Howard, dont care what any negative people may say on here but i thought he was excellent today, as a target man his job is to win headers and bring people into play, he did plenty of that today, won almost every header today despite being ganged up on by 2 or 3 players at a time. Few more games and im sure he will be a great asset for us.

Walton, very poor 1st half, tried to many killer balls and kept nothing simple. Bit better in 2nd half, he's a brave player who gets stuck in but on that evidence he aint as good as Murray. Will give the lad more time though.

Franks, seems to run to fast and loses control of the ball, looked fairly promising though and again im sure will get better with games.

Still think we need 2 or 3 players in as our squad is wafer thin and there wasnt anything on the bench to change a game really.

Cooper has always struck me as an honest and fair manager but he's gonna piss people off if he continues to leave Murray on the bench.

I see Howard as a poor buy for what I want us to achieve. I'm tired of over the hill players, regardless of their wondrous past. He does a job. But it's about time we had some signings that are defined by their present, not their past.

Franks looked talented, but rough and raw. Has good potential, but do many players do...and we screw them up somehow. I hope he excels as I can see him being a rare good buy.

Didn't see enough of Walton to make a proper judgement but he seemed to put himself about. But ultimately lacked control in his distribution...exactly like Murray in other words.

For me Howard does the job he was brought in to do. Wins the ball or at least makes
A nuisance of himself. If he wins the ball he brings it down well as 9/10 times finds a pools player. Walton for me wasn't at his best today ht I've seen enough pre season too suggest that he is a quality signing an jus needs a few weeks at this level to be in. Franks was poor first half an seem too beat himself
More than he beat his man but secknd half he beat his man an whipped ablut 5 dangerous balls in. As with Walton I think a few games in they will come into there own.

Horwood is the weak link for me, drifts to central and leaves his man alone at the back stick far too often. His delivery tho from dead balls was excellent for me but defensively a bit of a let down. Would be better on the left wing.

Howard is one of the thing we have been missing for a while now. Now we need a goalscorer.

On todays evidence for Howard to score goals he is goig to have to bullet header them in from 25-30 yards. The club seem to have put a lot of onus on him but aren't really making the most of what he is good at in the box. Yes he won a lot of headers but mainly in no mans land and there wasn'[t much of a chemestry or anticipation of a lot of his knock downs.

The players need to get further up the pitch and start getting some crosses in the box and bodies in the box also.

^ this.

Perfect summary

What do you want really?

We lack a creative midfielder who can give the strikers service which is a big reason for us playing long ball's. The strikers struggle to score for this reason not because they are shite.

If you do not retain possession then how can you be expected to even have a shot. Howard holds up the ball, he bullies defenders and wins headers he has no right to win.

no matter how we play there will always be people on here who moan because they have little to do.

How about we get behind the team as I believe this is a better team than last season and think we will do ok this term. You are so negative all the time!!

How many competitive games have you seen Walton play?

People have short memories, Murray used to give possession away at times like walton did today and he was our player of the season last year but he is still much slower than walton. We need to move forward and for me walton will do the job and he actually had a much better second half today.

Will do the job as a defensive midfielder you prat.

For me Murray is far more mobile and works far harder than Walton

why do people like you on here think things like that are funny? it is really sad and shows YOUR lack of creativity.

you need to get out a bit more

I think only time will tell. I think walton gives 100% but I do feel sorry for murray.

agreed

I didnt say Walton shouldnt be playing, I said Murray should.
I was under the impression Cooper signed Walton as a replacement for Gary Liddle.
One way or another, our best midfielder should be in the team.

I was saying I think Walton should be in the team but we will find out as the season goes on. I definitely think we can only play one or the other as they are very similar.

We will be ok this season, mid table finish again.

I dunno whether walton & murray will be any good together because its never been tried. For the past 2 seasons weve had Sweeney playing hoping he can get on the end of the odd chance.
Not knocking sweeney because he does make good runs and has scored vital goals but its predictable and doesnt work so well in 4-4-2 where its got to be more rigid.
We need to look for alternatives, everyone knows we need a playmaker in midfield and were still waiting.

Good playmakers in midfield unfortunately don't grow on trees. Every team in the lower divisions would love a playmaker as much as they'd love a striker who can rattle in 20 goals.
Everyone knows of the budget cap, its obvious Coopers spent up and until IOR release more funding we have just got to get on with what we have got.
Some of it is not going to be pretty but we'll grind out results and still expect us to have a mid tableish finish this season!

Just watched a re-run of the Football League show and when you see who the other teams in our league have signed (e.g Pompey - Izale McCloud and Lee Barnard) a team I thought were goosed, and clubs like Bournemouth with new wealthy owners you realise we'll do really well just to hold our own this season.

They don't grow on trees but there must be one creative young midfielder at either of the big 3 North East clubs who would benefit from a loan move to League 1 just as Noble did last season. Cooper has been building relationships with the managers of those clubs with that exact intention so why not exercise the option. Must must be better out there than Sweeney, Monky and our strikers.

Carlisle did well last year with the loan of Liam Noble and Jordan Cook from Sunderland both better than anything we have in the middle of the park. Halliday or Curtis Main at the Boro, Sammy Ameobi at Newcastle.

Like Chip I saw nothing to suggest we have moved on from last year. Poor midfield with little pace, creativity or incision and a toothless forward line, terrible set piece delivery and predictable approach play. I think Howard will be great for us but needs someone who can link with him and feed off his flick ons to see the best from him and neither Poole nor James look like doing this just yet.

Why do you insult people when they make a valid point.

There are very few on here who would disagree that we lack creativity in midfield, it is a fact.

You on the other hand are so negative and miserable, I struggle to understand why you bother going.

You call loads of people who disagree with opinions, bet you always think you are right.

As for being as thick as mince, that is your opinion. However, some of the most successful people in the world are dyslexic or not that academically gifted but 'thinking your intelligent' and better than others just makes you look stupid. Why not run along and do what you are good at, MOANING.

I'm sure if there is a creative midfielder at one of our neighbours and who is available we'd know about it.
Could possibly be the wages side of things stopping it from happening!

Impressed with Howard although i'd like to see him and Poole being given a run in the side in order to try to gel a partnership even though maybe that should have happened pre-season

James Poole still shows that he has clearly got something but hugely lacking in confidence IMO. A decent run in the side would work wonders maybe.