Lets be honest here Clarkey would have a job getting in a championship side on current form so it's quite puzzling why TS picks him and imo whoever puts Clarkey ahead of Higham must be deluded.Not saying for one min that Higham is spectacular but least he makes the occasional break and runs with the ball but having said that i totally agree that it's quite unfair that he should be made the scapegoat everytime the team loses,when he plays that is.

I'm no clarke fan by any means, but to single him out yesterday is out of order. He played in the same manner he always does, which is just workmanlike. He isn't a player i expect to turn a game for us. The ones that i do (monas and briers) both had very quiet games hence we offered little in attack.

He's rubbish but scapegoat is a bit excessive.

Solomona (this season) is rapidly turning into Danny Lima (remember him).

Solomona's one (maybe two) devastating off loading per game, is being lost, against his (sometime) muppetry, with too many dropped balls/loose carries.

Compare this, a few seasons back, with Danny Lima (another crowd favourite). Comes off the bench, and skittles 4 opposition defenders in one ball carry, then "goes for a blow" with his hands on his knees, catching his breath. Next time he takes the ball up/tackles, there's a penalty.

At the moment (as with Lima in the past), Sol's giving more to the oppostion, rather than to ourselves.

You wouldn't have seen Tony Tatupu do that. .....and you wouldn't have seen him tackle or run either.

Took bone-idleness to a new level.
By the size of him, he should have been a world beater. I wouldn't have him down as an eggbeater.
One good game in a Wire shirt (Wigan H). Damn you John Monie

He was supposed to be the best thing to come out of New Zealand since lamb chops. By the end of his one (thank God) season with us he just strolled around the pitch coming in as third man in the tackle and taking it in once in every three or four sets. Has to go down as the worst import in the P&B ever.

That's coming up against some stiff opposition, MKC
Paul Younane
Craig Teitzel
Manure Thompson
The Jackson bros
off the top of my head

I think Lefty G's point here is getting missed somewhat. It's not 'why single out Clarke' as much as it is 'why single ANYONE out but if we are, why it is ALWAYS Clarke'. I couldn't agree more with that. I suspect Clarke gets slammed because of the things he doesn't do - it's not his fault he isn't James Roby. The only person who could be criticised for that is James Roby. And he is nearly always James Roby - except on weekends when he dresses like a woman and calls himself Susan.*

*not really. AFAIK anyway...

Clarke is ALWAYS the one, who certain people will go for. He's the easy target. It's like the fat kid in the playground for the bully.
When the thread started, I was wondering why there was Clarke bashing for this defeat, then EUREKA. IT'S CLARKE, HE'S AN EASY TARGET, AND SAVES THE "FANS" ACTUALLY LOOKING WHO DIDN'T PERFORM.

Quite simple, really.

Suzanne, actually.

Why do you think people focus on him? Is there not a grain of truth in the fact that he is not a top 4 SL player and it shows? One of Cullen's bizarre, crazy 4 year signings. Actually will he be the last of the PC signings unextended by Smith? (i.e we will soon have a squad of players whose contract was agreed by Smith?)

On current form and fitness (with regards to Solomona) I wouldn't bother negotiating either of them contracts for next year. Ratchford and Puletua to replace them please Mr Smith.

I could name a load of Huddersfield players who wouldnt get near a wigan, saints, wires shirt, and are never ever going to be called world class but they sit at the top of the league because they have players that "do a job."

Interesting that Joey Johns talking about Gareth Widdop last week said "He doesn't over complicate his game he does the simple stuff and lets the star names do their stuff".
I often think Clarke is asked to do exactly that "don't overcomplicate things ". Which is exactly what we didnt do when he wasn't on and we looked bleedin ridiculous.

Has anyone pointed out any errors he came up with or are we just going to go with the "he ain't no James Roby" line.??

I just think the job Clarke used to do for us (if indeed he did do that) has become redundant as we have become serious title contenders and moved on a level in class.

Anyway it's simple, if he was truly valued by Smith, as Johns speaks of Widdop, he would have been extended by now, but he hasn't been and is unlikely to be. We can read into that what we wish.