If it's a motivation issue for these games then it is 100% the coaches fault. The same players beat Bradford away and gave Leeds a mighty scare. How can they go out and play so badly against an average side (league position proves this btw). If they couldn't get up for one we should win then it is down to what is said at training. If these players can win in other games then they can play a bit. Yesterday was down to lack of ambition and drive in part. Also McCrae has an inability to change things when they are going wrong. He proved that in the home game against the same opposition when conceding 4 tries to the same cross field kick. He is totally inept and must go!

McRae and Alker are our biggest pieces of deadwood.
There are at least 6 more players who should be told now to go and then give youth a chance.
They can not be any worse than the lot who turned up yesterday.
BTW for those of you defending the coach
Why pick two players just back from injury one of who was obviously not fit and the other who needed more game time
Tyrer suprisingly played OK against Leeds but was dropped.
Alker was not fit from the start.
Sneyd dropped when I would have thought Ratchford himself and Matty Smith at hooker would have been a more creative option
Gibson is not happy on the wing and showed this yesterday.
Why do our forwards always receive a flat pass and never run on to the ball
Why do we always run into the markers
All issues directly attributed to the coach.

Salford cannot progress while McRae is in charge, privately the players do not rate him but won't say so in public.

BTW, Talau should have retired a long time ago.

There's a lot of things going against the Club to do with human fallibility.

The physical demands of the season are more prominent at the end of the season.
The team has nothing to play for as a group.
The Club has plainly got their mindset on next season.
Players minds will be side-tracked by off-field negotiations regarding their future.
They're playing against sides atm that are scrapping to continue their season.
Plus any number of things going on behind the scenes that we are not privy too.

I'm not making excuses or trying to deflect blame (Something that too many fans are quick to jump on) just pointing out a few factors that may be in effect. I'm sure that everybody at the Club tries their hardest but sometimes it just falls short. They don't go out to make themselves look like idiots or attract abuse.

There is nothing wrong with criticism if it is directed appropriately, I just feel that we should strike this one off as a lesson learnt.

Consistency is the key to RL and gaining it is almost like the Holy Grail of coaching. It's a mixture of psychology, coaching, effort, ability, fitness, player interactions on & off the pitch, and a dose of luck to name but a few. If any of these things are missing the chances of consistency drop considerably. Salford can beat anyone on their day, but also get beaten by anyone on the day.

Crusaders was one of the latter.

Butcher, that's far too reasonable, I expect you'll come in for a lot of stick for not calling for the coach's, trainer's, director's, water carrier's head on a plate!

And yet so many players have signed extended deals. What do the people on here know that the players who are working with him every day don't?

Not forgetting last season:
52 conceded at Cas
48 vs Quins at home
48 at Hull KR.
62 at Warrington.

Harrison was given the bullet after three 50+ defeats despite taking us into the playoffs the year before. Whats the difference now? The fact there is no relegation? If thats why Mcrae is still in a job then the fans are being treated like mugs.

Well, here's my two pennorth. I've seen more abject Salford displays than the one yesterday in many, many years of watching - my top one is the week following the 96-16 drubbing at Odsal when we played Wakefield and were atrocious. I'm really not sure what people were expecting out of yesterday, the truth is that we have never been able to beat a Brian Noble coached side throughout the Super League era. In fact I dare say that (without looking at any stats at all) that the points for and against across all the games we've played against his sides would look horrendous - hell, we couldn't even beat his Wigan side when they were staring relegation in the face. Earlier in the season, we were comprehensively beaten by the Crusaders where our defensive frailties on the flanks were ruthlessly exploited, something that was repeated early on in the game yesterday until Crusaders realised that they could slice through us like a knife through butter anywhere on the park.

The reality is that Noble has the measure of how we play and despite what people prattle on about on this forum it's difficult for the coach to change wholesale the patterns that we regularly play and he can't go out and tackle for them. In my humble opinion, we started brightly yesterday but for me, some of the main talking points from yesterday have not even been discussed, e.g the fact that our main playmaker is out for the rest of the season, we lost Mark Henry (for the rest of the season) in the first 15 minutes, Thaler penalising Ray Cashmere for kicking out in the tackle when he was clearly being held down leading to their first score, the lop-sided penalty count in favour of the Crusaders, the 4, yes 4, clear knock-ons, 3 of which were said to have gone backwards and the last of which led to Jeremy Smith being dismissed from the field and McCrae feeling sufficiently moved to actually walk on to the field of play after the game finished to talk to the referee (which I've never seen before).

Yes, we were bad yesterday but there were a number of contributing factors that had things been called just slightly differently may have seen a tighter game. Also, (and it pains me to say this as I really rate Stefan) for all those that believe that Ratchford should be starting at 6, he created almost nothing yesterday and didn't show any signs that he could take on the line and put people through gaps like Holdsworth can.

I've heard all the hype about Ratchford's bright future but I'm far from convinced. He doesn't look like a team player to me and I don't think he is creative enough for a stand-off at this level. Some stand-off's get away with this by having other assets such as blistering pace and finishing ability like Danny McGuire, but Steph doesn't really have this to his game either.

I think with seeing Holdsworth this year and the amount of time he appears to have with the ball in hand before putting someone through a gap has highlighted Rachford's shortcomings even more. It's a real natural skill the best player's have to be able to release the pass at the exact right moment to split open the defence. All Ratchford seems to be able to do well is either kick the ball extremely high in the air or put in the occasional decent grubber kick. I think for Stefan to improve he's going to have to start by taking on the defensive line a lot more and taking a few hits after he's released the ball.

Its plain to see we have no attacking flair whatsoever without DH.Crusaders knew exactly where to attack us [down the flanks ]and as usual we were leaking points like a collander in these areas.There was a total lack of enthusiasm in the team,except for Littler and J Smith . I cant condone it ,but can totally understand Smith mouthing off at the ref after a blatant knock on.

So glad I didnt go to the game, really wanted to go but funds were abit tight. When I saw the teamsheet I thought great, Adamson and Ratchford both need game time. Fwiw I dont blame Mcrae and would not blame him at all, it simply comes down to the players cba listening to him, they know hes too soft to bollok any of them. I think we do need a new coach, doesnt need to be a master tacticion, just someone who is a good motivator like Karl Harrison was

I wasn't expecting us to win, but I was certainly expecting the team to show a little bit of interest and enthusiasm, rather than seemingly accepting that the game is over after only twenty minutes.

Apart from that, just getting the basics right would be a start. Like tackling. One up, one down, wrap the ball up. The amount of offloads Crusaders managed yesterday beggared belief.

Oh aye, a few of us were sat right by Simms and McRae. I must admit, my respect for Simms has gone up after yesterday, he looked like he gave a sh*t and generally acted in that way. McRae? Nothing. Just the occasional drop of the head before scribbling notes. And as for not knowing what went wrong... Sorry, but with pretty much an identical viewpoint of the game as him, I could tell him exactly where we went wrong.

Meh. I'm beyond getting wound up about it now. There's clearly no point.

Do coaches of other clubs throw themselves around the dugout, or do they just sit there making notes too?

John Kear plays the piano.

Funnily enough, I have noticed other coaches actually getting a little animated and showing even a slight reaction to what happens on the pitch, rather than sitting there looking bored and disinterested.