Having heard and read his comments about how the team are gradually settling down and will be a force to be reckoned with by Christmas I am in despair. I can accept that the players need time to bed in as a unit and there are some promising signs with individuals amongst the new signings: Flinders, Behan, McSweeney and to a lesser extent Hartley spring to mind. But some signings are patently not up to League 1 standard in my opinion Haslam looks like what he is a thirty year old released by a League 2 club, I cannot see how he is going to improve. Frederickson looks out of his depth at the moment but he may improve. Obviously as I have not seen Austin, Larkin and other new signings it would be difficult to comment. The biggest inditement on Turner and indeed Danny Wilson is that it is now two and a half years since we had a recognised left back. Turner has signed 10 players in the close season, a big clear out was overdue, but surely there must be players out there available who are left backs. Consider this Mr Manager if we take until Christmas to gel as a team we could well be on our way out of this League and even your alleged close working relationship with KH will not save you from the dole queue.
Before anybody says it I know it is early days and yes we have played some delightful football at times in the two home defeats. But our defending has cost us dearly and shows no sign of improving, central midfield are also major contributors to this problem. Lets hope Jones is fit for Saturday and Austin comes in for Haslam

I bet you're the life and soul of every party that you attend.

You're right I am. But do you disagree with my points or are you incapable of stringing more than half a dozen words together?

Turner tried to sign what he considered to be a quality left back in the summer but the deal fell through. Would you now like him to just go and sign any old nugget for the sake of it?

Besides, it's early days and we've played some delightful football at times.

#

You sir will not last 5 minutes here with comments like that.

Why wont he?

I hope Mr Turner is right and I hope he gets it right but all the gelling in the world isn't going to make Collins the answer to our defensive frailties or is it going to get us a balanced midfield.
Here's hoping though.

So it was just me that thought, on the whole, Collins was much improved last night then?

Are you sure you’re not a loid in disguise as you address Pools as you and then we

Nah, I think he's incapable of masquerading as anything other than a miserable get.

Surely Turner considers all his signings to be quality or at least be able to compete in league one, or why would he sign them?

Exactly the point I was making in trying to explain to this nugget why he hasn't just signed any old left back for the sheer hell of it or with the intention of pleasing the mentally challenged amongst our fans.

He was outstanding at MK. Unfortnatley it was his fault for the first goal, Collins isnt a centre half who can kncok the ball around a man in a small space and get away with it.

He may be much improved or not but that isn't the point. The point being is he good enough for this league, sadly I say no he isn't.

If he has improved yet has still played a part in letting two goals in two games then this is a worry IMO

I don't think the gentleman you refer to as a nugget was actually suggesting that Turner should sign any old left back.
Also I don't think that calling someone a nugget is very constructive, especially when he didn't actually say what you are suggesting he said.

It is a worry. The majority of us did not think Collins was good enough last season and I fail to see why this would improve now. We were all quick to blame the keepers last season but now we will be able to see whether the defence is actually good enough.

The sooner Collins is replaced the better.
Turner says we need a leader out on the pitch, and I agree wholeheartedly, so why persist with Collins as captain? From what I've seen so far why not give Behan a shot at the captaincy?

Delightful football More huff and puff and tap tap tap than delightful.

Now you are talking!

some of these comments about collins are extremely harsh. He was outstanding for the majority of the match and made one mistake which inadvertently led to a goal.

Agreed. He was not bad last night. Unfortunately I dont think he is 'the answer'.

we dont have major problems in defence for him to be, or not to be 'the answer' though. They just need time to gel.

I really hope you are right.

How you can speak so confidently about this I do not know.

do you specifically look for my posts and question/disagree with them on purpose because its getting boring now. You still havent answered my question on the other thread either. And i speak confidently because the signs are there that our defence will be much improved this season. Its only an opinion and i could be wrong!

Last night Collins tried to take on a player at the edge of his own box instead of finding row Z. This was a move that was taking him even wider which would, at best, have left him stranded. For their second goal he was dragged out wide, leaving their CF a goal chance.
I don't see where this current " gelling" excuse is going to solve daft decision-making like that.
I too hope you are right.

Yer he does, he thinks your a twat

I have made about 15 posts this morning and I believe this is the first one that has replied to you. There is no need to cry.

I can't remember what your question was and I can't be arsed to trawl back and find it.

There are obviously signs of improvement so far, which isn't hard, but to suggest all the defence needs to do is 'gel' is quite a sweeping statement when only two of the back 5 are playing consistently well.

its hardly a sweeping statement saying our defence looks much improved.

The sweeping statement bit was the 'they just need time to gel'.

It's a waste of time mate, Once people's minds are made up if they see anyone with a different opinion they will hammer it as hard as they can, Some Pool's "fans" aint happy unless they have something to complain about.

Also seems Hartley is the new target this season because he is out of position.. , Time for a break from these forums they are depressing

and could you explain how that is a sweeping statement. We have played 4 games and conceded 4 goals. Only one of last seasons defence remains so they hardly know each others strengths and weaknesses yet. After another 7 or 8 matches they will be much more familiar with each other and should be able to put in more consistant performances.

Play nicely fellas!

Im not sure hartley is 'out of position'. I have heard people say that he can play left back too. Its just that he hasnt looked comfortable there in the home games IMO and looks more of a centre half to me. (I cant comment on the away matches as I wasnt there, perhaps somebody else has an opinion here). We have Austin who was in the league 2 team of the season and CAN play left back. Get him in there CT!

A mate of mine is good pals with hartley, family friend n tha, when he was on loan at chesterfield and on sky, they all went round to the hartley family house to watch the game, he played left back and had a total shocker, got ripped apart.

I think he's an out and out centre back.

I don't doubt that they need time to gel, I'm not arguing that bit. It was your suggestion that the only problem with our defence is that they haven't played much together when realistically three of the five seem to be far from convincing.

no he played at left back at sunland loads of times i also seen him play there at youth level and he was ok there

Oh FFS don't be so emotional. Are you not allowed to constructively criticise anymore? Everyone wants Pools to do well but it's all part of being a fan when you state what problems are there and how they could be improved.

i think when clark is fit he should replace collins, keep liddle in there replace austin for haslam and keep hartley left back.as for midfield put jones in (when fit) for freddy and up front i would have brown and behan up top, boyd on the bench.

i would love to agree, but i didnt get it

I thought he had.

Amongst all the gratuitous and infantile insults I do not detect anybody who disagrees with what I have said or at least no one who can advance a cogent argument. I am aware that Turner set up the signing of Michael Rose which then fell through. Was he the only left back available this summer? I defy anybody to argue that signing four or five strikers when you desperately need a left full back is good management!¬

so are you saying we didnt need at least 3 strikers bringing in?

erm havent we only scored 2 goals in 4 games, didnt our most successful striker leave in the summer. We needed 3 strikers bringing in and one of them looks like one of the best buys we have had in years

what really gets on my tits is when people just assume there are good enough left backs instantly available and desperate to sign for us. People assume that because one has not signed means that turner has not tried to sign one. It borders on idiocy.

Didn't you know there is a left back tree, where managers can go and pick quality, experienced and most importantly FREE left backs

It's branches are almost snapping under the weight of players

Exactly, some people think Turner is just sat on his backside not addressing the problem when I bet he is trying his hardest to resolve it. Look at the amount of players he has brough in I cannot see why people arnt happy with the developments he has made in the transfer market. Also what these plonkers dont realise we dont have an endless pot of money to be throwing large wages about, we are in the north so we are less attractive and we just survived last year making us in the close season one of the favourites to go down.

Other than them point we would be having every left back in the country banging our door down to sign.

So let's get this right Turner has scoured the Country for left backs and found only one Michael Rose who didn't sign, therefore there are no left backs out there so he goes and signs five strikers.................... gawd help us, how gullible can you get. My point is that Turner has not done his job properly because he has failed to sign a left back. If you were running an engineering factory and you needed a vertical borer but you failed to recruit one and so you signed up five milling machine operators instead would that be good management? before you make a fool of yourself the question is rhetorical!!

I didnt say that at all, I said that he will be still looking to resolve the problem, did you have your head up you backside during pre-season when we were trialling people at left back. When people who support this club realise we arnt as an attractive propersition to a lot of teams in this division a lot of the moaning will stop.

So are you saying we didnt need any strikers this season then?
What do you think of Behan and Freddy who Turner brought in?