Re: So, come on then.... : Sun Jun 09, 2013 7:13 pm  

The Chair Maker wrote:

The most interesting thing for me was how Paul Wellens was used.

In the first half he was stood deep, but wasn't covering the central fullback position all the time, on occasion Makinson filled this spot with Wello being in effect a wingman.
In attack Lomax was named as standoff but actually linked into play as a fullback.


Second half Lomax went to fullback with Wello defending at centre, but attacking in the halves.
I thought it was during this period that we lost a bit of direction, also in part because Roby went off the field.

Manu was used out wide and was devastating.
Turner made a couple of breaks and looked really threatening on receipt of decent ball from the halves.

Josh Jones scored an excellent try, but I felt that if Percival had played, then a couple of the Manu breaks would have been turned into trys. Instead with Jones at centre it was a cast of him cutting infield or getting tackled.
A faster player would have scorched down the wing.

Walmsley was pretty quiet and took a knock. Jordan hand was pinged for two early penalties then quickly removed from proceedings.

Wilkin had a very good game. I think his time in the halves has developed his overall game. He is no halfback, but as a ball playing/running forward he looked very good. Put one brilliant kick in.

GOB again showed he has good passing hands, but most have dropped about 3/4 perfectly catchable passes.
Not in the same class as Lomax or Wheeler, or even an on form Gaskell.

Just shows how better turner, Manu and jones looked with lomax and O'Brian in the halves and wilkin working as a extra pivot

Re: So, come on then.... : Sun Jun 09, 2013 7:14 pm  

St pete wrote:

I don't think Manu wasnt the player we thought we'd signed, he's not been used correctly. He's not a battle ram, he plays on the left edge and can be devastating if give good ball and in space. We never give him the ball he needs so he comes inside and drives like a prop.

Its no surprise he's had his best two games in a saints shirt the last two weeks when we've had O'Brian who knows how to play the halfback role. Manu was more effective today as lomax was next to him and the bulls was petrified of him which give him more room.


Use Manu correct and he will be massive for us!

I think he is the player we thought we'd signed, but we've had problems with runners all year. It was only the move of Lomax to full back that started to see space being opened up for other people, he then got injured with Roby and the problems started again (though less so with Makinson at fb rather than Wellens).

A full team, with Lomax at full back, Roby at hooker and pace out wide with the likes of Percival, Meli (who is still worries defences with ball in hand), Turner and Makinson will see more channels for players in the middle start to open up.

Re: So, come on then.... : Sun Jun 09, 2013 7:17 pm  

Judder Man wrote:

Can,t explain the second half lots of basic errors, players not knowing what they were doing with the player position change

You explained in the second clause of your sentence the reason for the problems you outlined in the first clause of your sentence.

Why the feck did Brown change things around at halftime? Can't he just leave well alone? He drives me mad.

Re: So, come on then.... : Sun Jun 09, 2013 7:18 pm  

Billinge_Lump wrote:

I think he is the player we thought we'd signed, but we've had problems with runners all year. It was only the move of Lomax to full back that started to see space being opened up for other people, he then got injured with Roby and the problems started again (though less so with Makinson at fb rather than Wellens).

A full team, with Lomax at full back, Roby at hooker and pace out wide with the likes of Percival, Meli (who is still worries defences with ball in hand), Turner and Makinson will see more channels for players in the middle start to open up.

I feel lomax and O'Brian are the pair to take us forward

Re: So, come on then.... : Sun Jun 09, 2013 7:20 pm  

St pete wrote:

I think lomax should be first choice fullback BUT next year. The team will benefit more from jonny in the halves with o'brien. They are good combination as O'Brian is a ball plying half, while jonny is a runner. By putting wilkin at 13 give us the extra pivot with O'Brian which give lomax a free time and it WORKED.

The spine if the team today was the strongest we've had all year which showed in our much improved attack. Wello, lomax O'Brian roby wilkin is a solid spine.

The left edge of Manu and lomax was causing problems for the bulls all first half.

Brown swapped lomax and wello and we lost that balance IMO.

He was stinking the place out at 7 at the beginning of the year though.

I agree the move of Wilkin to 13 is better for him and the team, I'd possibly bring Hohaia back to play alongside GOB to play the running role (which is his game really) or possibly one of the U20s? Our major issue is the end of the loan period though.

Re: So, come on then.... : Sun Jun 09, 2013 7:20 pm  

St pete wrote:

I feel lomax and O'Brian are the pair to take us forward

That's fair enough

Re: So, come on then.... : Sun Jun 09, 2013 7:31 pm  

Billinge_Lump wrote:

He was stinking the place out at 7 at the beginning of the year though.

I agree the move of Wilkin to 13 is better for him and the team, I'd possibly bring Hohaia back to play alongside GOB to play the running role (which is his game really) or possibly one of the U20s? Our major issue is the end of the loan period though.

He was stinking the place out but that was with hohaia and Gaskell with him in the halves. If we play O'Brian at #7 and wilkin at #13 it gives jonny a free role and not got the pressure of having to ball play like early in the year.

Doing it this way gives us two good halves which has been a big big problem. It allows wilkin to get back to playing a more complete game of actually running those lines he's famous for.

Re: So, come on then.... : Sun Jun 09, 2013 7:59 pm  

As already mentioned the first half performance with the ball was very good. We were far more adventurous and constantly looking to offload. We came up with some delightful moves and given the possession we had, we should have been 30+ up at half time. I wouldn't read too much into it as Bradford put absolutely no effort into the game and were just going through the motions.

The second half was a complete shambles really. When Roby went off everything completely collapsed and we looked farcical again. It was a real worry that with 15 or so to go, we were only 6 points ahead in a game we would have been leading by 50 or 60 had we shown more composure. Our goal line defense is appalling still, Bradford scored with pretty much every one of their rare spells in our 20.

Standouts are the usual suspects (Of late) really. I thought Willie Manu was the man of the match, he was superb. Sia put himself about and Roby was superb, back to his usual self. J-Lo looked bright and spritely, showing absolutely no sign of his injury. I have to also give a big nod to Jordan Turner, who had his best game for us. I've been critical of him, particularly his defense, but he was solid as a rock today and looked very dangerous today, making several half breaks. He seemed very motivated today, determined to prove himself. I'll take the credit for that.

What annoyed me was Paul Wellens playing. I would love to know what hold he's got over the club and why he can't be dropped. He pretended to play fullback in the first half but did absolutely nothing. He was then playing a mix of centre and half back in the second half and was anonymous there too. His stats at fullback will have been something like metres made 0, tackles 0, missed tackles 2. He didn't do much more in the halves either.

Re: So, come on then.... : Sun Jun 09, 2013 8:34 pm  

SaintsFan wrote:

You explained in the second clause of your sentence the reason for the problems you outlined in the first clause of your sentence.

Why the feck did Brown change things around at halftime? Can't he just leave well alone? He drives me mad.

Most people have pretty well written us off as contenders this year, and there was a post earlier this week saying we should have an immediate clear out. Taken against that background, I would say brown is abdolutely right to try different combinations and find out what his best formation is. Lomax is still a bit if an enigma, he is best at full back, but the team did best with him in the halfs? This is the sort of thing brown needs to work out, so that next season we hit the ground running.

Re: So, come on then.... : Sun Jun 09, 2013 8:37 pm  

I think the pleasing thing about today was how threatening we looked and that was a complete contrast to Monday night. That has to be down to Lomax's inclusion and although we all want him at FB, I thought he was equally as impressive from the position he was playing today, virtually a FB in the attacking sense. I'm happy with him playing that role for the remainder of the season as it gives a far better balance to the team IMO.

I thought Manu was exceptional yet again, as was Turner who was rightly moved back to centre. LMS is starting to make good yards too and that is good to see as he has been garbage so far. Obviously Roby was great too - unsure why he was taken off really and that seemed to change the flow of the match.

I also thought Meli was great today and looked very dangerous and his kick returns were a big part of why he impressed me. Compared, in that respect, and his overall wing play, to Gardner it is clear who we SHOULD be offering a contract to.

Negatives: I thought Soliola was quiet today, as was Walmsley. Those two have been impressive this season and probably our stand-outs, yet they looked ordinary today. Walmsley took that knock so in that respect it is understanable, but I'm not sure why Soliola was quiet? I also thought Jones was pretty average too and he bombed a lot of chances. I thought he was poor vs Hudds, I don't think he is a good enough centre.

The young lad Hand seemed to blow his chance really. Came on and gave away two stupid pens and they scored off the back of that. Wonder whether he'll be given another chance next week?

I'm unsure on GOB tbh. I think that he made too many unforced errors today and we should be expecting a lot better. I think if that was Ashe he would have been slaughtered on here (by me). But, at the same time he has shown a good passing game and can kick. I'm not sure whether I'd want to make a move for him permanently, I'm on the fence currently...I obviously do not want to write the lad off already but the more he plays the more he should settle into a role.