No player is above criticism, but there were mitigating circumstances in France. No, we should not have dropped as much ball. No we should not have given away so many penalties and our kicking game should have been better. Yes, we missed too many tackles.

But, it did look like men against boys out there. After three minutes we had to play someone at scrum half who last played there when he was 9 apparently. We lost Danny Williams before the trip and Ashley Gibson and Stephen Wild after the warm up to add to the number of missing bodies.

The positives were a better display from Jack Murphy and the commitment shown by the team, but at the moment we are short of quality players and it shows.

Been saying bit for a while ,all last season, we need a defensive coach. if Phil Vievers is taking the defence then it's just not working

Think if you read this report we're still lucky to have Theo around. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/21411207 As for any negativity I think all the sensible people sense that regardless of Dr Kou's belief we will be a very competitive team this year all we can hope for is a showing not unlike last year where we played some excellent rugby in patches and caused a few upsets but also received a few good hidings. I do think a by product of the two showings will be that there is a bigger push to strengthen the squad for this year than had been planned for. The new regime can't possibly aim for bigger crowds when there is no improvement on the pitch so it's a bit of a vicious circle this year. See that Farish arrives this week, fully expect that when he settles in we will start to see the changes we have all been calling for.

Think if you read this report we're still lucky to have Theo around. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/21411207 As for any negativity I think all the sensible people sense that regardless of Dr Kou's belief we will be a very competitive team this year all we can hope for is a showing not unlike last year where we played some excellent rugby in patches and caused a few upsets but also received a few good hidings. I do think a by product of the two showings will be that there is a bigger push to strengthen the squad for this year than had been planned for. The new regime can't possibly aim for bigger crowds when there is no improvement on the pitch so it's a bit of a vicious circle this year. See that Farish arrives this week, fully expect that when he settles in we will start to see the changes we have all been calling for.

Under the circumstances, and looking retrospectively, nearly everything that could go wrong for the team pretty much did. We can ill afford to lose any players at the moment, let alone a raft of them before the game. Top it off with losing your lynch-pin after 3 minutes, meant that regardless of the man advantage we were always going to struggle. We wont be the only team that Catalans hammer at home so I wont read too much into it.

Good thing is, we've still got a team. (Just!)

Lets not forget 3 weeks ago we did not have a club, a great many of the players playing now will not be in the starting line up come the back end of this season.

Yes it looked like men against boy, maybe that because it is at this moment in time.

We need to get it right this time & it looks like the good Dr is already putting in the infrastructure, we as supporters need to stay together & accept short-term what we see on the pitch is below what is expect. Surely from where we have been, a few more weeks until recruitment start to kick in we need to show a little bit of patience.
I actually got both my daughters who only attended the odd game before now to buy a season ticket each, I think they see the positive changes long-term starting to happen, I suppose I was hoping to have seen a few more saying the same.

I wasn't at this game but I am a little hacked off at the criticism.
I am reminded that under the guidance of a successful coach St Helens lost about 6 of their opening games one season and still reached the Grand Final.I am not suggesting the same will happen for Salford but I'm prety sure their -players weren't villified to the extent our players are.
I look at nearby Widnes,where rich man O'Connor has been there for several years,and I see very slow but steady progress since Betts arrived as coach.
I recall Warrington shipping 60 points at London and their supporters turning on their players and Matt King replying in kind.The following season they reached Wembley in the Challenge Cup Final.
Wonder if our players can do likewise after a similar type of reaction from some followers in London last year.
Best thing Dr Koukash can do is announce a long contract for the coaching pair and ensure they have even longer at the club than Betts and Smith so the building blocks and springboard to success can begin in earnest.The luck of the coaching pair,for onfield matters,must change soon;hopefully !

Big well done to Matt Jenkinson and to Forever Reds for providing equipment he required a short time ago.

I've already expressed my view that we are lucky to have a team so,I agree,lay off the criticism .Everything that could go against us in Perpignan did.
The last thing we should be doing ,though,is handing out long term contracts to anyone.
In the period of change that we expect to see,you need to retain maximum flexibility,so no long term contracts.
I still believe that PV deserves a good run at this and hope he succeeds.

I think Terry O'Connors Comment says it all " You can never knock their effort when they are playing rugby but they lack a bit of class. No one is going to help them though; they just need to get on with it."
No point lamenting on our rough ride , but we need the experienced players( Gleeson - Gibson- Williams - Wild - Howarth) back in the side before stand a chance of competing . now Nero is doubtful for Leeds and Fages is lucky still to have his head . We're not getting an easy ride .

Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if reinforcements are added if not for the Leeds game but the game the weekend after when with the right bodies back that is our first realistic chance of getting anything close to a result.

Would hope that the Aussies are over and available by then and also that Gleeson, Williams and Theo are available and that could be our strongest available side.

If Theo is out will the young lad Higgins have a chance of getting on the bench or maybe starting?

A message to Philyourboots,

No one is saying the players are above criticism, but that is what we have coaches for,
And yes we are making mistakes that under10s make, but under 10s are not playing against over 18s, which is what are youngsters must feel like they are doing at the moment,

And im sure the coaches and the players are trying to address all the problems and they dont need your input or anybody else to get on there backs,

up until 3 weeks ago the kids who have put a red shirt on for you and me and everybody else who supports SALFORD RLFC didnt know what the hell was going on, if they would have a job etc, so phily just be grateful they have stuck around
and these PRO rugby league players last season were for most of them playing in the under 20s PART TIME,

We all know where we need new players, the good Dr, PV .SL and the rest of them plus the supporters, but like the good Dr says he will not pay over the odds for players no matter how good they are. Take Morley as the example, ( for me not the player we need at the moment but thats just me).

so Phily unless YOU are going to put your hand in your pocket and buy some players that WE all know WE need, and who are under contract to other teams, i suggest you either as a SALFORD RLFC fan? either give all your support to the lads on the pitch, or dont bother going again to watch AND SUPPORT untill WE have got the TEAM that YOU think and playing to the WAY you think they should play.
Or as you say YOU played rugby league , get your boots on and show us ALL how easy it is for kids to play against men. or step up 3 divisions in one go.

Next game is against leeds, im expecting us to take a big hit,
1 Cas beat them they will not be happy.
2. They have got the STORM coming up, which they aint gonna win,

So if we get on the scoreboard i will be happy,

As long as PV and the rest of the coaching staff see improvements in individual players im happy,

Our next home game against HKR is the game for me, in this game on sky we as supporters need to turn out en mas and get behind the lads , and hopefully we can get the win that they as a team deserve and we all need.

.

Red in Buxton - well said, I agree with every word.

We all know it's going to be an extremely hard year but I expect the team to improve over the coming months. I just hope 2 or 3 of the 20's lads can get some regular first team experiance and continue their development throughout the year. It's OK having funds to bring in players but any players half decent are unavailable now and contracted to other clubs.

What we must not do is panic (on the back of a few bad results) and waste money on transfer fees or bring in stop gap players on contracts above one year. Maybe a solution is a few decent loan signings of players at big clubs that are frustrated at lack of game time as the season progresses.

I's guess that Huddersfield might have a prop more than they can keep happy with the big import just getting his visa issues sorted so maybe looking at Crabtree or maybe Moore, Griffin or Leuluai from Leeds as couple of big forwards are right up there on the definate needs.

Really cheap shot by Bousquet and really hope Theo gets back to full health ASAP. Not sure why he needed to take Theo out like that as with the team we had out there was no way we were going to get a result..... with or without Theo. Now I know we're short on numbers at the moment and the last thing we need is players getting banned but it would've been nice to have seen a bit of solidarity from one of our pack and someone giving Bousquet a slap round the chops for picking on one of our kids. Don't think he'd have got away with suchan act of thuggery if we had a Paul Forber type character in the team!