Is Lam the real deal or not?

Discuss all things Wigan Warriors. Comments and opinions on all aspects of the club's performance are welcome.
jackthelad
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Is Lam the real deal or not?

Post by jackthelad »

Many people I have spoken to who watched the opening game on Thursday and other SL games have commented on how poor Wigan looked compared to Saints & Wire etc... The general feeling is if Hill wasn’t sent off Wigan would’ve lost the game.

Even when we had an extra man you couldn’t tell, the tactics or structure was to keep turning the play back inside into the middle?? Is this Lam`s game plan?

Where is the new free flowing attack?

I wasn’t overly impressed with the performance, we looked slow in defence, the attack wasn’t so expansive or free flowing and only for Cooper going off we managed at last with 2 extra men, a French quality pass to scramble a try in the corner!

I know it’s only the first game but compared to Wire & Saints we look off the pace, most of the squad have been in pre season since early November, slow starters or not, Lam doesn’t seem to have the lads firing on all cylinders, how long should we hold our breath, before we find out if he his the real deal or not?

Is tonight a potential banana skin or will we show up and deliver the goods in style?
Wiganer Ted
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Joined: Fri Apr 25, 2014 9:31 pm

Re: Is Lam the real deal or not?

Post by Wiganer Ted »

In answer to the OP question. I think the next two games will go a long way in letting us know. Two home games v Toronto tonight then v Hull next week. Hull are massive and if Lam does add size together with experience tonight then next week could be not the game we want to see.

Two good wins and Lam will have learnt what he needs to from the Cas defeat and will be ok for some time. Should we not win two then doubts will persist.
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Wigan_forever1985
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Re: Is Lam the real deal or not?

Post by Wigan_forever1985 »

I think we have 2 main issues under Lam

1) Fitness - Im sorry but Paul Johnson has not got the team in the right shape - there is a big big big difference between knowing your way around weights and how to get "fit" and knowing what is right for players to improve their performance. Bitcon was a top draw expert hence why City grabbed him, now i didnt expect them to replace him like for like but to replace him with the U19's Fitness coach who has zero experience outside that role is criminal lack of vision. The team will play themselves fit like Noble teams used to do but will inevitably come short at the end of the year. In the modern game fitness is everything, now this isnt Lams fault its the club

2) Lack of identity - this is down to Lam, we have no style, at all. Under madge we were fit and strangled games with simple exit sets and play moves that involved putting many bodies in motion. Under Wane we had brutal defence the aim was to stop the opp from scoring at all costs and hurt them. Every successful team has an identity doesnt always have to be positive - wanes wasnt popular for example but as it was clear the players could buy into it and knew exactly what they needed to do to impress him and win places in the team.

Think of other successful teams, Saints identity was always fast ruck flowing down the feild, bradfords was bulldozing etc etc

Lams team has no identity we dont have anything that defines us - we arent great in defence nor are we great in attack we are playing like a national team like players thrown together trying to make it work. We need to nail our colours to a mast and move from there.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure
DaveO
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Re: Is Lam the real deal or not?

Post by DaveO »

Wigan_forever1985 wrote: Thu Feb 13, 2020 4:01 pm ......we are playing like a national team like players thrown together trying to make it work.
I think that hits the nail on the head. I don't think you need to dress it up talking about the teams identity. It is as simple as what you say there.

RL is a pretty simple game with not that many variations on the theme. A good coach adapts his game plan to his players and he gets them working to that plan as a team. What it comes out looking like as far as an identity goes just follows on from that.
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NICKYKISS
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Re: Is Lam the real deal or not?

Post by NICKYKISS »

Fully agree with us needing an identity. What are we? What is our go to game plan? Our style of play? Lam has been here for a year and two games and we look as far away from knowing as we did in his first game in charge at Saints last Feb. He talks of expansive rugby and he makes your ears prick up, yet on the field it’s safety first and pretty dire to watch. His selections in the forwards are mind boggling if he wants to play open attacking rugby. To do that you need to punch holes in teams and get them back peddling, yet he goes for safety first options.

It’s a huge game for Lam tonight. It needs to be a win and a pretty convincing one because he’s gone in to this season with no real money in the bank in terms of the fans confidence and he’s getting in to debt pretty quickly watching these first two games. He’ll be under pressure already if things go wrong tonight.
Barney841
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Re: Is Lam the real deal or not?

Post by Barney841 »

I think lam has been under constant pressure, he’s done it to himself, since he took over as he wanted more flair rugby and he hasn’t done what he said he was gonna do.
moto748
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Re: Is Lam the real deal or not?

Post by moto748 »

I watched a couple of archive games this week on Wigan TV. One from the Noble era (Deacon in the halves) and one from the Madge era (ST in the halves). Neither produced champagne rugby, but in both cases a game plan was evident, both in attack and defence we looked like we knew what we were doing, ball-carrier had players in motion around him, pack had decent go-forward, etc. The contrast with the current set-up was stark.
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superleague
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Re: Is Lam the real deal or not?

Post by superleague »

As soon as lam is gone the better for me
old hooker
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Re: Is Lam the real deal or not?

Post by old hooker »

I am not for one minute saying Lam is a top coach, but to be fair he has not got the best squad in SL,Hastings and French are top class with Gildart not far behind.Then we have Hardaker ,reliable but not the player he was.Tommy,Lockers,past their best and a few others like Hankinson,Bibby,Clark who really are average.We need the younger players to live up to the hype and hopefully they will but as their is little quality in SL we may do well.
Wintergreen
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Re: Is Lam the real deal or not?

Post by Wintergreen »

old hooker wrote: Thu Feb 13, 2020 10:30 pm I am not for one minute saying Lam is a top coach, but to be fair he has not got the best squad in SL,Hastings and French are top class with Gildart not far behind.Then we have Hardaker ,reliable but not the player he was.Tommy,Lockers,past their best and a few others like Hankinson,Bibby,Clark who really are average.We need the younger players to live up to the hype and hopefully they will but as their is little quality in SL we may do well.
Yep.

I just watched "World War 3 - Wigan vs Warrington" on youtube.

Seriously has the game gone backwards so much?

Both of these sides do the basics very very well. The present side could learn from it.
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