Starting Monday, Ratchford, Spencer, Adamson, J Smith bring back into the fold. Mcrae is pushing his luck now If he wants to stay at the club offer him a commercial/Marketing position!, after last weeks win (which i thought was flattering due to Hull not really turning up) and todays poor show not even scoring a try this is the time to act, In my opinion the season will be as good as over on April 11th when we play wigan at the willows because that will be a real demolition. We need to move forward NOW , Fitzy is being courted by Hudds for next season, Swainy is off contract, Big phil bye bye, M Smith off contract, Cashmere unlikely to stay, Parker, Sibbit pretty much finished, Holdsworth will not be here so how glum does that look on paper. The only thing to try and make things look slightly bright is if Mcrae goes soon and we bring in a new coach who can change the way things are in our mentality and culture at the club ..to take us forward into the new stadium. Im sorry if im being ultra negative but i feel this is the truth!. Salford supporters deserve better ..Lets change it NOW! SOS

I'm really glad you mentioned this as Les Catalans got demolished by Wigan on Feb 26th (58-0 IIRC?).

However I hadn't realised that meant their season was over; I was still planning to head down to the South o

f France in May so you've saved me a fortune - thanks mate!

Another call for McCrae to go after another defeat....how boring

is it the coach who knocks on....misses tackles....gives away cheap penalties.....no.......does he coach them to do this.......no (i hope!!)

so if our players cant keep hold of the ball...whats the point bringing in a new coach?

Some people on here have stupidly high expectations of our team.....Warringotn have a lot of money to spend...and are about 5 years ahead of us in terms of development on and off the pitch.....did anyone REALLY think we'd win today??????

I was just rather pleased it wasnt a record loss

Sorry RED1 but you can't Tar me with the same brush as the Slug out brainless brigade , The hard facts don't lie and the facts are our coach has reached the end of the line, He put this team together so ultimatley the Axe falls on his head, I wasn't comparing our club with warrington yes they are miles ahead of us but can we use that excuse for every club that puts us to the sword. I actually dont have high expectations but i see whats happening On and Off the pitch as a reflection on how poor we are under Shaun's tenure. He's a nice bloke but just Isn't offering anything other than boring tactics and a load of garble nonsense in his excuses our Attack was woeful today and has been for a long time now, Look at Mcrae's record since taking over, If you cant see that
its just not good enough then im really suprised. But i respect your opinion.

Cavendish, I understand completely where your coming from (I can see your not one of the mindless fools now and actually have some valid points)....i think were really poor in attack (which I agree is what the coach should teach)

Im just not sure that we have the players who have the ability to do anything other than what there doing (thats not meant to be a dig at the players....just the way life is...some players are better than others)

I just worry that sacking the coach may not do any good, if the players still struggle to catch the ball...or miss tackles....

I could be wrong, and I agree Cavendish that SOMETHING needs doing BOTH on and off the field with the club.,...Im just not really sure what it is at the moment!!

how come ratchford wasn#t picked today? injury?

[iHe was the 18th man today....[/i

good news. This is totally untrue. Brett Hodgson likely to stay + Cudjoe can play fb as can Grix and young Elliot Hodgson is a good prospect. Why would we want fitzy?

Is there a different meaning of the word 'fact' from the one that I know??

Couldn't belive he was the water carrier, one of your more creative players who played well against Hull & he is relegated to bringing on the refreshments!

stopped going because of the loser that is the slug

As those who attended the match will know, the Coach did not make the individual mistakes that led to the tries.
Fitz, Tyrer and Broughton did but, they are decent players that most people would have had in the team.
One thing I would fault him for ,though , is that he had Gibson on the bench ,as cover for Mal, and then brought him on even though Alker stayed on.
He looked lost.
If Alker is not going to be spelled ,and he needs to be , then Ratchford should make the bench

brilliant! keep the slug i say

Blimey - cannot believe this sentence from the mouth of Bonita. Make the bench?

Ratchford is not a joiner he is a talented and creative player who we will lose because of SMc preference for tawdry plodders and desire for damage limitation which is driving Salford's Rugby loving fans to despair.

Just been watching the highlights of the Hull game again. How bad was some of Alker's passing? Gibson didn't look much better though, infact he looked even worse, and Jeremy Smith hasn't really impressed me either.

Other than appearing to sign anything in our price range, I can't work out what our recruitment policy was for this season. In Fitzy, Ratchford, J. Smith, M. Smith and Dan Holdsworth we now have 5 possible half backs, none of which are managing to form partnership. I know Fitzy hasn't played at 6/7 for a while, but I feel he's more a ball playing full back than an out and out full back.

We have a list of second rowers as long as your arm, but not enough grunt in the front row. Jewitt and Sidlow do seem to be making a difference and should have been in the team from the start of the season.

We have strengthened the backs, Jodi Broughton looks to have some ability and showed good strength to score his two tries at hull. Not sure about Gibson, and Tyrer needs extra tackle practice though. We'll be in trouble if Talau gets injured for any period of time.

There are, in my opinion, three problems:

1) A desperate need for proper leadership throughout the club.

2) We need to stop recruiting second rowers to play on the front row.

3) Until Alker gets hit with a bucket full of reality this isn't ging to change, but we need to recruit a hooker instead of Half backs to play hooker.

Agree with a number of points on here, particularly about problems at halfback. It is obvious to all (including our coach who has swapped players looking for the right combo) that this is an issue.

But again some seem to criticise the coach for things out of his control. I like Ratchford - he is a talented young player, who the coach gave a good opportunity in the 1st team - but he didn't take it. He has been poor in pretty much each game he has played this season.

Don't get me wrong - this does not make him a bad player, I think he could be superb in time. But lack of confidence? Focus? Whatever the issue is, the coach had the b**ls to drop him, and try someone else. Does that mean SR should be out of the squad for the rest of the season? No, of course not. But it seems slightly contradictory to me for some to chastise the coach for not swapping players after a loss, than chastise the coach for swapping players who aren't doing the business...

Ratchford got MotM one week, got dropped the next, played well against Wakefield, dropped the next week. If his confidence is low then that might be the coaches fault. Ratchford is doing everything he can do, but not getting into the team consistently. He's playing well in the reserves too, what more can he do? He can't be happy, doing all he can but not getting picked when the current half-back partnership isn't doing very well.

i'm sure i told you lot on here that our coach doesn't like ratchford! He wants to make a statement of who is in charge, how does he do this? drop the player the fans seem to love the most!

If the Coach picks his team based on who the fans on the Turkey like the most,then he has to go !!
He has much more sense than that.
Suggest we allow the coach to call it as he sees it.
We did well against Hull and were decent against Wire until 2 minutes from half time when we were unlucky.
On limited resources, he is doing a OK job and ,if the fans weren't moaning about Ratchford,it would be something else.

We do need options at acting half back, though.
Malcolm has been a tremendous club man but he is now part of the problem,rather than the solution !

It's sad that Mal can't see what we see. His response to Steveo's comments last, regardless of their accuracy, is a clear indication the state of mind Mal has got himslef into. I still think one of the main differences bewteen Mal now and Mal under Harrison/Lowes was that the coaching team then was getting him to work on his weeknesses. Whereas now he seems to think he is the finished article. An attitude that is a big problem in a player, and a massive problem in a coach.

Just the way I see it, hope I'm wrong.

I can see why he thinks that.
His game is all about strength,commitment and 100% effort.
No doubting he gives that,wish they all did.

BUT

When Gibson came on at Warrington,if Mal was going to stay on,he should still have given him the acting half back role.
If he can't see that then he might rightly be the senior pro but he certainly isn't a budding coach!

i've said for a while now that malc needs to go, he has too much influence over players i feel. Having him on the coaching staff was a mistake because as i said before the season started, the coach makes the call when to make interchanges etc, if malc doesn't want to come off when told, is he going to do it? Plus he can make part of the game plan that he stays on the full 1st half, which he shouldn't do. I bet we are the only team in the league that doesn't interchange it's hooker in the 1st half?

Totally agree

This is a really good reason to KEEP Alker on the staff, as long as he is managed properly.

We've had lots of problems in the past of coaches 'losing the dressing room' and having someone like Alker who has influence over the players AND a good working relationship with the coach could be a real asset.

Would have agreed with you a few years ago. Alker is all about determination and commitment, qualities that you want in all your players. Unfortunately, the game is far slicker than when Alker first started playing in super league. He seems short of the skills now required to play hooker and lacks the clarity of vision to see what is good for the team.

Alker would be a great fitness coach, but results during Alker's time at the club speak for themselves. Not that I would blame Salfords performances over the last 10 years or so on Alker, far from it, the guy would physically have moved heaven and earth for our cause, he just lacked the know how to perform this task. The fact remains, he has spent the majority of his career on the losing end, and in terms of installing a winning attitude in the team you have to question whether or not he is the right man to be assistant coach.