How Keith Curle's nine league games compare with ex-Hartlepool United manager Paul Hartley

After a summer overhaul which saw up to 16 new players arrive at the Suit Direct Stadium - 17 should you include former Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday forward Chris Maguire, who was Hartley's final roll of the dice in the transfer market, Hartley had his squad.

“To a certain degree [I think we have],” Hartley told The Mail in September when asked whether he had succeeded in bringing in those ‘speed’ and ‘power’ attributes over the summer.

“I don’t want to put a rating on it [the transfer window] but we’re happy with the business we’ve done, but I think, as a manager, you are always trying to improve and make the squad better.”

The former Celtic midfielder would spend just two more weeks in his post as Hartlepool manager after he was sacked following a 2-0 defeat at Sutton United - his ninth league game in charge.

In his place came Keith Curle who, while sitting in the stands during the club’s Papa Johns Trophy tie with Morecambe, took over for the visit of Gillingham. Like Hartley, Curle has taken charge of nine league games for the club following the recent 1-0 defeat at Stevenage.

But how do Curle’s nine games in charge compare with those of Hartley’s? Has there been improvement?

At face value, you could argue not in that Curle took over with the club second from bottom in the League Two table, a position the club still finds itself in.

Scratch beneath the surface, however, and you can begin to see the workings of improvement for Hartlepool and, perhaps, why they were justified in their decision with Hartley in September.

Hartley, having arrived with plenty of pedigree from North of the border in the Scottish leagues, with five promotions on his CV, failed to win a single league game in charge of the club. His solitary success coming in the 2-0 win over Harrogate Town in the opening group game of the Papa Johns Trophy.

Hartley took just four points from a possible 27, with goalless draws against AFC Wimbledon and Tranmere Rovers at the Suit Direct Stadium backed up by having to settle for 1-1 draws with both Colchester United and Crewe Alexandra despite leading in each of those games heading into the closing stages.

In contrast, Curle has taken eight points from his nine games in charge, having secured the club’s first league win of the season, at the 12th time of asking, against Doncaster Rovers before the recent come-from-behind win over Grimsby Town.

Curle has lost the same number of games as Hartley but, crucially, has turned two of those draws into wins while also scoring more goals and conceding fewer. Curle’s side have found the back of the net nine times compared to Hartley’s six, and conceded 14 times compared to Hartley’s 17 which sees them six goals better off when it comes to relative goal difference, albeit both still in the negatives.

But beyond the exterior of wins, points and goals, Curle’s Hartlepool continue to edge Hartley’s Hartlepool which, at least, offers some signs of encouragement that things are progressing in the right direction, even if at a slower pace than Curle would like.

When it comes to expected goals (xG) for, there isn’t much to separate Curle and Hartley with Curle’s nine games yielding an xG of 0.95 to Hartley’s 0.94 - something which will need to increase, yet when it comes to xG against, for example, there is a bit of a positive shift for Curle.

In Hartley’s nine games when conceding 17 goals, they did so at an xG rate of 1.95 per game with three of those nine games producing an xG against of over 2.0 against Walsall (2.64), Northampton Town (4.16) and Leyton Orient (3.1), as per data experts Wyscout, with the League Cup defeat at Blackburn Rovers also over 2.0 at 2.35.

Curle, on the other hand, has managed to whittle that xG against down slightly with Hartlepool conceding at a supposed rate of 1.34 with only two of those, in the league, being over the 2.0 threshold against Mansfield Town (2.02) and Stevenage (2.09), with the 6-0 hammering by Everton under-21s in the Papa Johns Trophy the highest at 2.41.

Hartley’s side enjoyed ever-so slightly more possession in their nine games at 48.95 per cent on average in line with Curle’s 48.13 per cent, yet despite his desire for ‘speed’ throughout his side it is actually Curle’s Hartlepool who have played at a higher tempo on average.

Wyscout records Hartlepool’s last nine league games under Curle at a match tempo of 15.77, their highest performance actually coming in the 2-1 defeat at Harrogate Town (18.52), compared to 15.56 for the first nine games of the season, with the highest figure under Hartley coming in the goalless draw with Wimbledon (17.25).

Hartley’s side did average more passes per their possession than Curle’s at 3.44 compared to 2.84 and, perhaps unsurprisingly, Curle’s team have seen an increase in their percentage of long passes at 22.05 per cent to 14.6 per cent. Curle’s lowest figure when it comes to direct passes came in the 2-0 defeat to Salford City when going long 11.91 per cent of the time in a game where they enjoyed their most possession this season at 64 per cent.

But the most significant comparisons come defensively, especially, again, when considering the approach in which Hartley tried to instil in terms of high pressing to win the ball back for fast, attacking football.

When it comes to the passes per defensive action metric, however, which is a stat to signify the pressing intent of teams in terms of how many passes are allowed before an defensive action is made, Curle’s nine games (9.41) show an improvement compared to Hartley’s nine games (12.83).

Only once in his nine league games did Hartley see his side produce a figure under 10 in the PPDA category which, despite a 4-0 defeat, came at Walsall (6.83) whereas Curle has seen only one game above 10 in that metric, albeit something of an anomaly (22.56) which will skew his average rating in the 2-1 defeat at Swindon Town.

Curle’s team win more defensive duels on average (64.65-62.33) as well as make more interceptions (45.78-42.78) which further adds to some of the statistical improvements since his arrival.

Curle, still, does not have his side where he wants them to be, but, both statistically and when it comes to points on the board, the improvement, however small, is pretty conclusive.