Re: 19 man squad announced for Catalans. : Sat Jun 14, 2014 7:24 pm  

Early Bath wrote:

St Pete has lambasted Salford all season - the players, the fans, the Car Park - yet even we could score 4 tries in France. What comes around goes around doesn`t it Pete?

But Salford are at risk of relegation. We are not.

Re: 19 man squad announced for Catalans. : Sat Jun 14, 2014 7:28 pm  

SaintsFan wrote:

No excuse from me. He was totally different to the way he played against Hudds and, to a lesser extent (bearing in mind the bench problem in the 2nd half) against Salford. He looked utterly lazy today. As they all did, except for our homegrown player in Thompson.

They're all just looking at it as if it was just a job. They were all awful, the whole lot of them. And I felt really sorry for the Saints fans who paid loads of money to watch that sack of excrement.

But it isn't the first time we haven't fancied a fight. McManus was right: we are wooden men in iron ships. Thing is, he helped recruit them, him and his second in command. So he's created the problem for himself but my guess is he will do nothing to change it. Not sure he can do anything really.

As I said before Brown ever started with us, one of my concerns about him was that he had never won anything with Hudds. He will never win anything with us either because he doesn't know how to get a team up for the big games. Hudds were always chickensh** in the big games when he was their coach, and we are the same.

Let's just take the coach out of this for a min ( I know you don't rate him and I like him so let's not get into that please) but haven't these players got and pride in themselves? They must know what the fans think of them and Brown has said what he thinks of them and also McManus.

If I was playing, I'd be out to prove a point but these players don't seem to care.

Thompson showed heart and passion and was our best player for that reason.

Re: 19 man squad announced for Catalans. : Sat Jun 14, 2014 7:29 pm  

Early Bath wrote:

St Pete has lambasted Salford all season - the players, the fans, the Car Park - yet even we could score 4 tries in France. What comes around goes around doesn`t it Pete?

I've hardly been praising saints either mate lol

God you've been waiting for us to lose haven't you ?

Re: 19 man squad announced for Catalans. : Sat Jun 14, 2014 7:41 pm  

Next Friday should be interesting, both teams taken to the cleaners. Strange Superleague this season for all clubs with Jeckyll and Hyde performances.
Feel sorry for the fans who went over there.

I think we underestimate Wilkins value to the team.

Re: 19 man squad announced for Catalans. : Sat Jun 14, 2014 7:42 pm  

SaintsFan wrote:

I think you are sticking your head in the sand mate.

Not a single one of those players did their best today, not even Robes or Wello. Their best is way, way above what they produced in France. I know because I have kept recordings of their best. That is what gets me, personally, so annoyed at matches like today. They individually and as a group are a ton better than what was produced today, in attack and in defence, even without Wilkin (we beat Leeds without Wilkin and our two best forwards).

This is about motivation, it's about desire, it's about preparation - and the responsibility for all that lies with the players AND the coach.

No I don't think I am sticking my head in the sand. All SL teams have off days even the top teams Wigan Warrington and Leeds . They all go through it , so we have had our day hopefully a day the players, coach and back room staff won't forget. Yes it's down to the players to deliver on the park which they did not today but that doesn't mean they have no motivation or desire . I believe it's there but today they were out played by the better team.

Re: 19 man squad announced for Catalans. : Sat Jun 14, 2014 7:47 pm  

The odd thing for me was that in the first half our game plan seemed to be to play around the Catalans pack, taking the ball wide of the ruck at every opportunity, usually despite not having gained a single yard of ground. It was as if we'd accepted defeat in the forward battle before kick off. For the record, trying to avoid a contest with a stronger pack never works. You only beat a strong pack by meeting fire with fire.

I think Mose has taken a bit of unfair criticism this season, but he was utter excrement today.

Re: 19 man squad announced for Catalans. : Sat Jun 14, 2014 7:48 pm  

St pete wrote:

Let's just take the coach out of this for a min ( I know you don't rate him and I like him so let's not get into that please) but haven't these players got and pride in themselves? They must know what the fans think of them and Brown has said what he thinks of them and also McManus.

If I was playing, I'd be out to prove a point but these players don't seem to care.

Thompson showed heart and passion and was our best player for that reason.

I'm afraid I can't take the coach out of this because to me he's a fundamental part of the problem. He doesn't care so the players don't care. He doesn't prepare them appropriately - look back to his Good Friday pre match (GF was the turning point in our performances, note) - and he messes the team around all the time. Assuming he has game plans, most of them look useless.

As for the players themselves, not enough of them care for it to make a difference. Most notably, not enough of our forwards care. I agree that Thompson does appear to care and as such he stood out and has stood out previously.

Re: 19 man squad announced for Catalans. : Sat Jun 14, 2014 7:51 pm  

Dux wrote:

The odd thing for me was that in the first half our game plan seemed to be to play around the Catalans pack, taking the ball wide of the ruck at every opportunity, usually despite not having gained a single yard of ground. It was as if we'd accepted defeat in the forward battle before kick off. For the record, trying to avoid a contest with a stronger pack never works. You only beat a strong pack by meeting fire with fire.

I think Mose has taken a bit of unfair criticism this season, but he was utter excrement today.

Any ground we did make was usually made by our outside backs for f***s sake because Brown consistently asks them to take the ball up first when our forwards should be storming on to a pass and gaining as much ground as possible. Dumb tactics which invite injuries to our backs.

Re: 19 man squad announced for Catalans. : Sat Jun 14, 2014 7:52 pm  

Dux wrote:

The odd thing for me was that in the first half our game plan seemed to be to play around the Catalans pack, taking the ball wide of the ruck at every opportunity, usually despite not having gained a single yard of ground. It was as if we'd accepted defeat in the forward battle before kick off. For the record, trying to avoid a contest with a stronger pack never works. You only beat a strong pack by meeting fire with fire.

I think Mose has taken a bit of unfair criticism this season, but he was utter excrement today.

Seemed to me that we know are pack is crap so we just decided to move it wide but we kept dropping it. Let's be honest, when you have Mose and Lms as props and wello and flash in Backrow it's not exactly good.

I think you've just seen the Mose I've seen all year. 11 hit ups in his last two games must be some sort of record. He only did 5 today all game!

Re: 19 man squad announced for Catalans. : Sat Jun 14, 2014 7:53 pm  

SaintsFan wrote:

Any ground we did make was usually made by our outside backs for f***s sake because Brown consistently asks them to take the ball up first when our forwards should be storming on to a pass and gaining as much ground as possible. Dumb tactics which invite injuries to our backs.

That's if your prop can get back to take the drives.