My view on Beckham....

So, Stuart Pearce is coming in for some critisism for not picking Beckham for the Olympic GB squad. Why? Pearce's job is to pick the best possible players available to compete in the Olympics because he is the manager. He can pick three over age players and went for Bellamy, Giggs and Richards. All three have played regularly in what could be described as the most competitive league in the world, whereas Beckham has been playing in a league where former players go to see out their playing days. Sorry my American cousins but there it is. I'm sick to death of hearing whining celebrities, some journalists and former politicians  saying how Beckham deserves inclusion because of the work he has put in promoting our Olympic bid. Oh please, give me a break. Is the guy better than the three picked? No. It's no good living off past performances. For me Beckham is a one trick pony and has lived off his past reputation for far too long. Well done Stuart Pearce for being your own man and for not bowing down to outside pressure. This is not the David Beckham show, it's our first chance to play as a Great Britain football team based on current form and to prove we can perform well without the distraction of an underwear model.

Wembley hangover...

I suppose I’m feeling slightly better than I did yesterday following our defeat by West Ham at Wembley. Got to admit I had this uneasy feeling all week we were not going to do it this time, despite our previous 100% winning record with play-offs at Wembley. Ok, West Ham were cast iron favourites, which isn’t that surprising considering the amount of money they had available to buy players compared to us. This makes our performance all the more better and if we had put away the chances we had it would be us playing in the premiership next season and not the Hammers. Matt Phillips in particular should certainly have converted at least one of his efforts. Instead he fluffed both attempts. Although he is attracting the attention of several top clubs I find he drifts in and out of games and ball watches too much. He obviously has potential, but like many other former players who use Blackpool as a stepping stone, he will find it very difficult to keep a first team place if he chooses to move on. He should see what has happened to Adam, Campbell and Vaughan since they left. All have struggled despite being better players. Stephen Dobbie was also wasteful yesterday with his efforts. In fact I forgot he was playing in the first half because his contribution was woeful. Obviously Ollie had a word with him at the break because he seemed to realise he had to do something. When Ince scored the equaliser straight after the start we had one of our better periods and had West Ham reeling, but like I said earlier we squandered too many chances. You always knew it would take a late goal to settle the game and so it was. Unfortunately, it went to them when Vaz Te scored the winner. This is the guy who had done nothing all through the game and was totally outplayed throughout. No justice, eh? Our boys deserved to win and did us all proud, but it’s goals that count and they got more than us.

End of season table....

Before I go any further and before I know the forthcoming play-off results I want to say Ollie has done a fantastic job yet again. Although our results have been erractic at times, what he has managed to do after the disappointment of last season is remarkable. Don't forget he lost three important players  and with team and fans morale  at an all time low he had to start all over again. Add to that his own massive disappointment, the guy deserves the upmost respect for what is has achieved. We play Birmingham home and away, with the prospect of playing either West Ham or Cardiff in the final should we get that far. Although our record against Cardiff is very good, I think if we were drawn against them it might not be as easy because they are due a win. So for them to play West Ham might be better for us, because I would expect a Hammers victory. That said, our results against Brum & West Ham have been awful. 2-2 and 0-3 against Brum and worst still 0-4 and 1-4 against the Hammers. Play-offs always seem to bring the best out us and I think Ollie will gee the players up with his own brand of psychology prior to the games. Should be an interesting end to another remarkable season. So well done boys and in particular Sir Ollie.

The business end of the season.....

It's coming to that time of the season when consistency and concentration are the most important factors in determining whether promotion is achievable or not. What I like about the team now is, Ollie has finally got the defence looking a bit more responsible for their actions. I can't fault Matt Gilks this season because he has saved us time and time again. I've always believed Alex Baptiste is a better central defender than he is a full back and since Ollie moved him to the centre we've looked more solid. Last night's 1-0 win against Leeds could have been the classic banana skin especially after we beat them 5-0 at their place. Fortunately after last night's results one more win should be enough to guarantee us a play-off place. We should be in the mix with West Ham, Birmingham and Cardiff because I think Middlesborough have blown their chance by their inconsistency at home.

I fancy our chances against any of the other sides, if, we maintain our concentration and don't make silly mistakes. I know that could apply to any side, but we tend to hit the self-destruct button at the wrong time. I know the other sides won't look forward to playing us because they know on our day we are capable of beating them. It's going to be an interesting end to another remarkable season. I hope the neutrals get behind Blackpool along with every Pool fan because if nothing else we will entertain you. Up the Mighty Pool.

My thoughts so far.....

It's been a while since my last blog, this has been mainly down to me being extremely busy since I moved house. Nevertheless, I've managed to keep tabs on the Mighty Pool. The season has been developing nicely culminating in an easy win over Cardiff City yesterday. Surprisingly, the Bluebirds looked a poor outfit considerly they are third in the league. They must hate playing against us, especially after that fantastic day when we met at Wembley when we beat them to secure our promotion to the Premiership. Still, yesterday's game didn't actually go to plan, mainly due to us taking it a bit too easy at times. We seemed to take our foot of the pedal, which allowed them to come into the game more. But saying that we had a couple of chances to win the game by half time. Dicko, the French guy on loan from Wigan, should have scored when he only had the keeper to beat, but shot wide. If I was being critical I would say we relied too much on the high ball and didn't move the ball quick enough. This allowed them time to close us down. They came into more in the second half and took the lead against the run of play. The Dicko/GTF combination was struggling so Ollie brought on SuperKev and Roman Bedner. What can you say about Kevin Phillips. This guy is absolute class. He can score in any division and can be relied on to change a game. I was dead chuffed when we signed him up, despite his age. You can't put a price on the experience he brings. We might not be the same passing team as we were last season, but we seem to have a better, balanced squad. Although Charlie Adam made things happen last season, he was also the main reason our form dipped this time last year, which ultimately led to us getting relegated. Thankfully, we don't have the same ego problem with players this season. We've now moved up to 4th and seem to be moving into a settled run even though we've been leaving it a little late to get the points. Like most footy fans we're all a bit superstitious, so I won't get carried away with thoughts of promotion back to the premiership, but if Ollie did managed it again surely the England job shouldn't be unthinkable. Although let's just keep things the same for the time being cos I'm loving it. Cup replay against Sheff Wed on Tuesday night and I think it's important to keep the winning run going, so I hope Ollie puts out a strong team. UTMP.

What's happening??

Another very poor game to watch. What's happening, we seem to be light years away from the football we playing last season. What's happened to the Spanish style of football Ollie wanted us to play? Ok, we've lost Adam, Vaughan and Campbell, but hey, the bulk of the side is still the same. Like I've said previously, we've started the season in a steady rather than inspiring way. If I was Ollie I would get my defence sorted out pretty damn quick. We had the worst defensive record last season and although we have not let in as many so far this season we still look extremely shaky. He doesn't seem to have a fixed back four in mind like other teams. I don't think the Cathcart/Evatt combination works and I don't think full back is  Alex Baptiste's best position either.  I would have him as a centre back covering Evatt. Cathcart to often finds himself out of position and he is not commanding enough in the air. I'd have Crainey, Evatt, Baptiste and a n other at right back. Eardley is to inconsistent for me and lets his head drop too quickly when things aren't going his way. Ollie must try someone else in this position who perhaps he hasn't tried before. Midfield is an area we have completely lost this season. Barry Ferguson just does not do it for me at all, neither does Keith Southern both are not creative enough, the latter especially. To be honest I've never been a Southern fan. Ok, he's been a loyal servant, blah, blah, blah. But he has never been a goal scoring midfielder or creative. He only looks comfortable when he passes the ball backwards. What I can't understand is, last year we seemed to have a glut of midfielders all vying for a permanent position there. Yet this season they all seem to have disappeared along with Adam and Vaughan. GTF, again is too inconsistent for me. One week he plays out of his skin and produces a match winning performance and the next like today he's anonymous on the pitch. Kevin Phillips is exempt from criticism because the guy is class and is always likely to produce something out of nothing. At this moment in time I feel we are not good enough to be pushing for promotion and see us having a a pretty uninteresting season. But what do I know. Anybody agree?

Seasiders hit the 'ammers buffers...

Well it was bound to happen, a 4-0 drubbing by a team managed by an ex-manager, namely Sam (I got sacked for not getting them promoted) Allardyce. He's had the hoodoo on us since it happened all those years ago. He was manager at Blackburn last season when they came to Bloomfield Rd and beat us 2-1. It's always the same when someone from the club, whether it's a player or management comments on how well we're going to do prior to a game. It was Steve Thompson who said mid-week how after the international break the players were raring to go and looking forward to the West Ham game. Yeah, well so was I Steve, but that was before the game. After it I was embarrassed and disappointed with the way we played. Even after last week's 5-0 beating of Bristol City I was still apprehensive about our ability to mix it with teams who were not frightened to splash the cash on players. West Ham being one of them. Losing players like Adam, Campbell and Vaughan, who together made things happen for us over the last two seasons was always going to be a blow. For me Barry Ferguson has not made the impact expected and when you team him up with Keith Southern in midfield you just know we're going to struggle. I've always thought our start to the season has been steady but nothing to shout home about. Once again Ollie has been forced to rely on loanees, which on the one hand allows you to get rid of them if they don't perform but on the other hand if they do, their worth increases, which makes it even harder to agree a fee at the end of their loan spell. I thought Ollie's decision to play Baptiste, Hill, Evatt and Crainey in this back four formation to be a mistake. Baptiste and Evatt should be the central partnership with Crainey at left-back and a n other at right back. We play Doncaster at home on Tuesday night and I hope we can put Saturday's game behind us and start to play something like we did last season.