Re: How much longer? : Mon Jul 08, 2013 9:37 pm  

Personally didn't think the Widnes players looked interested. You had an awful lot of ball but were very predictable in using your left hand side combination of Brown, Hock etc.

In previous games I've seen (limited) you've looked a much better side than I saw tonight. I think with the right mindset you could have quite easily won tonight. I think your pack needs definite improvement

Re: How much longer? : Mon Jul 08, 2013 9:38 pm  

Until we put in some kind of defence we will not win these games. You can now list 6 games were we should have won but because the defence is all over the place we have lost or drawn. If Betts can't see this well he is in the wrong job.

Re: How much longer? : Mon Jul 08, 2013 9:49 pm  

Redchemic wrote:

I'd agree with that Vinty. Would you say it's to do with our lack of strength to call upon?

I would agree that the squad is nowhere near strong enough, but we've had worse teams out this season than tonight and played better, so I wouldn't blame that on tonight. Our main fault IMO is atrocious ball control and it's the same week after week. How many times do we lose the ball on the 1st or 2nd tackle and immediately find ourselves defending again? When we played Wigan the other week, we defended for 12 tackles near our line. Scrum down, our ball, long pass to Ah Van out wide which he drops (1st tackle). Scrum down, their ball, they score, we lose game by 2 points. Posted earlier that it's same old, same old every week and that's where we are not improving at all. It's not so much bad defence as not respecting possession and always putting pressure on ourselves and it's so frustrating to watch every week.

Re: How much longer? : Mon Jul 08, 2013 10:00 pm  

Its strange really,since some of our players have got contract extensions our team performances have(apart from bratfud away)have been woeful,just saying

Re: How much longer? : Mon Jul 08, 2013 10:03 pm  

Vinty the Great wrote:

Redchemic wrote:

I'd agree with that Vinty. Would you say it's to do with our lack of strength to call upon?

I would agree that the squad is nowhere near strong enough, but we've had worse teams out this season than tonight and played better, so I wouldn't blame that on tonight. Our main fault IMO is atrocious ball control and it's the same week after week. How many times do we lose the ball on the 1st or 2nd tackle and immediately find ourselves defending again? When we played Wigan the other week, we defended for 12 tackles near our line. Scrum down, our ball, long pass to Ah Van out wide which he drops (1st tackle). Scrum down, their ball, they score, we lose game by 2 points. Posted earlier that it's same old, same old every week and that's where we are not improving at all. It's not so much bad defence as not respecting possession and always putting pressure on ourselves and it's so frustrating to watch every week.

It's not great, I'll give you that no problem. At this moment, I reckon we're running on fumes and there are no options left due to us being at our limits. We really do need to kick on but I think it will be next season now before we do that.

Re: How much longer? : Mon Jul 08, 2013 10:08 pm  

look in SOOPER DOOPER league, it's either silverware/play offs, or nothing....then focus on next season. Widnes can look forward to 2014.

Re: How much longer? : Tue Jul 09, 2013 6:14 am  

Trinity Till Death wrote:

Personally didn't think the Widnes players looked interested. You had an awful lot of ball but were very predictable in using your left hand side combination of Brown, Hock etc.

In previous games I've seen (limited) you've looked a much better side than I saw tonight. I think with the right mindset you could have quite easily won tonight. I think your pack needs definite improvement

Spot on mate and your team was for the taking last night with Sykes and Collis injured early on.Betts in my opinion is not the best coach in the world and I thought Powell be better.Why Betts gave Pickgersgill and Leuluai a 2 yr contract shows lack of direction.Yes Leuluai shows effort but never hardly busts the line.65 mins to put Gore on to freshen up Clarke?I like Clarke but not a zippy number 9 and to get the best out of him then a longer rest required.Betts does not seem a great tactician.

Re: How much longer? : Tue Jul 09, 2013 7:27 am  

We were poor last night, but we had chances maybe to win the match if we had shown a little more composure and enthusiasm. The bomb from Craven in the 1st half summed up our performance, a good bit of skill but the chase was non existant.

Danny Kirmonds performance typified Wakefields performance.

Re: How much longer? : Tue Jul 09, 2013 7:35 am  

Thought our pack looked very weak last night - Wakey had such a territorial advantage they should have pasted us.

In Betts' defence you can't coach players to knock on the ball as often as they did last night, but without Mellor we really struggled for some fluency going forward.

Re: How much longer? : Tue Jul 09, 2013 8:29 am  

Richard we don't seem to have enough punch in the forwards.I think 2 props like Cross and a fast hooker will improve our team a lot.I thought Brown had a decent game behind a beaten pack.