So when will Blackpool's luck finally change? It would seem not at the moment. One minute you read that Derby's excellent keeper Lee Grant will be missing for Tuesday nights game at Bloomfield Road and wonder if that is the break we need, and the next, Steve McLaren has gone to Stoke and borrowed their highly rated England Under 21 keeper Jack Butland. Jose Riga must wonder when his luck will change.
It seems at every turn this season luck has eluded Riga. From own goals to missed penalties, from international clearance to crocked players, there has been little has gone right for the Belgian (and let's not mention the manager interviews behind his back!). Before the Huddersfield game, things did look as if they were improving with the feel good Cardiff win, one or two players returning and off the bottom of the league. However, the problem with losing your first six games is there is little room for error and until we start to get a sizeable amount of points on the board then every defeat will be greeted like the one on Saturday.
The problem for Riga is that this season he hasn't had a settled first XI. At no point has he been able to (or maybe wanted to) start with the same team as in the previous game. It seems he's never found the right combination and even after winning his first game of the season he chose to change personnel where he didn't need to. Saturday was a good example of that bringing Peter Clarke back in to the fold when Jeffrey Rentmeister had done a decent job against Cardiff and changing other positions like bringing Mendy in and dropping Zoko. Riga has to work out who his best XI is and then stick with it for a few games because we haven't much strength in depth and constantly chopping and changing can't help to get a settled side.
Clearly having dragged Joel Dielna off on Saturday, the left back position is now our achilles heel and you can guarantee that Steve McLaren has picked up on that and will be briefing his team and so important that Riga gets that sorted. It was good to get the 'one goal a game' jinx off our back on Saturday (and ironic it didn't even win us a point) but again goals from defence is encouraging. The last time we met Derby at Bloomfield Road we scored early and then capitulated and so whilst an early goal would be nice, lessons will hopefully have been learnt.
Derby were by far the best team in this league last season and QPR and Burnley's league positions maybe demonstrate they weren't worthy promotion candidates. The Rams will certainly be up there at the end of the season making Tuesday's task arguably the most difficult of the season so far.