Askey has always played 4 at the back before coming to Pools and likely knows howto organize a defence better that way.
Biggest issue is space between wing backs and wide centre backs getting exploited game after game

Injuries have pretty much fucked our season anyway, if we arent going to get a couple of experienced midfielders in we are looking at bottom half and maybe even a flirt with relegation but given current personnel I would go next game..

GK either Dixon Or Jameso neither as good as Killip anyway

RB Hendrie
LB Ferguson
CB Mani O and Johnson

RM Seaman
LM Grey (I know!)
CM FInney
CM Crawford

CF Mani D
CF Umerah

COmpact with physicality up front lets grind out some wins and draws instead of grinding out losses !

Jesus that's the worst midfield we've ever had!

I'd have a captain change fergie isn't inspiring or driving the players on he's quiet as a mouse possibly give Crawford some responsibility I think he'd thrive

Have you got Killip derangement syndrome.
He wasn’t that good and can only assume him to be a protected species nesting here to last so long.

I wouldn't have Crawford on the pitch never mind captain.

I give up I really do because Killdrop was simply the worst worse than anyone the worst I ever known simply the WORST

I only put that in for a reaction tbh

I do think most keepers at this level are much of a muchness, Jameson actually made a couple
Of good saves today but the way we defend crosses ingeneral is Fucking embarrassing

Fergys crosses.
To low
To High
To Long
To Short
To Wide

Opposing sides know exactly how we play, on the floor out from the keeper every time so high press works against us. We can't defend and stop crosses down either flank so pace and a bit of trickery on either wing. Slow build up attacking so pack the box and force us to shoot from outside the box (Seaman god knows how many times he shot wide or lost the ball trying to make room for a shot).
If you e seen us once you've seen everything we've got.
We need extra in midfield to replace Finney who is lazy and dire, we also need some pace and trickery out wide to take defenders on and create chances in the box.
Surely we must have some kids who are worth trying instead of sticking to this predictable inept lot.

We’ll you got one

Basically we play like a junior school team of 10 year olds….we run up the pitch together, get on the edge of the box, haven’t got a clue what to do next…..endless passing, then they get the ball and we all run back together like a ragged army retreating in our confused and naive version of defending, rinse and repeat.

would like to know why we have 2 crawfords at the club. the good one when we are playing well and winning and the bad one when we are up against it and not. it must be his head rather than his ability thats at fault.

Think he's good when he has the freedom to get about the middle and move forward, doesn't like the more disciplined role of holding midfielder. Even Askey has said as much, so the question is why play him in a role where he's ineffective and he dislikes?
Yesterday's midfield was abysmal, Azosee? and Finney were absolutely shocking, Seaman was worse and although Fergy got in some great positions his crossing was awful.
Too many consistently poor performers playing week in week out imo.

I guess Crawford was asked to play holding midfielder because there was no one else available. Could Finney or Aghasie(spelling) do it? They were Askey's only options.

Burton or Pruti as a holding midfielder, why not. Can't do any worse

Scratching around for 'answers' like this only underlines the manager's dilemma. Seaman was the worst player on the pitch - lost the ball in advanced areas plenty of times as well as his usual hopeless defending. Joe Grey was probably our best player - back in an attacking role.

Shame that Aghatise failed his audition - on what I've seem he doesn't look worth risking a contract on.

What has happened to Pruti- has he been deported?

do not think JA rates him. have heard also that the club has to pay more money over if he reaches a certain number of appearances for us, so if true i cannot see him in a pools shirt again.

Pruti looked a good signing when he arrived and looked comfortable against Lge 2 strikers and on the ball. Another who seems to have gone backward in a short time, Seaman, Fergy, Finney, and even Mani O al not the players they were at the start of the season.

For me 4 3 3 with 2 of the front 3, Sitting a little deeper.

Some of our players are injured out of the squad, some appear to be locked out, one or two appear to not be interested and yet Raj gets the blame.
Raj's budget to blame by some but JA is constantly looking for new players, so there must still be unspent money available.
JA constantly blaming the players for not doing their jobs, whilst freezing players out and playing others out of position. Why can't he recruit a decent CB and a holding MF and why hasn't he been playing Dolan there until he gets one. Dolan has had about twenty minutes all season and in that time we looked a different team.
If I was the owner I would be telling JA to get the players he has signed to shape up before I invested any more money in his recruitment choices. At the end of the day it's the manager who picks the team and chooses the tactics and is responsible for getting them motivated. We had that early on but now we've lost it. If Pruti, Patterson, Hastie, Burton et al don't figure in Askey's plans then get them out on loan. Those four and Mancini, Dodds, Cooke, Wallace, Lacy and Dolan, make up nearly half the squad for God's sake.
No wonder no credible folk are queuing up to buy the club.
Raj gets criticised for not backing the manager. My criticism would be he appears to back them too much. Hartley, Curle and Askey have brought a boat load of players to the club since last summer and in that time we have suffered relegation and are starting to struggle to compete in the national league. Plenty of quantity but not a lot of quality it would seem but yet our start to this season was good. Curle was allowed to bring in around fifteen players which made the numbers look good but maybe the money could have been better spent on half that that number with the emphasis on quality. Managers keep saying we are not going to sign players for the sake of it, they have to be right for the club and have to improve on what we've got, then they go out and turn that philosophy on it's head.

Agreed but we don't really have any players to provide width. Guess it'd have to be:

Jameson/Dixon
Hendrie, Mani O, Johnson, Ferguson
Finney, Dolan, Aghatise
Seaman, Mani D, Grey

Ideally another more defensive mid instead of one of Finney/Aghatise and a couple of different wingers who aren't called Jake Hastie.

Been saying the same for weeks. Nieve school boy defending total embarrassment