Category: Gary Taylor-Fletcher

Bristol City v Pool

It’s Micheal Appleton’s first away match in charge and a first chance for me to see Appleton’s Pool.

Bristol have had a poor start to the season and prop up the Championship with 11 points.

There will be changes to the starting line up with GTF out with a hamstring tear and Matty Phillips out till the new year with a toe injury. I would expect the Fonze to start upfront and maybe Dicko on the wing.

It will be interesting to see if we go slighly more denfensive compared to our away tactics in previous years which has been attacking / counter attack.

Ticket, beer and train.

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Burnley 1 – 0 Blackpool

Another defeat and not good enough again.  A few changes to the starting line up but the same result. Burnley weren’t anything special but once again managed to grab a goal from a cross with Austin grabbing his 16 in 13 matches.

Holloway managed to change things again but this time had four strikers GTF, the Fonz, Ince and Phillips which meant GTF played in midfield which never seems to work.

We never got going untill Ludo came on, which seemed to give us a little boost, GTF should have scored but Grant pulled of a great double save.

So once again a terrible result and a bad feeling for the rest of the season,  a serious rethink is needed.

Blackpool 0 – 2 Charlton

The wheels are off again. The a victory over Hull was really covering up the cracks and similar to the home defeat against Huddersfield another away side did their homework and stuck to a plan to take home all three points.

This time Charlton went for a 4-5-1 formation with Fuller upfront on his own who managed to keep both Evatt and Baptiste occupied. While their midfield coped with our three forcing us to go long too often.

The first goal came from a corner, our inability to defend from crosses again is all too easy to exploit. The second a breakaway goal as we pushed forward.

Worst of all at 1-0 down we didn’t seem to up the pace or the intensity, just strolled on thinking that we would somehow get back into the game. Instead Ollie made some changes and piled on forwards sacrificing the midfield which meant we had to go long all too often.

During the entire match Morrison and Cort won the majority of contests in the air. So taking off the midfield just resulted in more long balls in the last 20 minutes with no hope of winning anything.

The only positives was the performance of Gary Taylor-Fletcher who was by far our best player on the pitch and Tom Ince back in action after injury. If GTF would have taken that chance early on it could have been a whole different result.

It’s a long wait now to the Burnley match, the break will drag even more after that result.

Blackpool 1 – 3 Huddersfield – Found out

In front of the cameras tonight we were found out by a very clinical Huddersfield side. We never really got going in the match, not able to pass the ball with any fluidity and the away side struck with three great “away goals”.

Larry had certainly done his homework leaving two upfront at all times meaning Town could counter attack 2 on 2, the away side were helped by Baptist’s very shaky start and a great movement from Novak and Vaughan. In the middle Southern and Norwood broke up play well but in truth didn’t have too much to do with our players giving the ball away far too easily and too often.

Our goal came from one of few passing movements with a dinked ball into Ince enabling him to turn in the box and find GTF who converted with a neat finish.

And in truth that was as good as it got. Town scored two from set pieces and should have had a further goal from another corner.

Ollie decided to throw on more strikers taking off Gomes which resulted in hopeful balls to the front four as there was no midfield to create. It’s almost as if Ollie gave up on our passing style, how often do you see Barcelona pulling off midfielders, sticking on strikers and going route one. The fans would rather see us lose but still playing good football than loose just hoofing and not passing the ball.

A disappointing night overall but good banter in the pub here in London (The Constitution) with some fellow Tangerines. Attentions turn to Saturday and big spending Cardiff who could move ahead of us with a win. I expect changes and hopefully something to shout about.

Blackpool 6 – 0 Ipswich

And so we continue, three wins in three, top the league and a goal difference of nine already. Ollie rewarded the started 11 from Tuesday’s win over Leeds with another start and despite looking a little tired they did the job easing us into a two nil league before the break.

The first a not so unfortunate own goal came from a poor header from the Ipswich centre half allowing Thomas to cross in to the area where the young Cresswell put into his own net. I think the young centre half was preoccupied with the lurking KP behind him and made a real hash of an attempted clearance.

Ince was back down the left wing before the end of the half and crossed to the ever impressive, ever reliable Gary Taylor Fletcher who smashed the ball home into the roof of the net with a side footed volley.

The first half wasn’t all plain sailing, ex-Seasider Jay Emmanuel-Thomas threatened on both wings and forced Gilks into save at his near post after out jumping Crainey while it was still 0-0. The Tractor boys did look lively in the first half, being first to the ball often and a having a good amount of possession.

After break we really moved up a gear and in truth the away side weren’t able to get near us as we went onto add another 4. Ince twisted and turned in the box to grab his first of the afternoon slotting into the far corned.

10 minutes later the 3rd came, Ince again placed the ball in the far corner of the goal from the corner of the box after some nice play down the wing and in the box from GTF.

For the fifth Ince was involved again taking a short corner and crossing to Craig Cathcart who headed in for his second goal at the club, he nearly grabbed another later heading onto the post.

For the last goal Tom Ince wasn’t involved, Matt Phillips who come on as a sub raced onto a ball over the top, lobbed the ball past the on rushing Scott Loach, another sub Nouha Dicko then tapped in to round off a pretty good day and first week of the season.

Gomes and Osbourne impressed in the middle of the park again, forever pressing and winning the ball back high up the pitch. We had a quick chance to see Alberto Noguera who came on a sub later one. Cathcart played well too, it’s hard to see how either Evatt, Fergerson, Grandin or Matt Phillips will get into the starting lineup.

Overall a great week and good to see us taking more chances, 6 goals from 7 shots on target today compared to only grabbing 2 goals from 8 chances against Leeds on Tuesday. We now are now in the unknown position of behind ahead of competition, we’ve generally been the underdogs picking up form later in the season it will be interesting to see how we handle the pressure, but lets not get ahead of ourselves it’s only a week one, lets just enjoy the performances of the past week!

 

The Ultimate Blackpool FC Twitter List

Over the past 12 months there’s been an explosion in people using twitter and there’s a few BFC related twitter accounts.

So I’ve created a list of players, ex-players, officials, local press and Pool fan sites. You can see the list and follow people via www.twitter.com/blackpoolfcblog/the-ultimate-blackpool-fc/members. I’ve also listed all the accounts below.

If you think I’ve missed anyone out leave a comment or message on me on twitter.

Current Players

Ex Players

Officials from the club

Press

Blackpool FC on the web

Pool 2 – 3 Manchester City

To have an overriding feeling of disappointment after a 3-2 defeat to Manchester City shows us how far we’ve come and the quality of today’s performance. There’s also an overriding feeling of pride for the team and the club again for matching up to a team that cost over 100 times more and get paid many thousands more. It shows that money isn’t everything.

In the end as one City fan on the train home put it “Silva was the diference…”, which promoted the reply from myself, “yes and the other £300 million pounds worth of players”. That bit of class and ability to get efforts on target proved the difference.

The starting 11 was the same as the Liverpool match with Cathcart and Gilks recovering from knocks. We started really well in the first half but City had the real 1st chance when Gilks tipped a Johnson shot over the top. After that it was a case of us trying and then failing to hit the target with Varney, Adam and Campbell all having great chances test out Hart, who had a great reception on his return.

We carried on in the second period as we had started and could…should…maybe had a goal from Gary Taylor-Fletcher but for a flag happy lino. Watching a couple of times more, it looked like the lino was keeping his flag down until Grandin reached for the ball. That should have been irrelevant as DJ Campbell should had hit the back of the net 1 on 1 with Joe Hart.

Tevez who had been quiet all first half then popped up to flick the opening goal, I’m sure standing a yard off side helped him to get infront of Cathcart. Marlon grabbed the equaliser from a cracking ball in from Charlie Adam, a deserved goal.

Glad All Over had just finished and then Tevez grabbed his second, once again Ian Evatt being fouled / knocked off the ball to loose possession. Thats happened a few too many times now, Fulham’s first goal was the same when he was bundled over in the run up to the goal.

Silva grabbed a great third jinking past two of our defenders and slotted into the far corner giving Gilks no chance, no complaints. Our second made the score reflective of the performance and good to see another goal for Fletch, and assit for Varney.

The initial disappointment tonight should turn to pride over the coming days, we once again impressed and surly won over the neutrals watching on Sky. Hopefully we’ll get some more points on the board next week at Birmingham so we don’t have to look over our shoulders for another week!

Liverpool 1 – 2 Blackpool FT

Wow, we managed to hang on in the second half and take all three points in an amazing afternoon of football at Anfield beating Liverpool 2-1. Yes we beat Liverpool 2-1!!!

Back to a strong line up with Campbell, Varney and GTF upfront, we were set out from the start to attack. The first half we had loads of possession and deserved the two goal lead.

Once again Varney cutting in from the flank won the pen, similar to the Newcastle game, same outcome from the spot from Charlie.

The second was a great breakaway goal with Varney hitting the back of the net. Let’s hope we have a pre agreed fee for him!

Second half Liverpool were always going to come at us, it was a puzzling decision for the foul and disappointing we let them take the kick quickly from which the grabbed one back.

After that the home side huffed and puffed but didn’t really test Gilks too much, bar one effort in injury time. Cole and Ngog ahold have scored with efforts they both put wide.

Soccer - Barclays Premier League - Liverpool v Blackpool - Anfield

We even nearly managed to grab a third on the break. Phillips did well at rightback, as did Keinen. However withs Baps injured and now injuries to Cathcart and Eardley it’s not looking good for our next match.

Once again Mike Jones was appalling as the man in Black. Gerrard, Meireles should have been booked with Kyrgiakos seeing red for a second booking.

Overall a really great day out, great performance and another big step towered survival.

edit : Seasiders podcast about the Liverpool game is live.

Liverpool V Blackpool

After a weeks holiday in Mexico it’s back to action with a trip to one of the big boys, Liverpool. There’s no doubting the history of the club but currently the team, well the whole club is suffering a downturn in fortunes so it doesn’t seem as big of a match compared to a couple of seasons ago.

Currently third from bottom, winning one and losing two at home this game for some Liverpool fans is seen as a must win for Hodgson’s team. Hodgson has still yet to convince the Liverpool fans with many calling for his head already.

Once again I’ll be just looking forward to a great day out but I do think we’ll grab a goal. For some crazy reason I think a 3-1 win with Gary Taylor-Fletcher grabbing a hattrick.

Much more likely we’ll lose 1-0 with a Gerrard pen given by of crap “homer” referee.

Scunny 2 – 4 Pool FT

Wow what a second half of football and a big result. Scunny came out after half time the better side and grabbed the equaliser from the spot, yet another pen we have given away.

After that it didn’t look like we were going to get a winner. After Fletcher missed a sitter I thought we would end up with a point but the subs made the difference.

David Vaughan played a blinder getting his foot of the ball getting it out wide to Bouazza who crossed for for the third.

Colemans goal was s great piece of individual skill. He dribbled past three from the touchline then lifted the ball over the keeper into goal.

DJ took his goal well, both breakaway goals. Scunny second made the last 10 interesting.

Great away day, with a flare too! Let hope WBA can do the business now against Leciester.