As we are now 25% into the season and to say its not going as expected is so disappointing.

I for one go to watch pools now more in hope than in confidence so were is it going wrong god only knows we seem to be so disjointed is this because except from loach the summer signings have been such a let down either they are no better than what we already had or they are injured.

This season looks like its going to just fizzle out with the odd win here and there and how many times do we say we need a good clear out at the end of the season and start again.

Answers on a post card cos i for one carnt understand how no matter what we do or try just seems to push us back further

up to the current defeat most seemed optimistic, and the form, or maybe the results, suggested there was plenty of room for optimism.

Not sure how one defeat changes that, except after making such a dismal start, every defeat means we are alwats playing catch up.

Like I said last week, the form looks good, the table looked better, but a couple of defeats would make that table look awful.

And it appears self inflicted.

This is just my observation, but reading most of the fans comments, we seem to have very quickly accepted ourselves as a mid table non league team.

We can no longer excuse ourselves as being little old Artlepool punching above our weight.

If we end up this season in mid table then that is failure in my eyes.

No reason why why shouldnt go on another 5 game unbeaten run though.

Its on a knife edge.

We've lost 5 games, the top team have lost 4, and we had a horrendous start. This league is WIDE open. Another run of 4 or 5 unbeaten will see us challenging that top 7.

If you isolate things into two six game blocks we went 0-2-4 to begin which was obviously a horrific start by then we've gone 4-1-1. Obviously Saturday was dissapointing but it was always going to take more than 6 games to turn around such a bad first six games. We're still in touch with the top seven so alls not lost I think we might have a better idea of where the season is heading in the next couple of months.

We are desperate for a striker and if Watson is crocked, a replacement for him.

Has anything actually been said regarding the extent of Watsons injury?

Generally when diagnosing injuries takes this long, it will be a bad one imo. I suspect he wont play for us again.

Its all been very quiet about Ledgers back injury aswell hasnt it?

He's had bad knees in the past and his manager up in scotland said its pretty much gunna be that.

Putting results aside, our performance against Eastleigh was quite concerning. Toothless up front (although we did improve when we went two up top - Rodney, despite his rawness does put opposition defenders on the back foot) and unsure at the back. Hopefully we can get Ledger back quickly and get another centre half in with a bit of experience and aggression - as has been said Watson will be a big miss.

It's so bad I am off to Germany.........by bus!

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Watson has an old acl injury that he has decided to play through rather be operated on.

As long as the insurance company know about it many players are doing this now.

With care and proper management they can play to the required level buy are susceptible to the odd breakdown due mainly to unnatural joint movement usually caused through fatigue.

The knee tends to swell up or rather the ligaments and muscles taking the extra strain do. It normally takes two weeks to settle down and then they can play again immediately.

This might sound a bit far fetched but is actually accurate.

It wouldn't surprise me one bit if this is the case with Watson.

Not everyone wants or needs a year out of the game.

And by careful management I mean huge emphasis being put on muscle strengthen work around the knee joint.

And it's incredibly hard work. But can be done.

Not wildly happy that I spent part of my birthday watching Pools lose at home to Eastleigh in Division 5, but after 40 odd years of supporting them through thin and thinner, should I be surprised?

This League is wide open and Pools have a chance to do well, but only if the owners are prepared to gamble on success. Pools are 2 or 3 good signings away from looking like proper contenders - assuming Watson is crocked again.

I have a mate who's done this. Not a professional player but is self employed in a very physical job and plays regular football and instead of having surgery on his damaged cruciate and six months with no money, he's just managing it with physio and exercises. It's surprising how the muscles compensate.

A few posters are not too downhearted about a single defeat at home to Eastleigh after a good run of five games. But as usual I am depressed by a home defeat by a relatively poor side. Last season a fine Lincoln City team gained promotion with a record which included ONE defeat in the 24 games played against the 12 teams that finished in the bottom half of the table. Pools on the other hand have a propensity to perform badly against the poorer teams which suggests that if anything is to be salvaged from the rotten start, then it will have to be done the hard way.

I haven't seen anyone saying that they weren't disappointed with Saturdays result, is was as bad a day as all the other defeats have been so far I think there's a difference between that though and absolutely slaughtering every player, including some young kids who have stated a handful of first team games between and personally abusing the manager including making disparaging comments about his appearance and stuff. That's way over the top and it's what get's forums and social media a bad name.

I saw a fair bit of Lincoln on the telly last season and I wouldn't describe them as a fine team, even though they had an incredible season. They were most of the things we weren't at the start of pre season. Fit (well most of them *cough* fatty Rhead), physical, tall, very well organised, team spirit, winning mentality. Basically designed for the slog of this League, not many great footballers really just the capability to grind out results . After all the turmoil off and on the field I don't think a 100+ point season is a useful or realistic comparison to where we are right now. Lincoln went out of the League in 2010 to add a bit of context. Realistically top seven has got to be our target, which at least gives us a half a chance of promotion. Yeah losing to Eastleigh is shit, really shit, but we're going to have disappointing days in a long season, some of the shite posted by people waiting in wings for defeat is embarrassing and tedious to read.

That's a very fair assessment MJ, although I will say that we started last season with a decent League 2 squad that under-performed in the first 5 months (no doubt due in large part to behind the scenes shenanigans) and was completely screwed over the Christmas holidays.

See Toto is still getting rave reviews in League 1; the only shock is seeing him described as "popular" with Shrewsbury fans when a lot of our mob were permanently on his back:

http://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/903036996?-1898:999:0#out

The Luke George situation is one of the big frustrations among several others. He was brought in to be the midfielder enforcer, something we've lacked for years, and also as a verbal presence but he's been crocked from day 1. Has it just been bad luck or was the recruitment policy flawed in signing someone with a history of injuries when his wage could have been better spent on someone who could actually play? It's also ironic that in pre-season Craig Harrison made a big point of saying how training and fitness etc would be scientifically monitored by the Uni guys in order to reduce injuries but we've had nothing but since then meaning team selection is disrupted virtually every week.

Unlike you PJPoolie, I did not see Lincoln City play at all last season but football is a game of results and in addition to a promotion from the National League, Lincoln had the following FA Cup run. Any team capable of producing such results is well worthy of the accolade 'Fine Team' in my book. I am confident that if Pools ever managed such a season, you would praise them to the heavens irrespective of how they played.

Lincoln City FA Cup Results 2016/2017

Lincoln City 2-1 Altrincham
Lincoln City 3-2 Oldham
Ipswich 2-2 Lincoln City
Lincoln City 1-0 Ipswich
Lincoln City 3-1 Brighton
Burnley 0-1 Lincoln City
Arsenal 5-0 Lincoln City

PS The point I was trying to make earlier was that all of Pools' troubles of the last few seasons have been caused by their inability to beat the poorer sides and it is very frustrating supporting them.

Everyone knows about Lincolns cup run they had an incredible season, possibly the best ever from a non league team.

What has it got to do with us now?

As an Imp I can put a little perspective on this. Firstly the Imps were relegated in 2011 and spent 6 seasons in the Conference, the first 2 flirting with relegation - an interesting note is our first season's points total would have seen the club relegated to the NLN on last season's points finish in the league The next three seasons were pretty unremarkable until Chris Moyes took over as manager, a post he did not draw a salary for - such were the poor state of the finances at the club. However, he steadied the ship and as it turned out made a number of astute siginings including Rhead, Waterfall and Bradley Wood. The turn around occurred with a modest investment from South Africa which allowed the recruitment of the Cowley's, the rest is history. That history says the Imps will go down as probably one of the best in none league teams in history.

In the first half of the season the Imps played some very good football indeed - the second half (when most of the live TV matches were aired) was attritional particularly towards the end I'll give you that, but given the core of the team played 60 plus games that's understandable. That said in the last 9 games the side won 7 (on the bounce) and drew the final two, that included very late comebacks against Torquay and Gateshead.

The team were and are still is incredibly fit including Rhead, despite his portly appearance. The Cowley's Lincoln side train twice a day, fitness in he morning and tactically in the afternoon and are given their own personal diets all intended for the squad to peak in Q4 of the season.

My take on the Pools current situation you are in a relatively good position - the league is incredibly tight this season and the new PO arrangement should give you hope. If you had been operating under last season's PO arrangement and points spread across the league promotion would have been a pipe dream by now, no doubt.

Yourselves, Orient and to a lesser extent (now) Tranmere are going through what most ex-league clubs go through, the NL is an incredibly hard and unforgiving league and that is underwritten by the one season bounce backs from former league sides are becoming rarer and rarer, and the average stay in the NL is 5 to 6 seasons, unless your Wrexham of course and I suspect it will be longer before we see Stockport and York back in the FL.

But on the upside BT Sport and the NLP gives the NL fantastic coverage and he friendliness of away days, they are all things I miss.

I suspect, you'll be there or there abouts at seasons end, given the tightness of the league and the likelihood that eventual Champions this season will have a sub 90 point haul, it's going to be quite a roller coaster of a season in the NL, keep the faith.

~Dave the Cardboard Box

I was in no way being derogatory about Lincoln who I reckon had the best season in the history of non league Football last year I was just suggesting we're a million miles off that type of season and that a comparison of results is delusion expectation wise.

How has the transition back into the League been? I expected you to be doing a bit better although it's obviously early days and I'm fairly surprised that Forest Green are struggling badly, quite pleased as well may I add

Thanks for the post Dave, it's great to put a bit of perspective on things especially the 6 year angle. The same fans banging on about Lincoln as a comparison are the same ones predicting that if we don't go straight back up this season we are doomed and never will do.

PJPoolie:

You are not being derogatory one iota, I was trying to emphasise all is not lost for the Pools. In the Imps first season back in the Conference, we had to win our last match of the season away at Hyde to stay up. Fortunately for the Imps Hyde were the worst side probably to grace the Conference ending up with a single figure points total and the Imps won 0-5. Any other side that season Imps could have well have been dumped into the NLN.

What a world from 6 years ago, if your not a season ticket holder now your chances of obtaining a match day ticket at Sincil Bank are extremely limited, away tickets are a no-no.

The Cowley Bros have not only reinvigorated the club they have reinvigorated the City, it took one astute descion to prise them away from Braintree, now they are the doyens of the City of Lincoln.

In the depths of despair there is always hope.

Judge the Imps after 46 matches as I said previously the Cowleys put their efforts into putting performances into the last quarter of the season. In the Imps first 10 matches of this season 6 have been against the top 10 clubs Inc Exeter and Notts away and Luton at home and big spending Mansfield, we are doing dandy on that basis.

~Dave the Cardboard Box.

took luton years to get back into the league, tranmere not doing too well this season either. new league, new manager and players mid table is fine.