2024 / 25 Season

I'm not that bothered about the playoffs this season TBH. We know from past experience that going up through the playoffs means you start from a disadvantage next season. We need to strengthen before we have any chance of survival in L2. I'd be happier to consolidate for the rest of this term ready for a push next time round.
 
I think I said at the start of the season I'd be happy with a top half finish, and a tilt at the playoffs. So I guess that ambition is still within reach.
Personally, I can't see Pools being in the playoffs as we don't have the goalscoring forwards to propel the team forwards.
I think, like Mr Sands, that we need to use this opportunity to start building for next season. Starting with identifying the preferred formation and recruiting appropriately.
Currently, Pools are on their 3rd manager of the season and similarly their 3rd formation, but with much the same personnel.
Though I don't think it helpful, harping back to DC he set out his recruitment to play a specific way and it payed dividends. Currently, Pools are trying to shoehorn players into a system that doesn't necessarily suit their talents .
 
Often a new manager means a shift in culture, 3 in 6 months is challenging at any level, for players at this level it must be a nightmare. However we insist on using the same personnel and expect different outcomes. At best we’re treading water, unadventurous & uninspiring, in need of wholesale changes, but we’ll introduce one new signing for 30 minutes and expect big things.
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Well tonight's result must, surely, have kiboshed any lingering hopes for the playoffs!
Looking at tonight's team selection I'm of the opinion that Limbrick has the same mentality as Ruben Amorim, in that irrespective of players available he insists on playing his "preferred " system!
As ever there seems to be a sub plot at Vic Park that we'll never find out about, but which will inevitably result in more upheaval in due course. Hey-ho!
 
It appears LL’s stamp remains firmly on the team selection. We’re focusing on the problem and not the solution. We all know the weak links the manager needs to grow a pair and identify and remove them. Yes we have a lot but we’ve brought players in to fill, some of, the weak areas.

Cleary was brought in, imo, to play the number 10 role behind the striker or strikers, where is he employed? Robinson was brought in to fill the left back void, does he get a shout? Miley and Folarin were brought in to shore up a poor midfield the same midfield, with ever so slight changes appears most games achieving similar results each time, they’re [Miley & Folarin] currently playing cameo roles.

We’re losing games we should be drawing and we’re drawing games we should be winning and still put out players who contribute very little. Like I said earlier we’re putting out the same weak links, granted with a little tweak, week in week out and expecting different results, it ain’t gonna happen.

We should be a team in transition, we’re not, we’re plugging small holes, fighting small fires, when the whole place is alight.
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Not sure LL's influence can still be seen Billy2, Limbrick seems intent on playing 352 no matter what. Whereas LL was tied to 4231 or 433.
I do agree that the lack of use of SassDavies and Robinson in defence whilst shoehorning in Ferguson and Hunter as central defenders is bewildering.
I fear that Miley and Folarin were just brought in to lower the average age of the squad and as cornerstones for next seasons, younger and cheaper, squad.
 
Looking at today's, vs Aldershot, team selection I wonder if Limbrick is trying to get the sack before the season ends?
Wholesale changes in personnel and (presumably) formation from the last outing!
Gives the impression that he doesn't know what to do and is just rolling the dice in hope that something will happen.
 
Old Poolie said:
Looking at today's, vs Aldershot, team selection I wonder if Limbrick is trying to get the sack before the season ends?
Wholesale changes in personnel and (presumably) formation from the last outing!
Click to expand...

And five substitutes during the game.

Not feeling confident at all.
 
Limbrick’s decisions are made according to data, trouble is data don’t score goals, create openings etc, we’ve got people who run around a lot and touch the ball 20 times in 60 seconds whose heart rate reaches peak levels quickly, but they’re still sh*t and worse they still get more minutes than others.
He’s not the solution, he’s part of the problem as was Hartley & Sarll all similarly limited in experience and ability, whose plan B is panic.
Trouble is no experienced manager is gonna come here now and the owner won’t speculate to accumulate he just continues to choose the cheapest option. We’re done with inexperience, been there, done that, all the scars to prove it.
The York game, although a reduced number through the turnstiles cos of recent performances, will be an indicator of what crowds could be I can only see a steady decline in numbers between now and the end of the season resulting in the situation becoming no longer sustainable.
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Limbrick, if he hopes to be managing Pools next season, has to get a performance out of his squad on Saturday against York. I don't expect Pools to win, but a thrashing to a local rival will only further frustrate the fan base.
 
Local rivals at home is not a game I would normally miss as a season ticket holder or pay on the day customer however I will wait until the line up comes out and have a look. I think from here my money will be split between my two grandkids and put into their savings jars. Not willing to pay to watch the players I mentioned previously achieve the same outcomes.

It’s a possibility pools will turn them over, if they do and it’s the usual suspects who play, questions need to be asked, saying that we might just get a paggering.
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2pts from a possible 15 and continuing to pick personnel who deliver similar results suggests he’s not the answer, but we knew that didn’t we?
It needs root & branch changes
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For me the next two matches, Fylde and Eastleigh away, must determine whether Pools continue with the Limbrick experiment.
Whilst I accept that he is constrained by the squad at his disposal, nevertheless it is for him to organise and motivate the players.
Pools need a minimum of 6 points to avoid being dragged into the relegation dogfight, and a defeat to Fylde on Tuesday will be a disaster.
 
I totally agree with your assessment of the move, Limbrick’s appointment appears to have been an experiment and not all experiments are successful.
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Think we were 8pts off the playoffs when he was handed the poison chalice from that sly old fox Lenny.
Currently we are 11pts off the playoffs and 8pts off a relegation berth, his data driven experiment has us moving in the totally wrong direction.
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After tonight there seems little appetite in the squad for the fight to secure NL safety. Whether this is because they don't believe they have a future next season or they are lacking in belief of the management team, I can only guess.
Would love to know what the trigger was for LL handing over the reins to Limbrick, it seems to have been an ill conceived move - at best.
 
He’s got 3 games left before he matches his personal best of a 9 game winless run, before being kicked to the kerb, as happened at Woking.
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To be fair, their keeper did make a few decent saves on Tuesday. On the other hand, the general level of play is a bit grim isn't it.

As a matter of interest, what would your preferred line-up be? Must confess I've no idea except that Joe Grey would always be a first choice. I'd have said Madine and Dan Dodds, also, except that they seem to have gone off the boil a bit. It does look as though the team is distinctly lacking in the sort of impetus they'd get from an inspirational manager.
 
Pools need a result on Saturday win or draw. Hence, assuming players are available, I'd go 532

Dodds Sass-Davies Hunter Parkes Ferguson

Charman Featherstone Sheron

Grey Mani D

Should be a more compact setup, and using the best of talent available.
Subs
Waterfall, Stevenson, Miley, Cleary, Campbell or Falorin, Madine
 
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