Six takeaways from Blackpool’s opening pre-season victory over Southport

Blackpool opened their account for pre-season with a comfortable 2-0 victory at Haig Avenue against Southport.

Playing a new XI in each half, Neil Critchley was able to run his eyes over all seven of his new signings as well as the vast majority of his first team squad.

Gary Madine, Kenny Dougall, Chris Maxwell and Daniel Gretarsson were absent from proceedings, to name a few, in front of a healthy number of away supporters.

Whilst pre-season fixtures are never the most exciting affairs, there were various positive points to take from the game and some intriguing outlooks from a tactical perspective also.

Here are my six takeaways from the game.

Jack Moore’s first team debut

Blackpool are currently without an out and out right back in their first team squad following the departures of Ollie Turton and Jordan Gabriel.

With that in mind, Jack Moore was the man tasked with taking on the mantle on the right flank in the 4-4-2 system against Southport.

Moore is not a name many fans had heard of before kick-off.

Whilst the likes of Rob Apter and Brad Holmes have become standout figures in the youth setup at Bloomfield Road, more has evidently been performing well in the background and Neil Critchley has recognised that.

Given it was his first outing with the main squad, he quickly settled and looked brave on the ball, seeking to get forward at any opportunity, with a good passing range and vision to build up attacks.

What impressed me the most with Moore was his decision making and ability to mix up his approach, knowing when to play the ball inside, when to recycle possession and when the chance was on to beat his man.

Defensively he could have been tighter to the Southport winger to stop a couple of early crosses, but he learned from that and was much more aggressive in his duels to halt opposition play in the final third.

He looks like a fine prospect and, with a lack of right back options at the moment, he will see this pre-season as a chance to stake a claim for a place in the first team squad going forward.

Intensity already at a high standard

The way Critchley wants to play requires an intensity that is apparent throughout the game and more importantly off-the ball.

In pre-season it tends to take sides time to get up to speed in this regard when a system requires more physical effort than an ordinary one.

Blackpool looked to hit the ground running, pressing aggressively from the front in order to force mistakes in the opposition backline, but more importantly knowing when to press and not just pressing for pressing’s sake.

The new additions in the squad, all of whom have the characteristics in their play to suit a system like this, quickly found their footing and acknowledged what is required of their roles especially off the ball.

I think this will be what pleased Critchley the most from this game as he knows more than most what a slow start to a campaign can bring given the Seasiders’ start to the last campaign.

Josh Bowler’s lively performance

One of the new arrivals Josh Bowler, signed from Everton having also spent time at Hull, brought about a fresh dynamic in the second half.

His instant drive at his full back with a fearlessness got fans off their seats and upped the tempo to Blackpool’s play in the final third and disrupting a deep opposition shape with ease.

There was an element of predictability to his driving runs which may well be found out by a higher calibre of opposition, but Critchley has acknowledged Bowler is still quite a raw asset and parts of his play can quite easily be ironed out.

Coming into the club the concern from his previous spells elsewhere has been his quality of delivery in the final third, so it was encouraging to see his assist for Shayne Lavery’s goal.

His smart interplay out wide enabled him to open up on to his favoured left foot and put in a smart shifted ball to the near post which caught out the Southport defence.

With CJ Hamilton and Demetri Mitchell already known to be direct and electric in their final third play, adding Bowler to the mix is sure to be an exciting proposition for Blackpool fans.

Callum Connolly fancied as a right back by Critchley

Another new addition Callum Connolly made his debut for the Seasiders having again signed from Everton following his spell as captain of Fleetwood in recent times.

Connolly has predominantly played at centre half throughout his career, although he has appeared at right back when required.

With the lack of right back options at the moment, the move to put Connolly in at that slot may well have been as a temporarily placeholder but given Connolly’s comments in a recent interview about Critchley seeing him as a full back, it may be a more permanent fixture.

This surprises me and many others.

Whilst Connolly is clearly efficient at bringing the ball out from the back alongside his promising defensive attributes, he is better suited to driving the ball out in central areas.

He lacks that drive and final third efficiency to be a wing back at Championship level.

Now he may well be able to work on his game in order to mould himself into a successful player in that role, but he would be a huge asset to a central defence, particularly in the system that Blackpool like to play.

It will be one to watch to see where he is suited as the season gets underway, but if anyone is to be trusted in terms of player development and where a player is suited, it is Neil Critchley.

4-4-2 is still the way for Critchley

Indications from new signings and the latter part of last season pointed towards a potential 3-5-2 formation for Blackpool this season.

Now Critchley has always been a coach looking to adapt systems based on the opposition and with that in mind taking one games’ formation as a viewpoint of how the rest of the season will go would be naïve.

However, it was interesting to see Critchley revert back to the 4-4-2 that brought him such success in the middle of the last campaign.

His initial favoured formation was a 4-3-3 and, should he get all the parts in the system working well, I feel his end goal will always be to showcase that system, however it speaks to the versatility of Blackpool’s squad and setup that they can alter in this fashion.

The 4-4-2 worked well in this game because the central midfield were brave on the ball and happy to switch from right to left with speed, and the natural width that the likes of Luke Garbutt and CJ Hamilton brought to the game enabled half spaces to open up for others to exploit.

Shayne Lavery’s goal on debut

Lavery arrived at Bloomfield Road with a lot of excitement given his scoring record in Northern Ireland with Linfield and his performance in this one only sought to add to that.

He does not shy away from the player he is, it is clear to see where his strengths are.

His movement was perfect for the wide men and attacking midfielders, always looking to play on the shoulder of the defender in counter-attacking moves, whilst making runs at the right time across the six yard box to get on the end of balls across the face.

Jerry Yates likes to come deeper and drive into the final third a lot of the time, whilst Gary Madine likes to hold up play where possible, so adding Lavery to the mix brings about three totally different options to play with.

Having that ability to bring in different number nine’s for different opponents is a recipe for success and given the intelligence of Lavery’s link up play so early into his Blackpool career, you have to think his time on the Seaside will be positive.

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