21-man squad vs Hull KR

[moto748]

I think that's a good observation on Hastings.

[Wigan_forever1985]

My take

Hull KR probably won’t play that good again this season - they were full of energy and we weren’t

On team selection I’m going to buck the trend and call it ok - tonight proved we need our front line stars fit at the end of the season so overplaying them now doesn’t make sense rotating the squad makes sense sometimes it doesn’t work it didn’t tonight but in the grand scheme tonight doesn’t matter

Positives to take out of tonight were greenwood and smith

Hastings is doing too much at the moment and I can’t help feel it’s the void left from lockers - we don’t seem to know what to do with that 13 slot with him not there and feels to me like Hastings is playing 13 and 6 but ending up poor version of each

It was a bad night but hull turned up like a cup game and played really well

They have played three games FFS after weeks off and didn’t need resting but we got musical chairs. The playoffs are based on the top four this season so every game is really a must win game with the fixtures we have coming up.

We needed to take those two points for that reason and Lam should have only made changes forced on him by injury and suspension. He lost one of his hardest hitters to suspension and rested Tommy as well. Idiotic.

Resting several players and moving the rest around hardly ever works as tonight proved once again.

They key driver here is the top four is what we need to be in. No scope for experimentation.

Does anybody really think we are in danger of missing the top 4? The league standard is very low and we’ve lost 1 game since the lock down was lifted - we were top of the league at the start of the night

We’ve had a bad game and yes it was a bad game - I’m happy with giving some of the other players a run - was probably the best game to do it in - but unfortunately hull turned up and played the best they have and probably will this season

[Southern Softy]

I think that's a good observation on Hastings.

Coached team beats uncoached team. Discuss.

[bertina]

Best team won and it wasn’t Wigan tonight

I agree. But I don’t put all the blame on Lam like some on here.
He wasn’t missing tackles, or dropping the ball, or giving forward passes, or passing the ball to a forward on the last tackle. 59% completion rate at half time gives you no chance. You may not agree with some of his selections, but he can’t play the same 17 every week, it’s a squad game.
Problem is some of our squad are not good enough. Mitch Clarke is hopeless, G Burgess is hopeless, Bibby is hopeless.
On a positive note, I thought Greenwood went well when he came on, and young Smith is going to be a star.

[pedro]

That comes down to being drilled though in training and culture

[DaveO]

My take

Hull KR probably won’t play that good again this season - they were full of energy and we weren’t

On team selection I’m going to buck the trend and call it ok - tonight proved we need our front line stars fit at the end of the season so overplaying them now doesn’t make sense rotating the squad makes sense sometimes it doesn’t work it didn’t tonight but in the grand scheme tonight doesn’t matter

Positives to take out of tonight were greenwood and smith

Hastings is doing too much at the moment and I can’t help feel it’s the void left from lockers - we don’t seem to know what to do with that 13 slot with him not there and feels to me like Hastings is playing 13 and 6 but ending up poor version of each

It was a bad night but hull turned up like a cup game and played really well

They have played three games FFS after weeks off and didn’t need resting but we got musical chairs. The playoffs are based on the top four this season so every game is really a must win game with the fixtures we have coming up.

We needed to take those two points for that reason and Lam should have only made changes forced on him by injury and suspension. He lost one of his hardest hitters to suspension and rested Tommy as well. Idiotic.

Resting several players and moving the rest around hardly ever works as tonight proved once again.

They key driver here is the top four is what we need to be in. No scope for experimentation.

Does anybody really think we are in danger of missing the top 4? The league standard is very low and we’ve lost 1 game since the lock down was lifted - we were top of the league at the start of the night

We’ve had a bad game and yes it was a bad game - I’m happy with giving some of the other players a run - was probably the best game to do it in - but unfortunately hull turned up and played the best they have and probably will this season

Leeds and Cats have games in hand. On current form we won’t beat any of Saints, Wire or Cats. A lot depends on how the games in hand affect all teams, us included who won’t be playing some weeks so will lose match fitness so it’s by far from a forgone conclusion we will walk into the top four.

As to experimenting with players, how does that work when you make so many changes? You have no idea how a player will go in what would otherwise be your first choice side in its normal formation with so many changes. All you “learn” is if you put several 2nd string players into a team and move others about, you end up with a team that doesn’t look like one. Which should hardly be news to any coach. Lam learned diddly squat tonight.

Wane had a habit of doing this away against Widnes for some reason but at least he had the excuse of a plastic pitch he wanted to keep some players off and the luxury of a playoff system easy to qualify for.

[pedro]

If burgess can be dropped for most of the season for a bad game manfredi is in a world of bother

[fozzieskem]

I think Saints,Catalan,Cas and Wigan will make the top 4 but those games in hand are a worry..Wire and Leeds sit in the "who knows" category as we dont really know how good they are or could be yet

[Nezza Faz]

Just for the record, HKR also had 7 players missing, including both half backs !

We seemed pedestrian compared to the pace HKR played at and lacked their enthusiasm, very worrying that Lam wasn't able to redress this tactically as we do play too conservativelly, and we also have the worst points average in the Top 4, so somethings wrong with the coaching, you can't excuse the enthusiasm aspect for elite players, that's something you'd see at St Pats and Judes every week !

Hopefully it's just a 1-off as we can't afford any more bad defeats like this, but it has to be said full credit to HKR on that performance. Well deserved win.

[Firestarter]

Just seen the game after shift....... wish i looked at the score first....... i must admit that all the people on here that wanted rested players have got your wish...... just remember we are not the late 80s early 90 s wigan, that could do this.......if i had to rate the game ide rate our team
French great in attack but needs pin his ears back and at least attempt go for a high ball........ Manfredi.....not seen anything like dom of old unfortunately (im still in shock that burgess is being released until dom is right)..........hardaker....... tries hard and needs to be put in a gap and he will shine....... gildart...... first game back...... bibby...... one word ,solid....... hastings........ needs to swap sides and why why why is he driving balls in so much( surely this isnt coached?)........ smith...... hes class but needs a half that plays with him........ flower...... was poor for two of there first 3 tries( too slow now but was a great player).......powell...... im not his biggest fan but hes been one of our best this season(shudda started at 13 on this game imo)....... byrne...... was great last season but has been bang average this year( like benny was at fault for two of there first three tries....... isa...... great squad player but aint a starter for me....... faz......been our stand out best this year but why was we playing him as a ball player tonite???? Braindead tactics at best..... hes our go to man when we run out of ideas.......partington...... stready but didnt break any pots after his long lay off.....subs..... borough...... brought on way to late in typical wigan way styleeeeee....... greenwood....... was possibly our best player along with powell and faz(he needs a starting spot imo.......Shorroks...... did really well again( only seen hima few times)......the other prop( cant think of his name at moment) was okish...... seems to me that hes got the ability but is he fit?.......overall lammys got some job on here...... this faster game with 6 again and no scrums does not suite our style...... i stated this in the covid layoff and ill stick to it....... somebody else on here commented on stopping the split halves thing and i agree 100%...... its killing us...... the short pass to faz is way to easy to read and a short pass on the last tackle(In th opposition 10) is our only ploy when we dont kick......imo we play a full team tonite and we win...... yea, a couple of there trys were 50/50 but they nearly did us at our place and we havent learned a thing.......