By Albatross
November 3 2003

A disappointing result (and performance) at Notts County, and it's obvious that Hartlepool United are right out of form. There's a fair amount of muttering going on, but we're a long way from a serious crisis point yet.... Saturday's defeat at the hands of Notts County was a big disappointment, and although it's not exactly a long time since our last win, a look at the form table gives some concern. In our last eight games, we've won just twice - at home to Wrexham and away to Chesterfield - and lost to two teams that we should have expected to take something from. Four draws, three at home, mean that in the list of how teams have done in their last eight games we sit 17th in the division.

And yet, Hartlepool United sit in 8th place in Division 2, just three points behind QPR - the team in the final automatic spot. It seems crazy to be talking about a possible crisis on the pitch - and yet that's precisely what some people seem to be doing.

Is there a justification for this? Unfortunately, the answer is "yes". Pools have underperformed in at least the last four games, with defeats to Blackpool and Notts County and a home draw against Wycombe. Even the win over Chesterfield was far from convincing. The good football seems to have gone, and certain players are right out of form - Ritchie Humphreys especially seems to be struggling. We've claimed four points where we had a reasonable expectation of seven - and even a full house should have been a possibility.

The problems Cooper faces are the ones that Pools have had to a degree for some time: the flanks. Last season Mark Robinson was the only real choice on the left of defence: and while we are now giving the likes of Robson and Brackstone a chance, and have signed Andy Jordan as well, we still don't seem to have someone there that we can rely on for the full season. There were always questions in my mind about Robinson making the step up to Division 2 - and with Brackstone and Robson both still developing, Cooper finds himself struggling to decide who to play there. With Humphreys struggling, the problem is simply accentuated - opposing fullbacks or wingbacks can push forward more, giving whoever is behind Ritchie more to worry about.

On the other side, Mickey Barron may be the man in possession at right back, but he is increasingly getting caught out for pace, and his distribution in recent games has not been the best. Arnison's gone on loan to Carlisle and Bass hasn't really had a look-in yet under Cooper. Further forward, Darrell Clarke continues to frustrate when played out wide, Istead seems to have fallen out of favour again (and I still think he's best used as a sub against tired defenders anyway), and Cooper has found himself asking Eifion Williams to play wide on the right - even on a couple of occasions as a wingback.

As I said earlier, these problems are not new. They've been with us for some time - the thing that's making them appear bigger now is the better standard of opposition and the fact that some key players are out of form.

It's easy of course to say that Cooper needs to bring in new players. The problem is, no team - with the possible exception of Chelsea - has a bottomless pit of money. We've already bought in several players over the close season, taken a look at a few others as well, and I suspect that Cooper has been told he needs to avoid increasing the wage bill - or at least limit it to what the club is prepared to afford. That in part explains the departure of Henderson, and the loan move for Arnison, to Carlisle; and if Lincoln are able to raise the funds Marcus Richardson may yet find himself back at Sincil Bank too.

That may not be the end of the movements either. Tony Williams is an increasingly marginalised figure, and another couple of players may find themselves leaving the Vic - either permanently of temporarily.

The problem for Cooper is partly one of timing. At the moment of his appointment, most of the decisions about who was staying or going had already been made - and although he has been allowed to bring in some players, he's stuck with a few that he may not have wanted. Unless and until he can find a way to offload them, it severely restricts his ability to sign other players.

It has to be said though that this is just part of the problem. We've had some excellent results this season, and the same squad that beat Grimsby 8-1 are still here. We've lost form, stopped playing the football we saw earlier in the season, and still don't seem to have solved the issue of how to keep a clean sheet away from the Vic. Even packing the midfield on Saturday didn't do the trick - though the illness throughout the squad that resulted in Brackstone having to be subbed without an obvious replacement on the bench didn't help either.

Are we being unrealistic in our expectations though? Before the start of the season, I predicted Pools would finish comfortably ahead of the relegation spots, but in the lower half of the table - and I'm sure the vast majority of us would have settled for that. Yet now, just over a third of the way through the season, that would seem - well, not a disaster, but something of an underachievement. Partly this is because of the way we started the season, and partly because the more we see of this division the more we realise that there are very few exceptional teams in it. "We don't need to be scared of any team in this division" said one Pools boss not so long ago - and the same applies to Division 2 this year. A Pools side playing to it's potential, with maybe one or two additions, could easily be contenders this season, never mind next.

So where do we - and Cooper - go from here? One thing we as fans need to do is take something of a reality check. On our current average attendance (the 15th largest in the division) it's not practical to operate with a squad much bigger than what we've got - so players have to go before we can bring in others. This is already starting to happen. Also, we need to accept that any finish in the top half would be a fantastic achievement - and playoffs or better would be a incredible. Cooper needs to continue reshaping the squad, get us playing the neat attractive football again, and find a system away from home that works better. It's tempting to say he needs to stop playing people out of position, but at the moment his options are limited and we need to recognise that.

Get things right and the sky's the limit - but let's not lose sight of the fact that the primary aim for this season is survival - anything else is a bonus.