Quote DAG="DAG"I didn’t say it was good enough, but it’s a fact. We’ve been taken from a top four club, competing on all fronts, to a club who are heading for a relegation scrap with largely the same spine as we have had for the last couple of years.
We’ve gone from a team solid in defence and hard to beat, to a team who is conceding 40 points on a regular basis.
There’s been no improvement. New coaches / managers usually put their mark on a team relatively quick no matter how subtle the signs are. He’s had zero impact pretty much and we’ve gone backwards rapidly.
There might be a culture problem. A clear out may be required. But to just absolve the coach of all responsibility, when he is the one picking the team and leaving out several better options, is just plain wrong.
The players are culpable and so is Powell.'"
I agree that Powell has not been blameless in this but I still appoint much more blame towards the players.
The defence problem though, isn't so much to do with Powell being a bad defensive coach (Powell won the league leaders trophy and nearly the grand final after turning around a relegation threatened Castleford a few years back), but more to do with players attitude. The previous week's performance against Stains shows this to a large degree.
You say: 'New coaches / managers usually put their mark on a team relatively quick no matter how subtle the signs are. He’s had zero impact pretty much and we’ve gone backwards rapidly'. Fergie took over 2 years to see positive signs (he was nearly sacked after a couple of years), I'd say it took Klopp a season for his Liverpool side to show signs of bearing fruit. Yes, it appears things are going backwards under Powell, but I'd argue he is having to make more radical changes, in addition to the playing style, in order for us to achieve the ultimate grand final.
Even during the wonderful early to mid years of Smith, the club culture wasn't truly sorted or we'd have won at least one grand final. I believe he's identified culture/ethics at other successful clubs such as Stains, Leeds and Wigan and wants to replicate it here and sees that if players won't take it on board, he needs to get rid. This will cause a lot of friction and is profoundly impacting our performances. Will you and others have the patience for him to see it through? Do you see what I'm seeing: that he's identified this player complacency to varying degrees since Moran took over (no disrespect at all to Moran) whereby players saw this club as a money and lifestyle club over achievements. He's a brave manager to do it this way, but fair play, I'm right behind him, even if we finish 2nd from bottom and rid ourselves of the dead wood, its worth it for a longer term better chance of achieving success.
