Tonight's Game v Leeds

[ian.birchall]

Faz back!!

Was he? I did not see him in defence all night.

[ian.birchall]

Out muscled by the Leeds pack all night and then torn to shreds by their offloading.
Farrell and Williams were appalling in defence but the majority of the rest were rank as well.
When Finch and Leuluai left and were replaced by Green and Smith there was a 100% improvement from game one v the Wire in our field kicking but we forget all that and resign Leuluai because he married a Wigan girl.
Davies deserved better than this, even a Sam Tomkins steadily getting back to the standard we need was helpless in this team.

[Wiganer Ted]

I thought Burgess mustn't have been fully fit.
Davis took the ball up almost each set, Burgess did but not often.
Will be interesting to see the meters made stat between the two even after deducting 90 meters off Davis for his quite superb try.
In hindsight maybe it might have been better to play Wells and Marshall instead in Joe and Faz as the latter two seemed to struggle all night. That's hindsight though!

[southportcdm]

Painful as it was, the defeat wasn't the most disappointing thing about the game for me. The fact that we didn't improve from the Salford game was what worried me the most. I can accept that the top four is out of reach and that we need to concentrate on the cup but we need to be showing weekly improvement if we're to be competitive in the final. We're not good enough to take it easy for a few weeks and then turn up and play well on the big day. We've made the most of a lucky semi draw to get to the final and that's hiding continued poor performances with what is now the best squad we'll have until the end of the season. We still look clueless at times and I really worry about next season.

[BriH]

Painful as it was, the defeat wasn't the most disappointing thing about the game for me. The fact that we didn't improve from the Salford game was what worried me the most. I can accept that the top four is out of reach and that we need to concentrate on the cup but we need to be showing weekly improvement if we're to be competitive in the final. We're not good enough to take it easy for a few weeks and then turn up and play well on the big day. We've made the most of a lucky semi draw to get to the final and that's hiding continued poor performances with what is now the best squad we'll have until the end of the season. We still look clueless at times and I really worry about next season.

Wise words.

I am as baffled as anybody why we became a different team in the second half.
Worrying, and especially when SW doesn't seem to have a solution.
Can't really use injuries as an excuse now. Before this match I honestly thought we were improving match-on-match, particualrly with ST and MM getting back to their old selves.
That 2nd half performance left me angry and very disappointed because I know we can play way better than this.
Perhaps SW needs a rest and let JW take over for the rest of the season.
It's possible SW is burnt out.

[Southern Softy]

Never thought I'd say this but we were beaten by a better team who had looked at our weaknesses and played on them. Leeds had quick PTB - we didn't. Leeds ran from dummy-half because our guys were on the wrong side of the tackle and left a hole. Leeds kicked better (generally) because the kicker wasn't under any pressure and no need to go on about our right-side defence.
Everything of the above has been the same all season and Hull will be using last night as a blueprint for the Final. Everything depends on whether Hull get Final nerves and whether the coaching can improve us in 3 weeks.
What is in our favour is that Wigan as a team have 'big-match' confidence and the players play their best game but I'm nowhere near as confident as in other Finals.
The Top 4 must have gone in the league. 4 points off fourth with a lousy points difference and 6 matches to go......... I suppose the age of miracles might be round the corner but.......

[moto748]

Well that was a deeply depressing trip to Leeds. I agree with cherry pie on Gildart; he along with Davies, was one of the few who could hold their heads up after that. Burgess looks a shadow of the player he was, for whatever reason, Faz likewise presumably is not fit. As for Gelling, enough has been said already. He should be dropped. I'd be happy to 'sacrifice' Bateman by playing him at centre, on the grounds that we have more back-rowers to replace him.

Leeds weren't great but were much, much better than us. I'll bet they completed twice as many passes. They got a quick ptb more often than not, something we signally failed to do, won the forward battle (again!), and they moved the ball at pace. Whereas once we got to their defensive line we didn't seem to have a clue what to do.

I keep reading that Wigan play a 'structured', or, indeed, 'over-structured' game. But I saw no structure there whatsoever. Worst of all worlds; we lack the instinctive understanding to play an off-the-cuff game, and have no decent structure or Plan B to fall back on either.

So, that's the season. We might as well give some game to some of the kids for the remaining games. What's happened to Woods, is he fit? I'd like to see Marshall back in the side, too.

[Wigan_forever1985]

Can anyone think of a game in the last 4 months were we have played well start to finish?

When I think of this season the only games I can think of were we actually turned up we're in the first half of the season

The "injury crisis" is no longer an excuse so why are we so poor!

All season we have been reliant on the other team being poor. I don't care how many tries have been scored and you can say wcc till you're blue in the face this season has been a complete disaster

We are currently 8th in the league - and that is a perfect representation of our season. Winning the challenge cup will be tinged with the sadness of knowing that it will somehow justify the abject failure of the club this season

wane is a Wigan fan - I don't doubt this - I don't doubt he is trying the best he can but as the assistants have gone and madges ways have worn off he has been found out and if he is here next season I can't see any reason to be optimistic of change

You can try your best and sometimes it's just not good enough - I can run as fast as I can but I ain't beating bolt to 100m

[Wandering Warrior]

I can run as fast as I can but I ain't beating bolt to 100m

10/10

[Dave-C]

10 wins out of 24 in SL.

Says it all.