Well just back from Northampton - fortunately the golf course there was better than the football!!

A few random thoughts on the game...

How we were still in the game after 15 minutes I never know.... Defending can only be described as shambolic.

Northampton obviously done homework on bartlett... Quality cross after cross putting pressure on him - first two goals both his fault as ball delivered into 6 yd box and he was nowhere near! Corners were superb for them... Real pace and excellent delivery - something we haven't seen for years.

Defence awful - Halliday caught out too many times, Boyce ineffective.

Formation - did not work. Their number 10 ran the show 'in the hole' - given so much time and space all game...players and Moore never got anywhere near him. Tactically inept.

Midfield were awful. Smith never in game, featherstone terrible, woods on,y one calm and trying to use ball, oates... Ok, but not a winger.

A real surprise Moore took off woods and Oates - featherstone and smith were never in game and should have gone.

Bingham.. Excellent and a real threat. Paynter does still not look fit... He never got off the ground once to challenge for a header..made their defenders job so easy.

Kudus - awful!

Late substitution fenwick for Paynter with 3 minutes left... Firstly hardly long enough to get a goal and secondly why take a striker off for him... Surely go for broke and take a defender off. Fenwick has obviously upset Moore.

Body language throughout was awful... No leaders on pitch anywhere!!

As for Moore in this game.. Wrong starting team, wrong formation, wrong tactics, wrong substitutions - poor poor performance. Chasing the game theit GK did not have one save to make... The players seemed as apathetic as the fans at the moment!

Still think / hope Ronnie is the right man but on the last few performances something is seriously wrong!
L

Ouch. Damning but fair I imagine.

Fundamentally they were far better at set pieces than we were and looked a threat with everyone in the first half but in the second Bartlett collected almost every ball that came into the box. I think we had one decent set piece in the first half where Boyce should have score but apart from that they were awful.

I'm not sure how you can blame Bartlett for the first goal; Harrison had wandered out of the back line, Boyce pulled over too far, Haliday was beat too easy and Carroll lost his man who scored. If after all of that you can blame Bartlett I'm not sure how.

Admittedly for the second goal he either has to go down and win the foul or clear out what's in front of him; you can't let them get on top of you and do neither.

Both full backs were awful, there man beat them every time and the neither marked there man at the back post either when the crosses came in either.

In the second half we were more firm at the back but never looked like scoring. In the first half we defended so badly they smelled blood at went for it which left room for Bingham on the counter. Id have left smith on for his pace in case we could get behind them but they dropped deeper and it just didn't happen. Not sure the point of bringing on Fenwick so late either.

Defensively though we had too little experience on the wings to support there full backs when they needed to, particularly on the right, neither had the experience to take charge of the situation.

The right team won, we should of been well out of sight inside 20 minutes but we weren't and I just didn't see enough fight to make something happen in the second half. It says it all that apart from the early stages some of there fans thought they were pretty poor.

On a side note I thought it was pretty crap that the players (apart from Fenwick who was straight over) had to get told to come applaud the fans instead of just walking straight off after we sat through that crap.

Was there absolutley agree with above posts defence disgracful in first half harrison very poor, boyce rubbish send him back to scunthorpe, what fullbacks ? We didnt have any halliday looked like a boy against men very poor, and then carroll very poor to say the least, bartlett struggled with no cover cn you blame him? Maybe but the best keeper in the world would struggle, and this against a very poor northampton team who might be in administration after next week.....

how did Boyce miss his header that would have made it 1each

RM was quite scathing in his interview, ''we need to score 2 each game in order to win as we are always going to concede"

It would seem he's trying to bring in 1 or 2 players and is clearly desperate for a leader at the back. What's Tony Adams doing these days

Last years game at Daggenham was probably the lowest I have ever felt after coming out of a game, surely lightning can't strike twice

Didn't Carson say he had the armband quite a bit at Cheltenham last season? I'm not saying give it to him but one would assume that he will be a talker, notably Bartlett is much quieter now than when he first came in

Carson will start next week I reckon. I can even see him getting a game for the reserves again midweek to help his fitness (arranged game if the reserves don't have a fixture before there are any smart arse responses....).

With Northern Ireland qualifying for the Euros, hopefully he'll be playing out of his skin week in, week out to make sure he's on the plane. Can only be a positive.

Delighted for Bingham, took his goal really well and will have done his confidence the world of good.

We are desperate for a decent winger who can give us another attacking option. Yesterday all we did was hoof it in the general direction of Bingham who was our main threat. It paid off once but was so predictable. Bartlett is a good keeper but for their second goal he was crowded out far too easily. Time to give Carson a run out.

Cheers Pooliebob and everyone else who has taken the trouble to describe their impressions of Pools' performance at Northampton. I listened to the commentary on Tees but it's no substitute for seeing a game.

Informed comment like this is the main reason I follow the Bunker, so thanks.

It beats me why anyone bothers to reply to the attention-seeking prats who don't go to any games and only post to revel in every defeat.

would agree with most stuff said in here.

Ridiculously harsh to blame bartlett for the first but the second demonstrated why carson has to play. wasn't the only time he got nowhere near a cross, in the first half anyways. Was much better second half.

Defence was a shambles. those pushing for 442 hopefully realise we have no wingers, and don't have 2 good enough central midfielders and haven't for a long time to play this. woods and magnay maybe at an absolute push but still far too easy to cut us open when don't have 3 in there.

as a last note, i wish someone would put a stop to this hopeless punt from kick off to the left wing. It't shit to say the least and usually results in us giving away possession for absolute no reason. Northampton were a good side, but it highlighted the huge importance of pace. Long and aimless balls were occasionally made into something because of bingham and good to see him get a goal which hopefully boosts his confidence.

This hopeless punt has been going on for nearly 30 years. We might as well start the game with an opposition throw in.

i have no idea why anyone would instruct their players to do this....it's terrible....wasn't even good when we had monkhouse as an outlet out there

Sadly, we seem to have 11 hopeless punts wearing the shirt at the mo...

If the opposition dont have the ball they cant score so lets give them a helping hand and give them it immediately. Were bad enough as it is without making things even easier.

"This hopeless punt has been going on for nearly 30 years. We might as well start the game with an opposition throw in".
One thing you can always say about British footballers and managers, they're not overburdened with imagination.

One thing that's noticeable about the, admittedly brief, highlights on TV is the complete lack of any team spirit or camaraderie amongst the players, there is very little reaction to any of the goals - even ours. This was also evident last week against Luton, Bartlett made a clanger for their first and the rest of the team just dropped their heads, turned their backs and walked away - no words of encouragement or consolation or even a right bollocking. This lack of common cause, unity, call it what you will, is my biggest concern - it goes a long way at the arse end of the Football League.

is the team really that much better, individually we seem to have better players....but they certainly don't fit into a system as a team.

squad is so light in a lot of areas it is untrue and ridiculously unbalanced. Unfortunately this is the responsibility of the manager.

The hopeless punt is so frustrating, why not just pass it round a bit, give everyone a touch and gain a bit of possession. Nah lets just boot the fucker as far away as possible from any of our players in the hope we get a slight deflection and have a throw in.

They appear to lack bottle and team spirit which counts for an awful lot. Look at Forest's European Cup winning side. They were never great players individually but together then sweated blood and 'never say die' actually meant something. It wasn't just a trite marketing slogan which is all it means to Hartlepool these days.

From the club the motto is moe like Never say anything.

and has been for years now.

This and This is Spot On!!!!

You can go back to the Cardiff season, the team spirit was unbelievable. The likes of Westy, Nelson, Ritchie, Barron, Tinkler, Boyd, Porter, Sweeney etc.. looked like the actually give a shit about the club and it was a proper never say die attitude. None of the players now look like they care about the club and are just picking up a wage which is sad really as this is probably the way all clubs are heading.