[DaveO]

Wigan v Leeds : Thu Jul 09, 2015 11:08 pm  

Not long back from the game.

Felt that was a much better performance than of late. Certainly the first half. In the second we seemed to do our best to try and lose it bombing a couple of sitters and reverting to daft play in our own 20m.

All in all though a much better effort. I would have been gutted if we had lost. Leeds looked like they were practicing passing for the NFL most of the night and didn't get pinged for it once.

Felt Flower looked a lot better,Bateman went great at centre and Bowen was a pleasure to watch. Smith's deserves a pat on the back for his goal kicking as well.

Very exciting end to the match and the close game made for a much better DW atmosphere.

Re: Wigan v Leeds : Thu Jul 09, 2015 11:28 pm  

Well what can you say , what a stint from MM , SOL is massive for us hope he can manage to keep fit for the rest of the season, the forwards showed some aggression , Matty Bowen likes the dry weather and is showing some form, Matty Smith's kicking game was excellent , Josh did very well, well done everyone else now can we take this form away from home oh and Leeds do like a winge at ref !
Right going to sit down and watch it and see if Bill and Ben give us any praise

Re: Wigan v Leeds : Thu Jul 09, 2015 11:51 pm  

A good performance against a Leeds side who chucked a lot at us. Agreed a much better showing from Matty Smith, and thankfully our forwards a bit less anonymous. And actually, a much better game of footy than I expected.

Re: Wigan v Leeds : Fri Jul 10, 2015 12:42 am  

Well just watched it and Bill and Ben couldn't help keep saying how Leeds must feel aggrieved etc , no surprises there then.

Re: Wigan v Leeds : Fri Jul 10, 2015 6:51 am  

All about the line speed in defence and attack.

For the first time in a long time our forwards ran with intent rather than catching the ball standing still.

Playing MM for the full game is always a better option.

John Bateman at centre is by far better there than Joel.

Re: Wigan v Leeds : Fri Jul 10, 2015 8:08 am  

What a difference SOL made to the pack. The props played like props as well. I thought Mossop had his best game so far. He looked like he took the criticism to heart and really tried. Clubb's defence was excellent.

What a footballer John Bateman is. Doesn't matter where he plays he does a massive shift. His tackling is incredible for a guy who isn't the biggest. And he usually evader the first tackler when he has the ball. It's easy to see that with SOL and Bateman in the team last week, we would win. I feel better now.

We beat a very good Leeds team there and we've done it twice this season now.

And last word to Matty Smith. He takes a lot of unfair criticism on here. I was pleased for him at the end. His kicking has really improved this season. I think he's roughly on a par with Mantellato and better than Sneyd for example in terms of percentage kicked this season and I think most people would rate those two as excellent kickers.

Re: Wigan v Leeds : Fri Jul 10, 2015 9:07 am  

Thought that the application and attitude was much, much better.
However the lapse in concentration for Burrows try was disappointing.
Our forwards bossed for most of the game, and Clubb was immense both in attack and defence. Shows how much we've missed him.
Both sides bombed chances, but the key thing for me was that our pressure caused Leeds indiscipline.... recently it would have been us giving away that penalty that cost the game.
Not a polished performance by a long chalk, but what an improvement over recent.

Re: Wigan v Leeds : Fri Jul 10, 2015 9:27 am  

tedglen wrote:

Thought that the application and attitude was much, much better.
However the lapse in concentration for Burrows try was disappointing.
Our forwards bossed for most of the game, and Clubb was immense both in attack and defence. Shows how much we've missed him.
Both sides bombed chances, but the key thing for me was that our pressure caused Leeds indiscipline.... recently it would have been us giving away that penalty that cost the game.
Not a polished performance by a long chalk, but what an improvement over recent.

Don't wish to be a party pooper Ted but Clubb only carried the ball once. His defence was immense though.

[DaveO]

Re: Wigan v Leeds : Fri Jul 10, 2015 9:41 am  

Aboveusonlypie wrote:

What a difference SOL made to the pack. The props played like props as well. I thought Mossop had his best game so far. He looked like he took the criticism to heart and really tried. Clubb's defence was excellent.

The props looked much better and Flower was aggressive in the right way so that was good to see but in the 2nd half we still had our 3/4's carrying the ball out of our own 20m line with Sarge doing this time after time.

I know the idea of letting the 3/4's do this is to let the forwards have a rest or even just to try something different but we do it all the time in situations where hard yards are needed.

Tactically we were still weak in our own 20m area and there were numerous very risky passes that on another day could have cost us dearly.

What a footballer John Bateman is. Doesn't matter where he plays he does a massive shift. His tackling is incredible for a guy who isn't the biggest. And he usually evader the first tackler when he has the ball. It's easy to see that with SOL and Bateman in the team last week, we would win. I feel better now.

I thought he was great in the centres.

And last word to Matty Smith. He takes a lot of unfair criticism on here. I was pleased for him at the end. His kicking has really improved this season. I think he's roughly on a par with Mantellato and better than Sneyd for example in terms of percentage kicked this season and I think most people would rate those two as excellent kickers.

That was his best goal kicking performance I think I have seen from him. In other games he has sometimes kicked a hard one and fluffed the easy ones! All were spot on and of course crucial to the win.

Re: Wigan v Leeds : Fri Jul 10, 2015 9:55 am  

Aboveusonlypie wrote:

And last word to Matty Smith. He takes a lot of unfair criticism on here. I was pleased for him at the end. His kicking has really improved this season. I think he's roughly on a par with Mantellato and better than Sneyd for example in terms of percentage kicked this season and I think most people would rate those two as excellent kickers.

Last season Smith kicked 70%, this season he is currently 70%, so wouldn't agree that he has improved kicking-wise. However, kicking as a whole in the league isn't as good this season with Sneyd having a mare at FC, Mantallato off the boil at KR, Bridge dropped at Wire and Tickle missing most of the season at Widnes. As such by comparison Smith is a below average kicker this season whereas he was one of the worst last season.

He had a cracker with the boot last night though, against a far better kicker in Sinfield as well, long may it continue!