John Coleman ahead of BFC v Accy

Wee_Bob

Well-known member
Accrington Stanley boss John Coleman is desperate for his side to get back on track – but the Reds couldn’t have a tougher game than a trip to Blackpool.

Neil Critchley’s side sit fourth in the League One table and are currently on a 14-game unbeaten run.

They are unbeaten in the league at Bloomfield Road since the 20th October – 13 games – and have a striker in-form in Jerry Yates, who has 20 goals and five assists.

Coleman admits his team are hurting after losing 5-1 to relegation-threatened AFC Wimbledon at home on Saturday, despite taking a fifth minute lead.

The Reds are in 12th place, six points outside the Play-Offs, in a tightly packed table and all of their remaining games, except Rochdale on Saturday, are teams challenging for promotion.

“The lads are hurting after Saturday,” said Coleman. “There is not point beating them with a stick, we will work on our shape today and try and win tomorrow.

“Blackpool have done well this season. I said it from day one that they would be there or thereabouts, they have a large quality squad and that has come to the fore in the last couple of weeks. They have had injuries and you haven’t noticed them.

“That’s the sign of having strength in depth and they have it all over the park.

“I have been impressed the way Neil Critchley has gone about it, I like him as a fella and he comes across really well. I enjoy speaking to him and we will have a good chat after the game tomorrow.

“I like to see people who play football the right way, who have good ethics about them, thrive and it’s nice to see Blackpool thriving.

“They have a lot to play for, automatics as well, and we have just got to try and get ourselves back on track.

“If we can, that will do me and we will take it one game at a time. Tomorrow is one of those games where you can kick start yourself. Historically we have done well against teams in the top ten and we will try and do our best again.”

On reflection, Coleman says it’s been a good season for the Reds, whatever happens.

“If you detach yourself from it and not get het up in all the hustle and bustle of football, it’s been a good season really, we have done well. We have done better than people would have expected us to.

“As James said: “If I hadn’t seen such riches, I could live with being poor,” I think that sums it up because we have reached such heights this season, played some really good football, had some good results and got ourselves into good positions you can’t help but be disappointed when things like that happened on Saturday and at Peterborough.

“It’s been a really hard season, I was only thinking today that there are 24 days to go and we still have seven games to play.

“I wish there were fans in the grounds, it’s probably times like Saturday when you miss them more than anything. I just hope we are in good shape between now and the end of the season, win a few games and get ourselves back on track and it will be great to have the fans back next season.”

After coming off the bench on Saturday, Joe Pritchard is back in contention for a starting place as is Ben Barclay.
 
24 days, yikes where did the season go, felt so detached from it that I’ve not really noticed the “Pld” column ticking over.
 
yes , speaks very well when he is not full of passion straight after a game! (then he speaks shit)

i like him
 
He’s right. Accy have exceeded expectations this season already. They will give us a tough match, I expect some kind of reaction to that last heavy defeat. We just need to be more ruthless this time and get the maximum points
 
Anyone else find this sentence slightly ironic;

“I like to see people who play football the right way, who have good ethics about them, thrive and it’s nice to see Blackpool thriving.

From what I could tell when we played them before, Accrington have done reasonably well this season because they play on a pig pen surface where passing to a team mate is actually quite difficult. They have a few big lads in their team who like to put it about as well. When we played them earlier in the season on they dragged us down to their level. It was hoof-ball that wouldn't have been out of place at Wimbledon in the 80s.
 
I like John Coleman (unless they beat us tonight 🤔 ) Good guy and a good manager.
Good article and he was very complimentary to NC & Pool.
Just hope he gets a beating tonight though.
 
Anyone else find this sentence slightly ironic;

“I like to see people who play football the right way, who have good ethics about them, thrive and it’s nice to see Blackpool thriving.

From what I could tell when we played them before, Accrington have done reasonably well this season because they play on a pig pen surface where passing to a team mate is actually quite difficult. They have a few big lads in their team who like to put it about as well. When we played them earlier in the season on they dragged us down to their level. It was hoof-ball that wouldn't have been out of place at Wimbledon in the 80s.
He likes to see it because he has strategies to cope with it. Meanwhile his team hoof and chase.
 
He likes to see it because he has strategies to cope with it. Meanwhile his team hoof and chase.
I do wonder if his approach at Stanley is really dictated by the resources available and, to a lesser extent, the pitch and what they can do with it?

I don't like their style either but I've an opinion Coleman is trying to get results with what he has and unfortunately it costs a lot less to get wins with a physical hoof-ball team on a crap pitch than it does to create a side who play football and maintain a pitch in good condition. I suspect from the way he talks he'd much rather run a side that tries to play like we are now doing but he just can't manage it with what Stanley can afford. So it's ugly results and staying in League One than trying to play more football and probably risking relegation.

I like Stanley's owner Andy Holt too, he's been a supporter of our cause in the dark times and seems like an owner who respects his club and supporters. So it's hard to say he should spend more than he already does cos I'm just not sure the brass is there. That said, I think they saw more of the Ormerod money than we did, way back when. At least they got their cut before it got 'mislaid'... 😆
 
I do wonder if his approach at Stanley is really dictated by the resources available and, to a lesser extent, the pitch and what they can do with it?

I don't like their style either but I've an opinion Coleman is trying to get results with what he has and unfortunately it costs a lot less to get wins with a physical hoof-ball team on a crap pitch than it does to create a side who play football and maintain a pitch in good condition. I suspect from the way he talks he'd much rather run a side that tries to play like we are now doing but he just can't manage it with what Stanley can afford. So it's ugly results and staying in League One than trying to play more football and probably risking relegation.

I like Stanley's owner Andy Holt too, he's been a supporter of our cause in the dark times and seems like an owner who respects his club and supporters. So it's hard to say he should spend more than he already does cos I'm just not sure the brass is there. That said, I think they saw more of the Ormerod money than we did, way back when. At least they got their cut before it got 'mislaid'... 😆
Think you're probably right. Cutting their cloth etc etc.

Can't be easy getting by on gates like Fleetwood's even when they're doing well.
 
Think you're probably right. Cutting their cloth etc etc.

Can't be easy getting by on gates like Fleetwood's even when they're doing well.
Absolutely! And again makes me realise we were fortunate we had a supporter with a very healthy bank balance there when we needed someone.
 
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