Thetownend.com

Here we go, Im VIP today, now in the countless times i have been VIP we have never won, today is going to change that 3-0

1-1 draw Revell scoring 6,123 crowd.

Perhaps if we win today then, which i believe we will, we should start a fund where each week we all chip in so you can be VIP and ensure a win.

On a match related note, who will we have filling in for Douglas? I kinda hope it's Easton as i haven't been impressed with Timlin this season and he looks like he's carrying a few too many pounds as well. Wonder whether Danny will do something unexpected, such as play a centre half in front of the back 4?

I agree, i think it would be good to see easton start

Town to win 2-1

3-1 Even if we are Doug-less (see what I did there).

Timlin will replace Douglas, I'd like to see Easton given the nod, but given he is barely making the bench it isn't going to happen.

we will score more than 1 and keep a clean sheet.

2-0 win for me

I think we'll win but won't keep a clean sheet. 2-1.

I'd like to see McGovern moved into the middle with Ferry.

I've predicted 3-0, so it won't be that based on my Prediction form this season.

1-1 :D 82nd min hartlepool equaliser from Monkhouse!

I'll stick with my prediction league score of 4-1.

We're 1-0 up already for me.  

I've been resigned to not going for half the week - two boys with swine flu and wife and daughter doing horse stuff.  Or would it be worth a mad drive to make some of the second half when they get back?

No worries, auntie Sonia has come up trumps to do the caring, as long as I take her to Sainsbury's first.

So, 2-1 to us then.  ;D

1 - 0 Town

ive gone 1 all in my prediction league but for some reason i think we will win.

I like the idea of playing 3 centre backs - Morrison, Cuthbert and Greer. Either in a 5 man defence or with one of them sitting just in front of the defence and taking Douglas's role. We've really benefited from having Douglas playing the defensive midfield role and I just don't see Easton or Timlin being up to it.

hopefully wilson has learned we cannot sit back on a 1 nil lead.
meh unlikely.so 1-1

Got a good feeling about this one despite the suspension , 2-1 town .

Only change is Obadeyi for Douglas

McGovern probably in middle and Oba play on right of midfield

No Timlin or Easton

Surley we need someone in midfield to do douglas' role?

This will be 3-0 to us then, nice.

i'm not going which will have no bearing on the result whatsoever.

1-1

Villa 2-1 Chelsea FT.

Lovely start, lets have a nice win today as well.

2-2

5-0, Revell hat-trick....

The ref. will award a penalty against Swindon in the 91st minute for a Hartlepool player being in an offside position.

Good start there, 0-1, Soulfather.

1-0 down

Shit. Fucking Jeff Stelling

Looks like Douglas is going to have a very long suspension.

fuck me

OH BOLLOCKS!

any live links?

Poor start but early days yet.

So is the idea to let them in 2 minutes from the start rather than 2 minutes from the end.

At least its 88 mins earlier than when we usually concede so we have time to get back into this

And a baloon scored for Sunderland! that made me laugh

They're all over us.

could be 3 down according to Kingy

Could it be that we need a holding midfield player like Easton or Timlin, just a thought.

Anything happening at all?

We seem to be coming more into it.

King of Tonga has been asked to leave the VIP.

2-0 Monkhouse :/

Monkhouse booked for antagonising the DRS. Jesus christ, he must have slept with every one of their wives individually to rouse them.

doh!

Yes - we've let another one in - monkhouse

FFS - Shows how much Douglas holds our team together

Just a sneaking suspicion on my part, but do we need to put some more ball winning ability in midfield perhaps putting in TIMLIN or EASTON.

Hartlepool are dire...  could still get something out of today.  Come on Town!  They're the only team apart from Everton not winning in a ten game accumulator.  When will I learn?  Never bet on your own team...  :cry:

Revell's fucked his knee. King said instantly it looks very serious, cruciate or something would be a nightmare.

This isnt going very well

And he gets up and plays on. Never mind that then.

Let's get one back before half time please.

Has occurred to anyone that we have only scored three once this season.  We need to take the game to Hartlepool, obviously, but we need someone to do the defensive midfield job that Douglas does so well.

MacNamee is the key

So what do you suggest Crozzer? Don't stay on the fence.

HT Oh Dear

Take Hutchison off, go 4:4:2, Topi up top with Revell, put Easton or Timlin in the middle and put JPM out right.  Get the ball wide to Macca and JPM and get some crosses in.  Doesn't matter if Topi or Hutchinson goes off, but Topi has a knack of scoring.  Don't put Paynter and Revell together.

"Bringing Paynter on now will only guarantee defeat"

It's amazing how some of these people sending in texts even know how to use a fucking mobile.

It's so cold and this isn't much fun. I hate football again!

We've Forgotten what it feels like to loose

Let's see with Douglas we are a good side, without Douglas we play crap, could the problem be in midfield?  Paynter is not a factor.

I've lost count of how many times they have got in behind our defense. We look lethargic all over the pitch. Macca has been good but Hutchinson doesnt look like he cares

Anyone watching Final Score?  Am at my girlfriend's mums on my todd watching as she doesn't have Sky Sports News and all they've gone about is that fucking balloon at The Stadium of Light.  Steve Claridge must be the worst pundit ever allowed near a microphone.  I'd forgotten how bad final score was.  I miss Jeff...

I agree, some strength in the centre and some decent balls into the box

We need to come out at a high tempo much like Brentford did when we were 2-0 up there.

Not sure that we're missing Douglas that much. Pretty much the entire team has turned shit. The defence is all over the place and marking non existent. If Hartlepool were any good we'd be 3 or 4 down by now.

Tope has been terrible and wasted numerous opportunities to put the ball in the box. He seems caught between crossing and shooting and doing neither. Compare that to McNamee who is our best player by far and has put in plenty of dangerous balls.

Not sure what can be done to improve things. Other than some decent players and we ain't got much on the bench to turn to. I'd maybe bring Morrison on for Greer and Cuthbert as both are having bad games.

Basically I'd say we're fucked.

Hutchinson off then at HT.

Although he is going mad everytime Hpool score which is a bit annoying

LJF for Kennedy. Hmm.

Midfield in McNamee on the right, Tope on the left, Ferry and McGovern in the middle. Not sure about that.

You must really rate Morrison if you want him on for two players....

It sounds like the team just needs a bollocking.  Would be a real shame to lose our 11 game unbeaten run...  Today is a good chance to re-overtake Norwich with them playing Leeds on Monday.

Why does Danny play Topi in this role?

I don't think we are fucked as long as JPM is moved out right and crosses come in from both wings.  Topi or Hutchinson off, then for Timlin or Easton.

What does that achieve?

Are all their attacks coming down our left?

We're fucked.

At least Rovers are losing 2-0

Lee Peacock coming on over Paynter? What the hell has Billy done.

On for Revell, clearly he's still feeling the injury earlier.

Some of DW Decisions have been a bit wierd today

Peacock not Paynter?mmmm

Billy has missed chances like everyone else.

Alrighty then, Paynter and Easton to be gone in January.  With Ferry, Topi, Hutchinson and Revell all on loan, this team will look different next season.  Revell will probably be signed in January.

We are not going to score are we  :(

We're fucked, that was decided on this forum just after HT.

I also think that Paynter and Easton are totally out of favour and Timlin isn't far behind.

Doesnt look like it but you never know maybe it is our turn to get a couple of late goals, it would make a pleasant change.

Bill for Ben.

The Flowerpot men.

Peacock in midfield?

Suicide watch for Crozzer!

Afternoon chaps.....How is the 2nd half looking?

One goal make them nervy

Three goals make them lose.

Revell and Paynter together didn't work the time it was tried from the start.

With all the loan players that seem to be getting selected ahead of the permanent players, this season seems to be all about putting the team together for future seasons.  Won't fill the stands, but steady progress to hope for.  

Two goals gives us a draw - now we've covered it all!

We are seriously mega-fucked, 3:0 Hartlepool FT.

Have we conceded again or is Crozzer being Marvin the Paranoid Android?

Do you think we are fucked Crozzer?

No FT score prediction.  

Just Crozzer.

At the very least a distinct possibility, not using JPM's crossing ability is a question I think needs to be answered,

So what is happening now?

Still 7th

I thought we had conceded again then

Are we showing any signs of scoring? :please:

Paynter's looked bright since coming on but we're not exactly piling the pressure on.

Do we look like scoring 3 ?

Come on Town,put them under some sustained pressure.

Neil Harris with a hatrick for Millwall at Stockport ..oh  ::)

I have as much chance of scoring with Kate Beckingsale as the Town have of scoring against Hartlepool this afternoon.

Full Time. Fuck.

Well, that was fucking awful.

Odebaye and Hutchinson are two of the most gutless players i've ever seen.

If you have players on loan, their clubs don't want them on the bench.   

Bloody Rubbish - In fact I'd go as far to say thats the worst I've seen this season (although I didn't go to Gillingham).

Defence was shaky as hell.  Glad Kennedy got hauled off as he had a major off day.  Thought Greer was off the boil too.  How did Hartlepool find so many ways to get in behind us?

Midfield wasn't much good either, JP probably being the best player there, Ferry wasn't at his best, Macca didn't really get into the game and Tope was providing no outlets for defence to get the ball to him as winger, floating around all over the place.

Up front was a bit meh. 

Monkhouse is a first class c***.  In fact I hope he gets whats coming to him.  Not provoked, no boos, no nothing, just decided to act like a complete bell end.  I hope he breaks a leg.

Overall, a shit day.  I wonder how they bounce back from this, be interesting to see but play like that v Norwich and a thrashing is on the cards without doubt.

Who gives a fuck, I would be very surprised if they both start the next game!

Danny's interview.

Worst performance of the season, poor.

Sloppy goal after 2 min.

Second best throughout, have to do the work, didn't do the work.

Tippy Tappy balls right from the start, never got the game plan going.

No urgency or know how.

Callum was having a hard time against Brown, Leschinal did well.

Revell is o.k.

Peacock and Paynter finished together, service was poor.

A defeat not easy to take at home.  

Will keep working, need consistency.  

Sloppy goals given away.

This league is very tight.

Final product not good enough.

Douglas was missed greatly, but we have to get through it.

No mention of being fucked.

Well that wasn't very good from the home side.

Monkhouse probably man of the match, set up the first and scored the second.

It could be that he only applies himself like that against us, but I think I'd have him in our side.

Silly booking though. I don't think he got any abuse at all until then.

Kennedy had a hard game but James Brown looks a class player to me.

Truly awful today. We simply weren't at the races from the word go. Hartlepool were a team looking to get us on the break and it worked. Our defence had an off day. Cuthbert and Amankwaah were poor, Greer had an off day and Kennedy wasn't great either. We just didn't look like scoring though. I guess they played with men behind the ball for much of the match but we lacked substance and could not break them down. Tope started OK but got worse as the game went off. We had no bite in midfield, lacked the edge upfront and were suspect at the back as I have said. Annoying really.

Hartlepool had 3 chances and took 2. We had numerous ones and took none. Hutchinson was awful today, Ferry had a stinker too. I guess we were due a bad game but 1 point from the last 2 home games when I thought we would be good for at least 3 is dissapointing. Back down to earth and a wonderful mid table season that beckons.

They'll start.

Wilson should be more pissed off at that performance than he was at the ref last week. Absolutely dire.

Defence was shaky as hell, midfield too lightweight, winger (Tope) had no end product and front two completely gutless. Awful.

The only one to come out with any kind of credit was MacNamee for me.

Tope was worst player on the pitch by far, he was absolutely dreadful.

He was like an even shitter Ricky Shakes.

i dunno why you go.all you do is moan.etc,etc

Agree there Sam. Thought Macca was very good today.

Oh and can I say that I am all for female officials but when they can't use a fricking flag until the fans are screaming behind them or the ref has already given the free kick then dont bother.  Stupid woman.

Well that was rubbish.

I thought Wilson got the formation and team selection wrong. You are missing Douglas. The middle 3 have been doing well so you need to replace like for like. I dont like this changing formation, what seems like every week.

Easton and Timlin should have come in for Douglas like for like.

Topi, seems im not just in the minoirty but completely on my own was alright today. I thought he looked our most dangerous player (which isnt saying much) he took on his man and got some crosses in. Yet got loads of stick for it. McNamee on the other hand was no better at all yet is getting praise and no stick what so ever.

Revell is crap and Hutchinson isnt much better. Peacock won a bit in the air. None of our strikers are goal scorers. Revell, Paynter and even to some extent Peacock are all decent enough second strikers. This needs sorting out, 6 months ago.

Our fans, crap as usual. No support, targeting one player.

Fuck knows what i'd do next week but I wouldnt pick that team again.

As much as we get on his back, Tope at least has something about him, and with the exception of Macnamee was the only one who looked like he'd make something happen.

Ben Hutchinson, on the other hand, is a waste of a squad number.

You sexist!

You are not on your own my friend, because I totally agree.

Eh, you what?

Yeah, he beat his man a few times, but he either ran into a dead end or out of play. On the rare occasion he did catch up with the ball he just passed it to the goalkeeper! Utter crap.

Macca, Amankwaah and The Lesh were the only decent players on the pitch today. Oh and Billy put in some effort

Greer, Kennedy and Cuthbert were shit.

I have no idea what Wilson see's in Tope, Fucking useless sack of shit, that said he was marginally better than Hutchinson who was absolutely clueless. I hope neither ever wears a town shirt again especially Hutchinson. Absolute fucking donkey. Tope just pisses me off as he doesnt jump, doesnt chase a ball unless he can have a shot on goal. Neither are the answer, Absolute wank the pair of them. Hutchinson just stood there, fell over all the time and really didnt seem to have a clue what he was supposed to be doing.

JP Was ok, Ferry was just lost, Macca was ok but no one in the box had a clue what to do (see hutchinson and tope), Revell just wasn't himself today.

Paynter was all over the pitch when he came on and did ok, Peacock gave 100%. We rushed a lot. AFTER the first goal we should have stepped back and tried to slow the game down a bit but didnt.

Monkhouse was a cunt for his celebrations but I would happily have him back in our team.

POSITIVES: Only 2nd loss of the season, so not all bad, Some guy on the bus was saying "1 POINT OUT OF 2 HOME GAMES IS RELEGATION FORM" and "WE NEED A NEW MANAGER" some of our fans really are retards.

On the subject of Peacock, he looks very soft to me.

Needs to lose at least half a stone.

McNamee did no better - yet no one booed him.

As for Monkhouse. We bombed him out for no good reason. I'd understand the celebration if Sturrock was still here but hardly anyone (Peacock) was here when Monkhouse was. He'd waltz into our team though no problems.

 :doh:

Obedayi had a good opening 10 or 15 minutes, looked the most lively, then faded and faded and faded, to the point where he is rooted to the spot when Paynter played him in at the end.

I don't want to post much because I know it'll come back to look like I have over-reacted, all I will say is I'm getting rather miffed about our home performances and am regreting the season ticket, it's a bit of a fuck having to travel to home games when you can't perform at home, even if it is only from Cardiff. I have a lot more respect to the fans that come from afar now.

At least Mcnamee can control and cross a football, Dave.

Agree again. Late on Billy played a good ball to him and instead of running on to it he just stood there and watched it. Crap. Utter crap.

who looked more dangerous then Gaz?

What absolute fucking bollocks.

Send the loan players back and get some Swindon players in.

Mid table at best for us this year

Paynter was the only player who genuinly appeared to give a shit today, shoot me down but if David Beckham can get man of the match for 30 mins, so can Paynter

First Half
----------
Kennedy was out of his depth. Amankwaah was positionally woeful. The defence looked like it would crack every time Hartlepool attacked. Hutchinson is a lazy sod at times. And Tope didn't play well. Revell ran around a lot without joy, and without winning a header. JPM gave it a go in the first half, Ferry tried to play neat passes, but all sideways and backwards. Macca tried hard but a 1 in 10 decent cross count isn't good enough.

We still created a good chance to claw one back, which was headed wide as we were celebrating.

Monkhouse is still average I'm afraid Michael. But I don't begrudge him celebrating in front of our fans. A well taken goal, but he had hours to slot it in.
------

Second half.
--------------
Tap tap tap hoof tap tap tap hoof. That sums it all up. Hartlepool sat back and soaked up the lack of pressure. LJF replaced Kennedy by necessity. Revell went of injured and was inexplicably replaced by Peacock ahead of Paynter. JPM became shitter as the half went on. Tope missed a sitter of a header.

No urgency, no fight today.

Macca actually looked like creating something though. He played some good balls in and acutually ran onto balls to him. Thought that if we were going to score it would have come through him.

Agree about Monkhouse though. He's a decent enough direct winger. I'd pick him over O'Brien or Tope.

I think I sat beside you on the bus

Saying its time for Wilson to go, Its only our second loss of the season, it was always going to come. Also harping on that 1 point from 2 home games is relegation form and something needs to change quickly....

Macca looked far more threatening. I can actually remember him making at least 5 good crosses. I remember Tope making none.

Oh, and Mex needs to be banned from the VIP suite.

Abysmal team performance.  Very unhappy about this.  We lost the game from the third minute.

Hartlepools goalie first save came from a Kennedys pass back froma dead ball situation in the 43 rd minute.

The tactics, if there were any, was all wrong.

I'm already sorry that I bought a ticket for next saturday.  It was that bad.

Roll on saturday.

Has any one here even seen O'brien play this season?

All I can remember of him was getting injured 2 minutes after coming on.

We need to play a solid 3 in midfield next week otherwise we will be in trouble, McGovern, Easton and Timlin should all start.

Ferry needs to learn how to pass a ball forward, every fucking game he only passes backwards or sideways. Too simple all the time.

On the flip side, Hartlepool looked a lot more solid and organised than I expected them to be. Even if we were playing well we could well have struggled to break them down.

I saw him in one of the pre-season friendlies Chris.

He is the fastest white man that I have ever seen.

I'm kind of with Dave, in that although Macca tried harder than Odibaye, he looked about as likely to actually put decent end product in. Odibaye doesn't deserve the scale of abuse he's getting (no, he didn't play well, but in what was a shit team performance all around, he doesn't deserve it on the scale he's getting it), while Macca doesn't deserve the praise.

We should instead focus all our boo-boy efforts at Hutchinson - as someone who was in the "give him a chance to come right" camp for ages, I give up. He's lazy and shit. At half time, I said to my mate he should either be taken off or charged admission if he was just going to stand and watch. He didn't improve.

And finally, arriba, no argument from me this week, Wilson got that one badly wrong.

I've also never seen a professional footballer miss so many headers. In timing is so crap.

The only person I've ever seen with worse heading timing abilities is myself.

I thought JPM was our star man, just for those who may wish to horribly mis-quote me :)

I stand by my comments Dave.

Your comments on a comment I didnt make. I'm not going bite, I'm not going to bite, I'm not going to bite.

I thought JPM's distribution was good, but he can't tackle for shit.

 I couldn't be arsed today...on the razz last night and didn't surface til mid-day, had a few things to do, and time passed quickly.  Thought about it, but then thought Douglas out, we're shit at home with no forwards who can score, and I've got fed up with trying to hang on to games.

 Seems like I made a good decision  :)

 We need to make sure the wheels don't fall off....

Did I misquote you horribly enough, dave?

i find it quite funny how everyone when we lose is negative.
if someone dares to say anything other than bigging up when we win or draw they get labled as moaning and negative.
the signs are there when we get a result,it just gets ignored as people are happy with a point or 3.
meh....

Meh, we're football fans. We're supposed to be fickle.

I presume Charlie wasn't on the bench today? If not why not? Yeah I know, he's not fit enough, but can he really do any worse? Can he come back to Poole on loan?
Disappointing result today, would have expected better, still lets look on the bright side, no goals conceded in the last ten minutes that has to be good

Very harsh arriba.

Todays effort, performance was unacceptable.  I had to work for three hours to buy todays ticket.  I never mind being beaten by the better side but that wasn't the case today, even given that we're not a free scoreing side.

harsh my arse

You seem to moan every week though.

i dont though si.i just mention negatives as well as positives.
the negatives get picked up on and the positives ignored.

No, when people get on your back it's because you've ignored all the positives and just picked out negatives, like last week. But, hey, come on, this week you can let rip without fear of contradiction. And instead all we get is this wounded Cassandra weak shit ;)

Had a chuckle at the arguement that ensued at the back of the town end, when the resident dipshit (guy with funny voice, not sure what he looks like) suggested Wilson "sort it out or fuck off if he can't do the job" (I'm paraphrasing) after Hartlepool's opener, for which he was shot down. I've never seen a knee jerk like that.

Hopefully this performance will mean the players buck their ideas up for next week, I don't want to go all the way to bleedin Norwich of all places and get dicked.

that's bollocks paul.
i dont ignore the positives at all.you and some others just pick me up on the negatives as we have a positive result that day.

wilson fucked up again today.why he didn't play the same system with a straight change with either easton or timlin i dont know?
hutchison is shit-he was shit last week and has been envery time i've seen him.paynter doesn't deserve to be benched as he's done nowt wrong(he needs a goal scorer alongside him)
revell is very like paynter and aint much between them really (is he needed?)
 i aint gonna ramble on as you lot can do the negative today.
i'll save it for when we win again ;)

Mex said that there was no MOTM given because they didn't feel like anyone deserved it.  (Mex went as VIP due to match sponsorship today)  

I wholeheartedly agree.

...it was given to JPM, wasnt it?

Some of the football played was alright, had absolutely no cutting edge whatsoever in stark contrast to Hartlepool who looked really decent going forward.

What is going on with Wilson's selections? How could he have even considered not playing a ball-winning midfielder  to replace Douglas, either with Timlin, or preferably Easton. What's wrong with Easton, anyone know why he's out of favour? He was once our best midfielder and scored a few as well. JP and Ferry were overrun, not their fault. Hutch was lazy and  a complete waste of time.

Good post.

Easton or Timlin in for Douglas and drop Hutchison.  Play Topi as a striker alongside Paynter or Revell.

I expect a 4:5:1/4:3:3 mess and getting dicked with both Topi and Hutchinson starting.

For January, I hope permanent signings are being lined up, enough of this loan shit.  Signing Revell won't help unless Paynter goes somewhere else freeing up some dosh for Coxy Mk II which is the problem.  We have to be on our game to score just to score one goal.

I don't think Tope will be starting next week after his performance today, Crozzer.

Agree with what you said about putting in Easton or Timlin and your last paragraph, spot on.

Come on arriba, don't bite so easily! Nobody picks on you, there are other more fun people to pick on anyway.

Sometimes it's better to get on with it, everyone is in agreement this week, perhaps you get singled out for having a different view sometimes. Whether that means you have a different perspective on things or a you're just a moaning git is a point for opinion ;)

Take Don Rogers Shop's thread about Greer, I don't think anybody agreed with him but as far as I'm aware he just let it be.

not biting si.just responding as everyone does if taken to task.i stand by what my response to your post says mind.
i bit last week for sure,but today highlighted how people see things differently when we wi,lose,draw.
i dont feel picked on at all and like the debate after matches(long may it continue)i'm happy tonight as i coined it in on sunderland winning.

i say we missed Douglas calmness is understatement. Wilson selection was baffling at best topey should never of played. Easton or even Timlin should of started. I think Dave would agree with me that Adam Boyd would been a great signing for town in the summer.

Wrong formation, really only played two in midfield with two wingers, not the right way to go about breaking a team down with four in midfield.  Obviously people have their favourites and their most hated, but I am definitely not a Macca fan, but I thought he was as good as anybody in our team today.  Hutchinson should be on the overnight train back to Glasgow, he was utter shite.  Revell is not the answer, but the service to him is poor.  I felt we didn't apply much pressure until Peacock and Paynter were up front.  Cannot understand what Easton, Timlin and Paynter have done to upset DW.  They all deserved to be in today.  Final thought, just when a change was required at half time all we did was replace a left back with a left back.  Yes, Kennedy was having a torrid time but we needed more in the centre of the park.

This is the type of result that makes you really curse those late goals conceded over the last month.

With all respect to Hartlepool, we should be getting at least a point from them at home especially when we travel to Norwich City next which is one of those fixtures where you sort of automatically assume you won't get much from it.

I think thats what most people would have settled for pre-season Bart

I'm just trying to wind you up. You do mention quite often you're singled out though ;)

They looked decent because they done the basic simple thing's,we seem to overplay everything and that passing it around at the back and across the face of the goal makes me nervous,if we do this against the better sides they will be putting pressure on our defence from the word go.Im not saying hoof it but we seem to play in triangles at the back and the ball mainly goes backwards not forwards.

It's same up front we try to be clever one touch to many but sometimes just the basics will get better results,anyone who has a spy at our games could fathom us out easy,we have become way to predictable IMO.

Agree and it's exactly what Hartepool did today. They got the basics right and sussed how we play.

nah its only cunts like you, pauld and dave.
 :)

Does that mean he gets to keep the ball ?

But you rise to it so well :)

Totally agree with what you said a few posts back about what was wrong today btw and whoever it was about we effectively played with only a two man midfield

The VIP curse strikes again. We were asked to pick the man of the match and we said none of them so for the first time i can remember there wasnt one.

id say Macca, because he skinned his man a few times and put a few crosses in, thats as good as it got today :(

yeah i know, but i like to think i back it up with reason for my points raised.
not biting really is it though?more like carrying the debate on.
i think there is a difference personally

Greer was complete and utter shit today, Cuthbert not much better. In the first half there was countless times when Hartlepool got in behind the defence and the marking was non-existent. In the second half there was 3 or 4 long balls played which weren't particularly dangerous yet somehow ended up with their player and the ball between our goal and our defence - Greer was the main culprit for this.

For the first 15 minutes Amankwaah was all over the place to the extent that it was impossible to tell what formation we were playing. It actually looked like a 3-4-3, which I thought was brave of Wilson until it turned out it was just Amankwaah played far too far upfield with the team being lopsided as a result.

How anyone can criticise McNamee is beyond me. He put in half a dozen decent crosses in the first half which was more than the rest of the team combined, and was defending pretty well. Our best player in the first half by some distance. He dropped out of the game a bit in the second half but was still one of our best due to the rest being so fucking shit.

My biggest problem with Tope is that he appears to be played out of position on the wing. Everytime he cut in with the ball he didn't seem to know whether he should be crossing it or heading for the goal and shooting and in the end he did neither. But I'd blame his poor performance on Wilson for failing to see that Tope is our best striker yet never playing him in that position.

Talking of strikers all four that we played today were shit and I doubt they would have scored even if they were still playing now. Hutchinson was terrible and always is. Revell runs around a lot but achieves little. Peacock did nothing. Paynter tried and there was some signs of brain activity but not much.

For my final criticism I'll come back to Wilson. His team selection and tactics are shit and the majority of the blame for todays performance lays firmly with him. His bizarre decisions make it difficult for the players to perform as well as they can. I really do wonder what the fuck he is thinking most of the time.

Tonight's Football League Show will feature todays game.Report and interviews from Mark Clemmit.

Even though I am going to be up (we are 1 hour ahead). I am not going to bother. Thankfully the 1 Hartlepool fan in Lux wasn't in the pub today, would have been muchos annoying otherwise!

McNamee defending?

must have missed that. Our wingers didnt get back once. For the most part we appeared to be playing 4-2-4.

I'm not going to pass much comment on today, it was shit and that's about the end of it.

It's status quo on our initial assessment of the squad at the beginning of the season. We need an attacking midfielder who will chip in with a few goals, a goalscoring forward and a consistant winger. Today we also missed the midfield/defence link man who will break up play but we have that one in the bag luckily with Douglas.
Left back is also proving to be a bit of a problem but out of the current options I would pick JLF everytime as he adds alot more than Kennedy does who I still think is nowhere near ready and the jury's still out if he will make it at all IMO. He seems to get away with a lot from the supporters for some reason whereas JLF gets hung for his every mistake (probably because he is local?). Both are young but JLF has more of the attributes to make it I feel.

Can't be arsed to read 12 pages, but I think they'll mostly say what I'm about to say :

Wilson played the wrong tactics all game and refused to change it, even though we were shite. We were lopsided as both McNamee and Tope can't defend, leaving both full backs exposed to their wide men, who had a field day in the first half. All it needed was for Wilson to make a change, Easton/Timlin for Hutchinson, who was absolute shite, and we would go back to a conventional 442, where we looked good at last week in the first 25 mins. In the second half they played 5 across the midfield to hold what they had, and turn the game into a scrappy game, which I want to forget very quickly, the sooner the better.

Worse game of the season. We were pretty damm awful. I can't think of much to say about the game to be honest, even my Cornish Pasty was cold.

Andy Monkhouse is a complete prick.

We got out what we put in - fuck all. Hartleppol are a mid table side and they absolutely rogered us. They could have been 4 up at half time. Both full backs were dogshit and the centre backs marginally better. In terms of passing it was either hoof it up to one of their defenders or play a 2 yard ball back and forth. Could one of our fucking attackers actually receive the ball and turn and face the fucking goal instead of taking the easy, lazy option of playing it back.
Macca was MOM for me today but was the best of a bad bunch. JPM and Ferry were very ordinary.  . If we're gonig to have strikers run around all game but do fuck all then I'd rather have Austin or Macklin doing it.
If we weren't so desperate,I'd send all our loan players back. The front 3 just aren't natural goalscorers and unfortunately for Ferry he drifts in and out of games too much.
All in all a totally fucking depressing time that reminded me so much of that cunt Malpas.

"Never ask a player to do anything they are not capable of."

Brian Clough

Callum Kennedy got a lesson in defending today. He was royally skinned alive by their winger.

I was watching him and he was getting back, on a couple of occasions he got back quickly to cover the gap left by Amankwaah who had pushed up for example.

surely he got a lesson in wing play then?

The conventional 442 was fully discussed in this thread at HT.  I hope at Norwich, we play 442 with Timlin/Easton recalled (today it was insane not giving one of them playing time for match fitness reasons alone with Douglas out), for a Macca, Ferry, Timlin/Easton, JPM midfield, with Tope and Revell up front.

When players come on loan, the loaning clubs expect the loanees to play.  This can be a problem long term.  I hope that this is sorted by the end of January.

Long term, no Tope, Hutchinson, probably no Ferry.  As for Revell, pick whether Paynter or Revell is first choice and either not sign Revell, or sign Revell and allow Paynter to move on, wages too high for a benchwarmer.  If Charlie looks decent, decide which combination with Revell/Paynter works best.  As for Peacock, Sturrock is nobody's fool use in midfield as cover for whomever is injured or suspended and up front as cover/sub for who's left out of Revell and Paynter.  Then find another striker to compliment Revell/Paynter.  The lack of a replacement for Coxy has meant too many loans.

The defence doesn't work without Douglas in front of them, I hope in training this week they Douglasfy somebody.

Lucas

Amankwaah
Cuthbert
Greer
LJF

Easton
JPM
Ferry
Timlin

Topi
Paynter

....is what I'd look at going for next week. JPM has been great in the middle so i'd leave him there and Easton has played wide right before. If it really isnt working these two can swap easily enough.

I feel our wingers defensive duties todays was seriously lacking. I'd play Timlin on the left to shore things up down our left.

Despite, what people thought today I'd try Topi upfront for 2 reasons. 1 he is actually a striker and 2 he has pace.

A few people have said, rightfully we still havent replaced a Cox like player. We seem to have enough support strikers but no goal scoring strikers. I dont think Topi is the answer to out goal scoring problems but he's probably best suited to give it go. If we get hammered he can drop in left midfield and we can go 4-5-1.

That leaves a bench of Smith, Morrison, Kennedy, McNamee, Peacock, Revell & Henshall (could be anyone really!!)

That gives us cover for each position and the ability to bring on and out and out winger if we need/want to. We can also mix around with the front pairing if we need to.

On a note about todays game. Revell is tall, which means we look for the long ball too often. Same thing happened with Rory Fallon. Tall striker = long ball.

Spot on

disagree with DV on one point, id wouldnt have JPM and Ferry and a central 2 again, too lightweight, Easton in the middle to add that bite that we missed today without Douglas

with the utmost respect I disagree with the comment re Ferry. To me he has been a fantastic loan signing, knows how to pick a pass, calm on the ball, normally not scared to go in for challenges. Today he had a bad day as did the rest of them but overall he's been quality.

We met wilson today and he hopes to sign ferry in jan, doesnt know if he will be able to, but wants to give it a try.

He's certainly the pick of the loanees but I'm not sure he's what we need in this team at this time. I also don't think we would be a good move for him - he can do better. He would have been a class player for us under Ardiles or Hoddle. He will go on to have a very good career but in my view we're fitting him into a team that needs another Douglas type player in the middle. 

Today though I reckon part of the reason he was poor was because Douglas wasn't playing. Our midfield looked very poor today. Without Douglas running the show we look a different team. Going to be a tough 3 games coming up I think.

Just as long as we don't have to take Hutchinson as well!

Hutchinson would be a welcome addition ....




.. to the crowd. He can pay to watch the game like the rest of us

I'd be fucking amazed if we signed Ferry on a permanent deal. He'd be an ace signing, just can't see it hapening.

Agree with the concensus that we should of played Timlin or Easton as a stand-in for JD. Neither are really that similar to his style of play, but Ferry was left exposed today without adequate protection and consequently he played with fear, hence the sideways and backward passes which are most unlike him. Timlin and Easton do make tackles and can play the ball forward. Shame Wilson missed that trick today.

Tope can look like a right lazy cunt, but I think he's just an out and out striker with little or no clue about playing in other positions. He's a young lad with a lot to learn, but his strengths at this stage of his career should be expolited; he's as fast as fuck with or without the ball at his feet and he isn't afraid to shoot. Wilson stick him up front and have faith that he'll do a fucking job.

Hutchinson is a lazy cunt who thinks he's better than he is. He also seems to think he's above playing at this level. He'll achieve fuck all in football with such a shit attitude.

Revell, Kennedy, Greer and Cuthbert all had an off day. Kennedy deserved the faith Wilson had in him until today. LJF looked far better when he came on and Kennedy will have to accept that he fucked up.

Stating the fucking obvious I know, but we need a striker. I appreciate they are akin to rocking horse shit at our level, but we signed Cox when he couldn't get a game at Reading. Surely other clubs have similar fringe or young players on their books who'd jump at the chance of a loan deal?

We've got 3 of them already- Revell, Hutchinson and Tope. There must be a limit on how many we can sign.

calls should be made to try to get cox back on loan.

That was mentioned on the radio earlier today. Would be nice if it happened.

So the one player, McNamee, that created chances and was our best attacking player gets dropped to the bench. But the 3 defenders that played 90 minutes and were completely shit fucking useless the entire time keep their places. That makes sense. You should send your CV in to Danny Wilson, he's bound to give you a job as his assistant.

Don't forget super Lee Peacock taking us to 4  :D

On a serious note though, Cox coming back on loan to get regular 1st team football would be a great option for us and WBA. Love to see him alongside Revell.

Worst home performance for a long time. I even left just before the end, which is something I never do.

I personally feel Tope is being unfairly singled out by some, it's his first game back since being injured and prior to that he was starting to show the ability that DW had spoken about.

For me the biggest disapointments were the shite defending and the lack of bite/cohesion in midfield. Funnily enough, we were all positive in the pub when we heard the lineup, it sounded a very attacking starting 11 and expectations were high. What a massive let down.

Worst player on the pitch for me? Difficult one. Kennedy was shown up nearly everytime he had to defend, but he's still young and is still learning. the other players in the back four were all poor and didn't look like they knew each other, let alone play in the same team.

Ferry and JPM missed Doglas's prescence in the middle and Macca did very little.

Revell worked hard, saw very little of the ball and showed he is not a main striker. Hutchinson can play, but looks like one of those loanees who doesn't really give a fuck.

Out of the subs, JFL was easily the best. He didn't have that much to do as Hartlepool were already comfortable, but what he did was ok. Peacock was his usual self, as was Paynter. If that's the best we have to throw on when we're chasing a game we've got major problems with the strength of our squad.

All in all a very poor performance.

I seem to remember one of the things Hartlepool fans said about Wilson after he joined us was that he "plays players out of position" and frequently baffled supporters with his decisions. Pretty sure its in a thread on here somewhere, might try and dig it out later if I'm feeling that bored.

So yeah. This isn't a particularly helpful post, after all, what can you do about it? But maybe people will be less suprised in future.

McNamee created as many chances as Topi yesterday, none. He was rubbish and doesnt do a single bit of defending. Hartlepool had loads of joy down both sides. Both their wide men scored! He hasnt delivered in many games this season and is a luxery player. Away to Norwich isnt going to be an easy place to go.

I'd keep faith with the defence because they've been good all season, apart from 2 games. Dropping them would be knee jerk. Plus apart from Sean Morrison who do we have to come in for them?

I must have been at a different game to you. I saw McNamee put in plenty of good crosses and balls. I also saw him getting back and doing his job defending, besides you can't blame McNamee for the defence not doing their job.

Our biggest problem at the moment is scoring goals and dropping the one player that is creating chances is just plain stupid. Plus everyone would be singing his praises if we had some strikers capable of converting the chances he creates.

I'm with jonny on this one Dave - how you can say MacNamee created no chances is baffling. Defending Tope, understandable, but to slate the only player who looked like being able to create a goal for us yesterday (in the first half at least) is baffling.

Piss Poor!

We could still be out there now with Hartlepool eating thier sunday lunch and we still wouldnt score.

Everybody was shite - maybe Lucas, Greer and Macnamee scored average points.

Revell cannot head for a big fucker.

Ferry couldnt seem to pass.

Kennedy couldnt tackle.

AND that Topey couldnt do anything right......fucking woeful. Lads near me reckon he is played out of position but that doesnt excuse the inability to judge headers and receive a pass.....woeful.
I stick to my first assessment that i splashed on here about him.

Ref had a shite fifteen when he gave them everything but it equalled out, especially Ferry getting away with a blatant kick/trip.

I was just hoping that Monkhouse would score in the second half and see if he would run to the Town End.....I had half a bottle of coke with his name on it!  I thought he behaved a bit cuntish, i for one was sorry to see him go and cannot understand why he behaves like he does?

All in all, a Mapasesque performance.

I think we got found out yesterday.

A finisher is required if this season is to bear any fruit....

Not going to Norwich....Maybe Tranmere....If not....roll on Leeds!!

Here's what I'd go with for Norwich;

GK - Lucas

LB - Jean-Francois
CB - Greer
CB - Morrison
CB - Cuthbert
RB - Amankwaah

LM - Timlin
CM - Ferry
RM - JPM

ST - McNamee

ST - Tope

The 5 man defence will make us stronger at the back, allows JFL and Amankwaah to operate as wing backs and will enable the midfield to push up a bit more. McNamee to have a free role, to go down either wings or push up the middle to support Tope.

I think Ferry and timlin would make us to weak in midfield and will leave us exposed,I would rather have easton for timlin or ferry,Im not sure macca sat behind tope either that leaves us lightweight in the front,  Paytner or Revell would make more of nuisance of themselves than macca.

Maybe five at the back would invite to much pressure aswell.

One things for sure Dannys got his work cut out,after yesterdays performance i would't know who to start with or which formation to go with,but surely it's time easton got his chance.

Playing three centre halves is a recipe for disaster, with anything other than top grade players, even then it's dodgy (see Scousers yesterday)

Next Sat is damage limitation already, I fully expect a loss, but thought we might have nicked a point v the Monkey Hangers.

Back to one up front and pack the midfield...I'd start with Paynter, then sub him for Tope after 70 mins.

a big no to jonnys team from me.
with wing backs you'd want to have plenty of crosses created.fucking pointless with macca and tope upfront.also no height with the midfield either.
i like wing backs, but the personel looks all wrong to me jonny.

Personally I'd have left it as it was last week but with Timmy/Easton replacing Douglass. We'd have undoubtedly been worse without Douglass, but at least the system wouldn't have to change.

That said, all teams have off days. Lets hope we just got ours out the way.

I thought Kennedy looked ok the other day when he was moved in to midfield with Jean-Francois at left back, the Wycombe game I think. Kennedy is fast and his crossing and shooting power is pretty good. Not sure he is there yet to play in midfield or as a wing back but he has got potential.

One thing I've noticed with McNamee this season is his passing, he's played a number of excellent through balls and I'd rate him as one of our best passers. Maybe in a central position we could take advantage of it more.

None of that solves the main problem, the lack of goal scorers. Having strikers that only score every 3 or 4 games isn't a problem if you've got midfielders and defenders that make up for it and we don't. Cox hasn't been playing, let alone scoring, at West Brom so you'd hope Fitton has been on the phone to see what it would take to get him back on loan. Would be a good move for everyone as Cox's confidence must be shot to pieces at the moment.

Ermm except the chance that Hutchinson missed in the first half in front of the TE with a point blank header...and that was just one of the chances. Come on Dave, I know you don't like Macca but surely you could see he did more than Tope yesterday.

For me that was a worse performance than Gillingham. We went back to the 4-3-3 that has not worked once this season, although I suppose it was worth a go with that great big chasm missing from the middle of our side.

I didnt think we had anything about us, Hartlepool could hardly believe their luck. We had 3 good players out there, 2 centre backs and a goalie.

Very dissapointing. We are quite near Norwich in the league, in which case you might get half decent odds on a Norwich home win next saturday, in which case I might put a couple of hundred quid on it. Also worried about the Cup game, we are desperate for an easy looking home draw. Another away tie at a team like Histon would probably result in another embaressing Cup exit.

The team looked like they had written off yesterday without Douglas. Lets hope they dont write off the rest of the month as well. 

Am I missing something?  I've read a few comments about needing to go 4-4-2, but that was clearly the formation we've had for the past 2 games.  The biggest problem on Saturday, beyond being atrocious, was the fact that 4-4-2 with 2 very useless wingers when it comes to defending on top of McGovern being shown up as completely inefectual unless in a 3 man midfield.

I'd revert back to the 4-5-1 we've gone with for at least half the games so far, shore up the midfield with 3 of them again, letting McGovern and Ferry dictate a game rather than watch it bypass them.  Clearly Douglas is a big loss, but with another body in there I think they'll get more control on the game.  You can then afford the 2 wide men to ignore their defensive duties.

Poor old Tope looks lost out wide in a 4 man midfield, and Kennedy (as he will at his age) was left completely exposed to have a defensive nightmare all of his own.  Kev, coming off a turbulent week was equally left exposed meaning we were easily picked off.

So, in summary, I don't think we have the players to go 4-4-2 without Douglas playing.  Lets get back to trying for 1-0's for a bit and ingore the clamour for attacking gung ho ness.  We actually looked more creative with the 4-5-1 anyway.

ps, I attract the worlds worst example of human beings at football.  Had 2 young chavs and their thick dad behind me.  Had to endure the gam plus their constant inane ramblings (not maoning as such, just utter retard efforts at trying to describe the game to each other while ensuring they put fuck in every 4th word or so).  Had to move at half time, game didn't improve, but at least the moaning was more creative and witty.

totally agree with your post rob.

You say clearly, but for the first 15 minutes I couldn't figure out what the formation was, primarily due to Amankwaah wandering all over the place. Maybe that had a knock on effect with the other players moving round to cover more, not sure, but it was fucking mess. I was convinced we were playing 3 at the back to start with.

I wonder if the players are having the same problem, either not knowing what they're supposed to be doing or being unable to do it and stay in formation. But either way, it wasn't the formation or lack of defending from the wingers that was our downfall, it was pretty much the entire team playing like shit and us not having a striker that can actually score goals. You can fuck about with the formation and players as much as you like, but if they play like shit and can't score goals we're fucked.

Fuck off!

Dont ever sit in front of me and my boys again! :D

You can construct a sentence, next....

mcgovern was ace in a 4 man midfield last week.

People want us to play 442 becase they can't comprehend anything other than that

But it was only a 2-man midfield on Saturday, no way could you class Macca and Tope as genuine midfielders.  Sadly I felt Ferry and JPM were just overrun and when the monkey hangars put an extra man in midfield for the second half we didn't even try to counter it!

When he played on the right, not in the middle.

And I completely agree with Rob.

Kanu is not getting a game at Reading at the moment, sign him up then we can have 2 decent wide players, and HRK can defend as well.

Put Easton in the middle alongside JPM & Ferry with Paynter up front on his own, let's get back to being solid and stealing the game with the odd goal

Wilson dropped a bollock on this one imo.Ferry and jp were simply over ran and as a result cuthbert and greer were fucking shocking along with amankawah.As we have proved this year we have become reliable on a holding midfielder so he should of put Easton in to protect the back four

My main worry is up front again though as come january the only striker on our books paynter is going to be a mess if the likes of peacock keep getting used ahead of him.

We lack a out and out striker and the only one who has come close to looking like one this year is Tope yet we play him on the wing.I still can't get my head around being 2 nil down at home and bringing on lee fucking peacock.

As for Ferry being shit that is a joke i hope? The reason he looks to play sideways passes is either due to no movement from the strikers or when they do move it;s to drop short and get the ball which is pointless.

completely agree DRS.

True......all true.

Yup, agree  DRS. Ferry's sideways/backwards passing at least retained posession, unlike the hoofs up field

I personally was outraged there was no tea or coffee in the whole DRS on Sat at half time!!!!! what a joke it was bloody freezing! My flask is broke so couldnt bring it!!!

Finger on the pulse as usual JFW.

was probably a blessing.it is luke warm and tastes like shit

Thats me! finger on the pulse of all things unimportant!!!
Ive found the tea is better this season as they use a bag rather than powdered crap - but I refuse to drink that mingy gloop that try to call hot chocolate!!!

This.

It was more 4-2-4 on Saturday than 4-4-2.

You should get Jan Moir's column once Stephen Fry's had her executed by TwitterSquad

You needed it to wash down all that grub you were knocking back in the Winners!

hahahahahahaha! spying on me now!!! ;)

In my defence I had just done a 3 hour fitness poledancing workshop and I was knackered and starving!!!!

How many pies did you eat then?

I had a beef bap! then ate my boyfriends chips!

You had a big chunk of chips on you

And chips? Crikey, how many hours of aerobics would that take to burn off?

errrr I had done nearly 3 hours of fitness poledancing that morning! My arms still arnt right now! I have a new found respect for strippers!!

Good work JFW...one of the women I see, has got a pole built in at home with a little dance floor. Touch of class for home entertainment.  :)

the poles are bloody expensive!!! £195!!! its hard and you would need alot of practice to be good at it

You've looked into installing one at home then?  ???

 I'm sure your boyfriend would pay for one  :)

Its having the room really!

There was 6 of us went on the course so we might buy a pole between us to share and hopefully we will be allowed to use it in one of the aerobics suites at work

You could buy an old scaffold pole and put it in the garden.

I've got plenty of room here if you and your friends need a place to practice.

I have always had the deepest respect for strippers.

I've got room in my shed.

Seems like you need to do another 3 hour fitness poledance to work that off