'Pools utility midfielder Gary Liddle spoke to his club's official website ahead of his side's League One match against Carlisle at Victoria Park tomorrow, Liddle saying there is a fresh impetus in the squad with a change at the helm:
"Since the new manager (Neale Cooper) came in, he's brought a fresh impetus into the squad, we can put our own ideas across too and I think that it is starting to bear fruit on the field at the moment, none more so that at the weekend. I think outside of the Club, that 2-2 draw at Sheffield Wednesday would have been unexpected but I think it shows the character we have in the squad that we can go to places like Hillsborough and get a decent result.
"First and foremost he wants the work rate and attitude to be right and if you give them to him he'll be more than pleased with you. You have to be willing to fight for each other and as long as he sees the right attitude, he'll be happy with you and I think that has shown in the last three games especially.
“Carlisle have a little bit of consistency which we haven't managed to get at home yet. They have gone away from home recently and got some decent results so it is going to be a tough game but we had a good result in our last game at home and we'll be going out to try to win. The more people that come through the gate, the better it will be. I hope the fans can see what the manager and what we are trying to do. I know home results and performances have not been great this season but going into 2012, hopefully we can put that right."
In team news for the home side tomorrow they will definitely be missing two players, while another is lacking match fitness. All those problems for the ‘Pools are upfront too as top scorer James Poole has been out since Boxing Day with a niggling hamstring problem, while Colin Larkin has only played three games this season, Larkin now having to undergo a second operation, after an initial one in April, to clear up a lingering knee injury.
Meanwhile the final part of the trio is Colin Nish who may be involved on the bench at Victoria Park as he played the full 90 minutes of a 1-0 reserve team win at Gateshead on Wednesday evening, Nish on the last leg of the comeback trail having had knee cartilage surgery at the end of October. Elsewhere in the ‘Pools squad, veteran left-sided defender Stephen Wright certainly won’t be involved as, currently struggling with an Achilles problem, he was released on Tuesday at the end of his short-term contract.
And finally another long-server, in 37-year old Nolberto Solano, will also not feature as, under new boss Neale Cooper, he has been sidelined recently. Cooper commenting on the Peruvian: “Nobby is at that stage in his career where you can’t do as much physically as the other lads. But his game has never been that and at this moment in time I feel we have to graft for everything we get, and that’s not Nobby’s game. I’ve got a bunch of boys in there at the moment who will work really hard. If you look at the fighting spirit and work-rate in the last two games that is what we need at this moment in time. There’s no other reason than that, it’s just he doesn’t suit our system right now.”
The referee for tomorrow afternoon's match is Bobby Madley from Ossett in West Yorkshire and he will be assisted down the lines by Michael Denton from Todmorden on the Lancashire/West Yorkshire border and Darren England from Barnsley. Meanwhile the fourth official is Christopher Akers from Doncaster.