Is it time to return to a more attacking style? Over the last couple of seasons we have reduced the offloads and are playing a more one up forward game with slower play the balls. Our back line could also lay deeper to offset lax offside interpretations and Donald looks lost on the right wing so I would swop the wings back over and we must find another strong attacking centre quickly.

Saints are playing the more attractive rugby with good offloads and angles of run and at present they look sharper and the more dangerous attacking side. Our poor discipline is also a handicap.

I totally agree. We seem to play one out rugby and only play expansive play when we are losing! We didn't play that badly but there was to many errors and penalties.

Leeds lacked direction more than anything today. The problem, if you can call it that, is that you have options all over the field. This means someone needs to decide how to play things, it all seemed a bit disjointed today. Saints by comparison can't really go wide early as we don't have the pace, so it's all down the middle with offloads and a quick play the ball.

Our defense was outstanding, the pressure from about 60 minutes onwards would have broken any other Super League side, but Saints held out. Wilko's kicks also had a massive part in the game.

It's okay, we'll make your style of play look amazing next week when you thrash us by 70 or more. Our inability to defend will mean that you will be laughing, I realy wouldn't be surprised if we suffer our biggest ever SL defeat. You played okay today, but against us that will mean about 50-0. May the best team win next week, I hope it's us

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We made more breaks in the last 20 minutes with offloads we had not previously done.We definitely need to be more adventurous for the rest of the season.No point only taking chances when the game has nearly gone.

That was Saints' weakness today, they let Peacock offload which then allowed McGuire and Burrow to run, which was when Leeds were most dangerous.

I am getting a bit sick of these late comebacks. Against Manly and now Saints twice. It may put a bit of gloss on the scoreline but it is flattering to say the least. Time to start attacking from the outset and I agree we need a proper centre to play with Hall so we can swap him back over with Donald. I am not totally convinced by Hall, he just seems so slow everytime he gets the ball.

Thought he had an half decent game going forward. He does need some work in defence though.
We lacked aggression & Bailey.
Senior my Leeds man of the match.

FFS – we’re top of the league, current reigning champions and run our nearest rivals to two very close defeats – why the fook do we need to change anything???

Perhaps because we were not close to winning, only close to competing....

Three big games, three comprehensive defeats. So far I would have to say it's the weakest league I've seen in years, I wouldn't judge us against any other team except Saints and we are clearly not there.

Because when we have come up against any team of any real class we have come up short. Yes we've been competitive but we just haven't been good enough. We have some very good broken field runners but because of the obsession we have "the middle channel" they're not getting the chance to be fully effective.

Maybe the thread title should read “Style of Play needed to beat Saints” then.

Saints are a better team than us at the moment – simple, they might not be come October but at this point in time they are, so the need to change our style of play deludes me.

we were a shambles. the scoreline flattered us. the pack looked lightweight, the decision to play donald on the right clearly isn't working,gibson,sadly, is not good enough. the injuries have really hit him hard. defence was shocking,loads of missed tackles and we never had a good line. the passing was ponderous and the lack of runners was evident.
we played in the centre third nearly all the game despite the fact it was obvious it wasn't working.
the coaching staff need to take stock because at the moment we don't look a patch on last season.
saints were top drawer,fully deserved the win. lets hope they have a good run and injuries bite. we may need it

Best pray for rain when you play us

There's an unfortunate typo in that. It makes more sense though with it in.

There's plenty of improvement left in us and even today we showed some good rugby but not enough to get the win.
I think we are all dissapointed to be out of the cup and would of liked to of won the wcc but it hasn't happened.
We will get better and i'm sure we'll be in the GF again one thing i think we definately need to improve is our discipline,it's been awful this year and needs to sorted asap.

good rugby? maybe in the last ten minutes. outplayed by a more organised and stronger team. men against boys

We need some new blood !!!! thats the top and bottom of it

We have lost Ellis and have no replacement, Buderous is looking like a sick note.

Donald is lost on the right.

Very dissapointed, another game where we don't take our chances...

Webb 9 MOM - Great support play, didn't drop a thing, looks like he's starting to build some form.

Donald 6 - He's wasted on the right, McClennan's got it all wrong IMO, Gibson/Smith/Watkins aren't powerful enough to draw the winger in and offload the ball creating space for the winger, because of this Donald gets no room to use his pace, and last year some of those chances that he didn't take would be taken. Hall isn't as fast as Donald, but he's a lot stronger, what I'm saying is Hall will be alot more likely to win the one on one collisions than Donald, and Donald will be more likely to have room.

Gibson 7 - Apart from a couple of mistakes, he played quite well today, hopefully he can have a run in the side and regain his form of 2007.

Keith Senior 8 - Always looks a threat, great break, we'd see alot more tries down that side with Donald there.

Ryan Hall 5 - Thought to have seen some good signs in the last couple of games, but as I've stated in the Donald comment, he isn't fast enough to play next to Senior.

Danny McGuire 7 - Was a bit quiet but created some chances, which were few and far between

Rob Burrow 7 - Made a couple of mistakes, but great break and showed some spark

Kylie Leulaui 6 - A little quiet IMO, not enough carries because usually he makes lots of metres

Matt Diskin 6 - Nothing special, average performance, hasn't been the same since his injury, hopefully the return of Buderus improves his game

Jamie Peacock 8 - Looked fired up for this one, shame most of the rest of the pack weren't.

Jamie Jones-Buchanan 7 - Good try, but a bit quiet for his normal standards, had a pretty good game though

Carl Ablett 6 - Same as Diskin

Kevin Sinfield 7 - Good vision for the first try, involved in this build up for the last.

Danny Buderus 7 - Couple of bad passes but that's expected for your first game back after 5-6 weeks, but got involved in the game and threatened more than Diskin did

Ali Lauitiiti 6 - Didn't threaten Saints like he usually does, a few good offloads.

Ian Kirke 7 - Was strong in the tackle, made alot of yards, been a good year so far for Kirke

Luke Burgess 7 - No nonsense go forward prop, good offloader as well, thought he had a good game and his position in the 17 which at the start of the season wouldn't be regular, has now become a little more secure.

I thought we played some good rugby for our tries!
I totally agree the better side won but that doesn't mean we can't or won't get better i think our discipline is very poor and that played a big part in preventing us build pressure and i agree with yer other post our defensive effort was poor overall.

Can't really argue with any of that efc mate i thought disko was poor last week aswell.

how many times did we win the collision? not often. we don't seem as strong. kylie has been very average this season. maybe the weight loss has backfired.maybe the pack is lightweight. whatever the reason we were garbage today. the two late tries disguise the fact.
i thought we were rubbish

We had a lot defence to do on the back of poor tackling and sh#te discipline mate which must of played a part in the pack looking lightweight!
It's just been the story so far this season very disjointed and lacking fluency and structure i'm sure it will come because there were signs against wigan and we all know what threat's we have within the team it's just taking longer to get going this year.

To me it was obvious saints were holding back towards the end just like manly. The results have flattered us because of late tries that really mean nothing. We need to improve or we could end up trophyless this year!