Blackpool, the guests on Saturday, have played five League One matches and only managed to score twice, both of which came in their 2-0 victory over Burton on the opening day of the season.
After that, they played Leyton Orient, Port Vale, and Exeter to three 0-0 draws before being soundly defeated 0-3 at Lincoln. Unsurprisingly, they started looking for strikers on the transfer market.
Kylian Kouassi and Karamoko Dembele, both twenty, came from Sutton United and Brest, respectively. Third attacking addition to Blackpool was Jordan Rhodes, who joined on a season-long loan from Huddersfield. In the five games since his arrival, the team has won three of them, and he has contributed five goals himself, including his first hat-trick in four years. He also scored the goal in the remarkable 1-0 victory at Barnsley last Saturday, and on Tuesday, in the home loss to Derby, he came close to scoring again but hit the crossbar with the score at 1-2. The guests later added a third.
There will also be great interest in the returning Albie Morgan and we hope he gets a warm welcome. He was an unused substitute on Tuesday and has rarely played a full ninety minutes since joining Blackpool so we may not get to see much of him on the pitch. Perhaps the inconsistencies that plagued him in SE7 have followed him up north.
It is only nine months ago that Blackpool sacked Michael Appleton when they were languishing in the Championship relegation zone. His replacement – Mick McCarthy – was unable to keep them up and they are now managed by Neil Critchley. It is his second stint at Bloomfield Road, having left in June 2022 to be assistant to Steven Gerrard at Aston Villa. He lasted four months before he and Gerrard were relieved of their duties. He followed that with two unsuccessful months at QPR before being sacked in February this year.
On playing his previous employers, Appleton commented:
“I’m sure that will bring a bit of spice into it. I’m looking forward to it and if you walked into that dressing room (on Tuesday night), I’m sure they’d say the same.”
Everyone was lifted by the outcome of the Exeter game but maybe the score slightly flattered us. A seemingly harsh red card inevitably impacted on Exeter’s ability to come back from a goal down and when nine minutes of extra time were signalled, you could sense that they were ready to have a shower and get on the coach back home. However, there were undoubtedly some real positives for Charlton; Alfie May was highly effective in a deeper position; Louie Watson was a live wire; Chuks was rusty when it came to shooting but too hot to handle when on the turn; Miles Leaburn took his opportunity calmly and clinically. Even the defence looked a bit more secure, although not yet fully watertight.
So we will be making our way to The Valley on Saturday with a spring in our step. Three more points might even propel us into the top half of the table.