The Voice - Match preview Most liked posts in thread: Bradford City v Hartlepool United Sat 18 March 2023 1pm

Hartlepool fan here, nickname Monkey Hangers is all fair game, not taken as an insult, our Mascot is Hangus (Hang-us).

We deserve to be 3rd bottom and have been a poor side almost all season, signed around 12 players in January and have shown signs of improvement under Askey. Past two games we drew with Tranmere away and Northampton at home and each was an even game that could have went either way.

We press high from the start which leads to an open game, our defence isn't great, even with the new signings - so although both of those draws ended 1-1 they could have been 3-3.

We do have a handful of quality players and all should be fit for tomorrow which is a first since we signed some of them in January.

If you guys attack with the likes of Chapman & Banks they'll have our defence for breakfast but it seems like Hughes likes to play it safe, which may suit us.

If Hughes gets it right I am sure you will win, I'll be making the trip down in the slim hope we fight for our lives and pull of a shock result of some sort.

Either way, best of luck for the rest of the season.

 

Sat at the gate in Nashville airport, land in Blighty at 8:20 tomorrow. Nothing less than a scintillating performance resulting in a 5-0 dicking will do. Well, maybe a fortunate 1-0 will, at this stage I suppose it’s the points that matter. Up the chickens!

 

Have you had a bang on the head? 4 - 1 at home.......

 

Well what really took the piss for me after Cook had once again got us back in the game Hughes had the audacity to gesture to the crowd to raise their game, Costelloe, Smallwood and Gilliead could/should have been off at half time, eventually once Hughes brought Banks on we looked far more of a threat going forward, seriously at 75 I could do Smallwoods job in midfield, although not by himself how many times did he give the ball away today.
Costelloe not sure what he brings to the team certainly offers little with regards partnering Cook we looked better when Gilliead played wider on the right second half, Walker did a lot of huffing and puffing if he was injured when he ran into the advertising board he should have come off, IMO his Banks,Bola,Oliver and Critchlow substitutions were far to late in the game and once again a great chance to put our stamp on proceeding took a backward step, having said all that fair play to Hartlepools for coming and playing their little number 40 Kemp danced around three defenders (and left them on their arses) to score a great goal.
God forbid we perform like that against Carlisle on Tuesday night or it will be another piss poor home performance.

 

Why? We are on a pretty decent run, the lads were starting to look a little jaded, but have had a week without a game , so rested up. It may not be champagne football , but it is gathering the points and that is all it needs to be, to get out of this league. I do not care one bit if we bore our way into the auto's with scrappy 1-0 victories,
Why change something that is working at present.
Ps , like all , i would love to see us thrash someone, but will happily take the three points, no matter how they arrive.

 

I've watched us play the bottom 3 sides at home and seen us take 2 points from the 3 matches. It's only a stoppage time winner against 4th from bottom that prevents it looking even worse.

Todays first half was just like 90% of the seasons home performances. Slow, boring and devoid of any intent.

 

Weirdly enough that's probably the most creative we've been at home all season. I thought Hartlepool were very poor, especially at the back but we let them off through a mixture of dreadful finishing and a failure by Hughes to bring our creative players on the pitch much earlier.

The second goal we conceded infuriated me. Not only because the defending was school boy like but there were several players flagging in the run up and as usual there was no movement in the dugout. The timing of the changes, as per usual, was a joke and reactionary. The less said about Costelloe the better but he's surely had his chance now. He's utterly woeful and constantly makes the wrong decisions. Scandalous how Chapman isn't even getting a minute of game time and Costelloe gets near enough a full game.

I think that's us done for automatics. We can't drop points like this and hope to keep getting away with it. All of the last three draws are poor results against poor sides and not results in keeping with a side aiming for automatic promotion.

 

why ? are we not clapping hard enough. What do you expect the fans to do, riot until we get the type of football you think we should be playing. You do post some crap and are obviously on here not to contribute anything worthwhile, just to try and wind up.

 

Hartlepool at least didn’t come for a draw,not too much of time wasting and faking head injuries. They were far more open than some of the teams that come here but they certainly gave us problems at the back. We should have put away some of our chances today though.

 

Hughes has flogged that starting 11 to death and it’s beginning to show. Walker was a shadow of himself, we play 3 defensive midfielders against 3rd bottom when we should really have rested some for Tuesday. This is on Hughes. Hartlepool were poor and we never got at them first half. You could see their confidence rising as the game went on. We ain’t going up automatically that’s for sure.

 

It wasn't about chances for me, it was about the attitude from a team that should be busting a gut for every point being so close to the top three. Yet there was no intensity, no real pressure applied, it was no different to many other 45 minutes of home football and predictably Valley Parade was literally like playing in a library. We made a very very average side look good for 45 minutes, we've done it far too many times at home. Hughes simply cannot start with that line up on Tuesday, not at Valley Parade.

 

Sh1t or bust three points is a must.

 

We've lost 1 in the last 11. Not many managers I suspect would go for radical change in those circumstances.

 

I think as we come older we become more cynical and look back on days gone by with the old rose tinted specs on. I sometimes wish i could think like i did years ago, more of couldn't care less attitude does wonders for your mental health. Social media has a lot to answer for.

 

Fair play to Hartlepool for coming and having a go, it certainly led to an open game similar to the Salford one at Christmas.

Mo Sylla and Dan Kemp impressed, but they looked dodgy at the back throughout.

Shame the Costelloe chances didn't fall to Cookie, who was immense throughout today.

Wasted opportunity for a big win today.

We go again on Tuesday against a promotion rival who will be as tense as ourselves.

Banks must start on Tuesday, surely, and Bola for Ridehalgh for me

 

The first thing to say about this match is Hartlepool who are fighting for their status played very well and fully deserved the draw. As for us we didn’t win a home match again for the eleventh time because of negative boring and totally ineffective tactics right from the start of the game. Unfortunately this is going to change and our only hope is the play offs and in my opinion the home form is probably going to cost us that as well. Very disappointed

 

To be fair I agree with Fordy here. A decent side would have taken advantage of how poor we actually were first half. By the end we'd enough chances to win more than one game but that first half, for a team looking at automatic promotion, was pathetic.

 

I like to be positive when I post a message. Today therefore is a real test for me.

I can say Hartlepool played some decent football with some skill. Don't know why they are down there. Cook does get praise - but not enough. He is just so good and probably playing best in his life. A latter day legend. Extend his contract before the day is out.

End of positivity. Besides Cook who can we imagine scoring? None of the rest. they are all sort of reasonable but none with the spark that could get us a goal. Pretty ordinary bunch.

Then there is Hughes's tactics and his selections. Costelloe is young lad and could do without criticism - but for him to be selected at all, yet stay on 89 minutes (especially with better players sat on the bench) does beggar belief.

Others have made the usual comments abut the tactics and there is nothing I can add. All this spoils my Saturday Nights.

 

Where is the fight and determination to succeed? Only one player was busting a gut for the team and that was Cook, who was superb today. No amount of guff from the manager can convince me he has a grip of this run in. His tactics and ability to change players has been suspect all season. No idea why, he wanted a big squad so he could change. If we end up in the auto’s it will be down to other teams.

Costello is a young lad, and needs coaching and given a few starts and at the end of the match if we can afford it ie if we are winning. This is down to Hughes. He is clearly not ready yet.
Leadership on the pitch is pathetic. I don’t think Smallwood commands the respect from the other players. He did not say anything when they scored just trudged back to the middle. You don’t have the luxury of a full blown sulk when you are captain, the team need you to inspire them and make them believe this is just a set back and we can do this.
I would have East on the pitch most matches. Pace and football intelligence.
I don’t fancy us in the playoffs either.
The Gary Jones team were miles ahead of this team. We had Nahki and Jimmy scoring for fun plus a few from midfield and the defence. Every single player but a massive shift in. This team is supposed to be better but they are not. Hughes should play to their strengths not a system. Cook plays better when he has company up front. We could do with pace down at least one wing, Wright was doing that, and he had replaced him. We have had a lot of injuries especially to creative players which has been a pain.

 

Fresh legs are required, so I expect Hughes to go with an unchanged team.