Danny Wilson - numbers ga

By Clarence Road
April 10 2008

What's in a number? Quite a lot for Hartlepool United as manager Danny Wilson appears to be planning to use the last four games of the League One season to begin preparations for 2008-09. And that means he has to decide whether Pools should play with a strong target man, a set of nippy attackers, or both.

4-3-3,  4-4-2,  4-3-2-1 - for those who remember half-backs and inside-forwards, it's all very confusing, but while Hartlepool may not have set League One alight this season, Danny Wilson is still a lucky man.
Because he has the luxury of being able to experiment with his formation in the last few games of the season, starting at Bristol Rovers last weekend and continuing this Saturday when Millwall visit the Vic in need of survival points.
Pools owe it to all the teams near the foot of the table to play for a win, but with top scorer Richard Barker still sidelined through injury, the boss is likely to continue with his experiment of using pace rather than power up front.
At Bristol he played Joel Porter, David Foley (right) and Matty Robson as the three forwards, though when Rovers had the ball tweo of them dropped back to become additional midfield players.
But on a better pitch, their collective pace would have posed even more problems for Rovers and many Pools fans will be hoping that Wilson adopts this sort of formation next season.
After all, Pools have a lot of pace and skill in their attacking players, and Wilson would be wise to use those attributes.
Barker is top scorer and is a better player for the team than some fans give him credit for, but at 32 he is not getting any younger.
Millwall are not sure of League One safety this season - in theory, neither are Pools - so the visitors have a lot to play for.
Barker and Gary Liddle are out, but James Brown could be back after his knee injury, and so could Sam Collins if he recovers fropm the bruised ribs that have kept him out recently.