Opposition Lowdown: Neil Critchley’s Playoff-Chasing Blackpool

A challenging season for the Royals comes to an end this Saturday with a home match against playoff-chasing Blackpool. Join us as we take a closer look at the opposition.

Form

Blackpool finished 23rd in the Championship last season, facing relegation to League One alongside Reading. They finished on the same number of points as The Royals, however sat one place below, due to a two-point margin in goal difference.

The Tangerines will be hoping to sneak into the playoffs on the final day of the season, as they currently sit in eighth place in the league, one point outside of the top six. They will be in a four-way battle for the final two places, fighting it out with Barnsley, Lincoln City and Oxford United, but realistically they need a win as their goal difference sits behind most of their rivals.

Their recent form has been strong and they are unbeaten in their last five games, winning the last four in a row. The two sides last faced each other back in September, with Blackpool beating the Royals 4-1 at Bloomfield Road after a hat-trick from Jordan Rhodes and a goal from Kylian Kouassi.

The boss

Neil Critchley: Critchley began his second spell as Blackpool manager in May last year, taking over from Mick McCarthy, who left the club in April.

The 45-year old started his coaching career at Crewe before joining Liverpool in 2013 as a coach for their under-18s. He also coached their under-19 and under-23 sides in his seven years at the club.

Critchley left Liverpool to take up his first full-time manager role at Blackpool in March 2020. He led The Tangerines to promotion from League One in his first full season at the club, beating Lincoln City in the playoffs after finishing third in the league. Critchley led Blackpool to a 16th-place finish in his first season in the Championship, before joining Aston Villa as Steven Gerrard’s assistant in June 2022.

He left Villa following Gerrard’s sacking in October and then had a three-month spell as manager of QPR, but only managed one win in 12 games, which led to his sacking in February last year.

Critchley is approaching the year anniversary of his return to Blackpool and will be hoping to extend their season by reaching the playoffs. The former midfielder is highly rated in the coaching world and likes his sides to play possession-based football.

Squad

Blackpool signed four players in the January transfer window, with two joining permanently and two signing on loan. The Tangerines struck permanent deals with midfielder Ryan Finnigan, who joined from Southampton, and defender Dan Sassi, who signed from Burnley, with both joining for undisclosed fees.

Their two loan signings were left-back Hayden Coulson, who signed from Middlesbrough, and midfielder George Byers, who joined from Sheffield Wednesday.

Experienced striker Jordan Rhodes, who scored a hat-trick against the Royals earlier on this season, will miss out on Saturday’s game with a knee injury. Defender Andy Lyons and midfielder Ryan Finnigan will also miss out.

Predicted lineup

Grimshaw, Pennington, Ekpiteta, Husband, Hamilton, Coulson, Dembele, Byers, Carey, Beesley, Lavery

Key player

James Husband: Defender Husband originally joined Blackpool on a season-long loan from Norwich City in July 2019, before his switch was made permanent the following January.

He started his youth career at Doncaster Rovers and made his debut for the club in 2012. He went on to join Middlesbrough on a permanent deal in 2014 but only made eight appearances for the club.

Husband had loan spells at Fulham and Huddersfield Town before then joining Norwich City. He struggled to hold down a first-team place with Norwich and had loan spells at Fleetwood Town and Blackpool before making his move to the Tangerines permanent.

Since signing for Blackpool, Husband has made 175 appearances for the club, scoring one goal. The 30-year-old is a centre back who has previously played as a left-back for the majority of his career.

One to watch

Karamoko Dembele: Winger Dembele joined Blackpool on a season-long loan last August, signing from French Ligue 1 side Brest.

He joined Celtic at the age of 10 and made his debut for their under-20 side when he was only 13 years old. He made his senior debut in 2019 and went on to make 10 appearances for the Bhoys, scoring one goal.

Dembele signed for Brest in July 2022 following the end of his contract at Celtic. He represented his new club 18 times last season but has now returned to the UK for his first season in English football.

The 21-year-old has represented both Scotland and England at youth level, most recently representing England under-18s.

Dembele is a diminutive but skilful winger, who has made 38 appearances for Blackpool this season, scoring eight goals and logging 14 assists. He has been a key player for the Tangerines and has just been named their supporters’ and players’ player of the season.