The Poolie Bunker

To all poolie statto's can you please tell me the last time Barker scored a goal with he's head. I have closley watched him over the last six games home and away and noticed he never gets no power behind he's headers has anyone else noticed

They rarely go on target either. Useless get. If Jon daly had missed so many chances he would have got booed off the pitch.

Its ok he scores penalties

Forest away if I remember right. And Gainsborough in the cup if you can count them.

Jon Daley did get booed off the pitch, and on it !

Jon Daly was never ever as bad with his headers as Barker
And even Daly was better at beating defenders than Barker

AT LAST THE PENNY DROPS.

Jon Daly would be more effective than Richie Barker in League One. Discuss.

I said it during Friday's match.
I said we need Daly up front and everyone laughed at me.

poolsdonkey i like the cut of your jib

I thank you.
Only the truth though.

sshhhhhh, you'll have the 'elite' on your case.

the truth ?? THEY CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH !!!!

I can see the argument, but bear in mind Daly was not quick (though maybe fractionally better than Barker). He might have played the hold-up man better, but how many he would have scored is anybody's guess - in this division last time he scored 2 for us, and that was in 18 starts and 12 sub appearances so it's not like he was given no chances.

For what it's worth, I always felt a bit sorry for Daly, as whenever he was on the park the rest of the players (whether under instructions to do so or not) resorted to route 1 football - he was forever having to try and win headers facing his own goal, mid-way inside the opposition half, and invariably no-one was breaking from midfield to get on the end of the knock-downs etc. Had we stuck to playing football, and looked to cross the ball into the box from the bye-line, he may have scored more and it would certainly have been better to watch. Occasionally he showed decent footwork (a goal against Donny springs to mind), but I doubt he would have been the answer to all our prayers this season.

the big feller had time on his side, which barker doesn't.

he was quicker than barker.

he has a better touch than barker.

barker was bought as a replacement for daly, and he isn't.

he didn't miss the sitters that barker has missed this season.

he too could take penalties.

But then neither is Barker.
Daly was a far better player than Barker.
He may only have been a bit faster than Barker but he did manage to take players on.
His headers had power in them.
In my opinion he would be a better man to play up front than Barker is for us.

oh, and he got far more undeserved stick from the intelligentsia in the stands

When i saw Daly play for Stockport i always thought he looked a handful and there best player, i cant remember Barker

Odd that, according to In the Mad Crowd he's scored 4 against us in 7 games... admittedly for Macclesfield a few years back.

Daly's transfer to Pools was greeted with delight by most Stockport fans as they couldn't believe that (a) they'd got rid of him and (b) they'd got a fee for him. Comments on their board were along the lines of "Speed of an asthmatic tortoise". While I think they were being a little harsh, I also think that his goalscoring record is not exactly worth writing home about - Soccerbase shows that in the league he averages less than a goal every five games over a career lasting about 180 games. Most of that was at the level we are at now. For comparison, over a much longer career Barker averages slightly more than a goal every four games.

Barker was what we needed last season, as there was little doubt that he could score goals in League 2. The concern was (and is proving to be accurate) that he would struggle to step up a level as he's not performed in this division before - specifically, his spell at Rotherham. There is little evidence that Daly would be doing a ton better, other than one purple patch in the division below and a few observations. Bear in mind I didn't dislike Daly particularly and have no real axe to grind - but arguing that he'd be pepping up our season is a long shot to say the least - particularly as not long after leaving us he suffered a serious knee injury that has been bad enough he's only played twice this season.

Looking back, when we took this division by storm a couple of seasons running, what was our attacking strategy? The answer is, mobile forwards with the ability to take on a man - particularly Porter and Boyd. Players prepared to make the runs out wide or in the channels, prepared to drop back a bit to receive the ball, and players prepared to back themselves to take on a man. Do we have that sort of forward? Yes. However that is patently not Barker, and not Daly either.... to play the sort of football that benefits them, you need to play with genuine wingers who can get down the line and whip good crosses in. On both flanks. Anyone seen that happen this season?

It all starts up front. Take away Barker, replace him with a partnership perming any two from Porter, Mackay, Brown, Moore - and straight away the easy option of lumping it forward is gone. Players have to think more about what they do. We'll begin to pass it out from the back more, pass it through midfield, look for the runners in the channels or on the flanks. It's worked for us before, and using a number of the players that are still at the club. It's even worked a bit this season. It wouldn't work with Daly....

personally I enjoy watching two smaller,mobile and more skilful players up front than old fashioned centre forwards, purely because if nothing else the team has to play the ball into their feet to get them into the game effectively.
I prefer to watch the team try quick inter-passing, and if it doesn't always come off I don't get frustrated by it because they are trying to play the game in a fashion that entertains the crowd. I don't like to see continuous punts up the pitch for players to chase when they have little chance of making anything from it - there is a time and a place for a quick boot up the pitch when the team is counter attacking, and not routinely doing it when the opposing centre halves are looking at the punt from tens of yards away, with four defenders vs two attackers.

100% agree and this is what weve been spoilt with till the current manager got the job (apart from scooty like)

I don't think Jon Daly was the answer, a better player than some gave him credit for but a pitiful goalscoring record. I don't care what anyone says Daly would not be on 11 goals if he was playing for us and that's even if he was the penalty taker.

Barkers confidence is diminishing by the game, we aren't using him properly the last twenty would be ideal like against Crewe. Keeping him the the starting line-up isn't just detrimental to the team it is to the lad himself, the same happened to Matty Robson's confidence last season when he was allowed to have bad game after bad game while Humphreys was out on loan and before we signed Monkhouse.