Last night I was as disappointed as I have been since last season with our performance. I think the Warrington team was the worst I have seen since Tony Smith took over.

Warrington 28 Salford 12
Where do I begin? I was more disappointed with this performance than any other this season and some from last season. Why? Overall there was a lack of professionalism/skills, few attacking ideas, disappointing tactics but most of all no enthusiasm.
Professionalism/skills: dropped ball from KO, allowing ball to bounce from bomb/KO(more than once), catching ball then standing in touch, slow/poor passing technique notably from dummy half, poor discipline, passing ball to no one, slow play the ball(Manfredi excepted as Wane wouldn’t stand for it), ineffective kicking in their 22, looking round to see what was happening at scrums,
Few attacking ideas: In the first half we had little ball in their 40m area but the tactics seemed to be get the ball to Johnston at all costs, kick it to their wingers(not behind or high in the air), drive it in with the first or second receiver or two passes and bring it back on the inside. In the last quarter of the match, when the crowd were quite vociferous the ball was thrown about with Smith directing operations and we looked much better for it(I wonder if he was disobeying tactics in a “we’ve nothing to lose manner).
Disappointing tactics: The speed of the PTB was slow with forwards not running hard onto the ball (Tasi excepted). There was little running from the PTB which gave the opposition time to easily organise themselves. Warrington played the ball quickly, ran at us or passed out to players running onto the ball and immediately made ground and put us on the back foot. Defensively we did not run to the opposition allowing them to generate momentum before being tackled. Too often no one “took the legs”. I fail to understand the centre tapping the ball after a penalty and looping the ball to the player running onto the ball – both Sau & Walton did this
No enthusiasm: From the moment we knocked on from the KO there appeared little enthusiasm amongst the team. Not only were they slow into defensive positions, which they mostly got away with, but walked slowly to scrums and at times didn’t know who was packing down. Why do we have an international centre (Sau) packing in the second row at scrums as he CAN tackle. There was little apparent animation in the huddle after conceding a try – in fact after I think the fourth try they had to be told to get over the try line. In the last quarter, when we had our best spell, Smith was shouting out what to do and the team was much better for it.
Where do we go from here?
Positives:
• Mullaney is a good player but he could do with a little less tackling as it takes the edge of his ball return
• Smith can run a game if he is allowed to
• We have some very good players to return but please play Meli on the wing
• Lee gives 100% but needs a rest at times
• Most of the time adequate defensively up but we have conceded far too many points
• Johnson, Hansen,Tasi, Manfredi, Walne
Negatives:
• Tactics – so predictable
• Tactics – do the players follow them, if not why not?
• Tactics – do they understand what Noble wants them to do?
• Not giving youngsters a game
Overall the improvements from last year on the professional manner in which the club is organised and run is phenomenal for which we must thank the Doctor. However, there has been an improvement in the playing staff but unfortunately not the expected improvement in results. At what point do we stop saying that they will soon gel and start saying they should have gelled by now, When that happens the finger must surely point at Noble.

Deja vu

Agree entirely with everything Beck2 says.

The improvements and negatives balanced out i think all told we look no better than last season.

Personally, at the moment we should be thinking about just avoiding the drop. Can Chase really make such a difference? Let's hope so.

It's the end of the world!

Anybody who fell for the hype needs to reassess their reality. We were never going to be world-beaters this year. An improvement on last year and no relegation is the real aim this season as far as anyone with sense is concerned. Anything else is a real bonus. To judge a team after this many games is not realistic. If by halfway through the season the situation is the same then these points are valid. Not to say that they're not now, it's just that there's little point at so early a stage.

That's my thoughts anyway...

Somewhere between the 2 myself. I was pretty down about last night, more so than the other loses because of the manner of it, the reasons mentioned by others no structure to attack or defence, no leaders on the pitch but mostly no improvement

However 24 hours on I remember how I thought the season would pan out, and barring the ridiculous injuries this realistically would be it. As butcher says steady improvement on last season is what we want, preferably top 8. maybe I bought in to the ludacris top 6- top 4 crap as well was never going to happen. Onwards and upwards, just hope for a better performance next week, can only see a cas win just hope for a bit more effort

Noble seems to play the tactics employed by NRL teams of just drives in your own half and only throw it about in the opposition half.
Majority of the game was played in the Salford half though, making you look void of ideas.

You say Johnson and Manfredi were positives but then say play Meli on the wing? Meli is better in the centres these days.

Manfredi is cover for Meli for a month. He demonstrated how quickly the ball should be played.

I agree some people were getting very giddy but if I'm honest we have been more disappointing than I even expected.(And I consider myself a realist) I know the injuries haven't helped the situation but performances need to improve very quickly to prevent the increase in support dropping away and negativity surrounding the club again. All the hype has put pressure on us and I believe Castleford is now a must win game. Lose this one and I wouldn't be surprised if we go back to sub 3000 crowds.

By contrast just look at what Powell is achieving at Castleford. He's had much less time in the job than Noble, lost arguably his best player and is working with a much smaller budget. His new half backs are a player we didn't want this year and a player out of the championship. There's been no fancy 3 week, high altitude, trip to South Africa for Castleford Tigers. It's time now for Noble and the players to start earning the big money they are being paid. No excuses.

Butcher it isn't the results that disappoint me it's more the level of team performance for a club spending maximum salary cap with a supposedly high profile coach. As a club we have to get out of the excuse culture if we are going to progress.