again its modern keepers who all seem to do this rather than the safe pair of hands you once saw and keepers looked dodgy when they had to palm things down first.

mentioning madine, i know he has not had much game time or fully match fit but so far what i have seen of him is totally underwhelming. is he actually finished as a player and really what has he to prove anyway after the career he has had playing in non league football at the fag end of his career.

Yep i said this last night - if the lad really is thinking he going to show off in his 6 months here and get himself a EFL deal he needs his head looking at big style ! He will not go far amongst us supporters nor DS if he just strolls about and misses clear headers on goal like last night. I really hope he is just getting match fit and sharp but im struggling to see how Howard part 2 was playing in the championship just a year or so ago ? I would of expected some immaculate touches of the ball - keeping hold of it and playing in people. He looks about has suited to NL as any big striker ive seen - Mark Beck looks better than him just now.

I think a bit of patience is in order. Madine was out of football for 18 months before he started training with us - we only signed him 3 weeks ago. Pools have a terrific fitness regime with Carl Dickinson and co. - if anyone can get him really sharp and firing they will.

Might take another month till he's really match fit but it's a 46 game season that doesn't finish till May. Give the big man time.

Well where to start with that game last night. First of all the ground. Not a bad ground but out in the sticks and 3 sided, they do well to get 1900 been where it is, though they do put busses on and there fans to be fair created some atmosphere.

Now to the game first half has to be up there with one of the worst performances ive ever seen, shockingly bad, ferguson crikey say no more, but certainly not the only one sloggit couldnt pass to a blue shirt. Very lucky to be just one down at the break. What last night proved to me is that first half team is nowhere near good enough, with the tactics employed. Midfield is slow and devoid of any ideas and when we play the good teams, they will have a field day against us.

I honestly think if that continued like that last night sarl would of been on the brink. Second half began mancini comes on we get the ball down, low and behold boston go from world beaters, to looking very poor and pools a class above. Take note sarl it worked your changes. Completely different charman comes on looks a class above, we play through the midfield, we started breakung through them at will and it should of been 3 or 4. Mancini a class above, featherstone still our best midfielder by a million miles and we go from utter shite to a quality team all of a sudden.

Boston are obviously no mugs but what we cant keep doing is play like we have been we are there for the taking. Play like we did second half and play offs should be a minimum.

just why did boston move grounds as the old one looked bigger from what i saw of the 3 sided new one on the stream and wasn,t in a bad position.

Not sure really, its a disaster waiting to happen these out of town grounds, when you hit bad times no one will want to go. Let down big time by having just 3 sides and the floodlights were dreadful pitch looked half in darkness. I hope pools never decide to move, the ground would have to be shit hot to get fans travelling to an out of town ground.

suppose only time will tell which one of us right. it could easily go either way i feel.

Madine looked a bit fitter last night. Got to remember the guy has hardly played. This is like a pre season for him.

I agree.
What do we do give every other player plenty of time to recover apart from him.
When fully fit would like to see Madine n Manny start n destroy division 5 defences.

Totally against this system of MannyD up front on his jack.
Good manager me like.

nobody likes change especially ones that are not changes for the better. funny how these new grounds quickly age to look worse than their old ones used to be. scunthorpe being the best example of this followed by walsall. nobody will ever mention the bogs anymore like at bootham crescent and millmoor in these new modern grounds that actually got people talking about those old places the modern flat packs will ever do.

Madine is getting a little bit more because of his CV and where he has come from all his career. I am one to blame in being the " whos the joker" " should be better than this" " why hasnt he scored a brace yet" ! its just my impatient nature. But ive watched football long enough to know the crack. Ive seen players like this turn up and do the business (with Pools too) and others turn up and do a Howard !
Dont get me wrong the kid has it in his locker and will produce no doubt the goods - hell i even think one game he will get himself a trick and play out his skin ! Just needs to make sure we have the game plan and players behind him to make that happen!

The Bunkers very own "Marc White"

Agree with most of that but thought Boston were piss poor from start to finish (thankfully)
Think we all agree the midfield isn’t working , though i thought Sheron did well
At right back.
The players are there (a good manager would work out the
Midfield) but I worry sarll natural instinct will take over and it will be back to
the physical stuff Saturday
The fact he thought we were doing ok 1st half and set up the way we did because he was worried about Boston is frankly fucking shocking

On Madine he is nowhere near fit enough yet and didn’t bring much of anything to the table but have to be patient as he has the pedigree
So glad mani D scored

Agree Mr Hogans

He put his body in the way at the death last night to prevent their player getting a clear head on goal.

I thought Boston were poor for the majority of the game, we controlled most the first half without creating much and I don't think we played many long balls forward. Second half was great too watch and needs to be the way forward in terms of tactics and selection. We don't need three destroyers in midfield, 2 is enough and mancini or Campbell used as no10s.
As far as madine is concerned it's very early days for the lad,I'm sure he'll get fitter and sharper.

Pretty much agree with all of this, getting dodds back will help too, key is getting more players nearer mani D hopeful sarll sees sense but not sure he will

We might even see Wallace back, he played and captained the team in the Durham Challenge Cup yesterday, they got beat by Chester le Street managed by a Michael Nelson ?

Interesting debate on Gary Madine, my own view is he seems hungry, putting his body on the line defensively.

He's clearly talented with the ball to feet, there have been glimpses of this including setting up Featherstone recently at home but our style of hoofball have limited this.

His movement when we have the ball has been really good at times, see the movement for his header vs Halifax (he really should score though). Plus on Tues vs Boston there was a moment he peeled off and instead of Mancini playing him in. 1v1, Mancini took a shot himself.

Madines movement when we don't have ball started off non existent and is still very low. This area needs huge improvement.

His presence in the air, challenging for long balls hasn't been great either, this also needs improvement.

Howard has been mentioned, but Leon Clarke is a more recent example. He simply did not look like scoring, I don't think he was able to get a single scoring opportunity, he was terrible. Already Madine, who looks maybe 50% fit does look like scoring and assisting, there is a massive difference.


There isn't pressure on Sarll to play Madine, not when we have Mani D along with two of Charman, Palace kid & Grey for the wings and Mancini (with Campbell back up) for no 10.

I hope Madine will avoid injury and get another 4 weeks of cameos, allowing him to build up match fitness and sharpness, then we could see a top striker at work.

actually how long does it take for a player to become match fit even in their early 30,s. training with the rest, possibly doing stuff on their own. they are not exactly sat at a desk all day and nipping in for a big mac and fries at dinner time. is he or the club too frightened he might break down again.

Training and practice games aren't the same thing as a league match with points and bonuses at stake. A reserve team playing in a competitive league would help but would probably be too much of an expense for us.

Most of the players should be match fit by Christmas.