Hartlepool United (H) League 1 Saturday 19/3/11.

[redsaddler]

My ratings and thoughts:

Walker - 6 - Had no chance with their goals, looked a little indecisive on balls coming into the box at times.

Westlake - 7 - Much better than his two previous outings, got forward a lot more and hoofed the ball a lot less.
Smith - 7 - Solid outing, took his goal well and didn't look out of place.
Butler - 7 - Made a couple of important challenges in the first half, I was amazed at how often he got forward at 2-2.
Williams - 6 - Possibly at fault for both goals? otherwise a reasonable outing.

Nicholls - 3 - Can't beat his man and can't tackle his way out of a paper bag, how he still keeps getting into the side is beyond me.
Gbarssin - 8 - My MOTM, did the simple things well, always available and effective both on and off the ball.
Richards - 7 - For the first hour it was the Richards of the last 4/5 games, the last half hour it was the Richards of earlier in the season.
Gray - 7 - didn't see much of the ball in the first hour, but he was a constant threat after that and was alert to the rebound for his goal.

Byfield - 7 - His goal will have given him confidence, still looked a yard off the pace at times but was very energetic.
Macken - 5 - Let's hope he's not on the sidelines for long as he is our best player at holding the ball up and bringing others into play.

Subs:

Grigg - 6 - Poor early on, the goal gave him a shot in the arm as he was much better after that.
Ledesma - 10 - Need I say anymore? A game-changing display, a stunning free-kick and, no question, should be starting every week.
McDonald - 5 - Played up front and showed a couple of nice touches.

[Rich Evans]

Just seen the goals on TV. Fantasy football stuff to come back like that, one thing though does anyone else think Gray looked really cheesed off after he scored. Other players came over to congratulate him but he was trying to blank them, does he have some sort of connection with the monkey hangers meaning he didn't want to celebrate?

While the majority of the players stayed on the pitch to celebrate at the end , JG was straight off doing that shouldery walk he does. He was definitely in a narky mood yesterday, but took his goal well and was an integral part of the awful first hour and the miraculous last half hour. He took a nasty kick and was spectacularly "megged" in the last twenty minutes so may have had a sore foot and a slightly sore ego. Who knows with JG?

Think a few of them were sulking. Grigg looked more grumpy than happy when he scored. Check out Tom Williams on Twitter. Apparently we have no right to boo the team, its the club who pay their wages not us and the team had more belief in themselfs yeaterday than the fans. Way to go Tom. Doing your bit to make sure the team and supporters all pull in the same direction.

Just had a quick look at his twitter page and it certainly seems like a page full of drama to say the least.

Were we right to boo them off at half time?

Yes it was a crud perfomance from some of the team and we didn't have a clue.

Hopefully it would have helped Deano with the team talk.

[Zaddler]

Any chance you could post the comments on here for those of us not familiar with the ways of twitter

[Wyrley_saddler]

Poor Jeff!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y6XfALC6Bc[/youtube]

[gray]

Walsall 7 Hartlepool 0.

A hungry crowd of 4,234 begin a riot after the Irish Air Force mistakenly enforce a "No Pie Zone" over the stadium, before continuing due south to Dudley Zoo where they shoot all the gorillas and free all of the ostriches.

WOW! And you got the number of goals in the game right.

[Exile]

Walsall 7 Hartlepool 0.

A hungry crowd of 4,234 begin a riot after the Irish Air Force mistakenly enforce a "No Pie Zone" over the stadium, before continuing due south to Dudley Zoo where they shoot all the gorillas and free all of the ostriches.

WOW! And you got the number of goals in the game right.

Who cares about that? I want to know what happened to the ostriches.

[gerryhatrick]

Walsall 7 Hartlepool 0.

A hungry crowd of 4,234 begin a riot after the Irish Air Force mistakenly enforce a "No Pie Zone" over the stadium, before continuing due south to Dudley Zoo where they shoot all the gorillas and free all of the ostriches.

WOW! And you got the number of goals in the game right.

Who cares about that? I want to know what happened to the ostriches.

One pilot tells us that, although quite difficult hanging out of his cockpit to remove the padlock,
no ostriches were harmed during the mission and were last seen fleeing in the direction of Tipton.

[clawtheolder]

Walsall 7 Hartlepool 0.

A hungry crowd of 4,234 begin a riot after the Irish Air Force mistakenly enforce a "No Pie Zone" over the stadium, before continuing due south to Dudley Zoo where they shoot all the gorillas and free all of the ostriches.

WOW! And you got the number of goals in the game right.

Who cares about that? I want to know what happened to the ostriches.

One pilot tells us that, although quite difficult hanging out of his cockpit to remove the padlock,
no ostriches were harmed during the mission and were last seen fleeing in the direction of Tipton.

So they`re on some ones dinner plate now.

[Guest]

Poor Jeff!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y6XfALC6Bc[/youtube]

Thanks for that! :D

[Neil Ravenscroft]

I think the key difference with Ledesma playing on the right with two forwards in front of him (instead of just the one) is that if he gives it to the forward the other striker can make another run and open the space for Ledesma. With just the one up front and Ledesma on the right, that space isn't there.

Think that's the first time we've played Ledesma in midfield in a 4-4-2, all the other times he's either been up front or in midfield with one striker ahead of him. So if he had come on for Macken as alluded to earlier, I'm sure he'd have been as hit and miss as he has been so far. He needs the ball from deep, not receiving it 25 yards out with his back to goal. Against a better side than Hartlepool, that might leave us exposed down the right. But we need wins and so we need goals - we won't stay up by grinding out 0-0 draws.

Couldn't agree more - you need to get him on the ball as much as possible, running at defenders to get the best out of him. A word also from me for Gbarrsin. I thought he was superb - won every single challenge in the air in midfield.

[WFC_Rob]

I couldn't make the game on Saturday, but what's clear to me is that Ledesma needs to play and needs to play on that right hand side. Neil & RS are spot on - it had taken until Saturday for Smith to play him in that role and look at the impact he had. Having seen him play a couple of times, I wasn't surprised that he played well froma wide position - a player with his ability needs to play in areas where defenders are exposed and where he has the space to use his skill.

Make no mistake, I'm sure Ledesma has probably got one or two stinkers in him between now and the end of the season, but that's usually what these players are like. He's potentially the ace in our pack, and without piling the pressure on him alone, we have to get him playing as much as possible.

[Duke]

Poor Jeff!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y6XfALC6Bc[/youtube]

Thanks for that! :D

Brilliant :D