Pools fold too easily without a fight

NO manager in the world could have saved Hartlepool United on Saturday, and that, according to Chris Turner, includes Jose Mourinho.

In losing 5-0 to MK Dons, Pools fell to their biggest home reverse since May 1994.

With a run of testing games to come, Turner hopes his side got their worst out of the way first. If they haven’t it promises to be an awful second half of the season.

This reverse was as comprehensive as it gets, outplayed from first minute to last.

A one-off, or the shape of things to come?

Turner, with a trip to Charlton to come tomorrow night, expects it be be the former.

“If we were playing Barcelona tomorrow I would expect a response, no matter who we play. We are 12th in the table and we want to kick on from there,’’ he reflected.

“People think Jose Mourinho is going to come through the door to transform this club into a Champions League club.

“We’re working damn hard here. Sometimes you get knocks and I’ve taken a massive one on the chin, but we don’t hide, or make excuses.

It’s been a bad day for everyone, but I will raise those players and lift them for the next game.

“People can rant and scream and shout at me, but I don’t hide, I take it.’’ Turner sent out a Pools side in 2002 that lost 5-0 at Tranmere in the Football League Trophy, but this wasn’t his worst Football League loss as a manager – he had two 6-0 defeats as Stockport chief in 2005/6.

This could, however, have eclipsed Pools’ 8-1 reverse against Plymouth in May 1994.

Some five years earlier, Bob Moncur was at the helm as he led Pools to a 6-0 home loss to Doncaster.

And, before Saturday’s capitulation to MK Dons, the last time Pools lost 5-0 at home in a Football League game came in 1986, as Billy Horner’s heroes lost to Crewe.

The sad and sorry thing about this latest home humbling is that the Hartlepool United of 2010 is a world apart from those previous.

Or at least they should be.

This was a huge collective off-day against a team bang on top of their game. For every bit as poor Pools were, MK Dons were good.

Paul Ince’s side strode the ball around at ease, and at will, and when Pools did get in the way and get it back, it was taken back far too easily.

Even before their fourthminute opener, Pools were all over the place, uneasy and unable to get hold of the ball.

It set the tone for the rest of the afternoon to the extent that a wayward header from Ritchie Jones on 15 minutes was their sole chance.

The one time the home crowd raised their spirits came after 30 minutes. Ritchie Humphreys and Neil Austin put a couple of firm challenges in on the touchline and a cross flew across the box.

That was as good as it got.

Former Pools striker Jermaine Easter started the rout, slipping the ball under Scott Flinders.

Gary Liddle’s slice into his own net made it two, neat close range finishes from Peter Leven and Sam Baldock made it three and four, before Jason Puncheon smashed in from 20 yards.

Luke Chadwick also hit a post when presented with an open goal and Liddle had to nip in ahead of the former Manchester United winger to prevent him tapping in after Sweeney and Flinders comically collided into each other.

Desperate stuff and a display that gave the doubters plenty of ammunition.

Turner came in for his share of flak from the terraces and admitted: “For the critics, it’s a great day for them, you sense for certain people it’s a great result for them, but that’s them that’s life.

“You keep working hard and hopefully the players can get the results and performances to get us back on track.

“The performance totally shocked me. I’m speechless! It wasn’t one or two or three or four bad players, most of the team was poor.

“Every department, not just one. All the weaknesses we may have as a team were exposed. MK Dons were too strong for us.

“Joe (Gamble) came in for his debut and no-one wants a debut like that, he was as shocked as anyone how the team performed.

“Your responsibility as a professional footballer is to do your best and play to your capabilities and we didn’t do that.

“It was the worst I’ve seen them play for a long, long time.’’ The last time Pools were so inept as a team came in January 2006, as Blackpool waltzed to a 3-0 win. The team then was a shambles, now it’s Turner’s job to prevent the current batch going down the same road.

That started yesterday with a DVD viewing of the game for the squad. Perhaps a second rerun on the coach on the way to Charlton might not be a bad thing.

Match facts

Goals:

0-1: Easter (4, got behind defence and slid low finish home)

0-2: Liddle og (21, diverted Chadwick’s cross into his own net)

0-3: Leven (53, took Chadwick’s cut back in his attacking stride to net)

0-4: Baldock (77, clipped angled finish over Flinders)

0-5: Puncheon (82, smashed in low from 20 yards)

Bookings: Liddle (foul 65), Puncheon (72, foul); Easter (73, unsporting behaviour), Monkhouse (85, foul), Austin (90, foul) Referee: Chris Sarginson (Stoke): A bit soft, but overall little impact 7 Attendance: 3,211

Entertainment: ✰✰✰

HARTLEPOOL UNITED (4-4-2):

4 Flinders: Beaten five times, saved one effort and not as assured as normal;

4 Sweeney: He’s no right back when put on the back foot, as proved when Chadwick attacked him

3 Clark: Edgy, nervous and with little composure, which isn’t like him at all

3 Liddle: Never got to grips with the visitors’ movement, pace and strong running

5 AUSTIN: Dug in and tackled and tried to lift his poor teammates;

3 Jones: Needs to play in the middle, not positive enough as a right winger

4 Gamble: A debut he will never forget – for all the wrong reasons as he was outnumbered and outbattled

4 Humphreys: Chased around to try and keep up with the opposition to no avail

5 Monkhouse: Asked to move inside when he made up for a lack of numbers, but was missed out wide;

2 Bjornsson: Managed to jump out of the way of the ball in his 40 minute cameo, and played the visitors onside for their first goal

4 Boyd: Pools were never an attacking threat, Boyd had no service never saw the ball

Subs:

Behan (for Bjornsson 40): At least the extended run out will have done his fitness levels good 5 Larkin (for Jones 63): Little impact on his arrival on the right 4 (not used): Cook (gk), McSweeney, Haslam, Fredriksen, Cherel.

MK DONS (4-5-1): Gueret 5; Woodwards 6, Doumbe 7, McCracken 7, Lewington 6; Puncheon 8, Gleeson 7, Leven 7 (Randall 70, 6); Chadwick 9 (Townsend 60, 7) Easter 8 (Baldock 75), WILBRAHAM 9. Subs (not used): Stirling, Howell, Powell, Morgan.

MAN OF THE MATCH

AARON Wilbraham – everyone of the visiting players were better than Pools, but he was the focal point for most attacks.