has happened in the past has happened and now it’s everyone’s job to impress him and get in his plans. It’s a clean slate for everyone,” he added.

“Training has been good and he’s obviously got an idea of how he wants to play. Every day we’re working on implementing that.

“It’s going to take time, it’s new ideas for the lads, although for me I’ve been around the gaffer for years and I know exactly how he wants to play.

“For some of the other lads it’s completely new to them so I’m not expecting it to be perfect straight away, it will take time.

“So much work is done on the training pitch and I think that will start to show in the games eventually.”