Gary Liddle & Adam Clayton on what has been going wrong at Hartlepool United - and midfield concerns
Hartlepool United will look to get back to winning ways this weekend.
Hartlepool United will look to get back to winning ways when they travel to Scunthorpe United on Saturday.
Pools head into the National League fixture with joint caretaker bosses Gary Liddle & Adam Clayton in the dugout following Lee Clark's dramatic resignation last weekend. Clark made the shock announcement within minutes of the final whistle of last weekend’s 3-1 home defeat to Worthing after a disappointing start to the season with six defeats from the opening nine National League games.
So where has it gone wrong this season for Pools after a major summer overhaul and 15 new signings with ambitions of a run at promotion?
Liddle, speaking at the club's Maiden Castle training base in Durham, told BBC Tees Sport: "You can look at quite a few things there, you can look at injuries, obviously we've missed some real key players in both Max's [goalkeeper Merrick & defender Kouogun], especially. So they are a big miss is in itself, but I think as we mentioned on Monday morning, I think we can all, as a dressing room take accountability for our own performances. I think once you get into a mould of losing one or two games, confidence can soon drop.
"There are a couple of lads in now who are experienced lads and can handle the dressing room but it's also a very young squad, so whether that's been an issue, I don't know. We've certainly lost far too many games for this time of the season, that's for sure and it's something we need to turn around pretty quickly."
Central midfield has been an issue all season for Pools and a bugbear among supporters with Jack Hunter, Jamie Miley and Nathan Sheron failing to consistently impress this season. Ex-Middlesbrough and Huddersfield Town midfielder Clayton had a long and distinguished career in the centre of the field and he was asked about the problem area at the press conference.
Clayton told Red Radio: "Again, when results are going against it's easy to say but we do a lot of work on our midfield and what we want from them. Lee [Clark] was a very competent midfielder in his own right and he knows his stuff in that department. I think there's always questions on systems etc but we've switched in the last two or three games to try and fill the middle of the pitch, try and help the lads in there.
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“Again, that's not going quite right so it's up to me and Lidds now to find a solution for the whole team, not just for the midfield, to try and get the best out of each and every player and that's what we're going to try and do for this game on Saturday."
Club owner Landon Smith is due in the North East next week, with Pools away at Scunthorpe United on Saturday prior to home games against Harrogate Town on Tuesday and Tamworth the following Saturday.
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