performance This year versus last year thus far : Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:47 pm  

Before anyone starts chopping away, yes we are only 2 games into the season but I thought following last nights match I would ask what everyone else thought or thinks thus far this year.
On last nights performance I have to say we do look bigger and much much fitter than ever before to be honest however I do have one or two issues following the opening two matches.
1, we seem to still lack a thought process in the middle with ball in hand and seem to run down dark alleys a lot with no real rugby brain kicking in yet!
2, the kicking game is better but still way behind where we should be and we seem to gift 90% of our kicks directly to the opposition full back , more fly hacking than head up and placing it seems at times.
3, our ability to stop the offload is abysmal and possibly due to the one out tackling / grabbing we seem to do a lot of !!
4, our kick chase is still very very poor and I am waiting for Calderwood to get back into his "in yer face" kick chasing he was famous for, this poor kick chase is allowing teams to run the ball back far too far hence we spend a lot of time in our own half defending instead of playing in their 20!!

players thus far!!
Byrne ... Been a rock and looks solid would be hard to move him in present form to be fair.
Calderwood.. looks fit but seems a bit lost.
G Horne ... started same as he finished last year 100%
Yeaman.. nothing special yet...
Briscoe.. Looks like a seasoned pro and he will learn from mistakes.
R Horne.. excellent but still doing too much on his own.
Thorman.. great in patches but disapears at times
dowes .. outstanding and powerful a revelation thus far!!
Berrigan... 110% as always
Cussack .. really stepped up to the plate, looks agressive, hungry and really taken the place of Carvell and my best player thus far this season.
Tickle.. 110% again
Burnett.. what a prospect for the future, outstanding and brave.
radford.. playing the best footie of his life so far and shut up all the knockers in just two games...
Houghton.. doesnt look fit to me yet.
Thackery .. not sure but not impressed so far
Manu.. simply not fulfilling his potential in my opinion ..
Washbrook.. so far this season i have no comment just average.

again I know its very early in the season and match fitness still has to come into play and team set plays have to settle but I think we look mid table to top 6 to be honest so far , we lack a something i just cant put my finger on , maybe Sam when he arrives and a fit Paul King will bring that , but we do have to learn to stop that offload as better sides than Celtic will hurt us badly

Re: performance This year versus last year thus far : Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:51 pm  

wall-y wrote:

Before anyone starts chopping away, yes we are only 2 games into the season but I thought following last nights match I would ask what everyone else thought or thinks thus far this year.
On last nights performance I have to say we do look bigger and much much fitter than ever before to be honest however I do have one or two issues following the opening two matches.
1, we seem to still lack a thought process in the middle with ball in hand and seem to run down dark alleys a lot with no real rugby brain kicking in yet!
2, the kicking game is better but still way behind where we should be and we seem to gift 90% of our kicks directly to the opposition full back , more fly hacking than head up and placing it seems at times.
3, our ability to stop the offload is abysmal and possibly due to the one out tackling / grabbing we seem to do a lot of !!
4, our kick chase is still very very poor and I am waiting for Calderwood to get back into his "in yer face" kick chasing he was famous for, this poor kick chase is allowing teams to run the ball back far too far hence we spend a lot of time in our own half defending instead of playing in their 20!!

players thus far!!
Byrne ... Been a rock and looks solid would be hard to move him in present form to be fair.
Calderwood.. looks fit but seems a bit lost.
G Horne ... started same as he finished last year 100%
Yeaman.. nothing special yet...
Briscoe.. Looks like a seasoned pro and he will learn from mistakes.
R Horne.. excellent but still doing too much on his own.
Thorman.. great in patches but disapears at times
dowes .. outstanding and powerful a revelation thus far!!
Berrigan... 110% as always
Cussack .. really stepped up to the plate, looks agressive, hungry and really taken the place of Carvell and my best player thus far this season.
Tickle.. 110% again
Burnett.. what a prospect for the future, outstanding and brave.
radford.. playing the best footie of his life so far and shut up all the knockers in just two games...
Houghton.. doesnt look fit to me yet.
Thackery .. not sure but not impressed so far
Manu.. simply not fulfilling his potential in my opinion ..
Washbrook.. so far this season i have no comment just average.

again I know its very early in the season and match fitness still has to come into play and team set plays have to settle but I think we look mid table to top 6 to be honest so far , we lack a something i just cant put my finger on , maybe Sam when he arrives and a fit Paul King will bring that , but we do have to learn to stop that offload as better sides than Celtic will hurt us badly

so far the difference for me is their attitude, they really do look interested!!

: Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:53 pm  

aagreed i was harsh by not putting positives which are too many to list but like you say we do look fitter, faster, and more enthusiatic than last year
maybe the PS syndrome has gone

[Kosh]

Re: performance This year versus last year thus far : Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:18 pm  

wall-y wrote:

On last nights performance I have to say we do look bigger and much much fitter than ever before to be honest however I do have one or two issues following the opening two matches.
1, we seem to still lack a thought process in the middle with ball in hand and seem to run down dark alleys a lot with no real rugby brain kicking in yet!
2, the kicking game is better but still way behind where we should be and we seem to gift 90% of our kicks directly to the opposition full back , more fly hacking than head up and placing it seems at times.
3, our ability to stop the offload is abysmal and possibly due to the one out tackling / grabbing we seem to do a lot of !!
4, our kick chase is still very very poor and I am waiting for Calderwood to get back into his "in yer face" kick chasing he was famous for, this poor kick chase is allowing teams to run the ball back far too far hence we spend a lot of time in our own half defending instead of playing in their 20!!

I'd agree with most of that and also add that our marker defence seems to still be poor on the evidence of last night.

wall-y wrote:

players thus far!!
Byrne ... Been a rock and looks solid would be hard to move him in present form to be fair.
Calderwood.. looks fit but seems a bit lost.
G Horne ... started same as he finished last year 100%
Yeaman.. nothing special yet...
Briscoe.. Looks like a seasoned pro and he will learn from mistakes.
R Horne.. excellent but still doing too much on his own.
Thorman.. great in patches but disapears at times
dowes .. outstanding and powerful a revelation thus far!!
Berrigan... 110% as always
Cussack .. really stepped up to the plate, looks agressive, hungry and really taken the place of Carvell and my best player thus far this season.
Tickle.. 110% again
Burnett.. what a prospect for the future, outstanding and brave.
radford.. playing the best footie of his life so far and shut up all the knockers in just two games...
Houghton.. doesnt look fit to me yet.
Thackery .. not sure but not impressed so far
Manu.. simply not fulfilling his potential in my opinion ..
Washbrook.. so far this season i have no comment just average.

Again, I agree with most of that except...

Byrne - Looks solid in defense but offers very little going forward. Kick returns are poor.

Calderwood - Suffering the same problem all our wingers do. No service. Was given one decent opportunity yesterday and scored. We need to wise up and use him properly.

G Horne - Solid defence but didn't really notice him in attack.

wall-y wrote:

again I know its very early in the season and match fitness still has to come into play and team set plays have to settle but I think we look mid table to top 6 to be honest so far , we lack a something i just cant put my finger on , maybe Sam when he arrives and a fit Paul King will bring that , but we do have to learn to stop that offload as better sides than Celtic will hurt us badly

Agree 100%. We're not a bad side, but we're not going to strike fear into many this season.

: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:35 pm  

2 OUT OF 2 AND NOT PLAYING THAT WELL LETS HOPE THAT WHEN WE DO CLICK WE CAN STILL WIN. A NUMBER OF TIMES LAST SEASON WE PLAYED WELL BUT STILL LOST

LETS HOPE THE HALF BACK COMBO WORKS AS THIS IS WERE WE NEED THE GUIDANCE, WE CANNOT PLAY DOWN THE MIDDLE RUGBY AGAINST BIGGER TEAMS .

STILL HAPPIER THOUGH

: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:40 pm  

yes still very early, two for two love it !
But catalans will be the start of the tough challenges. maybe as the season go's on we can muster up and plug some of the errors already shown, which you already have mentioned!

Maybe a fully fit return of messers Whiting, Raynor, Tony, King, and dare i mention an arrival of (crocker) or do we give up the dream now!

We have yet to see how Sam Moe? is to fit in somewhere mid season i would think ! as you say to many possitives to mention just yet.
But all in all a far better start then last season!
I for one am a very happy F.C supporter.


onwards and upwards. !

: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:52 pm  

Biggest change for me is attitude.
How often last season would we have come back fro a 10 point deficit.
Also having a pair of half backs and an experienced hooker helps

: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:59 pm  

Fitness looks better

2 half backs

But most of all attitude..

: Sun Feb 22, 2009 2:04 pm  

we look a hell of alot fitter

were not playing one man rugby

and our attitude has improved alot

well done to agar and sharp on a job well done so far

: Sun Feb 22, 2009 2:08 pm  

We still don't seem to play an expansive enough game, its all about forwards, if we are to have any success we must start to get our outside backs involved more and also be more clinical when on top.