With WSS away on a Pilates course, and Henry making banners for the next Student protest, the old guard has been brought down from the attic to provide this week's preview :-)
If Phil Parkinson is scratching his Bradley Walsh-style head at our recent downturn in performance levels, then you would be a hard man not to understand why.
Following an unimpressive start to the season culminating in the Brighton tonking, the team finally appeared to get their act together and secured not just a succession of victories, but co-ordinated, high tempo and attacking performances in the process.
The much derided hidden pot of gel had been discovered, and indulgently slapped around the team like Max Moseley’s arse cheeks while away on a business trip.
But then the arrival of what
South Eastern trains would describe as ‘poor rail conditions’ took hold, and the impressive pick-up in our season once again saw us derailed; the home draw versus Bristol Rovers disappointed and the two FA Cup games with Luton saw us fortuitously advance at the expense of our more impressive non-league opponents.
With the word ‘
debacle’ now fully copyrighted for the Brighton performance, the limp-wristed lethargic home defeat vs bottom of the league Walsall must surely rank somewhere between ‘s
hambles’ and ‘
farce’. The only positive with the Brentford cup defeat was that it was an improvement on the Walsall performance, but i’m pretty convinced the
Loose Women panel could equally have delivered an improvement.
After a disappointing start, Saturday’s opponents
Hartlepool have shown a decent pick-up in form of late; winning three of their last four, and defeated just once in their last six league matches. Of the three home games they have lost, they do tend to do it in spectacular style, with Sheffield Wednesday scoring five, Carlisle four and Exeter three.
Parky has tinkered with the side of late to very much mixed results;
Pawel Abbott disappointed on Tuesday, though in fairness to the player he was given the service South Eastern would have been proud of, while
Lee Martin has proved of late to be as effective as Gillian McKeith in a Bushtucker trial.
While no unit of the side is particularly performing in the last few fixtures, it is in defence that the real heart of our frailties have been exposed. The hapless
Simon Francis was replaced on Tuesday by young
Karl Jenkinson making an adequate debut, though IMO he does not look quite ready for consistent league football at this level yet (pretty confident he will one day though). It has been sad to see the impact the injuries have had on
John Fortune, and in recent games he has looked the shadow of the impressive and reliable defender we all know and loved.
Matt Fry has shown a real decline in performance levels in the last two games compared to his previous offerings, while the lack of pace of
Doherty and
Dailly are clearly starting to get targeted by opposition seeking to stretch us as a key part of their game plan.
Can Parky once again get the reaction from the players he derived following the Brighton debacle ?
What personnel and formation changes would you instigate to get us back on the right track ?
Will the game even survive the expected re-occurrence of the snow ?
You tell me.....
AFKA’s Prediction: Pain continues with their team outmuscled and defensive frailties again exposed in a 0-2 defeat. Could very much do with this one being called off.
Comments
WITH just three losses in their last 14 games, four wins from five and a place in the third round of the FA Cup in the bag, it’s little wonder confidence is high at Victoria Park.
Tuesday’s 4-2 win over Yeovil earned Hartlepool United a trip to Watford in the New Year.
And, with Charlton Athletic due at Victoria Park on Saturday, it’s a game Antony Sweeney and Co are relishing.
The midfielder grabbed a hat-trick, helping Pools turn around a two-goal deficit.
Charlton may be promotion chasers, but after seeing off fellow high-flyers Brighton and Bournemouth in recent weeks, Pools insist there is nothing to fear when Phil Parkinson brings his side back to his native North-East.
“We are going well, on a good run, and full of confidence,”
said Sweeney. “The fact that we are winning makes the difference, simple as it sounds. We’ve won three on the bounce now after losing at Colchester – and we were very unlucky that day.
“It’s a really good run we are on, and this sets us up for a really big game against Charlton on Saturday. There’s no reason we should be wary of anyone. Sheffield Wednesday gave us a good beating, but that’s it and that was down to ourselves as much as anything.’’ Six years on from his previous treble, Sweeney has a sibling match ball to go alongside his other.
Nine goals from midfield so far this season is a healthy tally and he said: “I’ve one match ball at home, it’s nice to get a second to go with it.
“That was in 2004, it’s been a long wait. I should have had one in the first round against Vauxhall Motors. This was a good win for us, we didn’t want a replay there next week. At two-down we would probably have took that.’’ But two goals in quick succession, and in identical fashion, levelled, before Pools powered to victory.
“We got back to 2-2 and it changed the game,’’ he said.
“Sam (Collins) twice headed down for me, I don’t think he’s scored yet this season, but he’s set two up in the same way for me on Tuesday.
“I was in the right area and it knocked the stuffing out of them. We’ve been in that position, being two-up, conceding one and then losing it. We know how it feels.
“Ritchie (Humphreys) put a top quality volley away to put us in front and then it was ours to lose.”
Pools pitch has been covered after the forecast of freezing weather this weekend.
Really do hope your correct.
if we perform to near the best of our abilities it'll be 3 points in the bag
Jon Fortune and Carl Jenkinson ;o)
Draw 2 29%
Charlton win 2 29%
Total Votes: 7
Something doesn't add up....
oh 1-0 win Benson to score
We're gonna bounce in a minute...bounce in a miiiiinute...we're gonna bounce in a minute..bounce in a miiiiinute..wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....we're bouncy bouncy bouncy bouncy la la la la la
will it be our turn to park the bus? i hope not,but if walsall was a bad day at the office,then up at hartlepool in front of 300 away fans is a great way to show that it was, or that peterboro wasn't the real blip in a quite unremarkable sequence of spectables.
i reckon we'll get something out of them and although not the games that i've been to,but some people think we play better away from home,well you don't get much further from the valley than up at hartlepool.
2-1 to us. feel the love!
Absolutely pivotal couple of weeks of the season coming up.
After Hartlepool, games against three promotion contenders in seven days.
If we win them all, we should go to bed on New year's Day very tired - but probably top of the table.
Play like we have done in the last two games , and we will be outside the play-off places.
And who knows what effect announcements expected on or around Dec 24 will have?
Got a nasty feeling there's a bumpy ride ahead...
Statistics say i'm bound to have a correct prediction ....one day.
A lot depends on how our 'mid field dynamos' (Racon and Semedo) perform. Is it a coincidence that since the cold weather is here these two have been anonymous. Could be key, otherwise we'll be overrun in the middle which is what has been happening again in the last 3/4 games.
Ha ha! They looked like they were kitted out to go skiing rather than play football the other night...
It's probably not easy to be a midfield dynamo when you've got a hot water bottle stuffed up your shirt!
Not with that 1 you wont lol!
Nor do I, in this division at least, 2-1 to us. I might have to abstain for the spurs one though!
Exactly my point. :-)
Can't we just ask the pools panel to award a point each and we can all move on to something more interesting.
So after all that fuss about fixture congestion and the need to rest players caused by our two cup 'runs', we will go into the Boxing Day fixture having played just three games in the previous 30 days.
Not quite sure if tomorrow's postponement is good news or not.
I had expected us to lose, so I should be glad.
But on the other hand, it could have been a chance to refind our form away from those horrible, nasty , ungrataful fans at the Valley and for the strikers hopefully to find the goal (Benson will now go into the busy Xmas schedule with just one goal since Nov 2).
The fixture plie up later in the season is starting to get serious (three games now to be rearranged) and we will face Southampton on Boxing Day totally rusty and without a league win since Nov 20. And at the moment, I think Brighton, Shef Wed and Huddersfield are all hopeful of playing this weekend and so a gap could open up between us and the top three.
So overall, not good news.