Anybody that thinks this might be an easy game, I suggest you take note of the away playing record of the Seasiders in the last month or two with two cracking victories on the road to Charlton and Portsmouth, plus a more than impressive 1-1 draw with Hull City, and you can also add a victory at London Road against the Posh to the list for good measure. They have games in hand on nearly every team mainly because their pitch was flooded for a few weeks, and I’m sure they still consider the playoffs is not a pipedream.
Lets have a look at the stats, just don’t miss the one about their last five games.
BLACKPOOL – THE SEASON SO FAR
Currently Blackpool are sitting in 12th place, and their League record to date stands at PLAYED 29, WON 13, DRAWN 6, LOST 10. GF 35 & GA 28 giving them 44 POINTS.
FORM AT A GLANCE – LWWWDD
LEAGUE RECORD 2020/21
Charlton 0 Blackpool 3
Portsmouth 0 Blackpool 1
Ipswich 2 Blackpool 0
Wigan 0 Blackpool 5
Hull City 1 Blackpool 1
Bristol Rovers 2 Blackpool 1
Shrewsbury 1 Blackpool 0
Accrington 0 Blackpool 0
Fleetwood 0 Blackpool 1
Doncaster 3 Blackpool 2
Peterborough 1 Blackpool 2
Burton 1 Blackpool 2
AFCW 1 Blackpool 0
Crewe 1 Blackpool 1
Gillingham 2 Blackpool 0
Plymouth 1 Blackpool 0
AWAY record of PLAYED 16, WON 6, DRAWN 3, LOST 7, GF 19 & GA 16.
YEAR FORMED – 1899
GROUND – Bloomfield Road (17,338).
CLUB NICKNAME – The Seasiders or Tangerines.
THE MANAGER – Neil Critchley aged 42 and born in Crewe.
Critchley feels like he’s been around for some time and I should know him, but I might be confusing him with someone else because looking at his career there is little to speak of. It appears he has only had 4 career games as a midfielder, one for Crewe, and three for Leigh RMI and this is his first proper League management role and that only since March 2020 just days before Covid brought things to an abrupt halt. He has though at a good grounding by managing Liverpool U18’s and U23’s, plus 2 games in charge of the full side when Liverpool’s fixture congestion had them playing in the 2019 FIFA World Club Cup and the EFL Cup Quarter Finals on virtually the same day. Klopp put Critchley in charge and his youthful side lost 5-0 to Aston Villa, and in a similar clash of fixtures Critchley took charge in a 4th Rd FA Cup Replay against Shrewsbury, which they won 1-0 through an own goal.
His record is as follows GAMES 42, WON 17, DRAWN 12, LOST 13 leaving him with a WIN RATIO of 41 %.
PLAYED FOR BOTH
Jay Emmanuel Thomas, Samuel Odelusi, Scott Taylor, Jason Puncheon, Miquel Angel Llera, Lewis Gobern, Paul Rachubka, Gary McKenzie, Stuart O’Keefe, and Wade Small are just about the only ones I could find.
FORMER MANAGERS
For the Seasiders there have been many high-profile gaffers over the years including, former Dons Boss Paul Ince, Barry Ferguson, Ian Holloway, Simon Grayson, Colin Hendry, Nigel Worthington, Gary Megson, Sam Allardyce, Graham Carr, Alan Ball, Bob Stokoe and Stan Mortenson.
FAMOUS PLAYERS
Again, plenty to choose from including Joe Hart, Charlie Adam, Alan Ball, Emlyn Hughes, Sir Stanley Matthews, and Stan Mortenson.
CURRENT INTERNET MATCH ODDS
MK Dons 35/19 Draw 12/5, Blackpool 7/4
MATCHDAY MASCOT
Bloomfield Bear who has on occasion been the subject of an FA investigation for his antics when a penalty is being taken against Blackpool.
SHOOTERS BOOTS – Currently its Jerry Yates with 13 goals.
LAST TIME ROUND – Sat October 24th, 2020 – Blackpool 1 MK Dons 0
Team – Fisher, Williams, Keogh, Lewington, Poole, Thompson (Gladwin), Kasumu, Fraser, Harvie Morris (Jerome), Mason (Walker).
Unused Subs – Nicholls, O’Hora, Houghton, Sorinola.
Goals – KaiKai 66’
Referee – Marc Edwards (4 Yellows)
Attendance – Behind Closed Doors.
HEAD 2 HEAD – League 1 unless stated.
2020/21 – Blackpool 1 MK Dons 0
2019/20 – MK Dons v Blackpool (Cancelled Covid)
2019/20 – Blackpool 0 MK Dons 3 (Martin, Houghton, Kasumu)
2017/18 – MK Dons 0 Blackpool 0
2017/18 – Blackpool 1 MK Dons 0
2010/11 – MK Dons 4 Blackpool 3 (Baldock, Easter 2, Guy) (League Cup)
2006/07 – MK Dons 0 Blackpool 2 (FA Cup)
2005/06 – MK Dons 3 Blackpool 0 (McLeod 2, Taylor)
2005/06 – Blackpool 3 MK Dons 2 (Rizzo, Small)
2004/05 – Blackpool 1 MK Dons 0
2004/05 – MK Dons 3 Blackpool 1 (McLeod, Palmer, Smart)
