What can be said about todays game we dominated the first half and to every Pools fan and probably every Brighton fans disbelief we went in at half time 2-0 down. Brown missed a sitter put on his head by Monkhouse but he somehow headed wide, Mackay missed another sitter putting wide with only keeper to beat, Porter shoots wide after the keeper can only parry a shot, Nelson has shot deflected wide, as you can see it was one way.

They score with their first effort with a good chip, maybe ALB could do better, but it a decent finish. A 2nd goal nearer half time when the defence parted quicker than the red sae, and to be honest I think what a way to spend a 20 hour day.

Start of the 2nd half subs are made Robson on for Humphries who has had a nightmare, he either found touch or a player in a blue and white strip shirt (maybe he thought we were playing at home) He found a Pools player a couple of times and some of them more by luck than intent. Foley on for Mackay who apart from the good chance has been quiet.

Then it begins the now familiar Pools fight back a cross from Brown is put in to his own net and 2 mins later Brown makes it 2 all. It all Pools again and within 25 minutes of the start of the 2nd half Monkey makes it 3-2 from a corner.

Now I thinking what a great 20 hours, but Pools being Pools fail to clear not once not twice not even three times they have about four chances to clear the ball from their box do they manage it NO it 3 all.

Would I have took a draw at half time at 2-0 down, yes , but I still think we were robbed and the better team

Humphries as said absolute nightmare, maybe we should leave Kyle at Coventry. I always say the next game is a different game and player's should start fresh as far as fans are concerned, but Humps is struggling, let's get a defender in if we bringing anyone in.

Nelson probably a better game than Collins today.

Most players would get 6-7 points today simply for effort and the comeback (Humps excluded)

Man of the Match once more Ben Clark, followed in my opinion closely by Richie Jones who had hold of the midfield for most of the game. The 2nd goal midfield missing defence at 6's and 7s

Word of praise for Wilson it not often he makes subs straight at beginning of 2nd half but he was ABSOLUTELY BANG ON TODAY.

Humphreys

Oh hey up, not another one
Everything, yes everything created during the fist half came as a result of link up play down our left and Ritchie was involved in all of them. He makes a bad choice from a free kick, his 1st mistake and they break and score, that should have made it 4-1 to us.

oh well chip as spoken we can all rest easy tonight

have i got a mate on here chip

No not another one. So things happened down the left, in my opinion not with much from Humphreys. I have not become a Humprhreys "out" totally player, and never will. If you care to trawl back through the pages on here you will see that I have defended Humphreys on many occassions. Yesterday in my opinion he played badly. A point Wilson presumably agreed with as he took him off. (Though we all know fottball is a matter of opinions). If everything was happening through his link up play, as you put it, Wilson presumably would have seen that as well and left him on. (Although we can never second guess what Wilson is thinking)

He will get my support next game once he crosses the line for it, but yesterday he played badly.

The Sunday Sun gives him a 6 which may seem a decent mark, but the write up on him then says

"Had a shaky first half"

Now that , to me , says that person tends to agree more with me than you, because he never came out for the second, so couldnt improve on his first half performance, so how a 6 can be given is beyond me.

Once more matter of opinions. And the Sunday Sun gave Jones MOM so I was fairly close with that , so maybe rather than simply say here we go another one, you read the opinion I give in the way it was intended. Not having a specific go at any particular player, just giving an opinion on the performances as I saw them ON THE DAY.

And all I was doing Mr Bob was giving an opinion on what I saw on the day, which was probably more than the Sunday Sun, do you really read the papers and rely on the marks given by any paper as a true reflection of what happened, thought you had a bit more off than that Mr Bob.
I thought Ritchie made 2 mistakes none of which were defensive errors, was involved in most of our forward moves, but at 2 down at half time, Matty Robson is always an obvious change to make in an effort to get us forward quicker, as was Foley on the right to allow Browny to get back up front with Porter where he belongs.

Oh aye the News of the World gave Foley 7 (i think he only touched the ball 4 times) Ooh just noticed he got the same mark as Jones

No I dont go on what paper's say.Their reports usually read like a totally different game to the one I attended. I was using someone's else's opinion(which I believed agreed with mine in much the same way as you have)

Humphreys tried to make at least 3 short passes which went to a Brighton players, or on 1 occassion reached a Pools' player more with luck than anything else. He has played better, on numerous occassions, but I still stick to my opinion that he was poor yesterday.

Nothing to do with a dislike for the player, nothing that I will hold against him in future games. He was simply poor. In my honest opinion.

You state he made 2 mistakes, none of which were defensive, I have to disagree with that, he gave the ball away for the first goal, I would call that a defensive error. It like saying a goalkeeper dropped the ball, which ends up in net but it not a defensive error. Or a forward misses an open goal from 1 yard and it not an offensive error.

But we have different opinions, I respect yours, you were there, as I hope you respect mine for the same reason.

Fair enough but its game after game after game that he's the consistant weak link in the defence. Even when other play poorly he plays poorly too. However he would perform in midfield these days is a different conversation but he simply isn't an effective full back.

His distribution is absolutely woeful. I find it staggering that a professional footballer can't pass a ball to one of his team mates.

The fact he was taken off at half time yesterday strongly suggests that Wilson is considering replacing him. Gary Liddle would be a more effective full back IMO

Howay Mr Bob, how can a poor freekick taken wide left 15 yards in the opposition half, be construed as a defensive error.
This is what I saw happen, Nelson and Collins tak up position ain the box at the back post along with everyone else with any height. Jones comes accross to the ball, Porter makes a run accross the bok, Ritchie spots him tries to knock it into his feet but over hits it, they clear and 10 seconds (or so it seemed) later it's in the net, that's not a defensive error surely.
I think it was an error on the part of tactics on the training ground, everyone must know what to expect, and that certainly wasn't it. Fair enough some times a bit of individuality pays dividende, unfortunately this wasn't one of them.
From the resultant kick off, Collins was having words with Ritchie and letting him know in no uncertain terms that the ball should of been knocked long into the box, Ritchie tried to defend his error by pointing out Porters run accross the box.

Of course i respect an opinion of someone who witnessed it, it's when those that don't and yet seem to know what happened and the reasons why that I struggle with.

Just to sum up; as a defender, he's a f***ing liability. Endex.

Maybe not then a defensive error but surely when both centre halves go forward for an attacking free kick then the ball has to be put into the box. Any run made by other player's can be taken into consideration, BUT if that run has been picked up then the ball played in and ULTIMATELY lost is nothing short of shocking.

You state the free kick is 15 yards inside the Brighton half, taking into account the maximum length of a pitch is 120 Metres (130yards), it means a half of a pitch is A MAXIMUM OF 65 yards, Humphreys then has to deliver the ball no more than 50 yards as you state Porter makes a run ACROSS THE BOX we can take 18 yards of that, he therefore has to deliver a ball approx 30 yards while under no pressure from opposing defenders and he over hits it. I call that HAVING A POOR GAME.

This is not a witch hunt against Humphreys, but as far as I'm concerned his performance yesterday was poor.

And to finally say, i never blamed Humphreys in my original post on this thread as being to blame DEFENSIVELY for the goals. I stated he had a NIGHTMARE. Which if you read some of your own posts on this thread, especially of his over hitting a free kick and some bad choices of ball distribution you actually AGREE with me.

You brought up that he wasn't to blame defensively. As others say Wilson must have thought he was having a poor game to make nothing more than positional substitution, by bringing Robson on in his place. It wasnt as if he took a defender off and replaced him with an attacking midfielder or forward to try and get back in the game. Unless as Wilson once said "we dont know what he does", just maybe he had taken a knock.

Howay Mr Bob give your head a shake man, all you've done there is highlite what I've said all along, the ball should have been crossed into the box, it wasn't, wrong decision, and it was an over hit pass and he got punished for it.
You call an overhit pass as having a poor game

Ok then, maybe your opinion is not as valued as I thought.

It's funny I only mentioned the Humphreys mistake as I thought get in first and explains the circumstances behind it and he won't get so much flak, but now it seems Mr Chip wrong right about the crowd, because everyone seems to know what went on.

Looks like everone at the Newcastle Fulham game is going to have a poor game based on mis placed passes, wonder what the Sunday Sun will make of it all

Most people dont value my opinion . I just believe that yesterday was a bad day at the office for Humphreys. But , can I just say it wasn't just the errors highlighted by yourself and me on this thread, that culminated in saying that he had a nightmare. there isn't a single part of his game that sticks in my mind as being good yesterday. All round I believe his full 45 minutes was poor.

Now errors stay in a fans' mind longer than good play whether defensively or attackingly. Tomorrow as they say is another day and if Humphreys plays on Saturday, then he will get my support, I wont have any pre-conceived ideas and go there simply to throw insults. I've never done that to any player and I not going to start now.

Good afternoon Mr Chip wondered when you'd be back on with your match reports and in depth comments about the game cos you've replayed the 30 seconds worth of highlights and played them back 4 or 5 times
It's funny Mr Bob has already stated he wonders what the reporters see most of the time, cos it's as if it's a different game to the one Mr Bob has seen. Now all of a sudden if the Sunday Sun says it, then that's it, end of
I remember a few years back sat up in the back of the stand at Bournemouth, the lady paid to report on the game was sat 2 seats from me, spent all game rabbitting to her friend yet she was still able to write the match report, and no doubt you'd have read it Mr chip and bingo that's another 20 quid you've saved cos it read as if you where there.
I don't know what happened to me other paragraph on me last post mind, think me mind must have been wandering, wondering where you where

Nice one Mr Bob, we'll have to agree to disagree, no problem.

Have you seen the goals on tele? do they show a true reflection? I aint seen them

anybody else agree that this is the worst thread of the year?

Yes, it's like watching two Dreadnoughts firing dud shells at each other at point blank range and doing no damage whatsoever to either party as the shells bounce off.

i was thinking more of two overweight rummies in the road outside the smallies swinging huge clumsy haymakers at each other without connecting once. the crowd who'd gathered to watch have given up and all gone back inside, but they keep going at it.

BORING BUNCH OF KOONTZ. GIVE IT A FOOKIN REST.

I've read worse.

Yours don't count.

A friend who went and who is usually a Humphreys arse licker said he was utter, utter tripe.