Quote: Judder Man "Agree with most of that, with Wilkin I raised the question of whether Wilkin is playing "2 positions" in the game namely back row forward and half back and is covering more than he should. I like Burns a lot and although he missed quite a few tackles he does get stuck in and irritates the opposition all through the game. I don,t think we have an excuse for Walsh he,s just a lazy defender he can make some good tackles but generally he,s a soft tackler.
The interesting stats is that Saints are the 2nd worse team for missed tackles and yet has the 2nd best defence points against, this is suggesting we covering our line OK with a scrambling defence as individuals miss tackles, the problem with this is that it could be taking a lot of energy out of the team. We are also one of the worst teams for giving penalties away which adds extra defensive duties.
Its therefore no surprise we are gradually looking a bit tired and jaded when the problem is self inflicted by extra defensive stints, KC needs to get these 2 points addressed and improved upon.'"
I'm glad you posted that. I said pretty early in the season that defence was poor but I was shot down wirh "we have one of the best defence in the league". I posted that our one and ones and decision making was poor but we was covering well. I also posted that teams can only rely on cover tackles for so long and that's looking the case now especially with makinson out who does a hell of a lot of cover tackles.
The fact we've missed the 2nd most tackles points to what I said. We have players like Turner, walsh, Burns, greenwood and even Wilkin who defend on the edges but all miss 4 tackles plus a game.
The was one game (I can't remember now) where greenwood missed 4 tackles, Turner missed 5 tackles and Wilkin missed four tackles and they was all defending on the same side. That's 13 tackles on one side of the pitch and that spells problems.
We now have walsh in that equation who is missing more than he makes. I watched the leeds game back and if anyone is brave enough to watch it back then just watch Luke Walsh awful attempts. I couldn't show my face again after those attempts.