The pop side (including me!) were yelling at Saints to go right, go right! It was just incredible that they bumbled to the left instead and got precisely nowhere. It's as if all the lights had been switched off simultaneously.

There are fewer times in recent years when I have been so totally disappointed and frustrated in the team's performance as I have today.

Not really. On that evidence Wigan don't have the attacking threat to win SL. Good defensive discipline and effort will only get you so far, you'll need to improve a lot if you are to win SL.

Yeah, but how many tries did you score against our number of tries? If you have that much of an attacking threat, you would have mullered us, the way we were playing. However, you didn't. You won on goal kicks. Most of those were thanks to us giving you penalties.

Sorry that bit is a load of rubbish, our kicking was terrible and S Tompkins had a quiet game

I could hardly see anything in the Wigan end but still i saw 75% of kicks go straight into the hands of pryce/gardner/meli




exactly it kinda baffles me to how hes come to this conclusion

Yeah, but on that evidence you dont have the attacking threat to win SL either. The point im making is that if your going to jump to conclusions about a wigan side? surely you should look at the season so far, instead of judging by watching a match, in not the best of conditions with both sides defending very well. At the end of the day, we've scored the most points in the league this year, we have two players who are top try scorer, another who is leading the most clean break list. How you can say we have no attacking threat beats me?

We have the potential to score tries all over the park, which we have done this year. Im not saying we are going to win the super league, and lose only once in the season at all. The point im making is that UP TO THIS POINT you cannot say we have no attacking threat, with the present statistics, its just daft.

So to clarify you could hardly see but you are suggesting I got it wrong. A few kicks went to hands but only because your front row is poor so you made very few yards at times. Tomkins was quality today in his general direction and decision making.

I've never said we have anything like got the ability to win SL. I know we've not got a cat in hells chance.

A little harsh on Wigan in that assessment I feel.

I don't think we manipulate the ref in anyway, or even bend the rules. We have three seconds once the ball carrier is on the floor, and we simply choose to use that 3 seconds. As you say though, nothing wrong with that. The fact so few teams in the league do this makes us a target for referees to penalise us in my opinion.

As for Sam being our only attacking threat, I think you're kidding yourself to be honest. Yes he made two good breaks, but the first Lockers created, and Sam was simply a supporting player. With a fully fit and in form squad, all of Riddell, Sam, Leuluai (granted he's mad a mixed start to the year), O'Loughlin and Roberts are capable of making something in attack. Add to that our back rowers running some very good attacking lines, and I think we're one of the most dangerous sides in SL in attack.

That said, I think you're being too kind in regards to our kicking game! Really needs work on in my opinon.

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As for Saints, you just lacked composure today, and Wigan's defence was too strong for the most part. This year is going to be a straight knock out between Wigan, Wire, Saints and Leeds in both competitions in my opinon. Big game temprement and form at the end of the season will decide who will be champions.

Just to end with Eastmond; I'm sure you don't need me to tell you, but you have a great prospect there. His kick for Gardner's score was superb; showed that as well as having the talent, he has a good rugby league brain. I despair at the candidates for the England coaching role when it's clear to all, that with the right man in place, we have a pair of half backs in Sam and Kyle that could challenege the Aussies for the next decade!

I overheard a saints fan in the pub before the game admitting that apart from Eastmond there is no-one in the team likely to score from inside their own half. Rather than dismissing Wigan's attacking potential, if I was a St Helens supporter I would be looking closer to home because your attack was pedestrian and laboured throughout today.
Roberts, Richards, Phelps, Joel Tomkins and O'loughlin are all a danger with the ball in hand as they have proven time and time again so far this season. Not to mention Ridell who didn't play today.

We've spent 18 month discussing that fact since Harry Potter turned up with his broomstick and brushed all the class away. I was commenting on Wigan, so obviously I was going to talk about Wigan.

As I said, I give you Roberts, Richards etc etc. Just because Sam Tomkins was our main threat today doesn't mean he is our only one. Watch the highlights of the Cas game a few weeks ago see what Roberts and Joel Tomkins in particular can do with the ball in hand.

Your quite clearly posting crap, look at the table and compare Wigan's for and against with everyone else's and you'll see what you wrote is rubbish.

26 (13 to each side) penalties spoiled the game.

I don't think either team showed much attacking threat. Wigans first try came after we forgot to pick the ball up at the back of the scrum (how dumb can you get?) and their second after Fas knocked on when under no pressure whatsoever.

Our 1st try came when Sam Tomkins was on the wing and could not cope with the kick. Our second was TP ploughing over. Then when we had pressure on their line we could not keep hold of the ball.

I think the result was fair and the scoreline summed the game up.

Note: Wigan have only played 9 league games and have won nothing. You cannot argue that there was no genuine threat today. The fact is that Saints execution in Wigan's 10 was truly shocking and Wigan were almost as bad. All I'm saying is that you'll need to improve a lot to actually win SL this season.

you cannot back up anything your saying with any evidence what so ever other than today both teams weren't at their attacking best. conditions, nerves, local derby, all comes into play which is why these games are unpredictable. our attack is superb and our defense is even better. you need to look at the season and evidence over that period before you make comments based on one game.

Both sides had very good defence today tbh.

As for attacking threat, not many teams have much of it anymore, defences have improved disproportionately overall in SL for all but the bottom teams this year imo.

Hudds have the best defence at the moment unless they let in a few more points against Catalan

Next is Wire and Wigan on the same number of points let in.

Wigan have the best points total so far but Wire have scored the most tries.

I am sorry to point out that Huddersfield still have the least number of points scored against them, followed by Wigan and Warrington on equal points against. And Wigan have not many more than Warrington in points for.

not seen the stats for this week but last week hudds were ten up before being stuffed by saints and we only conceded a single try but ill review it after this weekend. attack = points for not just tries .

Yep, but how many more tries than us did you score today?

We were pretty dismal today and because of that - I mean, we made 15 handling errors for goodness sake! - if you had such an attacking threat you should have ripped us to shreds. But you didn't. So it does not matter what has gone before - maybe those teams were not playing as well as we were (even though we played poorly) - because on the evidence of today, you have no greater attacking threat than we do.

doesn't appear to be one thread about the match, so i'll throw a new post on..

i've not read through all the threads put there doesn't appear to be too much doom and gloom. we looked like a team who played 4 days ago to me, looked very tired and made silly mistakes. wigan are no better than us, they just handled the conditions better. their two tries came from our silly mistakes, the first as a result of being pushed off a scrum (although o'loughlin was clearly out the scrum before he should have been) and then faasavalu knocking on in our 20. the first try came from meli, then roby missing the ball, and then poor defence to let feka in, the tries were hardly from sweeping passing movements. similarly saints tries came from a kick, and a barge over from 5 yards..

i thought wigan defended well (as did saints) but kept hold of the ball far far better, i think they dropped the ball once in the first half, as opposed to saints who dropped far too much ball. in the second half saints SHOULD have scored, and had plenty chances to do so, dean only had to pass it backwards to meli and he'd have walked in, again (sorry to blame dean again) he should have been able to get the ball down as well on another occasion.

the much billed tomkins - eastmond matchup didn't happen, both did very little, tomkins first kick was excellent, then he preceded to kick it straight down pryce's throat for the rest of the match, he made two breaks at the end, and both times he failed to do anything with them. eastmond struggled to take any grip on the match.

i thought thaler was an absolute disgrace, far too many penalties (on both sides) and killed the game as a spectacle. and missing a few forward passes, graham's to flanno was a mile forward, so much so the scaff even shouted forward

it hurts like hell losing against that shower, but all the talk of winning the last game on good friday isn't a massive issue to me, memories against wigan at knowsley road go much further than 80 minutes today. i also think that should saints win the GF in october today will be forgot, if wigan win the GF, i don't think they'll be thinking too much about today either..

keep the faith, we'll be there or thereabouts at the end of the season.

FFS This must be a first, me agreeing with nearly everything Saddened has to say. Especially about that pedant Thaler ruining what should have been a classic.
We were out-enthused in the first half and our execution in the Goons 20 zone in the second half was not good enough.

Anyone who doesnt think St Helens dominated that game obviously wasnt watching properly.

That said, and I said in the trolling thread, we lost, wigan won, thats all that matters.

And yet we are the leagues top try scorers.

Never mind, don't let your lack of knowledge of the game cloud your bias. So bitter

Our time has come!