Monday 30 January 2012

Forethoughts on... Blackpool vs. Coventry City

After a disappointing draw with Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup on Saturday, Blackpool return to league action on Tuesday night against Coventry City, who currently sit at the foot of the Championship. Here's the Up the 'Pool match preview:

Monday 23 January 2012

Four Thoughts on... Blackpool 2-1 Crystal Palace

For a long time on Saturday it looked like Blackpool would be frustrated by a well-organised makeshift Crystal Palace team. Persistence was rewarded in the end however, and the Seasiders extended their unbeaten league run at home to six games with a 2-1 win. Here are my thoughts on the match:

Friday 20 January 2012

Forethoughts on Blackpool vs. Crystal Palace

During the blog's summer hiatus, as well as taking a much-needed break from writing, I was keeping myself ticking over thinking of new ideas for features. The loss of chalkboard data that accompanied relegation from the Premier League forced my hand when it came to how matches are reviewed - the Seaside Strategy series of posts were consigned to the past.

The replacement template for match reports would become my 'Four Thoughts on...' series, in which four key themes are picked out to analyse each game. Until now, the reason for settling on the number four has been a little unclear, with one reader, almost angrily, commenting "Why does it always have to be four thoughts? Why do you never have three thoughts, or five?".

The answer, dear reader, should now be a little more transparent upon reading the title of this post and the somewhat unsubtle wordplay therein. It was always my intention that I would expand my coverage by both previewing and reviewing as many fixtures as possible, but for a variety of reasons it has taken until now to launch 'Forethoughts'.

It is hoped this will become a regular feature, and kicking it off is a preview of Saturday's home fixture against Crystal Palace...

Tuesday 10 January 2012

Season Visualiser - December Update

With a new year comes another update to the Season Visualiser. This update will focus on the results and the accuracy of the visualiser during the months of November and December, to see if any patterns can be established as we enter the second half of the season.

Tuesday 3 January 2012

Loan Report - Tom Barkhuizen

The size of Blackpool's squad this season, combined with the lack of a reserve team and a dearth of behind closed doors friendlies, has resulted in several players going on loan in search of much-needed football. One such player is Tom Barkhuizen, possibly the most-promising youngster on the club's books. Barkhuizen signed on loan for Hereford United towards the end of August, with his initial spell ending earlier this week.

From the outside looking in, it appears to have been a successful move for Barkhuizen, but as yet no decision seems to have been made about his next step. Hereford fan Bobo from Bulls News (@BullsNewsBlog) is keen to see Barkhuizen remain at Edgar Street for the remainder of the season, and has been kind enough to share his considered thoughts on how the young forward has been getting on away from Bloomfield Road. Over to Bobo...

Four Thoughts on... Blackpool 3-0 Middlesbrough

Blackpool began 2012 with a fine 3-0 win over promotion candidates Middlesbrough at a cold Bloomfield Road. Here are my observations from the game: