Friendly or not it is important to develop good habits including getting used to winning. We have lost 3 out of 4. The excuse of players gelling is used every season it seems. On the evidence thus far the personel has changed but nothing else. I will bide my time before making a final judgement but thier is alot of improving to do in the next two weeks. The Crusaders match straight away is a bench mark game. After all the upheaval they have had this is a winnable game and one we must look to win if we have any designs on progress. The pressure is on the coach straight off for me.

FEKA....."WE WILL MAKE THE PLAY OFFS".........not with your big fat eating eat buddie in charge we wont son!!!!
so glad didnt go,friendly or not,we went there with our best team on paper and got tw$$ed!!! 4 friendlies and we look far from top 8 material,like posted above..."is nobby out of work still".....surely wont cost to much to pay the slug off now??

Yes it's like him being the driving instructor and his pupil crashing the car three times on the last lesson before the driving test.

good post stadge, completely agree!

Listen we were bad and I wont make any exception for our desplay (although I'm sure the fat man will) but believe me when I say that was the worse refing I've seen in 30 years, 20+ pens against, 2 sin bins, one on report and a red card against us in a clean friendly, c'mon! Oh but we were a tad poo to say the least. Worried, yer a little, new manager, yes please!

IM WAITING FOR IT......."Well ya know mate,i know we got hammered and the ref was bad,BUT thought we will come away from the game with a few positives,some of the younger lads had a good run out,the new guys are slowly getting upto speed and adjusting to the new surroundings etc etc etc

NEW GAFFER ASAP TO SORT WHAT ON PAPER IS A VERY DECENT SQUAD OF PLAYERS.....
wonder if houldsworth getting an ear bashing off the general?

Glad of the on-site report, although it's very similar to the report given on the radio. On the reffing point; was it not the case that we were constantly mucking about at the play the ball? Or, is it a case that we've got a name for ourselves for being persistent infringers and thus refs are now looking to give penalties, perhaps without even realising it? A kind of unconscious negative stereotyping?

If you look at the stats on the superleague website you will see that Salford have had less ball than every other team in both of the two previous seasons. Despite having several new players we still get hammered on the penalty count

Either they are not being coached right to avoid giving away pens or there is a conspiracy between the referees against us? Perhaps they don't like their old changing rooms at the Willows?

I think it's time to build some relationships between our players and the refs. Invite them individually down to our training base and get them to talk to the players about their reffing methods. It couldn't do any harm. Apparently Leeds flew out one of the refs on the teams plane to Florida and he stayed in their hotel when we played them in Jacksonville.

already tried having the refs down, doesn't seem to work, we need a coach who can coach the players to play on the fringe like Wigan, or refs not to expect us to give away a penalty, which is harder to do.

As a KR supporter the ref had no control of the game at all it was Childs usual cr@p all about him, we played well but Ur discipline at times let you down, thought Patten was outstanding and Matty smith tried to keep things going, I think that after a few games your gonna be a force this season don't forget you had a few players out to. But defo some positives from your team .

To say we have some fickle and highly emotional fans is a little understated. The results of friendlies mean nothing in the long run, and I'd be saying the same thing if we'd have won by the same margin. All that matters is the 2 points when they are available.

I have repeated constantly elsewhere about how I feel we should judge the team and performances and wont repeat myself here.

The Club is trying really hard to change for the better in all aspects, and it would be a nice thing if fans tried to do the same. Instead of causing rumbles of discontent that reverberate to people at the Club, wouldn't it be a breath of fresh air if the fans actually got behind them, especially when the going gets rough. Slagging-off McRae at this moment in time just makes people look stupid and any valid points they may have will be ignored because of the venom thrown around.

I actually find it hard to believe I've actually written that last paragraph BEFORE the season has even started. Not surprised if I look deep down at some of our 'fans', and it leaves me feeling numb at how fickle human beings can be.