Where's Oates?

He's had an injury problem for the last few weeks, maybe it flared up again on Saturday? Or maybe he's just not made the 16, with only five subs people will miss out.

I am in Cyprus and we are two hours ahead, could someone tell me what the final score will be.

Surely you can since you're ahead of us?

Bromley must be good.

Goal to Macclesfield

Not exactly living up to your username there Optimistic.

Oh bloody dear.

As things stand we are bottom of the league.

How Newton got anywhere near that team tonight baffles me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The NL have made us feel right at home.

Good news is we are only 4 points off the play offs, and only 4 goals behind on goal difference.

Bad news is the two teams above us have a game in hand.

We're doomed

Not quite. I got the maths wrong. We are only 3 goals behind the last play off place.

So anyone listneing to it?

Any reports?

A mate who is there said we look just as bad as Saturday.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep its our LHS again they are hitting donnelly again as did dover.

BBC Tees said we're doing loads better than Saturday, scoreline says different. He reckons only thing lacking is final ball.

We're better than we were Saturday.

Every chance we could go on and win this

Goal!!! Cassidy

Fucking get in!

Right Pools you can stop dicking about now the season starts here.

Yes. This.

up to a heady 19th and only 3 points off the play offs

We're flying

Only a point, but sounds like a big improvement on Saturday.

Work to do still but step it up again the next two games and hopefully can start kicking on

Dont know what happened at the end there but we are in the bottom 4 now.

Much improved , the Radio Tees commentary. Seriously though, could only improve after Saturday, a point is a point. Sounded like we were a bit more physical tonight and good to see Cassidy get off the mark.

Hopefully Adams will be back and LB on Saturday and I think that could make a big difference. Still think Munns can be a good but need someone to play that left wing so he can play centrally. Don't think Hawkins should be playing next week, I listened to the game in BBC tees and he barely got mentioned. I'd rather see Deverdics given a chance l, at least he is more creative and can naturally drift out to the left hand side if needed.

The commentary is much improved as well now that we actually have someone who talks about the match, Liam Kennedy was still pretty poor though.

Good result. So was it a more traditional 4-4-2 in second half rather than a diamond?

I would prefer Adams at left back. Sounded like Donnelly had a reasonable game tonight, although he was targeted as the weak link. I think it is the absence of a left winger in a 442 , one who will track back, that makes opposition target that side of the pitch , rather than thinking Donnelly himself is the weak link. Could both Donnelly and Adams be accommodated in a 442 or 5 man midfield ?

We played a narrow 4-4-2 in the first half with more of a diamond midfield so it stands to reason that full backs might lack cover as we weren't actually playing with a left midfielder.

Potentially, Adams would be more inclined to track back f he was played in LM ahead of Donnelly, but Donnelly is still a bit of a liability defensively. Oates can always be relied on to put a shift in and do the work but playing him on left would be massively out of position for him. Sounded as if CH was potentially keen on getting Mondal in and he could potentially offer that natural left winger if he is proven to be good enough.

That's gonna be the problem though. If we want to get goals and win games we need offensive players on the flanks such as Munns , Donaldson , Mondial ( though I don't rate him , too lightweight ) but if we want to keep it tight defensively and avoid defeat , we need players like Blair playing as a sort of wing back, tracking back and covering for Donnelly. This is the problem when you haven't got a dominant centre midfielder. Whichever way you look at it, trying all sorts of permutations and personnel , there always seems to be a piece missing from the jigsaw. That is why I think we have played with one up front for such a long time, as previous managers have never really felt confident in our midfield or defence. The defence is starting to look settled , but our central midfield area falls way short imo.

We looked really bad in the first half.

Looked much better after we scored. Munns shouldn't be on the left, he'd be much better in the middle sitting behind the forwards.

Just got home....horrendous journey.
First 25 minutes I thought we were the better side, much better than Saturday.
Cassidy winning headers but him and Amond playing too far apart for me.
We got more efforts on goal than Sat and, with a bit more composure, we could of and maybe should of, taken the lead.
However Macc were looking dangerous, orchestrated by Danny Whitaker who had a good first half. They gave us a warning when they should have scored from a free header but the guy didn't get enough on it and it flashed wide. Then Harrison played a sloppy pass out of defence which was pounced upon and resulted in a floated cross which Whitaker, totally unmarked, guided past Loach and into the net.
We started the second half brightly, upped the tempo, pressed the ball and looked dangerous. Cassidy got the equaliser from a free kick just outside the box and minutes later we could have been ahead had an effort not flashed the wrong side of the post.
A lot of hoofball and head tennis but an entertaining game nevertheless.
I had a steak and kidney pie and my daughter had a cheese and onion pasty, both very nice.
They charged a tenner admission for me and a fiver for her and we had the choice of standing behind the goal or sitting down. We decided on the latter.
Forgive me if the report is a bit disjointed but I am very tired.

Cheers for that Mr. Derwent. I had the pleasure of a car journey to Hull in non-stop rain there and back, but the second half commentary on Tees passed the time.

I've seen one friendly and one home game and have no idea how this season is going to pan out. I might hazard a guess after 10-12 games, when I've got a bit more idea what this league is about, not to mention a proper look at the current Pools squad. Is Newton as bad as some people have already decided? Is Munns as good as people hope he will be? It all remains to be seen.

Only thing that is worrying me is it seems Harrison is hoping on stumbling across a formation to suit this unbalanced squad. Need a cover left back and a left winger asap. And preferably a new centre half to take S.Harrison's place. If we get beat on Saturday confidence will be shot

I think that 4-4-2 formation, diamond midfield is going to be the 'usual' formation. If we do get a couple of wingers in it gives us the option of changing to a flat midfield for the more 'difficult' away games.

Donnelly didn't have a great game last night, and it wasn't particularly because of the narrow midfield. Magnay coped perfectly well on his side, but even though Donnelly did well to get across the pitch and hold the winger up, he was easily beaten 1 vs 1, and dived in far too often. He was also up against a pretty good player too. It also didn't help Donnelly that Scott Harrison was next to him. He gets out of position far too easily, leaving a big gap behind Donnelly. We are going to seriously struggle this year if Harrison continues as first choice CB. As is the norm, he was largely at fault for the goal.

Laing is much better defensively than Harrison, but my god he is awful with the ball at his feet. Magnay steady away, seemed to spend more time shouting at himself than his team mates though.

Newton was much improved, covered a lot of grass, passing much better. Munns rarely touched the ball, though on the few occassions he did we played some good football. Donaldson got in some good positions, would like to see him try and beat his man rather than just run into the corner. Brilliant cross for the goal, though. Hawkins, okay for first 20 mins, then anonymous.

Cassidy put a good shift in. Our best player by a long way. Put his body in the way, and every chance we had came through him. Amond was pretty quiet, but had 2 or 3 good chances that I would expect him to get shots away with a bit more confidence.

Overall a much much better display that Saturday, however we can't afford to drop points against teams like that. They weren't very good, and only defensive mistakes from ourselves and/or Donnellys inability to defend, gifted them chances.

I thought we had signed a couple of wingers in Munns and Donaldson, but Harrison not playing them as wingers. As we already knew and have found out, football at this level is old skool, wingers and big target men up front. If we continue to play a narrow diamond formation , we are going to get ripped apart more often than not. Either play Munns and Donaldson as wingers or sign another couple. Still think the lack of a good central midfielder is where our main problem lies. Failing that would like to see what Donaldson and Cassidy would be like as a front two, Amond seems to have lost his shooting boots.

There somewhere in Grimsby!

Did Macclesfield do chips?

I think Munns played as an attacking midfielder for Cheltenham, although I'm not certain. Donaldson played centre mid for Plymouth.

I don't think either are out and out wingers. Donaldson certainly not. He had 4 or 5 opportunities last night to try and beat the full back, like what you would see Thomas doing, but he just kicked it straight at him.

I wasn't impressed with Newton in either the Sunderland friendly or Saturdays game, but he played well last night. Willing to let him have a decent run in the team. Not as good technically as Featherstone, and doesn't show for the ball as much, but he does get stuck in more, and he played a few good balls.

With the attacking players we have, i.e. creativity of Munns and Deverdics (who should be getting a game IMO), work rates of Oates and Donaldson, good hold up play, winning headers etc of Cassidy, and hopefully a goal poachers instinct of Amond, we really shouldn't struggle to score goals.

Problem for me is the two centre halves have absolutely no composure whatsoever and cause unnecessary pressure on the whole team. They caused their own problems many times last night from simple mistakes. 9 times out of 10 they hoof the ball upfield. Maybe not having Featherstone in the team making himself available is a cause of this, but Newton and Munns certainly tried to make themselves available last night. Laing tried to find them a couple of times, but he doesn't appear to be able to kick the ball where he wants to. Harrison just gets the ball and kicks it as far as he can, everytime. Defensively, Harrison is very poor. Always out of position, always having to make last ditch tackles 'cause he gets rolled so easily, often flat footed and likes to dive in too much.

I personally would rather watch us play football and carve teams open, which we did once or twice last night, rather than the hit and hope hoof ball. Unfortunately you need two footballing centre halves for that. An Adam Jackson or Jack Baldwin type player would improve us no end, and I feel it is going to be the difference between challenging for the play-offs or challenging for top spot.

We basically dont have a winger as Tom says above, neither Munns or Donaldson are typical wingers. Its obvious Harrison assembled his squad to play either a narrow diamond 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3 formation which was more likely and he soon realised after 45 minutes of our first game that we probably dont have the players to make that work. (Unless you tell Munns and Donaldson to stop dropping so deep and leaving Amond isolated)

Harrison has some work to do already. 4-4-2 seems to be the way forward which leaves Donaldson, Munns, Deverdics, Hawkins, Newton, George, Woods, Featherstone all going for 4 positions. Competition is good but might be time to let one or two of them go. They wont be happy for long especially with not even making the bench.

I presume we still have Mondial and Franks on trial too? Be more natural on the flanks but again will push another 2 from above even further down the pecking order. Maloney still here too?

Need to find the best midfield combination quickly imo, let a couple of them go and bring another Centre back in.

Squad is far too big/unbalanced for conference football imo and got to imagine there will be loan signings along the way too.

Dont think I have ever read so many armchair experts getting so hung up on formations.

Like Mr Horden and Toulouse have pointed out, formations only matter if the players are playing well.

Therefore it isnt really down to formations.

Either the squad is good enough or it isnt.

A good player will fit into any formation and adapt his game to suit the circumstances.

For example if someone is playing on the left of a midfield 4 but isnt getting the ball, a good player will go looking for it to get involved.

If a midfielder sees the lone striker is isolated, he will push further up to offer support.

Only shit players stay rigidly in their position without being able to think for themselves.

Players who are good enough to get away with constantly playing week in, week out out of position are generally not found at this level imo.

Donaldson has played on the wing in the past, and Munns I would imagine due to his size and his creativity would probably have played out on the wing at some stage of his career. I do agree though , both are not typical wingers in the Brian Honour / Paul Smith mould. Donaldson originally started out as a forward , then a winger ,then a midfielder , which is probably why he is here , he is getting slower.

Pleased Cassidy got a goal , as he is known as more of a workhorse , rather than a prolific striker , so that can of only helped his confidence.

The centre backs aren't ideal, but to be honest , I would think all centre backs at this level , will be far from perfect. If we had a better central midfielder , they may not be put under as much pressure. Newton apparently played okay last night, but can he do it on a regular basis?. For players with limitations , I don't get away with all this diamond formation sh*t, keep it simple, 4-4-2 , flat midfield etc. But it really is all about the quality of players, see McEveley got a goal for Tranmere last night.

Championship Manager has got a lot to answer for Don't ever remember talking about formations back In the day. The team either played well or they were sh*t , either we wanted it or they wanted it more, basic stuff

Stick to cricket