Blackpool entered the Championship play-off positions on Saturday, with The Seasiders grabbing a 1-0 victory away to Sheffield United. 

Neil Critchley's side, who have now won four of their last five matches, took the points back to Lancashire courtesy of Keshi Anderson's second goal in as many games.

Critchley believes that a big factor as to why Blackpool are succeeding at the moment is that there are "no egos" within his squad, as he stated during an interview with the Blackpool Gazette.

Blackpool won promotion to the Championship through the League One play-offs last time out, and are proving to be a strong and well-equipped second-tier outfit thus far.

 

 

Speaking to the Blackpool Gazette about their start to the campaign, Critchley said: “I love coming here, I love what we’re doing, I love being around this group and staff, and I love looking up and seeing Simon (Sadler, owner), Brett (Gerrity, director) and Ben (Mansford, chief executive) supporting us.

“It’s good times at the moment for the football club and we want that to continue, but I can assure you none of us get carried away. You can’t afford to.

“We’ve got our feet firmly on the floor and we play with no ego, you can see that.

“There’s no arrogance with the way we play, everyone puts a shift in and we all work hard together and that’s why we’ve been successful, so that won’t change.”

The verdict 

Critchley has done an excellent job thus far, and given the way they operate and set up, it will be no surprise to see his side in and around the play-off positions as the season progresses. 

There are still 31 games to go this season, but in a year where second-tier survival is the ultimate objective, they are surpassing expectations. 

Blackpool possess a squad that is vastly inexperienced at Championship level, but that is not halting them in the slightest at the minute. 

The Seasiders have a tough set of fixtures in November, with games against Stoke City, QPR, Swansea City and West Brom to come, but they will certainly not fear anyone in this division.