Re: Saints tactics : Thu Jun 18, 2015 10:58 pm  

Not the best of performances, poor handling errors etc but it's a tough league. Cas are in great form. No shame in losing to a last second drop goal. Good to see Walsh & Greenwood back on the pitch. Hope Shannon & Swift are both ok.

Re: Saints tactics : Fri Jun 19, 2015 12:01 am  

LFC Saint wrote:

Once again we lose a close game by keeping it to a forward battle through out the game. How much good ball did Mcdonnell, Turner and Percival get all night ? None.

Walsh and Burns just hitting the forwards with flat passes and short balls. Like reading a book. Only time we shifted it was 5th and once again we looked dangerous.

That game despite the drama at the end was absolutely shocking for skill set by both teams.

Their backline was Roberts, Carney, Shenton, Webster and Solomona. Ours was McDonell, Swift who was having a shocker, Turner, Percy and Dawson. Our pack is our strength...why would we not keep it as a forward battle?

Re: Saints tactics : Fri Jun 19, 2015 7:02 am  

Not seen the game yet, it sounded as though half our back line was missing for the last 10 mins was that correct.

Re: Saints tactics : Fri Jun 19, 2015 7:59 am  

Twentyman wrote:

Not the best of performances, poor handling errors etc but it's a tough league. Cas are in great form. No shame in losing to a last second drop goal. Good to see Walsh & Greenwood back on the pitch. Hope Shannon & Swift are both ok.

On the contrary - I think there's more than a bit of shame in losing to Castleord last night. In many ways it mirrored the Hull KR game - but even worse in that we had it completely under control against an opponent who posed less of a threat to our defence than we did.

Cunningham didn't give a post-match interview and I can understand exactly why. Privately he must be seething that senior players seemed to adopt a devil-may-care attitude perpetrating one stupid act after another after another. Whether it be LMS shoving over a Cas player in penalty range, or Percival giving away a senseless yellow card, or Roby (twice) having some very uncharacteristic lapses of concentraton. Take away the eight or nine separate lunatic actions, the bounce of the ball freakishly favouring our opponents (something of a trend this season) for two, perhaps even three tries - and what exactly did Cas offer other than a great deal of enthusiasm?

Perhaps it's a blessing. The players know they blew that game and if they didn't have their minds on the prize before the match they must now in its wake.

Fix the problem and move on.

Re: Saints tactics : Fri Jun 19, 2015 8:15 am  

Mugwump wrote:

Fix the problem and move on.

I can't see them sacking Cunningham.

Re: Saints tactics : Fri Jun 19, 2015 8:44 am  

The only reason Cunningham's interview wasn't shown was that Sky ran out of time because of the Swift injury.

Re: Saints tactics : Fri Jun 19, 2015 8:48 am  

Allez wrote:

I can't see them sacking Cunningham.

That's a bit strong. I kneejerk like the best of them and I'm not suggesting we sack the coach. Are you aware of what goes on behind the scenes? Are the players unhappy? They don't seem to be? Are things really as bad as you make out?

Re: Saints tactics : Fri Jun 19, 2015 8:51 am  

I'm not sure what exactly people want from Cunningham - other than winning every game from now until the end of time.

You can't really blame Cunningham for our current style of play. The squad he's working with is still very much Nathan Brown's. It's not as though he's had a great deal of opportunity to make sweeping changes.

To be honest, I think Cunningham knows one or two things some of his more illustrious colleagues at other clubs do not.

For a start, he's not abandoned the very style of play which was so successful when he first arrived and gone off on some kind of tactical wild goose chase (for no great benefit) as is currently the case with Shaun Wane. Unlike Wane he's not shouting his mouth off every five seconds whilst working his players up into a blood frenzy.

Right now we are a forward-oriented side. There's no sense denying this when it is patently obvious to anyone where our playing strengths currently lie. It would be madness to try to play like Leeds or Wigan (who are both below us in the table, I might add). We aren't set up to emulate either game plan and any attempt to do so would blow up in our faces.

Am I one hundred percent happy about everything which has happened this season? Of course not. But I think one would have to be heavily biased to think Cunningham has been anything other than a success.

Re: Saints tactics : Fri Jun 19, 2015 8:59 am  

I should also add - Cunningham didn't lose us that game. Senior players took their eyes off the ball and paid the price.

Thankfully there was no lack of effort (as has been the case in all our games this season - which is something you can say very rarely about Saints over an entire campaign). The problem was it was misdirected.

We should have put twenty points between us and Cas. They posed little to no threat and most of their points came from our own stupidity or a favourable bounce of the ball.

The players know they screwed up. I'm sure they'll put it right.

Re: Saints tactics : Fri Jun 19, 2015 9:17 am  

The horrendous injury nightmare which shows no sign of abating in the slightest isn't helping matters either. I am amazed we are still top to be honest. Other clubs would be floundering around the bottom if they had to contend with the injuries we have had/are having.