Starting to come out with more bullshit than Craig Harrison.

These niggles, surely any niggles would abate after a week off. Since when did a niggle mean you miss a game? Granted some players can't, but the majority surely do, or certainly used to. Sometimes you can aggravate a niggle other times by playing you run it off. After a week I would've thought you would have a specific injury, tight hamstrings, calf strain etc , not a niggle or is it that some players just can't be arsed.

It will be interesting to see if these players with niggles get their places back v Boreham Wood. After all you wouldn't want to change a losing team would you, though Johnson might be a shoe in if Odusina is suspended.

Niggle certainly isn't a medical term but it's in most managers' vocabularies. Sounds like there's an assumption being made that Ferguson picked up this particular non-specific minor injury in the Yeovil game, but it could just as easily have been done at a training session a few days ago. I thought the message was clear enough - he's not going to be out for any length of time.

What I find (and I'm pretty sure most of our fans do too) is that after listening to the first 15 mins of match commentary you can usually determine who the oppo's dangermen are going to be, in last nights instance it was patently obvious it was Osborne and Cranston, you would think then if needed make changes to stifle their opportunities to get on the ball and create things while hopefully improving ours.

So unless football has changed greatly since I was involved and you are blind to this, think that it's not important, or boldly think that the opposition should be worrying more about us than us about them, then that is surely not a ploy that is working for us.

I know we may not possess the right players to perform this (spoiling) role but surely any decent team should because most of the teams we play seem to be able to do it to us quite comfortably.

This is literally having a moan for the sake of having a moan. Good grief, a player has been declared not fit to turn out and been described as a ‘niggle’ - get over it.

DC is starting to get criticism, he was best thing since sliced bread until we started losing! December traditionally is the time we sack a manager, let’s hope we don’t this year! I remember the sense of dread when Richard Money came in!
When he is talking about niggles surely he knows what he is talking about? Challinor’s a quailfield physio & we’ve got Buster who knows what he is going. What we lack is what every team wants a 20 goal plus forward who hits the net. Bringing these loan players in is fair enough, our finances are fairly limited & hopefully we start scoring again. The seasons certainly not the write off doom mongers have it! Challinor will get it wright for us if he is allowed to?

If you say so I will stop moaning for your sake and just sit by in future and watch us plummet down the league . You can then do the explaining to us as to why that has happened.

To be fair , our midfield isn't the best either, Although we obviously need a striker who can get goals, I'm not convinced that alone would get us promoted, bur more likely guarantee a play off place. What evidence to you have to say the season is not a write off? I have just looked at the table and we are in freefall, miles behind Torquay, teams above us with games in hand, and more worryingly teams below with games in hand. Out of interest, what in your mind would make a successful season?. DC has been backed to the hilt by the supporters, both the deluded and the doom mongers, its only right that questions are now being asked by the latter group, If DC fails it will be down to Singh not giving him the money to buy a decent striker and DC himself for offering Williams a contract, signing Liddle and a trio of terrible strikers in Ofusu, Bloomfield and Oates.

Bit early to be writing off Ofosu and Bloomfield (though to be fair you did it as soon as they were signed). Pools have got 3 players in the squad who can beat a man with ease - Molyneux, Grey and Ofosu. The North West Corner lads took a liking to Ofosu straight away but as Challinor keeps pointing out, it's a big step up from Royston Town and he's got a lot to learn about playing at NL level.

Bloomfield is a decent footballer. As I've said before, his hold up play is very good and he scored a few goals for Crawley in League Two during a loan spell last season. It'll be interesting to see what he does if he gets a regular start in games this month. That said, we all know that if he'd had the budget in pre-season Challinor would have signed a proven goalscorer at this level.

As things stand, Pools are 2 points off a play off place with games in hand on 7 of the clubs above them, but that's neither here nor there if Pools don't start winning again. Challinor has said enough for me to think there'll be another forward coming in this week or next.

Only Pools could sign a 6'5" player and have him taking corners when chasing the game late on. 6 points taken from the last 7 league games is a poor return in anybody's book, that needs to improve quickly as on Saturday we will be a quarter of the way through the season.

totally agree. after the end of last season we looked a decent side. expectations went up and then a good start to the season added to it. now its getting back to reality the knives are getting sharpened. the only problem that may happen is that challinor may struggle to get it right with the lack of money available. doubt that would change if he left so it would be a change just for the sake of it. if pools had a stockport type budget would he have brought to the club the players he has. very much doubt it.

but who and what will he be like. another kid very likely without any experiance in our league or any first team football apart from 5 minutes in a paint trophy game. there must be someone out there who was a regular scorer who is out of favour with a new manager for one reason or another.

I think the signing of Joe Bunney is the clue - there are enough young, inexperienced players in the squad and Pools need 'been there, done that' players to improve.

The whole of our back line excluding the injured Liddle is inexperienced, our front line is too, excluding Oates who, although 26 tomorrow as it happens, plays at one pace it would seem.... fast, if he could learn to mix it up, work harder on his hold up play, not be too predictable, show more composure in front of goal it would benefit his overall game.

The budget Challinor was given at the start of the season pretty much sealed his fate before a ball was kicked, he won’t be here come the end of the season. The striker situation at the club is a joke for a club this size. One goal in ten matches between them is pathetic. Raj might of saved the club and everyone’s greatful for it but we will end up in the conference north, before long if you spend peanuts on the team like we have and can’t score goals.

Saying that Challinor needs to help himself now, he has got to get shot of the non scorers somehow and try and replace them with someone decent. It’s also no surprise a team containing Donaldson and featherstone is once again struggling, when will we learn that these two shouldn’t be in the same team, they create and score nothing, at least featherstone can keep possession at times though.

Go on I dare you, just say I was right again . I agree about Bloomfield, you may recall recently I said I wouldn't be surprised if he went on to score a lot of goals next season, for someone else. Ofusu hasn't been given a good run in the side yet, but I have a feeling he will get his chance on Saturday. Like Bloomfield he looks good in parts, but its all about the goals, and so far these two dont look like there is a goal in them, None of them have had a good run in the side, for me a player should get 5 consecutive games to prove himself, I would prefer Parkhouse and Grey up front or Parkhouse if we insist on one up top , but I wish DC would just stick anyone up front and persevere with them rather than constantly changing from game to game. Signing new players every week is an admission he is lost for ideas, throwing good money after bad, he needs to get the best out of what he has got, not bring more mediocre players in.

Why has it taken DC 12 games to realise this ?

It looks to me like DC has his favourites, some players who appear un droppable, whilst others are dropped after one bad performance. IWith all this chopping and changing t wont be long before he starts to lose the dressing room. Its like a never ending nightmare , the deluded anxiously wait for our strikers to score goals, but more likely we will keep on firing blanks, and someone like Featherstone, Cass or Ferguson will get an ACL injury, then see how we cope.

The next two home games are crucial, 4 out of 6 a minimum return, though should be looking at 6. Lose to Boreham Wood and the Kings Lynn game becomes a shit hits the fan game if we fail to win.

I cant write a player off straightaway but the NWC lads can take a liking to a player straightaway

DC keeps pointing out that he has signed a player that he probably knew he couldn't make the step up to NL level

I think he knows this league well enough to have had a good idea what we were lacking before a ball was kicked. After the way last season finished and the cuts Raj made in the summer, it was a bit of a surprise to us fans that Challinor had any budget to make new signings at all. I think he probably did the best he could with the resources he had then.

Maybe things look a bit easier financially now, the money from the NL is certainly helping and running costs have definitely been reduced.

Your first sentence is something I have said many times myself on here. I get the impression he had identified a proven striker but was knocked back for whatever reason. He more or less said so in an interview earlier in the season. My problem with Dave is that , yes he probably did the best he could with the resources he had, but he hasn't done the best he could with the players he has. He has in my view 2 home games to sort this out, or the firing squad will begin to start lining up. It's never a good sign when most fans want/expect a different line up , to the one the manager is consistently putting out.

In my opinion if he plays a front three he could put Oats,Bloomfield, Parkhouse,Oswasi,Donaldson and Molyneux names in a hat, pull three out and it wouldn’t make much difference.

I thought that's what he did ? And results so far prove your theory to be correct.

Yet again I hope Macdonald and Grey get a run out, but no doubt it will be the same old same old.

things could actually get worse. can see holohan off in january to some of the money clubs in our division. think raj would jump at any money offered by anyone.

There's so many games this month pretty much the whole squad will get a start in some game or other. Joe Grey is way overdue for an opportunity, he shows what he can do every time he gets on the pitch. MacDonald has had one decent game in a Pools shirt - against Ilkeston of the Northern Premier League. He followed that up with a nothing performance at Salford - when the likes of Crawford, Ofosu and Oates bust a gut to justify their selection.

If it was down to me for Saturday I'd drop Donaldson to the bench to start with a front two of Bloomfield and Grey and Holohan-Featherstone-Crawford-Molyneux in midfield. But then I don't see the players in training

None of us see the players in training , therefore we all may as well stop commenting. I doubt they train much anyway and what training they do , from what I have seen on video clips amounts to diddly squat. My hopes would be raised if one day whilst I was out walking I saw them running up the Hart to Haswell walkway, but alas it will never happen , as that would be deemed cruel these days.

Its only your opinion, but lets assume you are correct, and Macdonald did have a nothing display at Salford, even though he was taken off after 57 minutes with the score at 0-0, why should a player be immediately dropped for the next game? this is exactly what I keep banging on about. If a nothing display meant you got dropped for the next game then Donaldson would be goosed , but I guess you know that as you think Donaldson should be dropped tomorrow, and so do I. In complete reverse though, the only decent display Crawford has had was at Salford and he has kept his place ever since, despite offering next to nothing in every game. As I have said, it appears to me like DC has his favourites , either that or he really is selecting them on how perform in training.

Its about time Shelton was let out of solitary confinement, he seems to have suffered more than most for the Torquay defeat, but then I didn't hear what might have been said in the changing room afterwards

For me Crawford has done enough to keep his place since he came in. He's always involved in the game, never does anything flash but doesn't give the ball away either. He suits the style of possession-based football that the manager likes. Shelton has a goal in him, which is a definite plus compared with Crawford, but he tends to drift in and out of games.

Be interesting to see how Gus Mafuta goes against Pools tomorrow - nailed on to score probably.

Bring back this fella. Back row far right...

Tony Toms Read Warnock biography and he said when he was at Pools , Toms took the players to the N Yorks Moors, all the team got dropped off in the middle of nowhere ( probably Blakey Ridge ) and told to find their own way back to Hartlepool. The players , every man for himself , went their own separate ways , but Warnock being the one with the brain,that would serve him well over the next 40 odd years, hitch hiked all the way back to Hartlepool and Toms was none the wiser. Good old Colin Wanker as my refereeing brothers used to call him.