Think LL can take us up, got a good feeling about him.

Have you forgotten to take your medicine or taken too much?

Maybe not, Still no clean sheet

Also only one recognized striker who is not that good.

Delusional. We beat a pub side who were even worse than us. Further, we had about 7 men in the box and we let them score. Grey missed 5 sitters. O the positive side we grafted and Mancini was the heart of everything. Still if we finish 5 bottom or more I will be happy

Delusional. We beat a pub side who were even worse than us. Further, we had about 7 men in the box and we let them score. Grey missed 5 sitters. O the positive side we grafted and Mancini was the heart of everything. Still if we finish 5 bottom or more I will be happy

10 points deficit from the play offs, I am more concerned about the bottom of the league, 3 teams below Pools have a game in hand and we could drop even further if they win them.

Let's be geeedy.
Finish 5th bottom with new ambitious owners.
Quality double
UTP.

Where we are now was my fear at the beginning of the season because you either go down and come out of the starting blocks fighting or feel sorry for yourself, expect it to be a doddle and end up getting a nasty surprise…you can see which category we ended up in….again.

helped with the sudden appearance of some of the injured coming back. a good one for the conspiracy theorists saying where they injured or not. could not have played a more ideal side yesterday. we actually could win our next two games if the we play similar but lose em both if they are quicker, bigger and far more physical.

If!!

Let see where we sit on Tuesday at 22:00 If we have 34 Points or still on 31 points.

i,ll still be happy with a 12th finish after the stuff thats gone on off and on the pitch this season and taking our better players forward to next season with some proper players introduced at the club. this season was not about a lost opportunity but getting the club back on the rails.

I'm not saying it's going to happen but wouldn't it be simply marvellous if we went on a run and got into the play offs. We would then have momentum which could carry us across the line.
Highly unlikely I know but football is capable of producing such scenarios.

I was thinking much the same myself Mr. D. but I woke up and fell out of bed.

If Mani D was fit and Hastie decided to keep some sort of form and keep scoring. Then id be absolutely all over us being the post xmas team who go on a run and collect enough points to march into the playoff spots. But i just cant see it - i think we will finish a comfortable 12/13th.

run of games now to get us more points on the board then i think it will be a tough end to the season. Keeping Mani D and Mancini fit is the big priority. Also go as far as Cooke being in that aswell as for me he does enough to make the difference in the center of the park.

Cooke needs movement off the ball, Or it can sometimes make him look ineffective.

We cannot keep clean sheets so we have no chance of putting a serious run of results together, some fans really do get carried away after 1 win against some dreadful opposition. Lets see how things pan out tonight before we start saying we are going to do this and that.

looking at our next 5 fixtures and if they put a shift in like last saturday and the two new lads hit the ground running we could easily get closer to the play offs. i,d be very dissapointed indeed if we did not pick up 3 wins out of these games.

They will score!

Over to you's

Although I don't think we've got much hope of a play off place, I fund it a bit strange urging restraint on behalf of the ultra optimists but it's OK to predict the club being relegated since November?

Common sense.

Since november would you like to remind us of our results? We have won 1 game against the mighty oxford, not united city, a game which we dominated yet still struggled to get over the line. If thats strange urging restraint then so be it. Lets see how we get on tonight against the 2nd bottom team away.

Lets be honest we couldnt of handpicked a better set of fixtures.

Promotion isn't settled in early January, just as relegation isn't in November.
Anything can happen, it's football and it's Pools.

Nobody is saying we are going to do this or that. All that is being said is the possibility, not the probability. Football usually produces strange scenarios and it is possible that our fortunes could change. That is all.
If LL can sort out the defence and the great demon of injuries/suspensions picks on somebody else we have a chance. No more than that.
I find it strange that the person who usually states we are going to do this and that is criticising others who are merely saying there is a possibility of doing this and that.
One of the great traits of being a football fan is demonstrating hope and long may that continue.

Of course fortunes could change and lets hope they do. But to even mention play offs etc after beating oxford city is crazy, especially with the injuries we have. Ive stated last year we would get relegated i stated this year we will possibly go down again. Now that might be pessimism but its not far from being correct is it.

But we arent going to get promoted, we would have to sign an influx of quality players, get injured players back that are out for the season back, its not going to happen. Im all for getting carried away and have hope but for us to even start mentioning this after beating oxford is mind boggling.

Lets just get enough points out of the easier games and make sure we dobt get relegated. Come back to me after tonight when we win again.

I think you have been more emphatic about relegation that just stating it's a possibility.

There are 19 games to go with 57 points available so it's a possibility we could make the play offs, no more than that. Nothing crazy about that statement. It's also a possibility that we could be relegated no more than that. It is also a possibility that we'll do neither. My hope is we'll get a positive result. Play offs or avoiding relegation will suit me.
The basic requirement is another 19/20 points out of 57 available, so a long way to go until your pessimism is correct.
The big question is will you be sad if your pessimism is correct, or will you be reminding us of your predictive skills this time next year, over six months after relegation, like you are doing now. This time do you want to be right or wrong.
You call people crazy to even mention the play offs but continuously harp on about relegation.
It makes a person wonder, to say the least.

The title of the thread sort of gives it away. Now you keep mentioning the play offs as a possibility and so is winning the premier league in 5 seasons. You keep going on like i aint got a clue yet it was me and several others last year said we would get relegated we did. Yeah ive been emphatic that i do believe we will get relegated. Think the last 3 months has probobly woken you up to the fact it can easily happen. Its as if the oxford win has wiped away the 3 months of utter garbage we have all watched and because we have beaten some utter garbage we can now do it. Like someone else posted in an earlier post we are deluded if we think this team will get anywhere near the play offs.

Of course i want to be wrong but when you have kept 1 clean sheet in about 40 games, hardly won a game in 3 month lost twice to oldham who were struggling to win games, lost by 5 at oxford, struggled against ebbsfleet and dorking it does sort of point to a sense of the team struggling would you not agree? Add to the fact we need 2 goals to win a game and lost our only real scoring forward it doesnt look too good does it. Do you get the impression thats why i mention relegation a lot more than play offs etc? Lets hope a new manager bounce lasts a bit longer than normal this time we can regroup in pre season and actually give ourselves a decent chance next year hopefully with mancini tied down to a contract or will we wait till last minute again?.

Is that theOldham who've won 6, drawn 2, and lost 1 of the last 9?
Clean sheets would be nice but are not the be all and end all as long as we outscored the opposition. Besides which we've got a new CB and a proper defender In Hendrie back so maybe we can tighten up a bit. It's a puss poor division if you forget about Chesterfield and a little run could be around the corner with Mancini back. Who knows?

Haha yeah i meant to say oldham who couldnt win at home. Yeah you are right its a weak division. The weakest ive ever known it to be and yeah nothing to say with mancini against these bottom clubs we cant get a run together but like i said earlier lets see how we get on tonight first.

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Anybody who mentions the possibility of us achieving promotion from this league this season is crazy according to you but here you are now suggesting that it is also possible to get promoted from the national league to the prem and finish up winning it in five years.
Of course it is possible but the meaning of the word has obviously just dawned on you. Anything is possible, as you illustrate, so why did you call people crazy for saying it.
If saying Pools could possibly get promotion this season is crazy, don't you think saying we could win the prem in five years is just a tad crazier.
Why does it bother you that fellow Poolies want to keep hope and belief alive.
We can do it and I hope we do. If we don't it won't be the end of the world. We'll just dust ourselves down and go again, like we always do.
We could lose tonight and every other game this season. I would just shrug my shoulders and hope for better next season. There's nothing I can do to stop it until I POSSIBLY win enough cash to make a difference.
I choose to support Pools, nobody makes me, so If I can't handle what happens, I only have myself to blame and possibly my Dad but he didn't force me to go.
That is what's called realism.
You say that it's just dawning on me. I first walked into the Vic in 1952 and, from that day until this, Pools have been my club. I have witnessed every emotion possible and more. I have said never again more times than I have had hot dinners but I have never stopped supporting the club. There's nothing more that can dawn upon me, I have seen it all. I could be pleasantly surprised if your possible scenario of us winning the prem within five seasons came to fruition though but, to be honest, I'm not quite sure I want that. I want Pools to win every game but don't expect it, I want us to get promoted this season but I don't expect it. However I expect us to get back into the EFL, sooner rather than later. Hope and belief makes fans at our level tick.

Am I detecting a slight change of tone. Having thought about it are you beginning to think it's not as crazy a notion as you originally thought.

Can I bring some solid ground here…..I said last year I’d be happy to just get consolidated in this league, but you hope for the best and hope even more you don’t sink any lower league wise.
If we resign ourselves to the negatives why even bother supporting the team as we all travel in hope…so to hope we get into the play offs by some fluke is what makes the game tick for me, once hope or even optimism is gone there’s no,point.
If defeats and victories can be treated with equal understanding it is a measure of the fan, but to celebrate reluctantly and criticise with gusto is a sign you don’t want to see on the terraces.

Because anyone who has watched the team recently will tell you its crazy to think we are going to get near the play offs let alone win promotion. Im not sure if its registered with you or not but we are simply not good enough. Im not shooting myself in the foot if you want to believe hypothetical things like getting in the play offs then winning the premier league is also possible. While we are at it we could win the league this season yeah we are only 31 points behind with 51 left to play. A sense of realism will eventually win out and we know its not going to happen But mention possibly getting relegated when we are sat 4 points above the relegation zone is it? Is slighlty more possible do you think? Slightly more realistic do you think?

It doesnt bother me if people want to believe we can get into the play offs but i suggest men in white coats might be making them a visit shortly.

Not at all crikey we have only beaten oxford city. But im not daft enough to believe you cannot have a bit of a new manager bounce for a few games. Considering how bad this team has been i suggest we wait to see how we get on tonight before we get all dreamy eyed about play offs at the very least. Afterall going to be this shower arent we?

We don't have to win the league to get promoted though do we?
We can make the play offs and the last time we did that we got promoted.
I said in my first post on this thread that it is hardly likely.
It can be done though.
You can't possibly compare us getting into the play offs and subsequently promoted to getting to the prem and winning it within five seasons. If the men in white coats where at the crossroads between the two scenarios which way would they turn I wonder.
A team going from tier five to the top of the prem and winning it within five seasons has never happened, whereas teams have come from nowhere to the play offs in most divisions. We're not that far adrift.
Since we dropped Askey things are changing. We have made one permanent signing and one on a loan until the end of the season. Players are coming back, although lack of strike power is a worry. The captaincy has changed hands and potentially our defence might be stronger. A few things have to drop right for us but who's to say they won't.

Tonight depends on how well we have recovered from Saturday and how much the returnees can give us. How match fit the new boys are is also a factor. I'll take a point tonight but hoping for three obviously.
Fylde didn't play on Saturday so should be fresh.

This whole thing is ridiculous…if people want to dream… LET THEM!!!

All my life supporting Pools I’ve dreamed of good times, they visited fleetingly.. but what is the point of supporting teams like Pools if you can’t have a dream.
Looking down on those who do serves what purpose exactly.
Telling those who harmlessly speculate is like getting a good fire going on Xmas eve in front of the panicking kids, then telling them to grow up.
I prefer the dreamer to the intolerable grumbler and know all.

Sums it up in the right manner.

A combination of hope n realism.
Results answer most opinions.
Haven't got a clue how to nite pans out but one thing for sure Fylde won't be as shit as Oxford.
UTP.

Not disagreeing, but anyone who’s followed Pools for years has to have more faith than the average religious nutter/fundamrntalist by a country mile.

agree plus opposition teams are all different and i cannot see them being right up pools street as oxford were. do not think playing on saturday should be a great disadvantage. once this was never mentioned but the media and managers now make a big thing about it in their book of excuses.

And its taken what 18 minutes

Fair enough dreaming as all us pools fans do but after nearly 30 games and only winning about 9 to then expect an injury hit team thats utter shit to then win about 12 of the last 17 is fabtasy land.

Thought this thread was from early season when we won 5 from 7.
1 win in a row the new optimism nowadays.
Hurry up Takeover this dreadful form is getting boring now.

Its coming to something when fans who have watched this lot for months come up with even more embarassment game after game, believe after 1 game they have not only turned a corner but are going to go on some incredible run. I dont know what some fans watch.