The Poolie Bunker

Dear Sir,
Can I humbly request, that we start our next game with the players that were on the pitch at the end of the game.
Your preference to field a keeper, a forward and nine uncannily similar players in the same role, appears to have several obvious drawbacks, that are detrimental tactically and fail to inspire the customers watching.
Thanking you in anticipation.

You omitted to mention that you have 5,000 Pools fans backing your humble request Snowy......!

do not mind that set up for away games but not at home. 3 goals after the subs came on. zero before, in the last two games.

Trouble is…it appears he only has one battle plan that doesn’t work and yet he keeps repeating it….a bit like General Melchett on Blackadder.

Also he does not appear to read the forum Snowy, maybe a written letter to him would be better.

He seems hell bent on this approach of tactics and I'm unsure where he fits the 'attacking minded' players that he is saying we need. It definitely sounds like recruitment is on the way, with 3 or 4. But where does he put them in the current approach? Maybe you put Sheron as holding midfield, drop Hunter & have Miley + one other further forward. Presumably you take Campbell out and put someone on the other side like Charman who is quick, direct & going to get into shooting range more often. It would make a considerable difference if these are much better players.

He confirmed we spoke to Gav Holohan and he is the type of profile we want, I'm not so sure what version of Gav H we would be getting back given current form/playing time at Crawley. We probably need another striker, a good one that scores goals with pace, but where does he put him with just one isolated forward in his footballing philosophy? A good, pacy full back to balance either side with Benn on the right and somebody else on the left.

Feaths has won two games by the skin of his teeth and on both occasions we have created the chances at the point he has decided to go more direct. Until that point, the game has played out in a very dour fashion. In fact, Dave Challinor was there last night... wonder if he's got any scrap books with old tactics on from the promo season he can share with Feaths... 2 strikers - Oates & Armstrong. Bombing full backs. Box to box midfielders. Nails defence with one or two with bags of pace for unexpected counters - Odusina/Sterry in that season.

Campbell being jeered off was a bad look, but he definitely needs pulling out the fold again now, two very bad games back to back. I thought Hunter looked poor as well. Sheron/Hunter/Miley/Campbell all in the same team is just diabolically negative to start off at home. Someone mentioned Folarin looks like a revelation since his return to the side. He has put a few good balls in the box, fair play, but the lad looks like bambi on ice with the ball at his feet. Another who isn't good enough in my opinion.

Very interested to see the calibre of player we bring in across the 3 or 4 we go for. Will it be more in the mould of young Brown, or will we get a few experienced heads out of National League & League 2? Would be some statement to make if these were ready to go starters that will make a genuine difference to the starting 11. It could well be a game-changer and something we have seen before... for example the January business in the relegation season under Curle/Askey, we went on some run when we had Jennings/Kemp amongst a couple others that made a genuine step change in quality. Let's hope.

Landon Smith released the purse strings for a keeper, let’s hope his knowledge of football and after watching the previous 2 games makes him realise we need some more players in.

I’ll send him a pictogram next time

When Jamie Miley played in Newcastles U21s He played behind the front 2, As is campbells role now.
Do staff at pools not do their homework and just do their own thing.

Jamie Miley has a tongue in his head. I can only assume Feaths thinks Cameron is better in that role than Miley.

Cameron ?

A player never tells a manager how to do his job, Fraid that would be suicide.
Football hierarchy is not to be messed with.

Start next game with Brown n Folarin on the wings.
And Reid n Charman up front.

Will I be a good manager?

Of course I will it ain't rocket science.

Fevs out you absolute crank.

A pound to a bucket of shite on Saturday he'll start with the same line up as he did on Tuesday (barring injuries).

Never change a winning team they say, well bear in mind the winning of the last 2 games has been down to the finishing 11 not the starting 11.
That starting 11 was losing at home to a team that hadn't won in 12 games and are rock bottom, and they never looked likely to score a goal let alone 2 to win the match.

I was told yesterday that the tactics are an obsession to stay in the game for the first hour.
Then Start attacking from minute 60 onwards.
If Woking can suss out these dire tactics and destroy us then ya got to presume York are in for an easy 3 points.

Unless we bring in a few quality players we Gunna gradually lose these extra fans.

Which will commercially trigger Smithy to act for 26/27.

Back to patience like.
But this current watch is brutal and 100% unsustainable to scrape more wins.

A big upgrade to the level of opposition in February.

UTP.

he,ll get no grief from me if he does. the week after with aldershot in town is a different matter.

u watch a non pools game at least once a week. the number of times i see similar tactics being played are more often and not. basically one poor half of football that improves after the break even if us fans pay for a full 90 minutes of it. blame dashion and the laptops.

Not many of our opponents set up as negatively as we do though, even Gateshead for all their time wasting played a more expansive game than us. There's possession football with intent to win and there's our version of it with very little goal threat, first shot on target at home in 70 odd minutes wasn't it against struggling Aldershot just doesn't do it for most of us.

Featherstone plays siege football…build a rock solid defence beyond sanity and have one forward out in the wilderness who may just score the one winning goal.
It doesn’t work, it’s both boring and frustrating to watch…and it’s about time we tried entertaining the fans rather than sedating them.

He'd rather take a 0 0 than a 7 6 win.
Let's have some Keegan football
That won't reduce the crowds.

Reverse the tactics.
Go attack crazy first 60 minutes then introduce the boring shit to protect a 2 goals lead.

as long as we win it wont, but then some will moan about the 6 goals we let in. stats and percentage wins have now taken over entertainment. wonder if the young fans are bothered about how we win as long as we do it.

You have said many times that the 3 points is all that counts & how we achieve that is irrelevant, have you changed your mind now? What if we win every home game 1-0 & draw every away game 0-0, that gives you 92 points & certain promotion, but you bore everyone to tears in every game. Would you accept that?

Of course that would be acceptable but setting up to do that and then losing both home and away achieves feck all, no points and no entertainment.
A more reasonable approach instead of going all out for a clean sheet would be to go all out to score at least a goal every game because then it means the opposition need to score at least 2 to beat us. Probably not in the coachinganuals but a simple observation. Aren't we among the lowest scorers in the division, wonder why that is - it's certainly down to an inability to convert chances, more that we don't create enough of them.

In yesterday's pre game interview I thought Nicky looked shattered, his eyes were bloodshot and he looked mentally jaded , kept repeating the same sentence, being a Manager today is an exhausting experience, needy players, so much to think about and constant pressure, remember this is all new to him, tactics aside I think he needs our continued support and patience.

i,d accept anything to wave non league football goodbye. not all 1~0 are borefests like some high scoring games are memorable. more bothered about seeing pools in the attacking half of the pitch more no matter how many goals we end up scoring.

Bet he was knackered when LS took him to watch Newcastle on Wednesday night.

Bet he was knackered when LS took him to watch Newcastle on Wednesday night.[/quote)

My guess is he's a Leeds fan so probably didn't really want to go.

Unless Landon Smith is the sort of man who says one thing and does another, which I very much doubt, Nicky Featherstone has the support and patience of the person who matters till the end of this season at least.

Us fans may as well get used to the novelty of a stable set up because no amount of moaning will get Feaths the sack. Half a dozen straight defeats might, but realistically that's not going to happen - we're bound to draw at least a couple Seriously, we look nailed on to finish somewhere betwen 8th and 10th this season.

Trigger-happy Raj Singh sacked 11 managers, mostly with the fans' backing. That worked out well, didn't it?

"Nicky Featherstone has the support and patience of the person who matters till the end of this season “
Reading between the lines thats exactly what LS said, You have untill the end of the season to prove yourself.

actually thats fair enough. better than owners who bring their own man in at the first opportunity only to find no improvement has been made. the interesting thing will be if we do bring new players in. what will they be like, what positions they play and will it make him change tactics. doubt he,ll get the fans backing id we sign attack minded players only to continue with a safety first approach that means he only knows one way to play the game to suit him.

NF in an interview i heard yesterday was asked if the current squad were capable of a front 2, To which he replied NO!

So if he gets the players he is after, Then logically he can then play with 2 up top.
Time will tell.
Thing is with the current squad, If you don,t even try it then you will never know.

AND what is the formation after 60mins, Its certainly not 1 up top.
Did you not realise that NF.

His interviews at times are full of holes, And i have no doubt LS will have noticed that.

If we don't have the players to have 2 up front then why is he looking at Holohan and Wearne rather than strikers?
He just says whatever to defend his choice of tactics and team selection.
If I recall things correctly Nicky your starting 11 hasn't scored in the last 3 games - there's a clue there isn't there?

I'd like to think they aren't the only players being looked at. We should know in the next week or so.

Scoring a goal? You will be on sky sports tomorrow supporting Keane coming out with thought provoking analysis like that .

Rochdale are a team hell bent on promotion but ManiD is not making the starting line-up.
We need a couple of goal scorers better than ManiD to achieve promotion next season imho!

agree, but we need to be looking at those from league 1 and 2 to do it like wrexham and stockport did. at the moment we do not know where we will be shopping at. think LS came out with that dreaded sustainability word which to me always means doing things on the cheap. its going to be yet another wait and see and the length of the plan he has to get back into the efl.

NF said this week when asked about 2 up top that in his opinion the squad was not capable of that system.
He also stated he expects 3-4 players in this week, And he has the final say on the players, Bold statement.
Which means, Unless i heard wrong we will become attack minded when HIS players arrive.

On the other hand, this is Pools. For years us fans have been set up for a let down. I watch the developments with great interest but cannot help being sceptical.

A decent team with home gates of 6000 every home game would go a long way towards sustainability!

We’ll all be watching with bated breath, the postman’s van arriving outside the Vic, unless Amazon’s supplying them.
Mind you if Amazon’s supplying them they’ll offer us several optional players with free postage.

His (NF) interviews just becoming bizarre.
Apparently its been a tough week(3 games) players tired

But no changes to the line up ?
So Brackley PART TIME also had 3 games, Including working their jobs.

The also had to travel to Truro City MIDWEEK traveled on the day of the match and returned after the game, Then work.

Somebody is running out of excuses, Or just taking the piss.

Cant disagree with that.

Fret ye not, Feaths is still 'hoping' that several new faces will descend on the Vic during the course of this week - but best not hold ye breath.

Dear Mr Featherstone,
Please look at the NL Table and look at the stats of Halifax and HUFC.
Despite losing 11 games compared to our 7, Halifax have crept into a playoff spot.
Furthermore they have shed 39 goals compared to our 26. SO WHY ARE WE BEHIND HALIFAX?

Well I will tell you that it is because your negativity as both a player and manager. A draw is TWO points LOST which is not a great deal better than the 3 lost for losing.
Draws will be our club's downfall as well as yours!!

I believe you are right.

I think he can safely be accused of being ultra cautious….going by the games under his stewardship.

We're not going to be relegated so what's the point in playing every game not to lose?
As Landon said, the playoffs are still in sight so let's have some fun, either sign better players or release the shackles.

to be fair has he put the shackles on. no different to grayson as these were his signings and tactics were reliant on defence and making us hard to beat. problem with that especially at home is it made us hard to win games. if any new players do come in it will indicate whether or not he will change his stance.

certainly do not thing nicky is cloughie reincarnated but what team would others have started with at brackley and any changes they would make for the shots at home. i,d have played the same team at brackley but would drop hunter for folarin next saturday unless we actually sign some attackers.