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jasonnlouise wrote:He's been abysmal since getting marquee status it says everything when he couldn't get in England's starting line up for world cup instead of taking a look at himself he's just rested on a big contract I'm not a fan of Powell at half back but he's been better than Williams and that says it all

DaveO wrote:

jasonnlouise wrote:He's been abysmal since getting marquee status it says everything when he couldn't get in England's starting line up for world cup instead of taking a look at himself he's just rested on a big contract I'm not a fan of Powell at half back but he's been better than Williams and that says it all

No he hasn't but then that is arguing who out of the two is worse than awful. That said Williams does have a skill set Powell doesn't. Powell can't pass and has no pace. Williams has both these skills but his head is clearly all over the place.

The pressure seems too much and some of that pressure has got to be because Powell offers nothing much as his partner. It's all on Williams just as it was when Matty Smith was here. No one fears the Wigan 7 and has not done for a few years.

In the world of the salary cap you can't just ship players out so I hope a new coach will get better from the pair of them even if it means Powell has to accept he is no 7.

DaveO wrote:

jasonnlouise wrote:He's been abysmal since getting marquee status it says everything when he couldn't get in England's starting line up for world cup instead of taking a look at himself he's just rested on a big contract I'm not a fan of Powell at half back but he's been better than Williams and that says it all

No he hasn't but then that is arguing who out of the two is worse than awful. That said Williams does have a skill set Powell doesn't. Powell can't pass and has no pace. Williams has both these skills but his head is clearly all over the place.

The pressure seems too much and some of that pressure has got to be because Powell offers nothing much as his partner. It's all on Williams just as it was when Matty Smith was here. No one fears the Wigan 7 and has not done for a few years.

In the world of the salary cap you can't just ship players out so I hope a new coach will get better from the pair of them even if it means Powell has to accept he is no 7.

cherry.pie wrote:

fozzieskem wrote:The point though is when Smith was here he gave the space Williams needs to play,since he left Williams has struggled he needs a partner and I don’t think Powell is it

This is just thinking that because A happened then B happened, that A caused B. Smith leaves having played pretty poorly for at least 2 years. George emerges as a quality halfback and then his form dips. It doesn't mean Williams is playing badly because Smith isn't there. The halves don't interact as much on the field as they used to. Not every attacking move involves both halves these days. So if it was down to Powell not giving Williams space we'd only be seeing Williams struggle when both halves are involved in attacking moves. Williams is making mistakes at pretty much any time, in many aspects of the game.

Smith's distribution in his last 2 years was downright awful at times. I don't see how it was helpful to Williams to be receiving passes a yard behind him, or picking them off the floor. Most of what made Williams stand out alongside Smith was individual brilliance. Hence the frequent debates over whether Williams was too much of an off the cuff style player.

Not that Powell seems to be the answer at 7. He doesn't seem to be able to make his mark on the game like top halves do. Powell goes through games without being noticed. However, both halves have been doing that at times this year, even when we've had good attacking spells. So perhaps the way we play is so structured that neither half is expected to play what they see, and that they simply have an attacking shape and the halves are instructed to pass to A, B or C every time (i.e. don't do something individually, stick to the shape and keep delivering the same passes).

Williams could just be going through the tricky phase in development that happens to a lot of British halves. I mean how many have been considered great prospects as teenagers, make headlines only to fail to reach their potential. Richie Myler played for England as a youngster and then failed to develop further until his late 20's. Going a bit further back, Kevin Brown was a great prospect, until he failed to kick on and ended up at a few middling SL clubs before a renaissance later in his career.