Username
Password
Where does Danny start his summer rebuild?

Ben Clark - top man
By Clarence Rode April 27 2008
As home defeats go, it was by no means the worst because Forest are a quality League One side. But it was still a home defeat, and there have been far too many of them in a frustrating, inconsistent Hartlepool season. Now there are two big questions to sort out before work on the big summer rebuilding job starts - is Danny Wilson the man to do it, and if he is, where does he start?

Hodcroft front (wik)Pools owners IOR and chairman Ken Hodcroft (right) have remained quiet on what is needed, and they hare hardly famous for making bold and brash statements on what their plans are for the club.
In his programme notes for the Forest game, Hodcroft talked about the team's lack of consistency, poor performances at home and away etc etc, and added: "The squad of players we have are capable of doing what was there for the taking - but didn't.
"Games against Leeds, Carlisle etc could have been won, while games against other teams were lost for many other reasons. The lessons learnt from this season will be evaluated and hopefully, where possible, the necessary corrections made."
Now that could be interpreted in many different ways, but never once in his column did Hodcroft mention the manager, which seems odd at the end of the season. Or are we reading too much into it?
Either way, it doesn't exactly qualify as a vote of confidence for Danny, does it?
The first decision to make is who is manager next season, then whoeever it is must decide where the fresh faces are needed.
The defence may have let in a lot of daft goals, but individually it's not a bad set-up, though we could do with a decision on who exactly is the right-back.
In midfield, Pools could do with one or two string runners, players who are positive on the ball and defend well when necessary.
And the attack, well they need at least one player who can guarantee at least 20 goals a season - plenty of them about, of course,
Anyway, the team didn't play badly against Forest, with Ben Clark particularly doing well in front of the back four, but lacked an edge up front.
Whether some fans like it or not, Richard Barker is badly missed, and Joel Porter limped off with only ten minutes gone.
That left a team that defended well, but with two many players who, quite frankly, are not good enough to help take Pools any further.

Over to you, IOR.

Bookmark or share this story with:

Goto Thread: Previous•Next
Goto: Message List•New Topic•Search•Log In
Goto Thread: Previous•Next
Goto: Message List•Log In

Goto: Message List•Search•Log In
Your Name: 
Your Email: 
Subject: 
Spam prevention:
Please, enter the code that you see below in the input field. This is for blocking bots that try to post this form automatically. If the code is hard to read, then just try to guess it right. If you enter the wrong code, a new image is created and you get another chance to enter it right.
CAPTCHA
We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment. We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals. We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards. If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing abuse@sportnetwork.net