Calm Derwent.
Raj is not going to leave because of something Kevin has said, Or any of us for that matter.

Raj is not going to leave because of something Kevin has said, Or any of us for that matter.

Finally a bit of reality which may offend the Drama Kings.

But you were very consistent, vociferous bricks in the wall of the Raj out clique.
Pointless now trying to pull the tired old ‘Nowt to do with me Guv’ routine, your part of it.

It's just poor professionalism for me, it's their job for Christ's sake, they really should know what mistakes they are making, before having to watch the re-runs of the match afterwards. For example that Ebbsfleet second goal on Saturday, it was the player who gave away the needless free kick leading to it, one thing you don't do when running down the clock is gift the other team a chance to put the ball into the box ... sinful.
It's mistakes like this, poor marking, not retaining possession for any length of period and lazy ,static, ponderous play which has plagued the whole season so far, unforgivable really.

Going back to the origin of this thread, I believe John Askey to be an honest man who is giving his all (unlike many of his players) and is obviously hurting given the current plight of the club. His post match interviews are becoming increasingly depressing to watch as he struggles to offer explanations for his side’s poor performances

Askey is of course no rookie therefore you would think that he would have contacts within the game whom he could turn to for advice in situations such this. It may be beyond the club’s current financial means to recruit a ‘defensive coach’ as someone recently suggested but surely seeking a bit of sound advice would not go amiss?

Before anyone suggests that the currently available defensive players representing Pools are purely and simply utter shite, it should be remembered that most of them are not rookies either but well paid professionals who have previously represented other clubs at this or higher levels.

My view is that Askey should NOT be dismissed (not that therge club can afford to sack him anyway) but given more time to resolve the defensive issues as the injured players gradually return to action and hopefully ease pressure on the defence via keeping possession and - hopefully - scoring more goals than the defence concedes as was the case during the early stages of the season.

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Of course I started this thread and have always had 100% backing for the guy. I know he has a difficult task. Our best players injured early in the season, a small squad and no continuity with the team. However, he and us know that the problems are primarily in defence and midfield. For me the whole team should be coached in the art of defending and this should have been a priority. As others have said in our normal jobs if we where doing the basics wrong we would be pulled up by the boss and given a development plan which should be reviewed regularly . Once the manager has ingrained a way to defend on the squad and stopped leaking goals confidence spreads and he can work on the midfield. He has failed to do this. We are in the national league now, still a difficult league but not as strong this year as previous and the squad he has, even inspite of injuries should be at least in a play off spot. Ok mid table is not a disaster but the way we are playing is very worrying. We are miles of the pace and playing like a northern league side. It’s unbelievable how far we have slipped and it’s got to stop soon. The buck stops at Askey and Sweeney. Two guys with loads of experience who don’t seem to understand how to install correct and basic methods in to players who are not playing to their potential. I personally think Askey will walk if we are in the bottom 4 by Christmas. I want the guy to succeed but his interviews and demeanour worry me. Two weeks to work on the team and no
Improvement is very worrying. The team needs someone to build confidence and get back to basics to rescue this season. Askey must have contacts in the game to help him. Nothing wrong in asking advice.

It's just poor professionalism for me, it's their job for Christ's sake, they really should know what mistakes they are making, before having to watch the re-runs of the match afterwards. For example that Ebbsfleet second goal on Saturday, it was the player who gave away the needless free kick leading to it, one thing you don't do when running down the clock is gift the other team a chance to put the ball into the box ... sinful.
It's mistakes like this, poor marking, not retaining possession for any length of period and lazy ,static, ponderous play which has plagued the whole season so far, unforgivable really.

Askey has brought in numerous players permanently and on loan and to my mind apart from Mani D non of them have really improved the team.

Cant argue with anything you say in your post but what about the injury plague? Is it just bad luck or something else?

What's What's happened to the days of row Z the ball, kicking it into touch up the field, killing the play. Why do all teams these days think they can play like Real, City and the rest of European standard rubbish. Boring play

I really hope it is bad luck rather than down tools or over training them. Then again, what we see, you got to question, do we even train or talk to each other about tactics and markings. Sometimes it looks like 11 blokes in a park playing footie.

Good point about hoofing the ball into row Z, or in the days gone by Clarence Road or even the railway lines, but I'm also concerned that when we are leading we aren't knocking it pointlessly across the back four, or between midfield and the back, isn't pretty to watch but it's part of the game, it's called running the clock down, fans can sometimes not help either by seeming to think that when your ahead you should be relentlessly attacking or going for goals constantly, surely if you win all of your games 1-0 your doing something right?,as I said in my earlier post our ball retention is lousy, we lose possession straight away, players can't shield the ball and are brushed aside far too easily, I have this discussion with my mate Mr.Horden constantly and his opinion is that we sign players who have maybe had flaws/weaknesses picked up in medicals that we either miss or overlook, hence they always get injured due to those issues.

no coach or manager can get a player to play above their ability on the pitch.

I think you can add Mancini to that.