20 or so minute interview with Danny O'Connor giving updates on all the injured players. It seems Crawfs is playing with strapping on one of his ankles and Cooke has strapping on both ankles, apparantly could hardly walk after one of the recent games. Josh Umerah sounds crocked for quite a few weeks but Manni D should be back in two to three weeks. Dan Dodds could be back by October all being well. https://youtu.be/rS1gMLYMfS0?si=H2lcthFn9fudAu17

I watched Danny's update and it is quite stark, the list is off the scale, the best 7-8 players at the club have been unavailable or playing through injury the last few months. I am not making excuses or explaining the reasons for our poor form but it has to be considered as a massive factor for our current position. Hopefully we get through the rest of the season and end up mid table or just surviving. Then next season have a squad that can challenge again. Having watched the interview its clear we have been really unlucky, I know every club has injuries but come on, look at the list of players that have been unavailable, unprecedented I would say. If we can survive this season then I am optimistic that we can go full on into next season. PTID, NSD!!!

Graeme lee was making a comment about injuries at pools but dont we now train on grass? We seem to get an exceptionally high amount of bad injuries.

It must be Pampas Grass.

Or try training without the spliffs?

Hardly any of the injuries Danny talks about happened in training. You do wonder though if modern football boots provide enough protectionfor the players' feet - heard them described as "shoes" by one manager, and he didn't mean it as a compliment. Don't think I'd ever heard of a metatarsal injury till about 10 years ago and now they're quite common.

Pools aren't the only team that have had a rash of serious injuries this season - Newcastle and Spurs are two others that come to mind - but the impact is far worse on a threadbare squad. I had a look at the Woking fansite last night after the talk about Danny Sarll coming here - turns out part of the reason for the bad run of form that got him the bullet was an injury crisis!

seems so many have been really freak injuries as well and its always months rather than the odd games they will be missing. its hard to remember a player getting injured, missing the next game but back for the one after.

If that's the case with Crawford and Cooke then good on them but I'd rest them both this weekend.
In fact I'd be resting a few more as well, like it or not points not a cup run have to be our priority, and maybe some of the fringe players should be given an opportunity to claim a shirt.

I'd give the young keeper a start, and Pruti, Parkes, Burton, Dolan, Hastie, Duffus,

we have a week off between games so it should not be a problem. i,d guess both parkes and duffus will start anyway and hastie will be used sometime in the game. just would like to see burton given another chance but please no dolan under any circumstance.

Haven't seen enough of Dolan to make a judgement, and he can't possibly be as slow or weak in the challenge as Fev. Why not have a look at him and see if he's worth persevering with or is he a dead loss.

Now that is bizarre…although nothing surprises me nowadays.

That'll be why Lenny and Sweeney made him captain then?

Does making him Captain give him extra pace and tackling ability then? Hasnt he been the mainstay and Captain of our (mostly invisible) midfield for nearly 10 years?
We're playing against a lower level team and we need to be protecting our most important players so they're available and fitter for the next league game so a good opportunity to play some who've been frozen out for whatever reason.

You haven't seen enough of Dolan, but Askey, Sweeney and Lennie Lawrence obviously have. The 'it was Askey who froze him out' line doesn't hold water when he hasn't even made the bench in LL's two squads.

Not blaming fans for wanting to have a look at players they never see when the team is struggling. At the same time, you have to give credit to the professionals (managers, coaches, physios) who see ALL the players in training every day.

We've seen enough in matches to know that the present lot aren't setting the world alight, I just think Saturday's game is a chance for others to get a run out, especially if we've got some playing with injuries.
Let's see what team he puts out.

Surely everybody saw enough of Dolan in the Rochdale game when had to be moved out of defence on 20 minutes and substituted at half time. I know he’s from the town and used to be a good league 2 player but at current fitness levels he’s comfortably the worst player at the club.

How do we know his current fitness level if we haven't seen him.

Disagree, we need a Cup run, because it’s nice to have something to look forward to.
Playing youngsters and getting tonked will just add to the gloom over the Vic.

Doh. It's not our job to assess a player's fitness level it's the club staff's. How can you not get your head around that? Perhaps you'd like to be consulted on team selection as well?

Anyway Lenny's pre-match thing in on the OS now and he's not planning to make changes other than maybe starts for Parkes and Duffus.

When havecI said I want to assess his level of fitness? I'm questioning the other poster whos said at current fitness Dolans the worst of the squad.
And I'm not saying what the manager should do though am I, I said that's what I'd do.
So double Doh to you!

Dodo?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ0w9Qll2fw
Just Look at that gutbucket
Same problem Hastie had last season but he did something about it.
Fatty hasn't.
Stealing a wage tbh.
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/matty-d ... ler/163523
Needs to get out on loan in NLN.

Every time he’s played in the last 12 months he’s looked about 10 years older than he actually is. Why do we need to see him again?

Danny is probably one of the very best we have ever had and I feel he will play a major part in any success in the near future. Shame he wasn't here at the start of the season but at least he is here now He comes across as a genuinely nice person also talks the talk n walks the walk. My only concern is he could be stolen by one off the big three