Match Thread Blackpool v Ipswich Town | Page 10 | Vital Football

Match Thread Blackpool v Ipswich Town

Great posts from Abel and Poolfc - much to consider.
As far as fans reactions are concerned, I feel the psychology of the constant disappointment of the Oyston years has instilled a 'need for success' to happen as quickly as possible. It's like forever losing money on the slot machines and craving that big win to account for your losses; sometimes that takes a long time to come. Fans CAN be fickle and somewhat 'Pavlovian' in their wanting instant rewards but let's look at the reality. Unless you're a club with MASSIVE amounts of money to throw away (City, Utd, Liverpool, Arse etc) then, as a fan, there's going to be disappointments (even those money clubs falter at times). There's going to be ups and downs, promotions and relegations, defeats and wins - that's football. It's tough supporting a club but we all love Blackpool and that's what we do.
 
Welcome aboard Poolbfc and some good observations. I definitely think they need more league experience in the coaching staff. It is a pity Dunn wasn't retained as assistant to NC. Time will tell and things may click, but there seems to be too many faults at the moment for a quick fix and the absence of effective leadership both on and off the field.
 
I think the mistake the new board made, and covered by abel above, is talking up promotion and a 'Blackpool Way', without expanding on it. And the fancy branding that the CEO has come up with to capitalise on fan desire to trust in the club simply because it's not Oyston any more. But if it's got 4K to renew season tickets for something that they can't have, as well as leaving money in the club on last season's unplayed games, then you can't fault the marketing on that side in covid times.

However the football planning leaves a lot to be desired to me so far. And that pre-dates Critchley. It's the most important function of the club and they know it so my own personal gut feeling is they'll eventually find middle ground in an experienced manager who will agree to take on the Head Coach role, work with the Chief Exec and as many inherited players as possible and look to settle things down for them, if the situation doesn't mature in a way they think it can after giving it due time.

McPhillips saw the writing on the wall, Grayson obviously wasn't having any of it and NC will pan out as it will from here on, but chuck enough s**t and some will stick eventually etc.
 
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Blimey, the mention of Pavlovian theory! The messageboard is moving to a higher sphere on this thread. :clap:
 
And those fancy words got him exactly where with my Angela? :grinning::wave:

I keep saying it, the one thing OO always said which is true, fans will come to watch a winning team.

People in positions of influence at the club need to remember we are a 3rd Division team, it's where we have spent most of the last 40 yrs, if any club should know what's required in this division we should.

As an M Block'er for me Mansfords stance on the "premium" seating has equated to the 24% rise on our ticket price.
I know we need to get things right off the pitch but we need to get them right on the pitch too.

It's clear NC + BG need some coaching help, I'd rather the club concentrated on that rather than looking at getting the soap in bogs in the West sponsored.
 
What's with this 'my' Angela? I think you'll find she was 'my' Angie Baby first - you just got sloppy seconds!😁
 
During the Duke of York’s time in charge we did get to the top of the hill but he marched us down again.We need a good team at the top who can stabilise the club and give us success but we also need a good inspirational manager who can get 100%every game like Ollie did our present manager needs to learn fast.
 
Good to have you on board with your thoughtful contributions Poolfc. I do feel the positive rallying cry SS put out there was badly needed but expectations must be managed too.
 
Think a lot of the commercial stuff at the moment is just trying to do contra deals. Someone fits a sink in the new portakabin at Squires Gate for free or minimal cost and they automatically become the new official kitchen partner and get a mention on club media etc

Makes some sense in the current climate to keep the overheads down but it is funny to see some of the things they've started to plug online.

I think they should look into getting a big sponsors wall on wheels and putting it in front of whichever goal we're defending.
 
NC and BG needing some coaching help indicates to me that they’re not ready, they’d of been better off starting lower down the pyramid than take on a job with such big expectations. They should do the decent thing and resign if they don’t feel up to it.
 
As daft as it sounds, my comments are exactly the same as the other games - except Ipswich are clearly a better team than anyone else we've played.

Defence needs sorting - we've got 2 new CBs in which means hopefully we don't have to play Turton as CB. Ipswich were also absolutely clinical with their finishing.

Midfield balance is not right, still a giant Virtue looking hole in there for me.

No clicking up front yet, especially when Hamilton is marked out of the game. But we still look like we've got more going forward than last year.

Mid table would be fine for me this year, did I think the squad was capable of more? Yes. But being realistic it's an entirely new team with a new system.
 
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Problem with this set up being such a rigid 4-1-2-3 and the instructions that it's become obvious they're attempting to work to is you can swap out players, but I can see it still keep coming back to the same question of why isn't it working.

A 4-3-3 to me in my minds eye would be a more fluid approach with three actual midfielders in the middle, and if one goes forward or sits higher behind the forwards then two stay back. Or if the full backs push on then one drops in to form a back three. And have rotation across the front three between inverted and conventional wide players to try to drag opposition defenders around or create space for full backs on overlap.

I'm also not sure if this Gretarsson fella can be the great hope now to sure up the defence, but they're obviously trying for something with him. I'm guessing if the assistant coach did some work experience in Norway then he's noticed him playing long balls out from the back and its tickled his fancy, and they've rushed this one through earlier than January because it's not going like how it said it would in their coaching manual so far. But from what I could make out from a brief foray into his game he has been left or in the middle of a back three since dropping out of midfield to full back and to centre half. Will they adapt formation to him or can he adapt to this? Or will they just play him on the left wing because everything else has gone arse-about-face so why not one more?!

Also for Dan Ballard, I've only seen him once when he lasted 45 mins for NI. It was unfair really they put him up against Sorloth and Haaland big lads as he got an absolute shoeing in the middle, and obviously wasn't alone but was the one who took the hit for it at half time. He was in a back three that night as well. To his credit he played a big part in their early equaliser with a decent long ball forward on his favoured right foot, but it's that that has made me wonder since his name was linked and then signed if it's what they've looked at first, and then as a defender second. When it should be the other way around. We shall see.
 
poolfc said:
Problem with this set up being such a rigid 4-1-2-3 and the instructions that it's become obvious they're attempting to work to is you can swap out players, but I can see it still keep coming back to the same question of why isn't it working.

A 4-3-3 to me in my minds eye would be a more fluid approach with three actual midfielders in the middle, and if one goes forward or sits higher behind the forwards then two stay back. Or if the full backs push on then one drops in to form a back three. And have rotation across the front three between inverted and conventional wide players to try to drag opposition defenders around or create space for full backs on overlap.

I'm also not sure if this Gretarsson fella can be the great hope now to sure up the defence, but they're obviously trying for something with him. I'm guessing if the assistant coach did some work experience in Norway then he's noticed him playing long balls out from the back and its tickled his fancy, and they've rushed this one through earlier than January because it's not going like how it said it would in their coaching manual so far. But from what I could make out from a brief foray into his game he has been left or in the middle of a back three since dropping out of midfield to full back and to centre half. Will they adapt formation to him or can he adapt to this? Or will they just play him on the left wing because everything else has gone arse-about-face so why not one more?!

Also for Dan Ballard, I've only seen him once when he lasted 45 mins for NI. It was unfair really they put him up against Sorloth and Haaland big lads as he got an absolute shoeing in the middle, and obviously wasn't alone but was the one who took the hit for it at half time. He was in a back three that night as well. To his credit he played a big part in their early equaliser with a decent long ball forward on his favoured right foot, but it's that that has made me wonder since his name was linked and then signed if it's what they've looked at first, and then as a defender second. When it should be the other way around. We shall see.
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Ballard's left footed isn't he?
 
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