2nd attempt at trousers Help with fitting please

1. lowered crotch line by 1 inch

2. lowered center back by 1 inch

in an effort to reduce excess vertical cloth on the back side especially pooling being knees

If this were me, I'd pinch the cloth at the sides, smoothing it upwards in line with the folds and towards the waistband, pinning it in place. Does this solve the problem?

You can see in your first picture that the waistband picks up height over the pocket. It also looks low at the back. Not a problem if you lower sides, and possibly front, too.

If you only reduced material at the back, as opposed to trimming everything round to the sides too, then effectively you've pushed material down at the sides. It needs picking up into the waistband.

This is a guess on my part, though.