Holloway not for changing

BLACKPOOL have got this far by understanding their limitations and it appears that is not about to change any time soon despite their perilous situation.

After a flying start to the season, they have accumulated 28 points but sit just four points above the relegation zone after losing seven of their last eight Premier League matches.

Of all the experiences of this long and memorable season, Ian Holloway has found the 4-0 defeat at Chelsea in September to be a defining experience.

He tried to go to Stamford Bridge and defend and after conceding four goals in 40 minutes, he insists he will never employ a similar game-plan again.

It means that despite their miserable recent form — even the ever-optimistic Holloway admits he has no idea where his team’s next points or clean sheet will come — Blackpool will continue to head into every game hoping to score one more than the opposition, no matter how many goals that will require.

Everton manager David Moyes feels it takes at least three goals to stand a chance of victory against Holloway’s men but the problem is that they are conceding at least that in every match.

The fact they have coughed up a third of their conceded goals in the final 15 minutes of matches is telling. Each man is pushing himself beyond reasonable limits — and it’s catching up with them — but Holloway is adamant that does not have to be the wider story of their season.

“The business end of the season was always going to sort the men from the boys but at the moment we are not even boys are we? We are infants,” Holloway said.

“(Stoke manager) Tony Pulis told me we are playing roulette football, and he might be right, but we don’t know any other way. We need to get a bit of a cage on our box when we get in front and then maybe we can get some belief.

“We are at a frightening level and I think we have been fantastic but nobody feels that at the minute because we are losing all the time. I wish it had started like this and we’d climbed out of it. If we slide down into it, like Hull and Burnley did, then it would be just awful.

“Whatever we do at the minute and whatever ticket we buy, it’s not going to buy the raffle. I went to try and protect a lead but we couldn’t do that for toffee.

“People will say we should change our philosophy but I bloody well tried. I couldn’t do any more as a coach, apart from working on our defensive movements. We need to defend at the end as well as we do at the start.

“We have never been under this pressure at this level — we have had a great season so far, so let’s now see how we handle it.”

On Saturday they could have conceded 10, with Louis Saha having one of those days that will ensure he spends his retirement wondering what might have been.

The Frenchman is now 32 and Alex Ferguson has always insisted it was only his injury record that prevented him from being a huge success at Manchester United.

Moyes puts it down to the striker wanting to feel 100% — a luxury rarely afforded a modern footballer — to perform at his best but it was difficult to criticise after this kind of performance.

He opened the scoring from close range after a fine run from Diniyar Bilyaletdinov before Alex Baptiste touched in after Ian Evatt’s shot was turned on to the post by Howard.

Saha then had the ball in the net only for referee Kevin Friend to call play back and award Everton a free kick but he did get a second a minute after the interval, stabbing in from a Leighton Baines cross.

Blackpool showed their bottle with James Beattie pulling back for Jason Puncheon to score, before Charlie Adam headed in after DJ Campbell’s shot was tipped on to the bar by Tim Howard.

Saha headed Everton level, Jermaine Beckford volleyed in a fourth before the former broke clear to slide in a fifth for the hosts.

“I wouldn’t swap him for another finisher in the league,” Howard said. “That’s why the manager brought him here. When he plays like that, you’d put him up there with the best. His injuries probably helped Everton to get him from United... it’s a crazy old world.

“I was thinking during the game what a great natural finisher he is. He terrorises people; even the best defenders in the air, he gets head and shoulders above them. He’s strong, quick, and gets at you. He’s fun to watch and now he’s fit, it’s great for us.

“If he was fit for the whole season, you’d be looking at 30 goals or close to that. That’s why even when he was struggling with injuries everyone here stayed optimistic because it’s not just once in a while with him when he’s on song.”