The Day After - Where do we go from here?

By Albatross
December 15 2002

I think I've recovered enough from the horrors of yesterday to actually write an article about it. Some searching questions need to be asked, not least of which is why we surrendered so pitifully to Rochdale. Here's my view on one of our worst performances for years.

With the benefit of hindsight, yesterday was a defeat waiting to happen. Missing Barron and Clarke through suspension and Smith through injury, against a Rochdale side itching to prove that they were better than the bottom half of the table an upset was a possibility. What can't be denied though is that Pools were outfought, outthought and looked lucky to get away with a 4-0 thrashing. And that's just not good enough.

The irony is that at 2-0, Pools didn't look like they'd played that badly. Both sides were looking to get the ball down and play, but both seemed to be lacking penetration.

For Pools, the problem mainly seemed to be a chronic lack of width. While Bass and Arnison both played well in the first half, too often they seemed to be in the same position with Arno tending to drop back a bit too much; while Humphreys seemed to have adopted a free role in Midfield and was as likely to appear on the right wing or in the middle as wide left. He might be able to get away with that as part of a midfield three, but yesterday it meant that our shortage of natural wide players was highlighted all the more.

Anthony Williams will be blamed by many for the first two goals yesterday, and while he wasn't helped much by the defence, he had an absolute stinker. Platt's header for the first goal was hardly powerful; but Taffy managed to somehow let it slip past his fingers when he looked in good position to make a comfortable catch. A weak punch and then a dropped cross (admittedly a free kick was given) further highlighted that he was not having a good day; and the second goal was simply ludicrous. Yes, it was a poor backpass - but only Taff knows why he didn't just let it go for a corner. Instead, all he succeeded in doing was keeping it in and presenting it to Lee McEvilly, who needed no further invitation to slot home into an unguarded net. By this point even some of the Pools fans were joining in with Dale's chants of "Dodgy Keeper" - with good reason.

The defence as a whole though must look back on yesterday as a reason to hang their heads. Three of the four goals were as a result of crosses from the Pools Left - where Brian Barry-Murphy looked distinctly ordinary, and certainly not more worthy of a place than Mark Robinson.

Williams lack of confidence of the crosses was exacerbated by the poor defending of the back four. Bass managed to miss the ball completely for the third goal, once more handing a gift-wrapped opportunity to Paul Connor that the striker grabbed with both hands.

The midfield looked disjointed, with not much creativity coming from it; this starved the strikers of the ball for long periods, and it's difficult to remember Pools creating a real clear-cut chance inside the area.

Not many come out of this game with credit. Steven Istead came on and finally gave Pools some width; with Humphries also sticking to the left side we had our best spell of the game, but with Rochdale at 4-0 and cruising it was always going to be a futile exercise and even then their defence coped with whatever Pools tried to throw at them. Arnison did well enough but still looks more suited to right back or wing back than right midfield. Tinkler battled away without reward; and Richardson and Eifion showed plenty of work-rate, with Richardson in particular showing his value as a target man with his close control.

Overall though, it has to be said we were dire yesterday. Newell described the result as "a kick in the teeth" - and it certainly felt like that to the decent turnout of the Poolie Faithful who witnessed this debacle. It's the worst performance I've seen us put out for some time; Keystone Cops defending, no creativity in the midfield and forwards having to live off half chances at best is something we all hoped were long gone.

One defeat may not make this a crisis - we remain in top spot after all - but Mike Newell will hopefully know now what Pools need to progress. In my opinion those things are an experienced goalkeeper - at least to put pressure of Taff if not to take his place - and a natural winger on each side. We've relied too much on Smith on the left and players filling in on the right - with Smith missing yesterday we were painfully exposed. The bus may have been driving itself - but if yesterday is anything to go by some tinkering needs to be done on it to stop the wheels falling off.