After the almost 2 hour lock in and apparent naming and shaming last week, I would expect a few changes to be made. What are people’s thoughts on who they would pick to start tomorrow? I’d go for:

Loach

Magnay
Donnelly
Ledger
Adams

Newton
Woods
Deverdics

Adeloye
Oates
Franks (if fit, otherwise it would have to be Cassidy)

Ledger for Harrison would be my only change.

Think it probably a bit early for Franks to start this one.

Loach

Magnay Laing Ledger Adams
Oates Donnelly Hawkins Woods
Adeloye Cassidy

4-4-2??? Woods left wing??

I know it’s all about opinions but you’re making Craig Harrison look like Pep there Mr Horden that is one rotten team!!

According to the Fail that is the only change.

It's encouraging to read that Watson is training outdoors and might be back playing and a permanent Pools signing in the New Year. Then again, you probably have to go back to Willie Bolland for the last time Pools took a calculated risk on a crocked player and it it paid off.

Joel Porter only actually ended up at Pools because he failed medicals at Bolton and Sunderland. I’d say Watson is worth a punt he looked a very good player in his six games, exactly what we need. Tough, uncompromising and a leader. Also a good footballer, way better than this level.

Plus another crock we took a risk on was actually retired and called Watson and he transformed a season and was a big part of us going up the next year even though a donkey Loid broke his leg in September, an omen!? Yeah I’m straw clutching!!

My lad can go on Saturday because his knee is still keeping him out until mid January said tonight a defeat tomorrow will be like falling off a cliff ................. predicting 150 visiting faithful singing to a Grace Fields tune .............."there will be Poolies throwing themselves over the white cliffs of Dover".

Don't know how you can say that? its never ever been tried and as you know I'm rarely wrong.

If we all knew what was the magic team, we wouldn't have threads like this. You may think its rotten, but I think most of Harrisons starting elevens this season have been rotten, and results have borne this out.

Why can't Woods play on the left? sure he has before in his career. Who would of thought Deverdics would be playing at left back?

We don’t have the players to play 4-4-2, as your selection proves as three of the four in midfield are out of position. At a push Woods could play left of a narrow 4-3-3 more advanced, out and out wide left? Really?

Should be a good day out , if nothing else. Ground looks quirky/old skool and town looks okay for reasonable pubs. Also should we get beat, the continent is within easy reach

I know you're a betting man Chip. I just had a thought , a daft one at that, wonder what price you would get for Pools and Sunderland to both win away? . Stranger things have happened or I am going mad ?

My prediction for Wolves v Sunderland would be P-P!

We don't have the players to play any formation, that is why we are floundering in the National League.

Yeah reckon weather could be bad in Wolverhampton, postponement might not be a bad thing for Sunderland.

It’s mad that a club like Sunderland are 8 days away from going a calendar year without a home win.

Albeit on a bigger scale , a lot of their problems are similar to ours , skint , owners who haven't a clue, 6 or 7 seasons of dross, and 3 or 4 players who should of been scattered 3 years ago, and a shrinking and totally disillusioned fan base. They could be the next Blackburn, Portsmouth or Coventry.

They surely can’t be that skint? Where has the money gone if they are? Isn’t being in the Premier League worth about £150 million a season, they have only been out of it for a matter of months and have the parachute payments.

Pools and Sunderland is a decent comparison to be fair, where did our money go last season!? And yeah they have been terrible for a sustained period, like us.

Well like any club in the cac, the question always is, where did all the money go?. Its amazing how much money can disappear through mis-management. Some of their players are on 80k a week, paint is peeling off the stands, seats are discoloured, catering huts and bars are closed on matchdays. The whole club has an air of decay about it, hence the comparison with us, the Vic has looked tired and worn since around 2008. I suppose with most Prem clubs you have owners who want to invest. In Sunderland case, you have owner who wants to sell and wont invest, just like IOR from around 2007 , when they only spent what they had to , to keep the club in business.

Always said Sunderland was just a bigger version of Hartlepool, but Hartlepool due to it been smaller probably has more heart and soul. They have finally got around to redeveloping the former Vaux site, and it has finally has a cluster of decent pubs in the town centre, but it has all come a little too late. Certainly nowhere near enough going on in Sunderland to lodge a city of culture bid, that was laughable and the outcome inevitable.

The lack of success of North East football teams over the last 50 years is indicative of the decline of the North East economically.The future looks even bleaker. The channelling of money towards the city regions of Newcastle and Middlesbrough may help keep their heads above water, but those in the middle will feel as though they are living in an old Eastern Bloc country , though to be fair to those countries, most are improving , albeit slowly and some faster than others.

Against this backdrop I can see our major football teams, becoming just like some of the older clubs in Lancashire and the Midlands , Championship clubs with the odd foray into the Premier league or league 1, clubs like Preston, Blackburn, Wolves. To think only 10 years ago Newcastle seriously thought they could challenge for the Premier league title and Sunderland and Boro thought they could break into the top 6 , that ship has sailed.

And we know what became of our smaller football teams, us and Darlo , formerly mainstay div 4 teams now in the non league.

With more unemployment and lower wages, and the incomes of the only people with money in the NE ( pensioners) being stretched , who would bet on things improving anytime soon?

That's all very positive then
There is some positive news on the football front in the North East though, it involves the non-league teams in the region, teams such as Morpeth, Whitley Bay, Spenny, Dunston, West Auckland, Shildon, North and South Shields, Whitby, Blyth have all grown in stature as well as success in the FA Vase, even Darlo and York City have had success in the FA Trophy, crowds have gone up, and fan's who previously followed Sunderland have become dissolutioned and follow local teams such as Easington CW.
The obscene wages of the so-called superstars has rankled a lot of former Big 3 fan's, and thankfully smaller clubs have benefitted.

I suppose if you look hard enough you will always find something positive, even at the bottom of a bin.