: Sun Feb 08, 2009 10:37 pm  

i take it the 15 who voted 'no' are hull fans?

: Sun Feb 08, 2009 10:37 pm  

Mother Feka wrote:

i take it the 15 who voted 'no' are hull fans?

[DaveO]

: Sun Feb 08, 2009 10:58 pm  

Meyt N Prater Pie wrote:

Must admit I did feel sorry for him today when it was announced over the tannoy that he was returning from the bin, to a big load of boo's

basically meaning fans would rather us play with 12 men than have him in the team

Funnily enough I thought we did.

Dave

[DaveO]

: Sun Feb 08, 2009 11:05 pm  

Alex BP' wrote:

As somebody who has contributed to the Mathers bagging after today, I look at a few posts and think they are fully justified but feel slightly sorry for Mathers...At the end of the day, he doesn't select himself. Alot of flack needs to go towards Brian Noble for selecting him. I'm actually very pro-Noble but completely disagree with his fullback selection.

I don't think Noble can be bagged for selecting him today. In a nutshell Mathers was given the benefit of the doubt last season as he returned from injury so it was odds on he'd get the no. 1 slot today.

It is what Noble does now with the full back slot that counts.

Unlike you I am at the opposite end of the Noble appreciation society but he has to find out if Mathers is good enough.

We shout loud enough when Noble is seemingly too quick to drop players for the flimsiest of excuses such as Goulding so I suppose sticking loyally to Mathers just compounds our frustration when other more talented players only have to sneeze out of place to get dropped but I still think Noble was bound to play Mathers today.

Dave

: Sun Feb 08, 2009 11:12 pm  

Meyt N Prater Pie wrote:

Must admit I did feel sorry for him today when it was announced over the tannoy that he was returning from the bin, to a big load of boo's

I nearly gave myself a coronary as I had thought that they had announced him as MOTM

: Sun Feb 08, 2009 11:16 pm  

My only concern is if we replace Mathers with Roberts I'm not sure we'll see a big improvement.

The guy looked below average today. Positionally he was poor at times, together with the desperately poor Phelps he formed the worst centre pairing defensively that I think I've ever seen at Wigan, and he displayed little of the pace I was expecting.

Let's pray he improves as the season wears on.

: Sun Feb 08, 2009 11:26 pm  

Deano G wrote:

My only concern is if we replace Mathers with Roberts I'm not sure we'll see a big improvement.

The guy looked below average today. Positionally he was poor at times, together with the desperately poor Phelps he formed the worst centre pairing defensively that I think I've ever seen at Wigan, and he displayed little of the pace I was expecting.

Let's pray he improves as the season wears on.

I think Amos missed two tackles into the run up for the first try, and I thought "f*** me we've bought an aussie who can't tackle" - and then later in the game I think he laid somebody out with a pearler of a tackle in front of the posts - maybe it was just the newness factor, first game for the pairing, unfamiliar with each other etc . Kear targetted them very effectively today - good call sir!

I suspect those two will get markedly better.

Whereas Mathers............

Re: Richard Mathers : Mon Feb 09, 2009 12:29 am  

Alex BP' wrote:

I genuinally feel sorry for the lad but taking into account his general performances from last year and this years friendlies, he isn't playing well enough to deserve the fullback spot next Sunday...But I suppose we have no option until Roberts gets a run out?

He seems very low on confidence, nervous and jittery through out the 80 minutes and he often gets caught in two minds when it comes to dealing with attacking kicks before juggling with the ball before knocking it out of play.

His positioning is probably the most worrying...In fact Pat Richards had to scream at him once when a Leigh player was in position to place an attacking kick under the posts and he was very late to respond.

Another thing what we really missed last year and today was a full back that links up with play and is the end of an attacking move or on the shoulder of a player when they have made a break. I hardly ever see that from Mathers....And it shows when you get one try in twenty League appearances. Sorry, but for a fullback that is appauling.

I appreciated that last year Mathers was coming back from a career threatening injury but I didn't see his game consistantly improve as he played more games and his first couple of performances in 2009 show no improvement, no confidence and no sign that he'll ever play for Wigan at the level that we expect.

I don't like ''bagging'' players, but the fullback is a key position that we're not able to exploit. I just can't see any evidence that Mathers will play to the minimum standard that we expect...Can you?

i say keep him in the squad can only got worse

: Mon Feb 09, 2009 2:49 am  

dirty bas tard he is, and always has been / will be

: Mon Feb 09, 2009 9:32 am  

Might not be a decision you need to make.

If the RFL have any bottle they'll ban him anyway. Disgusting and very dangerous behaviour.