Ollie: We Have To Stick Together

Blackpool boss Ian Holloway has spoken of his disappointment at the attitude of the players during half time on Sunday.

The Seasiders were trailing Champions Chelsea 4-0 at the break, which was shown live on Sky Sports.

Holloway seemed slightly surprised by the reaction of the players and called for calm.

‘I was upset at my lads, with what they were saying to each other,’ Ollie told the Blackpool Gazette.

‘We have to stick together because there is a league within a league in this division.

‘I think we’ve found that out already and Chelsea will probably be top of the whole lot. Anybody who beats them this year will be a fantastic team, I can assure you.’

The manager took heavy criticism after his team selection which saw Alex Baptiste operate in the middle of midfield.

But he changed personnel and tactics in the second period which saw ‘Pool go with a slightly attacking outlook. The results were good, with the defence not shipping anymore and the attackers looking threatening.

Ollie continued: ‘But it was important we improved second half and took some positives from the game.

‘It was important we didn’t get done eight, 10 or 12 or whatever it might have been.

‘It did look ominous at times in the first half. We got an awful lot wrong in the first half, and against players as good as Chelsea’s you are going to get punished.

‘I reminded our lads at half-time of what we had spoken about before the game, and we managed to get our full-backs in the right place and the wideman in the right place.

‘I actually played an extra striker in the second half and we drew 0-0.’