Doom and despair - but is it justified?

By Albatross
November 24 2003

Hartlepool United lost at Plymouth, and surprise surprise there's a few unhappy people about. One or two even seem to think Cooper's not the man for the job, although that's definately the minority view even amongst the pessimists. But what is a realistic target for this season anyway?

Question: if, before the start of the season, someone had said Hartlepool would be 8th in the table and seven points off the top after 19 games, would you have taken it? Chances are, you'd have said "yes" - I know I would. Why then is there an abundance of doom and gloom around following Saturday's not unexpected - although still unwelcome - defeat by Plymouth?

There are a number of charges being made against Cooper, and against the team as a whole - and while they are not without some foundation, we need to make sure that we're not over-egging the cautionary pudding. Let's have a look at some of the complaints that have been posted on the HUFC2003 board.

1) We don't know how to play away from home.
We've won three times away this season, but have also underperformed when expected to do much better - Blackpool and Notts County for example.

This has been going on for some time - in fact, ever since Chris Turner left and Mike Newell took over. Colin West was in charge for the win over Exeter, and although Newell was in place it was Martin Scott in de facto charge for the win against Orient. Since then, we have played 23 league games away from the Vic - with a record of P23 W5 D7 L11 giving a total of 22 points. In other words, this particular problem has been going on for at least a season now, and Cooper has managed a marginal improvement at best (11 from 10 against 11 from 13). Whether it's a case of tactics or a case of mental attitude, it's up to Neale to improve matters. We frequently weren't pretty to watch away from home under Turner, but we were effective - I'd settle for something similar if it means us grinding out the results.

A real cause for concern? Well, our home form is keeping us up there at the moment - but if that dips - even to the degree of more home draws rather than wins - then we'll start to glide down the table unless we pick up a few more points on our travels.

2) Some of the senior players aren't performing.
The likes of Tinkler and Humphreys aren't showing the sort of form they were last year, and this is putting pressure on an otherwise pretty young side.

Ritchie in particular seemed to be carrying the team at times last season - particularly towards the end of the season, when much of our best work came from or through him. This season, he doesn't look anything like the same player. Tinkler meanwhile isn't controlling and dictating the game in the way we need him to - especially away from home. Why? In both cases, it's been suggested that they've found their level - that having moved up a division, they are looking more ordinary against the higher standard of opposition. Particularly, they are being found out for pace.

In truth, neither has ever really shown the sort of game that is based on pure pace. And yes, they are coming up against tougher opposition. But in the case of Humphreys, I think that he's simply out of form: I'd be tempted to either move him inside, or leave him out altogether if necessary. With Tinkler - well, what role are we expecting him to play? He arrived as the defensive midfielder, showed he could get forward to good effect as well, but I don't think he's someone capable of providing the creative spark in the same way that for example Stephenson could. Tinkler's game is more about making some tackles, picking the ball up, playing it on and doing a lot of hard work from box to box. That's maybe partly why he was so effective as a sweeper against Sheffield Wednesday - he could win the ball, and distribute it - no-one expected him to make things happen or keep control of the midfield. If anything, I'd say that Humphreys is more likely to be the sort of player capable of dictating the play, and it's one reason I'd like him to move across.

3) People are being played out of position.
We're playing too many players away from their natural position - the latest being Chris Westwood at right back.

Again, I'd say you need to go back to the Turner era to see why this is happening. We have certain problem positions in the team that have been problems for a long time now - is it any wonder that teams from a higher league are more able to exploit them? We've not had solid, reliable full-backs on either flank for some time, and the issue of who plays on the right of midfield has been coming up regularly as well - really since the move to 4-4-2 a couple of years ago. Darrell Clarke hasn't ever looked comfortable there - but none of our managers seem to have found a solution, unless you count Coppinger's loan spell when he played there. Cooper has at least been trying, with Eifion trying his luck as a winger. Istead has been injured and still is probably best employed as a substitute, when he can use his pace to best advantage against tiring legs. Which brings us to....

4) Where are the signings we need to strengthen the squad?
After all, if you've got weak points in the team, you need to find the players to fill them.

Except it's not as simple as it looks. Since Cooper arrived, he's brought in the following: Nelson, Gabbiadini, Robinson, Strachan, Jordan, Konstantopoulos, McCann, Van Dommelle. Yes, a couple of them on short term deals - but that's still a hefty number for a squad that has only lost Henderson permanently in the same time. There's a wage cap to plan for next season, and IOR haven't got a bottomless pit of money. If anything, I'm encouraged by the fact that they seem to be saying that there's a budget that has to be stuck to - after all, there are a number of cases of clubs struggling because they failed to do just that, Leeds just being the most publicised.

The next thing is then why isn't Cooper shipping out some of the fringe players? I think he's doing all that he can. Henderson has gone, Richardson had a successful spell at Lincoln - and assuming they find a way to pay his wages I'd say a permanent move there isn't out of the question, Arnison, Boyd and Taff have all gone out on loan. We can't just wave them goodbye - unless someone else is prepared to offer them a permanent deal and they ask to be released, there would still be compensation to pay. And these are, let's not forget, players that are being deemed surplus to requirements at a second division club, in possibly the worst climate for players since the abolition of the maximum wage. It's not easy to find takers...

Once he's got some money to play with, Cooper then has the problem of attracting players - either permanently or on loan. In terms of permanent - well, there may have been a lot of players out on their ears over the summer, but of the ones left how many would you say would seriously improve the Pools team? Would a reserve player from for example Bradford? We may be able to tempt first teamers away from the more cash-strapped clubs below us, but wherever a new signing comes from they would need to be carefully scouted beforehand. Loans from other clubs are of course a possibility, but will only ever be a short-term fix - and again, they are only worth doing if they improve the team. The better the team is, the harder it is to obtain improvements via loan signings - Plymouth have just one loanee, Peter Gilbert from Birmingham, while table-topping QPR have none at all.

Overall, we need to bear in mind where we've come from, and where it is reasonable for us to be. As a team we struggled in the last part of last season, we were favourites to go down before the start of this - the pundits choice. Instead, we are more than halfway to making sure of being in this division next season, and are still outside bets for the playoffs. The next four league games will tell us much more about where we can expect to finish; we'll then have played every side in the division once. Given that all four are in the top half, and that three of them are currently above us, it's hard to see us being in the top six at the end of it - but survival has always been the aim as far as I'm concerned, and if we finish anywhere in the top half it has to be considered a good achievement. A lack of ambition, too easily satisfied? Maybe, but I think it's a more realistic aim than expecting to be doing battle with Ipswich, Sunderland and the like next season.