The Poolie Bunker

Ok guys I would be interested in your thoughts on where we are at the moment . It is apparent to most fans that our problems in goal scoring are caused by lack of creativity and service in the final third. Looking at it from an analytical point of view it is apparent that we don’t have enough width and not enough attacking midfielders with enough quality to improve assists. Therefore my question to you is
Is the manager and coaching staff at fault for not improving the skills of the top half of the team. I know it’s early days with the new owner and I understand we are looking at new players to get us through the season . Further do you think Featherstone cautious mindset is detrimental to progress or do you think he has got it in him to be more attack minded. My feeling like most is playing not to lose is more difficult to sustain . Although Arsenal did it in the 80s .

I forgot to mention imo that our playing style is a hard watch . We are not easy on the eye and playing reasonable football for 20 minutes or so , usually when we are a goal down is crazy

In 50 years of being a Poolie I've never known such a negative reaction to 2 wins in a row.
Very lucky v Alty.
Never a penalty n they miss a sitter in injury time.

Gateshead never a red card which eventually turned the game for us.
Pure shite before that.

If we can carry this system to 5 or 6 wins in a row then it works

My view is we should be playing 4 4 2.
Let Charman receive the ball in and around the penalty area from Brown n Folarin or Daly.
Charman under these tactics is mostly having to create his own chances then convert them.

Just basically start with our better players to get us through these next few fixtures before a tuff February n brutal April on paper.
UTP.

Anyhow after listening to Smithys latest video on YouTube I'm confident we can have a Manager n team to hit the top 7 next season.

UTP.

Id Luv it if Boston beat Southend today n we get lucky again.

Funny old game.
UTP.

it took more than that in our last two games to wake em up out of their slumber. the mcnally incident against alty and the sending off on tuesday did the job that a manager should be doing. possibly feathers team talk is taken from dads army with words of don,t panic and the bumbling actions of capt.mainwaring.

Maybe Private Godfrey (Lenny) is still in and around the first team. If that is the case, can only assume it's temporary until Raj finishes his new gaffe!

As the goals in these recent matches matches come with substitutions in the last quarter of the match, the ultra defensive previous period turns out to be nothing more than an dreary exercise in becoming the kings of the 0-0 draw…and boring as hell.
It’s football for the fussy purist and devoid of any ‘entertainment’ for the fans, which is why it’s not very popular for the normal fans.
In reality we’re treading water, but lack that bite to get into the playoffs.
We should as a club be laying down the foundations for next season, including a new manager, because Isee nothing inspirational out there to reassure me at present.
Football fans are funny souls, the want to be winners but entertained as well, this present offering is not the answer, time to start afresh.

The keeper is the start for Upgradism going into next season.
Good that that position is already sorted.

Maybe Smithy honors contracts so we Gunna suffer Fevs till game 46.

But when he sees the takeover crowds dropping off till then he will realise its a no brainer to Scatter Fevs.

If Bromley n Crawley can get fast promotions then we can.

Id be truly shocked if we don't hit top 7 next season.

Patience for now then reap the rewards.

Thats my confident strategy.

UTP.

Is the midfield the biggest problem though? Campbell, Miley, Daly, Sheron, have all shown themselves to be more than capable at this level when played to their strengths.
Reid up top on his own is a bigger problem, he can't or won't win headers, hold the ball up, bring others into play. Yesterday for example he looked lazy and disinterested and was effectively a waste of a place. His strengths lie in running onto the ball behind defenders and his finishing is generally decent.
For me if Fev wants to play 1 up top he needs to bring in a forward who's strengths are in holding the ball up, winning headers, and bringing others into the play - a Madine type. If not he needs to trust either Sheron or Hunter to do the dirty work in the middle of the park rather than playing both, and get someone playing closer to Reid.
I simply can't understand why he doesn't watch the video of the Rochdale game and try to reproduce that kind of performance every match, it's as if he's as stunned as us and thinks it was nothing more than a freak performance that we're not capable of consistently. He really should be realising in that performance that the squad is capable of better and it's his job to improve the performances and results. He's got a fantastic opportunity to kick off his managerial career, or alternatively pretty much bury it.

said it before that its not just a pools thing in todays game. most teams go out not to lose games rather than all out to win them. 1st halfs can be an utter bore with the game only coming to life in the last 20 odd minutes. Big question though is can these subs who change the game do it for a full 90 minutes, Daly for one cannot seem to do for a start and will the others look as good against defences who are not tiring. We just need a few new players in who are big improvements on what we have. but there in no guarentee we will be entertained more with or without fevs.

Reidy is a forward who at all costs will avoid physical contact with goalkeepers and defenders.
That's just the way he is.
So to continue these tactics is ludicrous.
And so easy for the opposition to defend against.

Looking like Fevs is Gunna eventually self inflict his exit from Pools.

I fully appreciate that it's still early days of the new regime but I seriously hope that something happens this week in respect of at least two - but hopefully more signings. Is it just me or does anyone else feel that the club is currently in the doldrums?

Following the excitement of LS' arrival and that showbiz afternoon against Alty, the atmosphere around the town seems to have gone flat, strangely even flatter than during the dying embers of Raj's reign. Feaths seems to be content with talking the talk about new signings and us breaking into the playoff positions, whilst repeating his usual mind-numbing post-match summaries of what went wrong and why we aren't making more of an impact on mediocre opponents.

The returning/new 2,500 fans aren't going to stick around to witness the mediocrity served up against the Heed with seemingly more of the same dished out yesterday. We clearly aren't going to hurt even the mid-table or even lower league sides with the predictable midfield and ineffective strikers. Let's hope something changes the sterile atmosphere this week that rekindles the flames which heralded Landon's revival.

Doldrums maybe isn’t the word I’d use, but it does feel like the excitement has fizzled out somewhat. We’d all love the new owner to come in, put their nuts on the table and make some massive statement signings. The reality is he’s probably looked it and realised our chances of going up this year are very slim with the squad as is. If we can squeak into the playoffs, brilliant, but even then it would be in the final position most likely, and it would be a gauntlet to make it through the rounds. He’s probably thought let’s see how it goes, re-assess in the summer, see what interest is like from the fanbase over the remaining games, and forge a path accordingly. That’s what I hope, at least.

I think you're being a bit over dramatic SJ- the Alty game was only last Saturday - a whole 8 days ago!
In which time we've taken 7 points from 9.

I was at Brackley yesterday and it was definitely 2 points dropped for me. Whilst it's not been the total football we'd all like to see, during the last week- at least it's allowed Landon to see first hand for himself what the issues are and what the current product (football) looks like.

I think we collectively need to keep our powder dry for the next couple of weeks and see who we manage to bring in player wise, to bolster the squad, as well as the possibility of structural additions, like a Director of Football. The first signing, Hayes (who we paid a fee for) has so far been decent and looks like an excellent acquisition.

I think the rest of the season is basically a free hit, for Fev and his audition for the job for next season. With that in mind he should gamble and set up more positively, in a bid to sneak into the playoffs.

I personally think we have the spine of a very good team already in situ- Hayes, Kougan, Parkes, McNally, Miley, Sheron, Reid, supplemented by Charman and Francis. What we need is depth- including a couple of full backs, a couple of wingers, another centre forward and a box to box midfielder.

Sorry, but I wouldn’t be including half those names if I was talking about a promotion winning team. Parkes is 34 not sure how long he has left and if we’re playing 4 CBs McNally needs to be playing there instead of at RB. Sheron is so bad technically I don’t mind him to do a job as a utility player but cannot be starting and finishing 90% of the games like he is now. Charman and Francis have their moments but the end product just isn’t there from either of them. I think out of our starting 11 only 4/5 could start in a team in the playoffs.

If you look at the other teams in the league, Carlisle with the likes of Linney compared to Francis and Charman, it’s night and day. They have Luke Armstrong who’d probably be our best player annd he isn’t even starting half their games. Not to mention likes of York with Pearce, Newby, Stones. Scunthorpe with someone like Callum Roberts. We don’t have any x-factor type players like that.

We need to be building around Kougun, McNally, and Miley - there isn't a spine if there's no CF and that's definitely not Reid's position. But we shouldn't be giving up on this season just yet or waiting until the close season to sign better quality players, we need to start building momentum and increase the crowds right now even if it's quality loanees that are brought in to do it.

once the edl transfer window closes next week non league then is the only option to get players from that level. this is where we should be looking but only time will tell.

Halifax got into the top 7 at the weekend on the back of a 3 game winning streak. Their leading scorers, Harris and Hmami, have got 21 goals between them. Pools leading scorers are Reid with 7 and Oliver with 4 - and Oliver hasn't been on the pitch since October!

As things stand Reid will probably get into double figures by the end of the season. Oliver looks to be permanently crocked. If another golscoring forward isn't signed, where are the goals coming from?

Charman tries plenty of shots but most are as weak as pisswater, same as last season. He's got 3 goals at the minute, same as Daly, Campbell and Francis. I wouldn't back any of them to do more than double that by the end of the April.

Landon was quoted as saying 'we still have a chance of the playoffs so let's go for it and have some fun'. From what I've seen we ain't going to have much fun with the current manager or at least five or six of the current squad. And, as you say, something needs to happen very soon, hopefully before the window slams shut on Saturday.

There isn't a window for NL is there? Still can't understand why we're waiting so long to sign anyone.

Is Francis injured?, he's served his suspension so just wondering why he's not back in the squad, noticed Nathaniel George has done back to York and Pharrell Browns loan has been extended but the 3 of them were getting little game time.

Someone will doubtless correct me if I'm wrong but I think that there is indeed an NL transfer window - but it doesn't occur until very late in the NL season. The window for the PL and EFL closes this weekend, its not possible for EFL clubs to introduce new signings afterwards. However I'm unsure if it's possible for EFL players to join Non-League clubs after the deadline.

Presumably Francis has took a knock in training as he is one of the very few Pools players with an ounce of flair and creativity - or perhaps that's the reason for his absence - Feaths won't be happy with someone who attempts to do something different within his hive collective.

That's the point I was hinting at, three nippy wingers who've been heavily underutilized while here, why are we extending their loans if we don't intend to use them.

The worry is that Landon releases the purse strings to enable two or three decent quality attacking players to be signed up - and Negative Nick keeps them warming the bench until the 60th minute witching hour has elapsed........

In a better place than i thought a few months ago.

Francis has been a naughty boy, We may not see him again.
At least thats what the jibber/Jabber on the net thinks.

Who is he going to leave out, What formation will he play ?

we can sign players from anywhere until the NL deadline comes in. some lg.2 clubs might have to ship players out if they sign more than there allocation allows and i,d guess they would be happier loaning them to NL clubs rather than competitors.