Not sure the slow play the balls are all Alker's fault. We rarely land on our front and the refs this year are a lot more lenient on holding down. His distribution from dummy half has always been inconsistent though

Not sure the loss tonight can be put down to Mcrae though. We were following the game plan and doing nicely, keeping them mostly pinned in their half with long kicks and starting to create the space to move the ball around a bit.

Then Alker pointlessly touches the ball after it's passed (no way was there an interception chance) and gives them another set of 6 that they score from. In the second half Gibson makes a complete town halls of an attempt to stop a kick from going into touch (it wasn't anywhere near a 40-20 either catch or leave it to bounce into touch) which gives them good field position and they grow in confidence. Smith passes into touch on the 2nd/3rd tackle in pur own half - they score. Henry cocks up a catch and so and so on. Our short kicking game was pants and with plenty of possession in their 20 we didn't force one drop out

You could see when they stuck to the plan they did OK. In the last 5 minutes there was a good set move from a scrum followed by another set move or two which got us about 60 metres (came to nowt and was too little too late but showed that they are clearly coached set moves).

Having said that I don't know where Mcrae can take them. They are either not good enough or not inspired enough to follow his plans. There is no flash rugby in super league these days its all about possession and territory so I don't mind Mcrae's tactics that much. The tactics are very similar to Harrisons but his team executed them better (he also seemed more focussed on the little battles - landing on your front, quick play the ball, getting them on their back).

We threw it around more tonight than we have been doing. There just doesn't seem to be a player that can make the difference for us - over the years we've usually had a player for us that could do something to win a game for us - Myler, Robinson, Blakely, etc. Can't see one of these in this team

Message frpm Peter Kay to Shaun McCrae

`Time to go - they'll look after you now`

McRae has to go. It is said the club cannot afford to sack him. I say they cannot afford not to sack him. By the end of the season, if not before, there will be no one watching and with poor gates, low revenue streams etc you can forget a franchise.

From where I stand in the Shed, towards the North Stand end of the ground, there are already many faces in the crowd, familiar over the years, absent.

I have said on several posts that the club has gone backwards since McRae came in. We were poor in the National League, it was only full time status that saw us through. The style of rugby throughout his reign has been dire and there are no signs of it improving. We are never going to win a game with one man rugby, when we concede a minumum sixty yards over six tackles because we don't move up in defence and so have to start on our line very set. Then because we are so slow at the play the balls and players get the ball standing we are lucky to get out of the forty before a kick and back the opposition come again. It has gone on every week. Mcrae often highlights this lack of field position but has he changed or done anything to rectify things. Again tonight we saw a side who upped it against us , tweaked things at half time and we had no response. Catalans were missing both their first choice half backs!

The players are making mistakes but their morale looks shot. There is clearly no confidence, co-ordination or method in anything they do. I thought it was hard of the Shed to have a go at the players tonight. There are players out there fit to wear the shirt. They are just in a badly coached team. Stefan Ratchford is a case in point. He was prefered to Myler by us all last season and yet he now looks a pale shadow of the player who caused a buzz everytime he got the ball.

There is not one crumb of comfort to be taken from tonight at all. I cannot see how we are going to get a win.

I started the thread by mentioning disappearing faces in the Shed. I fear mine may soon be one, which hurts as I have followed Salford since first seeing them as a 9 year old in 1973. (What must the greats of that side think?) I am rapidly losing the faith.

like has been said, some blame has to go to the players as well as the coach. I think the players need to stop talking rubbish every week in the papers about a win is not far away and we've been training really hard etc and come up with the goods! Turning point of the match IMO was when alker stuck is hand out for some reason when there was never an intercept and knocked on. They didnt look like scoring but we gave them field position and they grew in confidence! Also both our wingers coming up with silly errors in our our half from kicks.

one of the best coaches in rugby league is at leigh finding his way again after the poop he took at pie land ect ,get this booty out the door .come on john get mr millward in the hot seat

yes

I would put Alket and Simms in there as well plus JW for hiring the bunch of losers.

I really dont know why everybody rates Alker so highly.the only time I rate him is when he trys to run from dummy half .Ok he puts in a lot of tackles,but I would much rather see an attacking "hooker".Same with Adamson and Parker.They are just too lightweight for me.If we are going to play it down the middle all the time,we need somebody like Fekka from Wigan,not lightweights who just bounce off the wall.

I'd agree with that. It's not for want of trying, but body mass is crucial when playing the style we play with.