Re: 16 turnstiles and Danny Jones....... : Sun Apr 25, 2010 8:39 pm  

calling players turnstiles in my opinion is slagging -off and not good at all, nobody was more gutted than me, but were all in this together, we knew this season was going to be a hard and some times frustrating, but we as fans need to give the lads 100% win or loose, thats my opinion, cougars till i die....

Re: 16 turnstiles and Danny Jones....... : Sun Apr 25, 2010 9:38 pm  

wonderer wrote:

calling players turnstiles in my opinion is slagging -off and not good at all, nobody was more gutted than me, but were all in this together, we knew this season was going to be a hard and some times frustrating, but we as fans need to give the lads 100% win or loose, thats my opinion, cougars till i die....

Fair do's. One thing you will realise with me is that I call it how I see it. When we play well I praise the players, when we play badly I will critisise them.

I try to be constructive, but Fev good as they are, at times went through our defence far too easily especially on our left-hand side where poor tackling technique was exposed. Far too often tacklers were going too high on bigger and stronger players which led them either being handed off or the tackle busted leaving the tackler spinning like a turnstile.

It's simple physics Mass x Velocity = Momentum and all that, but if they go for the legs there's a better chance of stopping them. The age old "you can't run without legs" what they taught in tackling practice as a kid springs to mind.

When some of our smaller players are trying to tackle like prop forwards it's asking for trouble.

Re: 16 turnstiles and Danny Jones....... : Mon Apr 26, 2010 7:16 am  

wonderer wrote:

calling players turnstiles in my opinion is slagging -off and not good at all, nobody was more gutted than me, but were all in this together, we knew this season was going to be a hard and some times frustrating, but we as fans need to give the lads 100% win or loose, thats my opinion, cougars till i die....

You might call it slagging off. Others may say, its calling it as it looked.

Re: 16 turnstiles and Danny Jones....... : Mon Apr 26, 2010 7:34 am  

I have to say I am suprised by some comments here, I am in agreement with Wonderer.

We played poor against Featherstone but remember they are top of the league for a reason and unbeaten because they are a quality side.

As for the reference to some players being turnstiles I think its poor, over last few weeks when we have been playing well and the defence was solid how come there was no reference to turnstiles then.

Frustration with the performance is one thing but slagging the team off like this is in my eyes sad to see.

As said before poor performance but against best team in division get real folks.

Re: 16 turnstiles and Danny Jones....... : Mon Apr 26, 2010 8:26 am  

girl power wrote:

As for the reference to some players being turnstiles I think its poor, over last few weeks when we have been playing well and the defence was solid how come there was no reference to turnstiles then.

I think you answered your own question there Pete.

I'm not going to call players turnstiles if they put in an immence defensive effort like they did against Dewsbury or Sheffield.

This was one of the worst defensive displays I've seen in years compounded by the fact we played a very good side who took full advantage of every mistake we made.

I respect your opinion Pete, I really do. But I, like you , paid £14 to stand, cheer and watch that on Thursday. I think that entitles me to harshly criticise if I think the performance was sub-standard.

Re: 16 turnstiles and Danny Jones....... : Mon Apr 26, 2010 8:28 am  

There is nothing wrong with constructive criticism, or being honest (from your perspective) about how a player/team performed.

If a player can't take a bit of stick then they are in the wrong game. However, there is a fine line when constructive criticism turns into something destructive and I think that at cougars we don't have many people who do that. I think our players are genuinely proud and feel lifted by how we respond when things don't go right.

We still have a couple of "supporters" who target individual players with abuse from the terrace and although this may be called "saying it as they see it" I personally think its counter productive. If a player is down on form or confidence, shouting abuse isn't going to solve it.

I thought it interesting to compare the Widnes and Fev games. Widnes burst our line across the park but Fev targeted individuals - they even ran across the line by 40m to get to them. IMHO It is a solvable problem - our defensive line needs to move straighter and faster and certain individuals need to re-learn how to tackle. Oh, and we need to keep supporting our team

We knew it was going to be a long hard season and it still remains a very tough task.

Our expectations have been raised by our gradual improvements and perhaps this has given us and the players a reality check.

Re: 16 turnstiles and Danny Jones....... : Mon Apr 26, 2010 11:37 am  

Dreamer wrote:

We still have a couple of "supporters" who target individual players with abuse from the terrace and although this may be called "saying it as they see it" I personally think its counter productive. If a player is down on form or confidence, shouting abuse isn't going to solve it.

This I definitely agree with. There's one who stands behind me in the Jewson who never sings, never cheers and does nothing but slag players off. It does my head in.

If I'm going to criticise I'll save it for after the game.

We also have a few that seem to be more loyal to the players than are the club. I don't know why either, players come and go but the club is always around.

Have to agree with certain players being targeted by Fev. Powell had seen weaknesses and exploited them, you have to say that's good coaching.

Re: 16 turnstiles and Danny Jones....... : Mon Apr 26, 2010 1:48 pm  

Honest question.

Is it a case of no matter how bad, players play, we the fans cannot say anything against them?
If that is the case then, what is the reason?

Re: 16 turnstiles and Danny Jones....... : Mon Apr 26, 2010 3:53 pm  

Oh for goodness sake we are going down that road again. Crap game for us, we learn from it, we come out against Barrow steaming. End off. Still love Danny Jones He really plucked at my heartstrings that night!!

Re: 16 turnstiles and Danny Jones....... : Mon Apr 26, 2010 4:06 pm  

guess who wrote:

Honest question.

Is it a case of no matter how bad, players play, we the fans cannot say anything against them?
If that is the case then, what is the reason?

My reply is in my previous post:

Dreamer wrote:

There is nothing wrong with constructive criticism, or being honest (from your perspective) about how a player/team performed.

If a player can't take a bit of stick then they are in the wrong game. However, there is a fine line when constructive criticism turns into something destructive and I think that at cougars we don't have many people who do that. I think our players are genuinely proud and feel lifted by how we respond when things don't go right.

We still have a couple of "supporters" who target individual players with abuse from the terrace and although this may be called "saying it as they see it" I personally think its counter productive. If a player is down on form or confidence, shouting abuse isn't going to solve it.

I think people have every right to say what they think, within reason, and lets be fair there is a right way and a wrong way.

If a player produces a series of errors that lead to a tries for the opposition then fans will be rightly disgruntled and the player himself will probably be gutted. Would the best response from the fans be
a) You are a useless to**er and a disgrace to the shirt, sort him out Eaton (I have actually heard this on the terrace)
or
b) Come on lad you know you are better than that, get your head up and get stuck in

After the match would it be better to write on this forum:

a) Player "x" is a useless good for nothing toerag who should be stretched over a barbed wire fence and whipped until he plays like I want him to. The board should risk the future of the club by spending money we haven't got on superstars so I can bask in their reflected glory.
or
b) I know we are skint but player "x" cost us the game. If he does not improve Barry will have to consider one of the young lads.

Answers on the back of a £50 note to the Barry Eaton player fund

I may sound flippant, but I'm just trying to put accross my point