Toto/Almond

are they good enough for league 2? Dan Jones is a excellent player who will not let you down.He's just not very quick not a left back deffo better at centre half,

Amond (no "L'). Rhymes with Hammond.

Both good enough for the 4th division in my opinion. Toto maybe has the potential to go higher if he puts his mind to it. I think he has trouble telling the left from the right side though, as at one point he said he was moving for family reasons or something similar. Given he grew up on Merseyside it's puzzling why he ended up with you, unless he just heard the "'pool" part and natural thought ......

Don't wish either of them bad luck. Both were an integral part of a very important season.

Toto could easily go on to a glittering career or could drift out of the game I honestly can't decide which.  Podge was superb for us last season in the dog and duck in league 2 he should be good but maybe not so potent ...all in all I would have kept both if them

Both good signings for you in my opinion and good luck to them they helped us out of the pit of despair. For me Amond didn't step up against better teams, liked tonto but sometimes on his own wavelength

I'd actually be a bit worried if I was a Pools fan.

Signing Conference players (inc Deverdics) seems like they're planning for relegation next season!

What odds Hartlepool for National League Champions 2017/18?  Get your money on.  

Unfortunately you can only judge once they pull the shirt on and play games for you - may have been excellent for us but dependant on style of play etc. - but they were good for us,and played for the manager's way of playing - which ultimately got us promotion - they would certainly fit into our league 2 status which the fans wanted but they have obviously different ambitions' - wish them both well but whether they succeed with you or not - not our problem now UTM!

Amond is a very good striker and will score goals given the service. Toto is a very good defender, with a lot of pace but he always makes at least one mistake per game. I would have liked to have kept both tbh, I think PH will find better.

Hurst works with them day to day.by offering armond a one year contract he obviously wasn't overly bothered as to whether he stayed or went. Weird when you think he scored 37 goals, bit more understandable when told the stat that he only scored once in all the games he played against top half conference teams, flat track bully might describe him. However the hat trick at welling was sublime. Toto different case ph obviously wanted to keep him but our rough coarse northern working class fans upset him when being criticised for his once a game aberrations. Obviously that won't happen at a kind understanding liberal place like Hartlepool............

Both will do a job and Toto will possibly make you some money as he could be sold on to play at a higher level if coached correctly

. Podge was a great finisher at National League level but often got loads of time on the ball in front of goal a luxury that may not be granted to him at a higher level. He played a lot of games for us last season but appeared to run out of steam a month or so before the end so he will have to be rotated which at 29 may not go down well.

Toto can dwell on the ball and if opponents put him under pressure he has a mistake in him, also despite his athleticism I always felt that he was a bit weak contesting high balls/set pieces into the box, but he will get better with age. He has massive potential but can be a bit immature and possibly high maintenance at times.

Loved them both and still do. They got us out of that tinpot League.

Would have preferred both of them to stay.

The description of Amond as a flat track bully is a fair one. I always fought his corner when Hurst left him out though simply because it was a flat track bully we had lacked in previous seasons. We were not scoring goals against the bottom half teams in the Conference. Amond did that and while his contribution in the play-offs or against the top sides may not have been great, he solved a big problem for us and was very instrumental in us making it into the top 4. Would we have made up his 37 goals from anywhere else? Very doubtful.

He could be successful in L2 if he is given a good run of games, the manager sticks by him if he has a goal-less spell and he is played in a 4-4-2 with a decent and big strike partner. But my gut feeling is that he will find the goals harder to come by and his all round game isn't good enough to guarantee him a place in the team if he isn't scoring.

Agree with the 3 posts above ⬆️.

As all above say, Toto has his bad / mad moments, but his fantastic pace gets him out of 90% of them
Amond a good finisher, but needs decent service.  Not the kind of player to beat three men and get you a goal from nowhere

Both players gave their all for us and helped us to promotion, I would have liked them to have stayed but they have not so it is what it is, PH is working on adequate replacements and I for one am excited by our new signings.

No need for anyone to be bitter about them, yes like everyone they have their faults,  but TBH their positive points far out weighed their negatives, so good luck lads see you soon when you visit BP

Podge will go missing in a lot of games,

Toto will make a silly mistake now and again,

BUT

I loved them both and thank them for taking us back into the league,

Podge had trouble scoring anything like the goals he scored for us the last time he played in the league so don't expect too much from him, 15 goals would be my bet,

Toto has a fragile confidence problem, if he cam overcome that he will play a lot higher than L2.

"Podge will go missing in a lot of games,"

On what do you base that judgement Pete?

Can't really disagree with much of the above.

Amond was first class for us last season and it was only towards the end of the campaign where he dried up a bit.   That could be fatigue, it could be that we changed our approach a little.  Who knows?

Soon as I saw him last season he looked like a knock-off version of Shane Long, in both appearance and style of play.  Not quite as a quick as Long but full of running and for someone who isn't what you would call a big lad, he knows how to use his body well and wins a surprising amount of headers.

His movement last season was unreal at times, he just seemed on a different wavelength to everyone else.  Obviously the goals are what brought him to attention but he got a fair share of assists too.   His attitude was nothing but outstanding, even when dropped from the side.  

There is that big question mark over how he struggled to score much against the better sides last season and has hardly ripped up trees in League Two before, albeit often used as a bit part player, but he did exactly what we needed last year - put sides to the sword.  

Toto has everything going for him physically.  He's quick (I mean really quick - if you're not sure YouTube Macclesfield's second goal against us on Easter Monday.  Toto gave Reece Styche 20 yards head start and still caught up him up), strong in the air and can bring the ball out of defence very well.  The problem is that he's a bit fragile.  Lost count the number of times a bruiser of a centre forward kicked him early and got in his head, cue guaranteed penalty/free kick given away on said centre forward.   He also had a few mid game meltdowns where he looked like he was about to have a nervous breakdown.  God knows what goes on in his head but it is his biggest downfall by far.    His reasoning for leaving here seemed really pathetic at the time and did little but put the backs up of fans who had, in the majority, backed him all the way.  I fear he'll be disappointed if he thinks any set of fans won't give him criticism at some point.  

He gets his head straight and he'll go higher than League Two.   He fails to do that and he'll drop back into the Conference and perhaps lower very, very quickly.   This will be a crucial year for him.  

Quoted from diehardmariner

Can't really disagree with much of the above.

Amond was first class for us last season and it was only towards the end of the campaign where he dried up a bit.   That could be fatigue, it could be that we changed our approach a little.  Who knows?

Soon as I saw him last season he looked like a knock-off version of Shane Long, in both appearance and style of play.  Not quite as a quick as Long but full of running and for someone who isn't what you would call a big lad, he knows how to use his body well and wins a surprising amount of headers.

His movement last season was unreal at times, he just seemed on a different wavelength to everyone else.  Obviously the goals are what brought him to attention but he got a fair share of assists too.   His attitude was nothing but outstanding, even when dropped from the side.  

There is that big question mark over how he struggled to score much against the better sides last season and has hardly ripped up trees in League Two before, albeit often used as a bit part player, but he did exactly what we needed last year - put sides to the sword.  

Toto has everything going for him physically.  He's quick (I mean really quick - if you're not sure YouTube Macclesfield's second goal against us on Easter Monday.  Toto gave Reece Styche 20 yards head start and still caught up him up), strong in the air and can bring the ball out of defence very well.  The problem is that he's a bit fragile.  Lost count the number of times a bruiser of a centre forward kicked him early and got in his head, cue guaranteed penalty/free kick given away on said centre forward.   He also had a few mid game meltdowns where he looked like he was about to have a nervous breakdown.  God knows what goes on in his head but it is his biggest downfall by far.    His reasoning for leaving here seemed really pathetic at the time and did little but put the backs up of fans who had, in the majority, backed him all the way.  I fear he'll be disappointed if he thinks any set of fans won't give him criticism at some point.  

He gets his head straight and he'll go higher than League Two.   He fails to do that and he'll drop back into the Conference and perhaps lower very, very quickly.   This will be a crucial year for him.  

I seem to recall that Connell was the same - more goals in the early part of the season than the latter part. Maybe  as both were newcomers to non-league they were an "unknown quantity" to opposing managers who maybe had little previous knowledge of them. Once they had been watched by our fellow leagues managers then their strengths were identified and ways to nullify them were employed in their tactics. This might not be the reason but it is a plausible explanation. It's also worth noting that Connell didn't repeat his goal scoring feats when he moved up a level.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

"Podge will go missing in a lot of games,"

On what do you base that judgement Pete?

Maybe going missing is a bit harsh on Podge,

He worked his socks off for us,

( I did not want to give the pool fans too much encouragement )

BUT

What did he do at Braintree apart from the pen and the two Wembley games ?

If you look at the games he did score in nearly all of them are against teams mid or bottom half of the table,

I wish him well but I stand by what I said he will only score about 15 goals for them this season.

Quoted from grimsby pete

Maybe going missing is a bit harsh on Podge,

He worked his socks off for us,

( I did not want to give the pool fans too much encouragement )

BUT

What did he do at Braintree apart from the pen and the two Wembley games ?

If you look at the games he did score in nearly all of them are against teams mid or bottom half of the table,

I wish him well but I stand by what I said he will only score about 15 goals for them this season.

Be fair Pete, the entire team will only get about 25 goals total

Quoted from grimsby pete

Maybe going missing is a bit harsh on Podge,

He worked his socks off for us,

( I did not want to give the pool fans too much encouragement )

BUT

What did he do at Braintree apart from the pen and the two Wembley games ?

If you look at the games he did score in nearly all of them are against teams mid or bottom half of the table,

I wish him well but I stand by what I said he will only score about 15 goals for them this season.

Goals depend on support from team mates as well as on the striker.  In games were the midfield was beaten, they're often the games Podge didn't score.