Any Bunkerites at the Vic this evening for the Blackburn game? I gather we hit the bar a couple of times. Would be pleased to read any thoughts. And yes, I realize this is only a pre season friendly but Rovers are a Championship side so I would be interested in how our lads compared to their undoubted quality.

According to reports on FB Pools played well, hit the bar twice.

Thought we played well overall and was impressed by at least 6/7 new players. The defending seems much more organised and strong including all players all over the pitch and we win the ball back better than i have witnessed in years based only on that one game so far. I am now optimistic for the season ahead.

Faith in the bloke rewarded, had a good feeling about him when I heard he was being appointed.
Mind you, I’ve probably just put the mockers on things by saying that

Blackburn played a mixed team of first team and squad/young players.

Blackburn probably had 65%-70% possession.

Lacey is a very good CB, an improvement on all our CBs from last season. The new CB Mayo did well too. Defence overall fairly solid, Ogle couple mistakes but then did very well to stop them scoring.

Niang was my MoM, won ball back numerous times and played some good balls to Hastie.

Cooke is a really good midfielder, managed to get his foot in couple times and is one of our best players on the ball.

Grey did well, works hard as usual and does seem to be improving but Hastie is our best winger by far. Strong and seems to glide past players, links up well with Umerah too.

Umerah won a few free kicks and works hard, was tough for him against really strong opposition.

Crawford found it difficult, hes been playing as number 10 and its not quite coming off for him, yet.

We played 4 2 3 1 which has been just about the same every friendly. We then changed to 442 with the trialist coming on at HT from Crawford to play up front, he did very little in 45 min.

Loads of changes around 55 min and we went to 532. Hamilton on for Umerah and he did a few good things, better than the trialist.

Interestingly Niang went CB and seemed to become uncomfortable.

Featherstone barely put a foot wrong but did seemed to slow things down twisting and turning, I didnt mind that in this match as the opposition were superior.

Hastie hit the underside bar after cutting in from inside and hitting it from 25 yards.

Lacey hit the bar off the back of a set piece and should we really have scored as he was very close.

Managed to make their keeper make a couple of saves but most of our shots were blocked.

Cheers for that. How did Killip do?

doris day got it right. whatever will be will be. would be really happy just ending up in the top half of the league and a stepping stone to 2023/4 season. hope i,m right but have a feeling hartley will be with us for awhile.

It’s very rare someone has the exact same takeaways from a game.

Ayala handled Umerah very well and didn’t play into the whole friendly idea.

Thanks for that!

I managed to catch the first half before work commitments got the better of me - however my com padre stayed the full 90 and gave me a run down of what i missed.

My thoughts going into the game lookig at the team sheet was that this isnt too far away from what i suspect to see come the 30th. Albeit maybe Sterry and Ferguson back on the wingback roles and possibly Crawford out with Feaths going back into midfield (unless we sign an actual No10 between now an then, which btw i think we need should we adopt that formation.)

From being slightly worried as to what we would look like going into say the last game of pre season to the last 2 performances i need'nt say we shall at all be worried - dare i say it but we look alot better than the team that finished last season and thats a fact !

Defence looked like a well organised unit again - few fumbles and mistakes by the new lad and Ogle but they for me are B team players anyways - once Murray and Sterry are back i can see that back line been the strongest we have had in years. I like the look of the new LB too - very good option for us.

Fitness looks great and the press and desire to win the ball is something i havnt seen a Pools team do for a while - played with some great passages of play through Cooke which i think he will be our star man this season if not Niang. The latter played an important role in the first half and id like to think he grows into that position as something we have lacked for ever is this mans attitude to a tackle and winning a second ball.

overall class performance and held our own i thought against a good Champ opposition.

Grey still needs work and i know hes only 19 but he cant be starting games - need another winger with experience and pace.
forward line looked decent though and i think we shouldnt be short of goals at all should this front 3 play.
Hastie again was class ! what a nice package he is going to be replacing Mols.

sounds like second half the 442 didnt work and was quite scrappy - didnt work for us and Harris didnt seem to touch the ball or cause their defence any problems - but they did have a strong back line and hes just a young lad.

all in all a very good performance again and im sure PH is only going to make us better and bring in more quality players - not a single one of them looked out of place last night really - all fit an hungry by the looks

Oh Deer, lol.

Many thanks for taking the time to write this. Really enjoyed reading it.

Great stuff, thanks for posting it.

Killip did well enough, a couple of his kicks weren't great but generally his decision making was good including a diving punch towards the edge of the box to get Lacey out of trouble.

Made a really good save in the second half and made a couple of routine catches and saves.

In reality he actually wasn't that busy, some of Blackburns best chances were a foot or two off target and there wasn't anything he could do about the goal, they passed through our midfield and defensive lines quickly and with precision and their attacker slotted into the bottom corner.

The quality showed the disparity in our divisions - it was something only a championship side would really muster, i dare say we wont see many passage of play like that in league 2 nor the composure to finish. Our defence will be comfortable in handling similar situations given a league 2 variation of it. For us to only be 1-0 down against a team pushing for top half of a championship again is a testament to what PH and the team have pulled together in such a short space of time - imagine what he can do with a full season and some more better players at his disposal also.
I hope we see a good few years out of this man as i already have good feelings about what he can achieve at Pools. The next Cooper???

Hope you mean the one and only Neale Cooper. RIP.

Without question.

Sounds like theres a good work ethic team spirit and fitness levels are a major part of the players job description.
Optimism gradually returning.
All the new signings mention our loud fanbase.
Hopefully we singing and winning.
UTP.

Hoy, the optimism never went away for me…..

I think with 1 week bfor a season starts you always cling to Optimism.
Honestly aint got a clue how its gunna go.
Dont think this has ever happened before when a load of Jocks migrate to Hpool Utd.
Hopeing they have the Hughie Robertson effect.
UTP!

Regarding Ogle, maybe he’s responding to Hartley’s management style.

It is a real treat to read the thoughtful and insightful comments of real Poolies who were at the game and have given honest opinions. Again I say thanks to all who saw the game and have taken the time to share their thoughts.

or the other way round as well. ogle has always tried in games and made the best of his limited ability. never goes missing even when he must know he,ll be out of the team the next game. anyone with his attitude deserves a bit of time to improve unlike many who have all the skills but no heart.

Agree, but if he has a manager now who appreciates the effort he puts in, it does his confidence the world of good.

for me Ogle probably wont get near that RWB slot given how good Tumilty looks also - best he can hope for is maybe a cup run in either of the 3 cups... Saying that it may be worth trialing him in another position - im sure PH and Youngy could do something with him - even as an attacking right sided midfielder - knows how to tackle and has the energy for it - certainly wouldnt go a miss if he did a Joelinton and turned into a top class midfielder.
ive always liked and admired his athletasicm etc and tbh hes a good option to have sometimes to bring on when tired legs dont want to be chasing him up and down the wing - also he can cross a ball too.

I had Omar down as a good striker but high energy, pace and work rate are not his thing.
I hope these two new lads have the touch and awareness that Omar has.

and similar luck with goals where some of his seemed to go in more my luck than good play.

Trouble with Omar is, he was abusing his talent by not trying to improve his pace and work rate and unfairly probably, you get branded lazy.

So what’s the score?

think it was total lack of fitness that did for him. might have been a bad trainer all his career making it difficult in the few months he was with us to recapture some sort of form. be interesting next season how he will do after a full summers training and then playing straight away after this. not sure what is worse a lazy lad who does not chase lost causes or the ones that flatter to deceive by chasing balls they,ll never get and some fans loving their work ethic.

Some people just worship those greyhound/ headless chicken cross breeds that run around like cockerel on heat, never making a tackle, always shielding or covering…basically keeping the opposition company as the run after them up and down the pitch.
But if you’re turned on by ‘work rate’ and measure a player’s value by his sweat, then a top lad who never never stops.

back to more important blackburn matters. will the cup game be on ifollow as i have forgot if the crewe game was or not last season. prefer to watch this at home even though its not that far for me to go, 30 miles each way.