I am now convinced we have lost our league status. We just ain't good enough. Would be over the moon to be proved wrong but you can only dice with death for so long.
Ah well.

hope you're wrong, but not looking good. Will we ever win 2 games in a row ?

We had a decent 20 minute spell in the 2nd half but that's about it. We were fucking bobbins in the first half, couldn't even pass 5 yards to each other. I still think we'll be safe though, it's early days for Hignett and might take a while for us to change our style of football.

At least Hignett can see what needs changing and actually do it.

He knows Magnay ain't a midfielder, probably that Jones is not a left back and learnt that first half formation doesn't work with no one to control and put his foot on the ball in the middle. Much better once we went 4-4-2. 1 minute Painter has chance from 6 yards to put us in front and the next minute were 3-2 down. Small margins.

Punished for a shaky start and one of the worst halves of football Iv seen for a long time.

What really fucks me off is every bastard in the ground knew we were getting royally dicked, down by 2 in 20 minutes and yet another manager who waits until half time to change it around

Every ball Richards touched went askew, Magnay was caught more times than a holiday park carp, grow a fucking backbone and take the fucker off, we could have had an extra 25 minutes to improve like we did when Hawkins came on

I think people are underestimating the conditions tonight, the wind made clearing your lines defending the Rink End very difficult, we really should of scored at least four times in second half (we missed two open goals) so they found it is difficult as we did first half. The game hinged on thirty seconds were we missed a ridiculous chance then our normally reliable keeper made a massive rick.

At least we're looking more a threat going forward and capable of scoring goals. At least we showed some fight and character and probably should have won. Gutted with the outcome obviously but I can see some positives.

Not sure how we didn't score in that little spell before half time either. In a week we look far more of a threat, defensively we were poor but it wasn't an easy night for defenders.

Pretty much my view of it. Also thought we lost a bit of momentum when Thomas went down and needed treatment, they seemed to regroup a bit after that.

Totally agree with you. Wind was extremely strong and their tactics of probably getting ahead and trying to hold onto their lead when they had the wind against them.

Also think Woods should have been taken off much sooner, I can't remember many passes that actually went to a blue and white shirt.

I felt even at 2-0 we would get back into it. As above the game hinged in a 2 minute period where we missed a sitter and we gifted them yet another goal.

We need to stamp that part out very quickly.

Chip, if you were in charge of that team tonight, would you have left it until half time to change it?

If we go...

Who stays, who jumps ship, who is good enough to help us bounce back at the first time of asking...

Cheltenham responding great to their relegation.

Hignett is here for the long run i believe - League 2 or National League.

Is it true that hignett has come out and said he is happy with the squad already and we don't need any players in? We could be heading to the conference if we don't get a quality central midfield player and the defence sorting out once and for all.

if we keep a settled team, its enough to move us clear of drop...albeit not saying like mid table as that's a long way off and have a difficult run.

but why a winning team was changed to take the most comfortable footballer out of middle is beyond me, for someone who has came out and said they don't want to play in the middle. Duckworth seems to be out for an eternity with a stomach strain and will be much better at right back. Think Carroll is better than Jones as an actual full back also. Although anyone with Thomas in front will struggle being outnumbered cos he doesn't track back enough.

Agree with PJ's earlier posts largely.

Re: Mr Billingham above - he said he wants to back the players at the club/give them a chance and isn't looking to bring anyone in if memory serves.

The first half performance was properly bobbins. Our vets team would've given them a game. But if you look at the second half, yes we upped the tempo and were a different team, but perhaps we underestimated the effect of the wind? (in terms of the first half performance being dog dirt).

One thing to be positive about in my opinion is the fact we were able to almost completely turn around an abysmal first half - it's often pretty difficult to turn things around when you start so badly. Even at the crap level I play at it's clear - you over play / over think things and end up playing worse, so fair to the lads for being able to do that.

One thing that Hignett said that worries me a bit is saying he knows how he wants us to play. How can you do this without fully assessing the squad at your disposal and it's strengths/weaknesses? I accept he knows a fair few of the lads already but since he was here last there have been plenty in and out.

You've gotta be kitten me, that would be a ruff game to watch.

Our last three home defeats were against Exeter, Stevenage and Notts County whereas, in their last three home games, York City have beaten all three of them. That for me is a good measure of the current difference between the two teams. When Hignett was asked about loan signings he scoffed at the idea. I keep hearing that the squad is ok and that the problem was Moore and his chop and change tactics. I don't attend matches anymore so really haven't the right to criticise but I have watched the live games on TV and I do watch the extended highlights on Poolsworld. On top of that there are people who's opinion I rate.
Based on all that my deduction is.
We need to play players in their preferred positions. Stop playing central defenders at full back for instance and full backs in midfield.

A Grimsby supporting friend of mine told me that Magnay was a right back who liked to bomb forward and possessed a good shot, who could also play in central defence.

We need to scour the loan market and get a good defensive left back, who can handle the fact that Thomas is another in the long line of exciting attacking wingers who doesn't recognise that he needs to help out his full back. A Mirfin like centre half wouldn't go amiss as well.

We need at least two central midfielders worthy of the name, although Hignett may be able to shake Walker back to life.

Last but not least, we need our strikers to find the net.

If the majority or all my deductions are heeded and acted upon like pronto, then we have a chance.

Just my opinion like.

Yes, I read that, too. Which is puzzling when you think about it. Apparently there's money to be spent but the manager of a struggling team doesn't want to spend it ??

Maybe he's just backing the current players publicly as he feels confidence is low? Wasn't Moore slated for the opposite?

If a player became available who would improve the team I'm sure he'd not refuse him.

Its still a very strange thing to say. Were third bottom of the football league I think even pools players would acknowledge that they probobly need a few extra decent players in the squad. Maybe theirs just no money available to hignett? If we don't sign a quality midfielder and defender we will struggle to stay up. Notts county fans were even wanting thier own team to get beat last night because they want rid of their manager they hadn't won here for 50 years they were a team in a dissaray and we still lost. Coxall has one last chance to put things right with the squad if he fails to do that now to me it wont be Moore ir hignett to blame if we go down it will rest on his shoulders.

I'm not sure if it's already too late for us, what with 4 more away games to play than at home, we have some really hard games coming up, we really needed 3 points last night. Our last 4 games of the season are Accrington at home, Oxford away, Portsmouth at home then Plymouth away, I honestly can't see us getting much from those 4 fixtures, especially as they are currently 4th, 3rd, 6th and 2nd respectively.

Please Pools prove me wrong

They have tried to sign players and have signed players, loads since the end of last season.

We had bids accepted and they didn't want to come and these bids weren't made up, Danny Hylton spoke about the one we had accepted to Oxford. Ultimately it comes down to the manager to decide what areas of the team need strengthening and who to bring in. It's not as simple as 'spending the TV money' the players have to come. Would he have even been any good next to Paynter? They're pretty similar, It's as if Moore was trying to sign anyone.

I agree about a centre midfielder and a centre half entirely but Moore seemed to think we needed wingers and strikers. I don't think we did bad in what we brought in, we looked a genuine threat going forward last night in Thomas we have a player with real potential, masses of pace and creativity although he can be a little frustrating more than a little but if he had consistency to his game and a bit more composure he'd be nowhere near this level. Potentially a good signing though. James is obviously a bit down on confidence after the year he's had but he played pretty well last night and you know what you'll get in terms of work rate. Hopefully he just needs a goal or two. Paynter has scored 10 goals in 20 starts, so we have a striker regularly finding the net. It also seems Hignett knows how to use Gray, which Moore didn't, and will get the best out of him I thought he was excellent last night.

Put a Mirfin and a Tshibola in this team and we'd look genuinely decent I reckon. The chairman has backed the manager all season, he doesn't decide which players to sign and what areas to strengthen. That isn't his job. It could be argued that Moore could have gone earlier, I'm not so sure. We had a long period were we barely played then we were into the January window. We'd also had some decent performances in the games we had played (Wycombe and Derby.) I think the timing was about right and about fair. Hindsight is wonderful and I know a couple on here were calling for his head earlier but one of those decided they didn't like him when got the job. Whatever you say about the so called 'great escape' he did keep us in the League last year so him getting a bit of time is possibly understandable. He did get rid of him though and appointed someone else to make those decisions the same day, again something that has never happened. Things are changing.

So I'm not sure how you pin relegation on Coxhall to be honest, I haven't even talked about the club and team being on the slide for the eight years previous or the CEO, the new owners joined a sinking ship trying to stay afloat. The whole mentality needs to change and that doesn't happen overnight. The thing that's needed to happen for years at Pools has, a new manager has been appointed Collins has been moved aside and he's been allowed to bring his people in. Hopefully that's a positive step and hopefully things can start to change. The chairman deserves credit for that. I'm still on the fence about the owners I still don't know much about but I do think the chairman comes across well, has made tough decisions and deserves to be given a chance.

I pin it on his head because he is the man in charge. He had a whole transfer window to bring in players of decent quality . Releasing 20 players and signing 20 is all well and good but its just replacing shite with more shite apart from the odd few. Yes we got knocked by a lad who cant get in oxfords side. Where was plan b c and d. Up to coxall and green to get the players in and they failed miserably. Signing a lad. Who hasn't scored in two years was hardly a way forward and him searching for confidence is not what we need now. We need an instant impact but until we sort the midfield out we are screwed.

Your 'logic' is... odd.
.He let his manager manage,( which is unusual in itself ) allowed him to do his job. There's been whining on here for years about letting managers manage ...well he did. One minute we've got posters telling chairman to keep there noses out of team affairs, they do it, then the same contrary Mary's are on their backs telling them to interfere
If the manager says money was available, it's down to the manager.

Agreeing with PJ on this one, like. We looked a million times better on Tuesday than anything we have produced under Moore this season. There's a couple of players who have had their confidence sucked out of them through Ronnie's comments and bizarre team selections. With a new lease of life Hignett (hopefully) will be able to give them the boost they need.

Jake Gray has looked poor recently IMO, but on Tuesday he had a new urgency about him. He wanted the ball and looked for the ball, when he would tend to sail through games without touching it under Moore.

I'm not sure we 'need a Mirfin' type player though. Bates and Jackson have been two of the better players in recent months, they've struck up an excellent partnership IMO.

The problem with Moore's 'tactics' was he needed 2 midfielders to just break up play, and stop the other team from waltzing through our midfield. We just don't have that sort of player. Under Hignett it's clear he would actually prefer to pass his way through the midfield and actually play football, rather than just tamely trying to stop the opposition from doing so. In Featherstone, Hawkins, Gray and even Woods to an extent, we have 4 midfielders there who are clearly much better with the ball at their feet than they are anything else.

Injuries aside, we have a starting 11 (and even 3/4 subs) who should not be fighting it out at the bottom of league 2. I am 100x more confident that we will stay up this season than I was this time two weeks ago. And I am 100x more confident that this club can progress under the new management/ownership than I was under Hodcroft, and then Moore.

Yes I'm sure he let Moore manage and I think everyone would agree that's the way to go but at the end of the day its coxhall who sets the wages and amounts of money to pay for transfer fees. We signed no one of note with the cup money when we were desperate for a midfielder and defender. We will now possibly pay the price for that failure to bring in quality like we did last year with mirfin tishibola etc. We lost to one of the worst teams in the country on Tuesday and yes for 20 minutes we tortured them and it was way better than the last few months with Moore but we still lost. There was rumours from within the club that if Moore had lost against county in December he was gone and hignett would be next manager, unfortunately that game got called of but why did we wait to appoint a manager after the deadline had finished what chance has hignett got? Unless he is given money for good loans.

But you're still advocating the chairman controls the managers actions. The change has been made quickly and doubtless there'd be those who would hsvd said we'd left it too late if we'd sacked him in September. You really are desperate for that money to be splashed on anyone, anything and everything will be better. Possibly...possibly not.

No I'm desperate for my team not to sit back and watch league football dissapear with a whimper. Spending 50000- 100000 in January might save us half a million if we dont get relegated.