Felt sorry for Owens tonight, he didn't deserve to be singled out with the abuse he took from supporters.
Felt sorry for Owens tonight, he didn't deserve to be singled out with the abuse he took from supporters.
Wingers that are used to drive the ball in in the first few sets, then wonder why we have no structure and our backs have no pace/energy. Props that run at the tackler, a tactic that works if you have the ability to offload or can create some space/disruption to their defensive structure for the next tackle.....however we appear to do neither.
We appear to be a senior Prop short in the squad for the the past 2 seasons. Walmsley, Amor, Masoe/Tasi then a selection of Richards/Thompson/Savelio, whilst it's great that we have 3 promising front rowers, we would probably help their development more by having an additional experienced Prop in the squad, Fairleigh/Britt/Anderson style.
For me, you can throw a blanket over the lot of them. They are crap. I kept thinking tonight - would it be better with Savelio, Knowles, Peyroux, Walsh, Percival? Maybe slightly but still not capable of winning anything. It must all come down to who is responsible for signing such a poor squad of players and their lack of development and effectiveness when playing for the club?
Did Owens get booed or was KC on the big screen when Owens had the ball? If Owens did get booed I think that is bang out of order.
Booing the team or coach..... Fair play really.
I do sympathise with our winger situation to an extent. Swift is pretty decent apart from one in ten games he just can't catch a ball for toffee and Makinson is genuinely good, but the combination doesn't work because neither of them makes any yards. Every set we suffer because whilst other clubs have the likes of Carney, Hall and Lineham making good early yards, Saints don't. But then I lose the sympathy because we have a play that does make as early yards (Turner on the blindside) and we've hardly utilised it (or him) all season.
I think his place in the team is pretty questionable (at best, he's utter tripe. I can't remember a worse English signing we've made) and since there are rumours that he's dating KC's daughter, the fans are probably going to go for him for that reason as much as anything else. He seems to be being picked due to favouritism when we've got lads like Bailey and Grace in the academy who are almost certainly capable of doing his job in the team
Back to the original question; what will it take for the board to act?
I think a 50 - 0 defeat would have done it!
Unfortunately wire declared at 26 - 0 and packed in playing!
I said a few weeks back he needed to go before wire at home because a few early tries and a poor performance would witness a toxic atmosphere that was awful tonight it must have been uncomfortable for Eamon and Rush (hopefully it was!)
We need a new coach in place before our next home game v Hull KR just so the fans get behind the players!
Most people around me tonight wanted wire to get 50 to crank up the pressure on Eamon to do the right thing for the long term future if the club and dismiss KC on Monday morning.
The coach has lost the dressing room and he has lost the goodwill of the crowd. The board has to be shaken out of its apathetic complacency and do something now
"The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom." Danny Blanchflower.
Might have been written by a footballer about football - but never a truer word............
I disagree. I don't think he's lost the dressing room at all. In fact, I feel like tonight they actually tried to do every he asked of them. They played like a side short on confidence who decided "you know what? Let's trust coach this week". Fat lot of good it did, mind, but I don't think he's lost the players. He has lost the fans though, and they'll be a whole lot harder to win round.
That's bull. Hardly his fault, especially when his coach is telling everyone is the best thing since sliced bread. What's he supposed to do? Refuse to play when picked?
Booing Owens whenever he got the ball was bad enough, the rest was just disgusting. Or is that the way forward for you now? Let's boo every player of limited ability shall we? Feck me.
I can't say I noticed Owens being booed. There was one point where Lomax gathered a kick, ran sideways then got rid of the ball to Owens. There were plenty of boos at that point, but I took that as being a response to the amateurish play rather than the individual carrying the ball.
I agree pal. Not into the whole booing thing myself (not criticising anyone who did tonight btw in advance) but I felt some sympathy for him tonight. You could see the panic in his eyes when he made the break down the flank and the result was a nothing pass inside and a clear try gone. He looks as though his confidence is all over the place and appears to know he's struggling.
To be fair to him I do think he tries hard but he's out of his depth and just isn't good enough.
Steve Prescott MBE (1973-2013)
V
He can run the ball in hard, shit hair flapping in the wind, all he wants. Still doesn't make any metres. Not a prop and not a 2nd row. Makes me sick to see homegrown talent like Thompson, Savelio, Greenwood, Knowles, Ashworth being left out for a waste of a shirt like LMS, Wilkin, Tasi etc.
Forwards win games. The backs decide by how much.
I was going to set my alarm for 01:30 then thought no way...thank God . Surely now McManus must say that is it Cunningham & Long must go , put the reserve coach in charge for the remainder of the season .
Poor form to be booing Owens. As said earlier, he's not putting himself in the team and he's putting in an acceptable level of effort. For me, the players are trying hard to fulfil their part of the bargain at the moment, as if to admonish themselves from and highlight the real problem. They've tried the "sod it" approach and realised the fans won't have that