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" To be fair we didn't get playing at all in the first-half and that is probably the worst performance since I came to the football club. Whether or not they think I have already picked the team, we had a discussion at half-time about that, and really they were all standing about watching. They weren't moving, the passing was shocking and it wasn't very good at all in the first-half.
" So we just asked them to up the tempo just a touch and take a little bit more responsibility which they did, and I thought we played excellently for the first 15 minutes. Then I thought that after we changed it to 4-4-2 we played just as well. We're maybe not quite what we thought, which is excellent as it's a perfect time to get a shot across the bow. The second-half performance was what we want for the season coming up.
" I think some of them already thought they were playing next week and they have had a little bit of a shock and a few choice words as well. The response was fantastic though, I was really pleased with that, Blackpool were the form team last year finishing off on ten games unbeaten so it's not a bad little scalp for us. There is a certain reminder though that we are not the finished article yet and we have still got a lot of hard work to do.
" His (Marc Bridge-Wilkinson's) knee has been given the all-clear so he'll start back training on Monday, so let's see how he goes. We're concerned but we've had it all scanned out and looked at and everything is fine, there is just a little bit of scar tissue that needs to be frictioned away I suppose. He's got to play through a little bit of a pain barrier until it all goes away so fingers crossed he should be fit and ready and available for next week.
" Apart from the two young lads in Shaun (Vipond) and Ged (Dalton) everybody is going to be fit which will be great and you can see the competition for places. Nobody has accepted that they don't want to be in the team and certainly the ones who think they are in the team have just been reminded that they might not be. "
" I'm going to have a word with him (Martin Brittain) and let's see what he has to say after the game. Why should it be urgency to bring people in? We've got players who didn't perform in the first-half but they certainly did in the second-half. There is a lot of talk about different players coming to the football club, and we're trying to strengthen and that's all I'm going to say on that.
" We've played against some fantastic teams over pre-season, Newcastle and Middlesbrough to name just two, we've played a team who are a week ahead of us. We've competed and I've been very, very pleased with pre-season, we've still got a lot to do. We've got one week to the lead-up and let's see where we are at with the league games coming up.
" I'm very pleased, we've had some tough games, we've had some great performances and scored some good goals as well. We haven't conceded that many which is encouraging as well and the fitness is there, even though they were a little bit off the pace in the first-half. That sometimes can be expected though with it being the last game leading up, nobody wants to get injured or booked and stuff like that.
" We're pleased with the response after the quiet word we had at half-time and that just finishes the pre-season off very, very well, and we're all looking forward to the new season. It's still fine tuning next week, but at the same time we are still working on our fitness, our shape and the tactical stuff. We'll be doing obviously set-plays and organisation and stuff like that, we'll be talking about Walsall this week for the first time.
" I thought that in the games before today the shape we are playing (diamond formation) gives us width believe it or not, even though people think there is nobody there so there is no width. It's just trying to find that balance, I was always going to change it during the game (to 4-4-2). I didn't think they would have played that badly in the first-half to tell you the truth but I was always going to change it after 60 minutes to 4-4-2.
" I brought Chris (Lumsdson) on and Martin (Brittain) on to give them a chance to have a little bit of a run-out. I stuck to the plan, as I say, the first 15 minutes of the second-half was excellent, and I was pleased with the second-half performance more than I was with the first-half. "