According to Neil Critchley, Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel may play for Blackpool in the league in the upcoming weeks, and he wants to be prepared in case he is called up.
Since April, Lawrence-Gabriel has been battling a knee injury that kept him out of the game for six months. He made his comeback to the pitch earlier this month, participating in the EFL Trophy last week for 45 minutes against Morecambe.
The 25-year-old played an hour for Stephen Dobbie’s Development squad that week, losing 3-0 to Championship team Sunderland, but he was not one of the substitutes in the 4-0 victory over Shrewsbury. The only true senior member of the team to play was the right-back; other players who participated in the EFL Trophy included Donovan Lescott and Will Squires.
The task assigned to Lawrence-Gabriel is to remove CJ Hamilton from the side, who has been there the entire campaign. In the event that there is transfer activity during the winter window, Gabriel’s availability will be crucial because Hamilton is reportedly being pursued by two Championship teams as well as a League One rival.
When asked whether he would be close in the upcoming weeks, Critchley responded, “Yes, he will be.” He was always supposed to play for forty-five minutes. He hasn’t been seen since April, so that’s almost six months. In my opinion, he performed admirably during the week in Morecambe.
He appeared extremely knowledgeable. Continue to increase his level of fitness, give him a training session, and consider when he will be able to contribute a few minutes to games.”
Since taking over at Bloomfield Road for the second time, Critchley has made an effort to use his whole team. For a number of games, he has rotated the team, giving players who had to wait their turn a chance.
The most recent example is striker Jake Beesley, who took advantage of injuries to Kylian Kouassi and Shayne Lavery to score twice against Shrewsbury Town last weekend. Beesley scored twice in the middle of the week.
“You look at the team we have, you see Dom Thompson was in the team last week, he’s not in the team today, and sometimes that’s just tactical reasons,” the speaker stated. The players need to adjust to my and our methods of operation.
They have a difficult time because they can be on the team and then off the squad. You’re starting next week, but you’re not on the squad. Because the players must always be prepared, Jake Beesley is able to score goals.
