diff --git a/common.go b/common.go
index a487201c..2cb97935 100644
--- a/common.go
+++ b/common.go
@@ -120,12 +120,26 @@ func IsReadyPod(pod *apiv1.Pod) bool {
 		return false
 	}
 
+	// pod is not in Running Phase. It can be in Pending,
+	// Succeeded, Failed, Unknown. In some cases the pod can be in
+	// different sate than Running, for example Kubernetes sets a
+	// pod to Termination while k8s waits for the grace period of
+	// the pod, even if all the containers are in Ready state.
+	if pod.Status.Phase != apiv1.PodRunning {
+		return false
+	}
+
 	// pod is in "Terminating" status if deletionTimestamp is not nil
 	// https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/61376
 	if pod.ObjectMeta.DeletionTimestamp != nil {
 		return false
 	}
 
+	// pod does not have an IP address allocated to it yet
+	if pod.Status.PodIP == "" {
+		return false
+	}
+
 	for _, cStatus := range pod.Status.ContainerStatuses {
 		if !cStatus.Ready {
 			return false
diff --git a/executor/poolmgr/gp.go b/executor/poolmgr/gp.go
index c0070554..34d42239 100644
--- a/executor/poolmgr/gp.go
+++ b/executor/poolmgr/gp.go
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@ func (gp *GenericPool) specializePod(pod *apiv1.Pod, metadata *metav1.ObjectMeta
 	// for fetcher we don't need to create a service, just talk to the pod directly
 	podIP := pod.Status.PodIP
 	if len(podIP) == 0 {
-		return errors.New("Pod has no IP")
+		return errors.Errorf("Pod %s in namespace %s has no IP", pod.ObjectMeta.Name, pod.ObjectMeta.Namespace)
 	}
 	// specialize pod with service
 	if gp.useIstio {