Brilliant performance today.

Budtz did everything right and looked comfortable. Although no doubt will be slagged off by the morons on here.

Mccunnie gets better, Nelson solid, Antwi done well as did Elliott.

Great to have Monky back, some brilliant movement and passing from him. Liddle played the Makelele role to perfection, Brown was decent but needs to learn when to pass and well the less said about Humphreys the better, awful display of passing.

Moore did well today, I was kinda impressed and Barker his usual battering ram self. Brilliant finish by Porter late on too.

Well done Pools!!

It was a silly goal to let go of but Budtz did the right thing, their finish was good. He had some commitment problems in regards to the ball at times, but the hesitations'll be ironed out in time.

Nelson and Antwi were on fire, as was McCunnie. Elliott was strong too.

Monkhouse was UNBELIEVABLE after we went 1-0 down, his run across the field for the cross was excellent. It WASN'T a penalty though. Ironically the other box scuffle involving Monkhouse in the second half looked like one. He was playing on both wings too.

Porter was okay. Took the goal well. Still needs more time, I'm not convinced. Humpty looked very rusty, and Moore can still only receive the ball - can't cross.

James Brown... what can I say? He looks absolutely lethal, and he pegs back the ball to fool defenders with ease.


4 goals from 4 different strikers - now that's just brilliant!

budtz just needs to command his area better, display more confidence.

for me pools didnt really look troubled except for a 10 min spell after they brought 3 subs on

good game for the 4 year old to see his first league game.

moore right place right time

barker = bob newton 80-1

defence good

nelson genius

yada yada yada

I must be a moron as I thought he was dodgy and should command his area better.

He came and got (or punhced) every cross he could have.

Fail to see how he could command his box anymore.

There were a couple of corners where the ball landed on the 6 yard box, he was stood on the line. There was an incident where he cocked up a clearance and it went to an attacker (who made a hash of it). He also failed to make a save from what I recall.

Antwi and Nelse did well but there were a few hairy moments where we looked dodgy sat the back (in the first half). Im sure this may be down to a lack of confidence in the keeper.

He didn't have many saves to make but I can think of at least 2 straight away.

Moore was excellent, how anyone can see he cant cross a ball is beyond me

Well done lads, great game!!

he needs to learn to take clean ball all the time some of his saves are reminiscant of taffy williams

His crosses are beyond most players

i actually thought that Humphreys did ok in his midfield role, Budtz also did everything that was asked of him fairly well. Bring on Leeds.

not so sure i would have liked a few more games under our belts to try and get a settled side before going there
i think we may struggle if they score early on

I agreed with Nelson as MOM - but it was a bloody close thing!!!!!

Excellent performance from the whole team

Great game, we never looked like losing even when we went behind, just a mistake by Antwi that let them in.

Nelson organised the defence all afternoon and was a well deserved man of the match, with Liddle a close second for me.

I thought the keeper had a pretty solid game too.

Brown was outstanding, McCunnie looked more like a quality player (he kept it simple and played intelligently all afternoon), Elliot had a good game.

Humphries looked as though he just couldn't get going, by the end he seemed to be into his stride but looked lost for a little while.

Monkhouse played really well, but I think by 60 minutes he had run out of steam a bit, Moore never stopped and did look good today. Porter never really got going, but still made lots of effort.

Great afternoon, if we can do this away then I think we will become a serious threat.

Here here

I also think that Budtz played a lot better than he did against Donny, he was quicker to react and get off his line when balls were played through, his communication with the defence was much better and he also claimed a lot of crosses

The only thing Matty Robson might do well this season is PoolsWorld commentary with Mark Simpson !!!

Monkhouse gave us so many more options it was untrue. Robson may have done reasonably well, but he simply cannot match Monky, it's a fact of life. Like it has been said before, you put out your best players regardless and Monkhouse caused them all kinds of problems in so many areas of the pitch. Man of the match for me, great display with one exception - for that cameo of losing the ball in the centre circle in the 2nd half when he tried to do too much without any cover behind him, when Hughes almost scored.
That's a one-off though, how often does he waste or lose the ball? Hardly ever. His run to give Moore the first goal typified his determination and skill to take the game by the scruff of the neck, and to get us back in it straight away.
On the subject of Moore, another contender for m-o-m, he really impressed me yesterday. I apologise to him for likening him to Proctor mk 2!!!!
The 11 players who ended the game is probably not anybody's first choice combination because of how we perceive who should play where, but it shows the strength in depth!!! Of whom we could classify as strikers - Barker, Porter, Moore, Brown and Foley were all on the pitch at different times yesterday!
Ditto Sweeney, Humphreys, Liddle, Monkhouse in midfield.
We still had a player of Ben Clark's calibre on the bench!!! Boland wasn't even in the squad!! We are looking extremely confident right now, players are slotting in when needed and doing a job for the team, DW has done well to get the squad working for each other and nobody throwing any tantrums if not selected at the start - well done all the staff and management for the start we've had.

Ritchie was shiite! To be honest I dont know if I would even give him 5 out of 10. He is completely out of his depth at this level. I have seen milk turn quicker. I would prefer Matty Robson in there tbh. He brings nothing whatsoever to the team. Even against a poor side like Oldham he struggled. Can you seriously tell me that against a decent 'footballing' team he would cope in that role?! We would be completely over-run in midfield

grave, don't know how you've managed to pull out a negative from that game.

Grave - I agree with most of what you say but there is no way that Ritchie played badly yesterday. i think i would go as far as saying I'd rather Ritchiewas in the centre of midfield than Tony Sweeney, that's a player that goes missing and leaves gaping holes and gives the ball away loads. Saying all that though I hope Boland is back very soon.....

I just did not think Ritchie had a good game, I dont think he has the legs to play in the midle of the park. He also misses too many tackles and gives the ball away too much.

I thought it was a great team performance. Oldham looked woeful to me but as you say, they were being tipped at the start of the season so maybe we just made them look poor by comparison.

I was a trifle harsh with what I said about him, I actually think he is 'ok' as a left back but he is not a central midfielder! I still cant fathom why Ben Clarke was not brought on yesterday. Things worked out well but we look a lot better in the middle with Boland there. Against a team who can play football unlike Oldham we may have struggled yesterday given the midfield.

Because Ben Clark doesn't blend well with Gary Liddle? Who was widely rumoured to be the best player on the pitch?? 'Cos Ben's right footed and so's Lidds?? 'Cos Clark might naturally drop deep and get under the back two's feet?? 'Cos Danny read it different to everyone on here 'cos he's a professional football manager?

Just a theory, I'm not a w**nker or owt honest, I was just advancing a theory about why Humps came on instead of Clark...

Fair enough, they may be the reasons. It is a shame if Clarke cannot play in the midfield holding role, I would have thought he would be excellent there. I dont agree with trying to 'fit' a player into a team but its a shame as he always gives it 100%. He danced around like a loony when we scored yesterday, he clearly loves the club.

I don't doubt it, I remember when he made his debut and ran around before kick off winding the home fans up by clapping at them, making eye contact. He was a bit of a fat boy then, now he's at his fit best and I think everyone forgets how young he is.

But you can only have eleven on the pitch. And we're winning so the formula is right.

Cue derisory messages about 'but we won so it must be OK...'

Well yeah..... It's all you have to do in football. Win more than everyone else...

We may aswell close the board now because you have to play football at a high level to be able to express an opinion now.

Jesus wept.

No-one is complaining, it seems if Pools are doing well you can't have an opinion here unless it's 100% positive. We are not perfect and there is no harm in wanting to improve on any areas where we are looking weak yet people are 'moaners'.

There is nothing out of order about singling players out, our 20 quid every week allows us to have an opinion.

Well said tpp.

But your forgetting that we won therefore everything is perfect and brilliant!!!!!

And please can you confirm what level of football you have played at to be able to have such an opinion??

Just a little surprised you are not all happy!

I saw a very good team performance yesterday, after a 4-1 win I really can't be hacked to look for anything to compain about

Can people on here imagine Wilson turning round to the players in training this week and saying "Have the week off lads, you won 4-1 and therefore there is not really anything we can work on prior to the next game."

The problem with a lot of people on here and rivals is that they see the scoreline and think all is rosy. We wont be up against dross like Oldham every week and we need to keep striving for improvement. The leeds game will show how far we have come. Oldham we a mediocre Division 2 team and im sure they will be on the end of a few hidings this season.

I have posted positive things, namely saying how well most of the team did (with the exception of Humphreys who had a stinker and imo budtz was a bit dodgy).

There is no harm in looking for ways that we could improve the team.

Did I suggest that from Wilsons point of view everything in the garden is rosy? No!

Yes Oldham were poor - but they are supposed to be one of the fancied teams

For what it's worth I didn't think Humphries played that badly, not brilliant, but not as bad as you seem to think

I have a few doubts about Antwi at present. he has a bit if a tendency to panic & was responsible for their goal. He is however only a kid & will improve - & is generally very good

Budtz is a but dodgy at times, but again is improving, he was much better 2nd half yesterday

I really can't see much to complain about - but then again some people are only happy if they are complaining

I dont understand those people either

Jesus, read Graves post about Wilson goign into teh changing room and saying have a week off cos everything is brilliant.

Its a message board for opinions and opiniosn are positive and negative, what on earth would be the point on coming on here and saying "everyone played well, well done" the place would be shit. (to be honest its shit now anyway)

Wilson will look for negatives and stuff to improve on even if we won 100-0. Theres no harm in mentioning them on here.

strange how the threads with the barney's on are the busiest.

How about...

"Well we just spanked Oldham so what do you think Danny could to do to make sure we spank Leeds even harder?"

... as a compromise?