The Poolie Bunker

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He has got to go the guy is clueless. He is full of contradictions in that he is aware of our failings upfront in that he had 3 attackers on for the last 15 mins in which we scored . Keeping things the same when something is not working is just insane . All of know that the team is lacking confidence particularly at the top side of the pitch. So what do you do when you are trying to find it . You go back to basics . I see no sign of this . We haven’t had midweek games for awhile now so where is the evidence of strategies developed in training to get us back to basics . Where is the evidence of team meetings to discuss where we are going wrong and how we can put things right . Where is the energy, where is the width, where is the improvements in crossing , set pieces. Why don’t we have more men in the box . Why don’t we shoot more instead of trying to over play . Why don’t we hustle and bustle in the box more. Why do we rarely score from corners when we have a tall side. Why don’t we test their keeper by shooting sooner and make the keeper party with numbers running in to intercept. Why do we cross with the ball to near to the keeper rather than to his side . So many observations but it’s the same every week . I tell you what we will get thrashed by Richdale if we play one man upfront again . This guys has no tactical nouse . Ok as an assistant but that’s it. Thoughts guys

Buying time seems to be the theme….but we have to ask how many other managers have been in the same predicament here…?
This cannot go on, this changing the manager roulette wheel, I’m past blaming managers……..but I doubt that’s the problem.

It's a dilemma though, when it's not working do you stick or twist? Featherstone has had a similar start to Grayson and like Grayson the wheels have fallen off. Let's not forget Featherstone was in charge for both of the humiliations against Gainsborough and Anstey too. The bloke is totally clueless and one dimensional imo. Whatever's going in or not regarding ownership or other issues within the club it's the manager who's responsible for getting the best results with the squad we've got, even his staunchest supporters cannot say he's achieving that can they?
We had free kicks yesterday around the halfway line and never once put the big lads in the box and launched the ball, instead every time taking a quick free kick and often going back to our own keeper to launch it long into the middle of the pitch, wtf is that all about?
Starting with 1 up top and 2 defensive midfielders at home is a joke. Why can he not see that Jay Benn is terrible as a defender and poor going forward pretty much turning back every time he gets up the pitch? Why does he not see that Reid's strength is running into the ball behind the defence not playing with his back to goal? He keeps saying we'll watch the game back and see where we need to do better then we do exactly the same next match. He's way out of his depth imo and I just can't see him having the nous to turn things around.

You can blame some of the managers but they can only pi** with the c**ck they have, until we sign some quality players for a manager to work with we will languish in this division for ever mid table season after season.

So do you think he's getting the best out of the squad he has?
Every manager has to piss with the cock they've got so to speak, but when you're pissing without even undoing your fly it's going to end badly and how many times do you piss yourself before you do something differently.
I agree we've got a lot of players who are not performing to their best, that's always been the case but when players arrive here with decent pedigrees, or start off looking to be above average then you have to ask why they're not doing the business.
The manager can't be blameless just because we've got an issue with the owner.

The issue with the owner is the quality of players a manager can afford to sign, over the last 2 seasons free agents whose club declined to keep them as they weren’t good enough.

apart from getting campbell to start playing i can see no improvement in the latter days of graysons regime. wonder how he would have coped if our injury list had been bigger like it was in graysons last few games with only one centre back available who is the poorest of the 3 on our books.

That's utter bollocks, quite a few were offered new contracts by teams in this league or even higher leagues so hardly cast offs?
And you declined to answer the question (not for the first time eh), in your opinion is Fev getting the best out of the squad?

at least the teams above us are ones who i,d guess have higher budgets than us and not some outfit who are happy with a low 4 figure crowd. under our present ownership and its direction we,ll be further fown the pecking order next season if two teams with some money to spend end up being relegated.

Boreham Wood are above us… Boreham Fucking Wood. They barely get 1000 at home, and they only got promoted last season. As did Scunthorpe. Boreham Wood won’t be spending more than we are, they just haven’t pissed it up the wall on spraffers, hasbeens and just straight up bad players like Danny Johnson, Ferguson, Benn et all…

But in the right part of the world for loan signings.

Don't they have a link with Arsenal for their development teams to play at their stadium, think they get a decent sum for it too.

They have three players on loan, one from Chelsea, the others from York and Barrow which are hardly on their doorstep. Besides, we have Evans on loan from Millwall, and have signed good loan players from southern teams in the past (Dan Kemp, Burey, Odusina come to mind). Not to mention other good loanees from up this end (Cartwright this year for example before he unfortunately got injured, or Cleary last year).

We obviously had a better recruitment team in the past, doubtless coupled with a significantly higher budget than Raj was prepared to provide this season following his antics of last summer. Having said that, as PTID mentions above it's the managers job to get the very best out of the players that are available to him and be prepared to react positively to events on the pitch by changing tact, players during the match in progress - and working on set pieces etc in the training sessions. As far as I can see Feaths is not 'doing the business' in respect of any of these basic requirements.

yes, and arsenal lasses play there home games there also.

kemp was from mk dons and cleary wba. hardly london based clubs. they could sign a complete new squad from players playing inside the M25 without them moving. we have not got that luxury as other ne teams have not been a big help to us for years.

one thing all managers have one thing in common is that they cannot polish a turd. feaths is no better or worse than others since challinor left. he needs a magicians kit this christmas and not a book on football tactics.

Of course the manager is totally blameless for team selections, tactics, and substitutions isn't he? We had no right to expect our team to beat the likes of Scunthorpe, Yeovil, Anstey Nomads, or Gainsborough Trinity with the players we've got then?
Featherstone is being found wanting, what was it 78 mins for a shot on target at home?

They have a bigger market to shop at and a bigger variety to pick from.

Yes - I used Cleary as an example of someone who wasn’t from a london based club. And you can get to King’s Cross from Milton Keynes in just over an hour it’s basically like going from Hartlepool to Northumberland. As I said we also signed Evans, another from a club down there, who has also been decent. The location plays a part yes, but it’s mostly down to our terrible scouting and recruitment that we haven’t got a good team. Just being some shithole club in the southern area of the country doesn’t automatically mean that you sign good players or are a good team.

So, are you asserting that NO manager is capable of bringing the best out of a struggling player regardless of his experience and man-management skills?

He needs to go to Specsavers after claiming Reid wasn't isolated against Braintree or questioning if he was isolated against Scunny, everyone else can see it but he can't!!
"Most teams play with a lone striker" he says, well not against us they don't Nicky. And those that do have a mobile midfield who gets close to that striker to support him Nicky!

Loads who are currently in work in the Football League and some who are in work in the NL could improve the current squad. Would any of them come to Pools even supposing Raj was prepared to break the bank to get them?

Only the jobless and desperate are prepared to risk Raj's ridiculous record on hiring and firing. The chairman is the problem - has been for years, will be after he sacks Featherstone.

I dunno about ‘post match Featherstone’, but the way it’s going it could be ‘post-mortem Featherstone’ the way things are going…breaking up in mid-air comes to mind.

Only fair to say that Featherstone deserves a lot of credit for the excellent away result at Rochdale.

He also praised the fans on several occasions for the away support last night, so it is only right that after the disappointments of the last few matches, that he gets the praises for an outstanding team performance last night.

And as he says in the post match interview, we need to back that up at Woking with a similar result and performance!

just name one who could make our team into a league 2 one. this thing also about players not trying is another one fans use to knock them and the club. really doubt any pro or even a semi pro footballer goes out on the pitch and not try. players vary from the ones who run around a lot but do nothing chasing obvious lost causes to the ones who may look disinterested but do something positive when they get involved. if there are a couple of shirkers in the side i,m sure there team mates would sort them out better than a manager could do. well thats if the game hasn,t changed that much since i knew numerous players.

lets say he is doing a better job with the team than he is in post match comments. he never looks comfortable and they are usually a rinse and repeat. think it might be better if someone else from the coaching staff has a go. when buster gets interviewed its interesting and we learn stuff. not knocking feathers as i know quite well if someone put a mic infront of me i,d dry up.

His tactics last night were spot on and all was going well until we had to make changes. That's when Rochdale started to get the upper hand and the reason is quite clear and simple, we have no strength in depth. We were comfortably the better team until our best defender and our best attacker ran out of steam. There was only one team who looked the part for the first hour and it wasn't Rochdale.
If the powers that be can actually see what is needed and then purposely go all out to recruit what is needed then we have a chance.
The money to pay for what is needed will be provided by at least an additional 1000 on the gate if we show that we are determined to give the manager the backing that is painfully obvious is needed.
So how about it
.

It wasn't Fevs fault when we lose, it was the players, the fans, Joe Monks, RSs fault but he deserves credit for last nights result? Yes he deserves a lot of credit for the way we played and got a great win last night, but the criticism he got for the previous 3 league games was deserved too. That's how football works generally, managers and coaches live and die based on results.
Hopefully he'll continue with more attacking football and if he does I'm sure the results will improve, we absolutely dominated most of the game against the league leaders so there's not much to fear. Crazy really when he played so defensively against lesser opposition although he did claim all of the games were against very tough and good sides.

Got it in one. Charman-Reid-Campbell as a front 3 gave the Rochdale defence loads of problems. Francis-Johnson-Campbell gave them none at all. They had 20-odd minutes to attack non-stop and it's a bit of a surprise that they didn't get the equaliser, especially with McNally off the field.

That was Charman's first start since the back end of October and McNally's first time on the pitch since mid-September. We'll be back to square one without some proper reinforcements in January if they're crocked again.

My heart sinks everytime Johnson comes on the pitch. God loves a trier, but he's not quick, wins nothing in the air and has failed to score in over 25 games for Pools including the cup ties. He's a free pass for opposition defences.

i,d say at our standard every side will create some problems and some will differ from others. there are good, average and poorer sides in the league but not one that is walking the league or one who is getting a hammering week in week out. his problem is fear in what they bring instead of just respect. in some ways the rochdale game was a free hit where nobody really expected us to win especially how we did it. question is will he do the same in our next couple of games where results are more expected and go back to safety first. there are some really big games coming up due to new ownership and his future as well as those of the players are on the line. know i would not to go out with a whimper and being negative.

Fevs says Brad Walker is on his way to recovery........phew!

But not for a few weeks, how many is a few ?

are the WD40 injections going to help.

From what…?
I can imagine no problem on the pitch where he’s the answer.

Hartlepool United's manager Nicky Featherstone recently confirmed that Brad Walker suffered a calf tear during training. He experienced a minor setback when trying to run again but is expected to return to training in the near future. The club is managing his rehabilitation carefully and does not expect him to play in the next few games, but he is anticipated to be available in a months time.

For me he looked totally clueless and lost in that post match interview. A man with no idea what to do next.

Thats why i posted Real post match interview.
Listen to the Sutton Manager, Beneath.