The Poolie Bunker

Charlie Caton comes on as a sub and scores on debut. Danny Johnson has been on the pitch in 30 games for Pools including the 3 cup ties and is still firing blanks.

No idea whether Caton will be able to carry on in the same vein but his goals for Chester in the NLN suggest he might.

At the start of the season signing Johnson looked like a masterstroke. Alex Reid and Danny Johnson up front - what could go wrong

It's been obvious for months that there's no point where Johnson suddenly turns a corner, but all Pools have done till yesterday is sign wingers on loan. Wingers never look right playing through the middle (Charman last Saturday )

Will we see Caton and Reid start on Saturday against Sutton? A proper front two? I bloody well hope so!

To be fair, Reid is an utter disappointment too, what is he 6ft2in or so, solidly built, but soft as shite and totally ineffectual as a lone striker/target man. Too often looks to get a foul rather than staying on his feet and using his strength.
We are masters at turning what look like good signings on paper into duds on the pitch.

Bingo.

just because of his height and build it does not mean he is a target man. Where he has scored he was never played as one but pools seem to know better.

Totally agree, his game is about running onto balls through and over the defence or from knock downs from a strike partner. I'm critical of the decision to play him as something he's not more than his performance in the role that obviously doesn't suit him. We did the same with Mani D when playing him as an isolated front man when even though his best performances were in a pairing, although Mani D was more adaptable and capable of making a fist of it.
I honestly believe that if we're to play like that then Johnson is better suited to holding the ball up and playing with his back to goal than Reid is. I'd obviously far rather see us play with a front pairing and a higher press like we did at the start of the season.

Except he's about as mobile as Jack Hunter and almost never wins a header.

Thing is Johnson can't hold the ball up, he's terrible at it, easily pushed off the ball and show's no strength, every time he receives the ball he loses it within seconds.

Now that we have signed Caton who I thought looked pretty good last night, I can see Johnson going out on loan to someone like Spennymoor.

Why not loan him out to a team in our league who we are due to play and stipulate he has to play when the two teams meet!

It's past time Feaths recalled Kian Foreman fom his loan and put him on the bench - he can't possibly do worse coming on than Johnson.

Reid is more of a ‘sniffer’ for goals than a battler…it’s usually a good combination with battler, give it a try….what’s to lose?

So whats happened to Johnson?
Is it our tactics or something else?

We need 2 hard bastads with skill 100% committment.
Allon Baker type players.
Never ever shyed out off physical contact with keepers defenders n sometimes goalposts.

Absolute lazy pussy fuckas today's footballers.
Easily the worst generation ever.
And that makes any form of ambition so much easier.

But for years now we been on a roundabout of replacing shit with shit.

BUT we have a major opportunity to end this from May.

Lets have it
UTP.

Adam Boyd, Joel Porter and Eifion Williams weren't what anyone would call 'hard bastads' but they all scored goals for fun in the greatest ever Pools team. We had hard men in midfield (Tinkler!) and at the back and pure class up front.

I'll settle for some more of that thanks. Alex Reid scored 17 goals in 30-odd games for Wealdstone last season. If he's got a proper centre forward alongside him I can't see any reason why he won't reach that level again.

Reid, Johnson, Charman, Daly, Campbell all came to us highly thought of, wanted by other clubs, and with high expectations of the fans - and we're still waiting for them to turn up.WTF happens to decent players once our managers and coaches get them through the door?

we are always being told we have beaten others off when we sign players, it never tells us who these other clubs are and the standard they are playing at. none of them are shit but some like johnson and daly just have never looked interested and have the cleanest match worn shirts.

Chester were trying to loan Caton before we jumped in, Looked lively at York.
Looks the type to mix it up if needed.

did caton play for chester when they dumped us out of some up competition a few seasons back. his record there was excellent but not too good after. too good for the NLN but not in the EFL so hopefully he is at the standard where he prospers with us.

Yes he scored their second goal in a 2-0 win at the Vic.

I’m going to stick up for Reid here and to a lesser degree Johnson. The problem mostly is not the strikers but the system and the inability to play to the strikers strengths and to improve on what they already have. Now you don’t have to be a coaching genius to understand that a loan striker is completely idiotic . Even Kane would struggle in this team as he is not quick . IMO Feathers and others have been dam right lazy and inept only concentrating on the defense A decent coach would have looked at what attributes each striker possessed and developed a system which mirrored what skills they had and could be tweaked . Hope I’m making sense. So maybe someone on here who is more of a geek can enlighten us on the qualities these guys have based on their history and a formation which will enable us to have at least 2 strikers. I’ve been saying for months we need width, numbers in the box , better passing around the box and a higher shots count in the box. We also need more of the dark arts in the goal area. If that means shoving, standing in front of the keeper so be it. Parks would be good at that. IMO Feathers is just not astute enough. Yes I know we have a small squad. But are we getting the best out of them, no . If he plays one upfront today I will go spare. Thoughts guys???

Further, do you think that Cyril Knowles, Brian Clough or Dave Challinor would have stood for this. They would have had the front line and midfielders out till midnight drumming in to them what was needed and the repercussions for not following instructions . Feathers is too nice and still near some of his colleagues . In management you need to be ruthless and be your own man. Knowles always kept a distance and subsequently everyone played for him . Not saying Feathers is bad . He is just too inexperienced. Ok as an assistant

I reckon its fair to say that Southend or Halifax who will get the 7rh spot don't have superior teams to us.
Problem is our Managers tactics.
Simple as shit is shit.

But then we have to relate back that part of the takeover is contracts have to be honoured.

Smithy got a easy decision to apply from May.
The future will be on his shoulders because I don't think even a Wrexham style budget would turn Fevs into a decent Manager.

It's the old classic.
What will be will be.
UTP.

we need to be tapping another manager up now so they can have a good look at the team before they get the job officially in may. it might be illigal but it happens. needs to see for themselves what they,ll be up against and the players they want out of the present squad.

I like your idea of major change in May, Kev. Why didn't you mention it earlier.