Great start, great impact early on - Stapleton & Cashmere look as good a front row combo as I've ever seen. Combined with Malc we really looked like a team who could do damage to the more established teams in the league.

But then...



Alker [u[im[/uust[/i play more than 40 minutes in a game. He doesn't need the rest - drop him into the second row for 10 perhaps, even bench him for 10, but for the good of the team he needs to be on. He provides drive & leadership. Once Nash/Big Phil & Robbie came on we looked a shadow of the team we were early doors. And to prove this wasn't just a case of a good start, when Stapleton/Cashmere & Alker came back on the last 20, again we took control again.

I hope the Coach is not too proud to show Alker his team needs him. Likewise I hope he can get more out of Nash, Big Phil & Robbie. I have suspicions 2 of these players are out of their depth at this level these days, but I don't want to be negative - a win, a decent crowd (considering the time, Valentine and the oppo) and some of the best footie I've seen Salford play in a long time in the first 20. Come on Salford!

Have to agree about the forwards, I suspected before the season started that with the right units on the pitch we'd be hard to beat up the middle and that was more than proved last night.
Stapleton and Cashmere looked immense (despite being stood next to a tool who was screaming that Cashmere was unfit and should be taken off) and made hard yards every time they touched the ball, Alker looked like he had rediscovered his fire, Parker looked solid but I was expecting to see more of him but for me the best pack performance was Swain as I thought he looked creative and almost like a 2nd hooker at times.
But as said above when we brought on Nash and Paul I thought we lost shape and more importantly holes appeared down the middle that worried me, Nash I am sorry good young player as he undoubtedly is he isnt SL material and Paul looks now to have lost his once youthfull edge and I think he'll be found out for me week in week out. LouLou appeared to be dangerous made some good yards but he is always likely to be a player who misses the odd easy tackle whilest nailing the next one in a huge way. Sibbet looked fit (thats it I think i've just heard his break his neck buttering toast) and he took his try brilliantly, Adamson was his useual brilliant self and makes me more and more think he is destined for great things.

Unfortunately didnt see enough of the backs to give the same annalysis apart from Smith showing that Ratchford has got a job on his hands getting a starting birth (for me it was shocking that he wasnt on the bench ahead of Paul). based on that performance I dont think we'll struggle like the last time we were in SL but likewise dont think either that we have the ammunition for anything but mid table status - but given it's the first year back i'm pretty happy to hope thats the case.

I agree the initial good start wasn't maintained. My feelings were that first 13 was the most impressive I've seen Salford look in a long time. It might take a while for some of the other players to step up, lets just hope that's all it was. Big Phil's second spell on the pitch was far more productive than his first and think Nash showed some strength, but it was hard to tell as I was down the opposite end of the ground at the time.

My other concern is over Littler, great servant to the club and his defence has come has improved considerably over the years, but didn't see a great deal of attacking flair from him. Although I may have missed it.

Sibbit took his chance well and reminded what a good attacking he player he is, also looked like he's put on some extra size. IMO a player we'll need to keep him fit if we are going to be competitive this season.

Michigan red! excellant assessment of last night game & players.

Pretty much agree with Michigan Red's post too.

However, whilst I agree we looked weaker with Leuluai, Nash and Paul instead of Cashmere, Stapleton and Alker, I thought Leuluais had a good game.

Also, whilst I agree that the backs weren't the stand-outs players in general, I thought Henry looked really good - went looking for work, sound in defence, took his try well.

Alker was different class though - if that'what losing the captaincy does, we should've taken the armband off him years ago!

Talking of Nash I felt that he didn't do as bad as some make out. he made himself avaiable for taking the ball up and actually made a bit of good yardage. He also got well stuck in defensively from what I remember. To compare him against Stapleton and cashmere is just ludicrus. He's filled out pre season especially upper body. lets see how he developes over the season. If he can be injury freeish and get some game time I think we'll see a much more accomplished forward. He is after all very young and inexperienced at present.

happy with early signs don't think we'll be the whipping boys yet. concerned that our game plan when under the cosh was to revert to one man rugby instead of attempting something more creative to turn the game around. it worked and if that was the game plan against celts then ok. i just feel we would get stuck against a better team with that ploy.
but we won and thought the game was entertaining. it's good to be back.

You are Mr's Nash and I claim my £5

Dont know how you can say Nash is out of his depth at this level




How much time has he played in the last few months,he needed a wrist reconstruction ,so all he has played at this level is 40 mins last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you take postal order? Only my wrist is playing up again to write a cheque

to michigan red does you comment mean that myler is untouchable considering there is no difference between 6+7

I think the problem is that now our 1st choice pack is looking so strong the 2nd line off the bench are not as good, strong or dominant. Short of having morley and peacock coming off the bench it wuldn't be as noticable. I do think however that I would prefere Ratchford to Paul any day of the week

Not in the slightest, it mearly means that Myler and Smith looked very solid and will be as good a starting halves pair as we have had for a good few years, and also that Myler will learn more playing next to Smith than he will next to Ratchford.
For me Ratchford needs to be first name on the bench every week and Swain looked like he could move to hooker if needed and Ratchford could play along the back line and Henry move to 13, it's all about options and Ratchford offers a great deal more than Paul now unless maybe your the BBC.

Well if you keep doing that now your engaged i'd be worried if I was the future Mr's Muiffin, get your Mum to dig out your old boxing gloves as i'm sure that would cure the problem like it did years ago

.

Thought Nash fell off a few tackles and his miss on De la court down the middle led to their 2nd try. Where was Sidlow? I'd rather see him as interchange.

It's a shame that we can't find a way of getting longer than 20 mins out of our props before changing them. Are they really that knackered after 20 mins? The same with Alker. Why the need to spell him? We never used to.

My first thought is we changed to many players at the same time. After a superb opening 20 minutes we took Malc, Stapo and Cashmere all off. Unbelieveable, I couldnt understand why Shaun Mc was playing at. The biggest bemusement for me though was taking Swain off and puting Sibbit (I think) at loose. Crazy tactics.

Hopefully Shaun Mc will learn from last night and we wont see anything like it again. Also, Ratchford and Turner must make the 17.

Perhaps Sky were dictating the changes to even up the game just like at Leeds last week, how bad for RL if we would have been 40 nil up at halftime?





But a very entertaining match, just wish the Garlic cruncher in the middle made clearer signals, especially when wiping the tackle count just sticking his fist in the air.





bring on Wakefield!!!

I have to agree that I was scratching my head at this, it was possibly a pre arranged tactic but if that was the case you dont go making that kind of change when Swain was playing out of his skin.

Can't see that Turner is going to get much of a look in at 13 with Sweain playing like that, but agree if not both Ratchford and Turner one most certainly does have to get a bench spot, think possibly when the wether warms up both will probably get a look in, it's a nice problem to have to a change though.

I heartily concur with Sheddys latest post. It really was a tale of two teams. Understandebly our pace and intensity dropped when we made changes and showed what an art making substitutions can be. Hopefully Alker has proved his value not just when he is on the pitch but also how it affects us as a team when he is benched. What also impressed me was how we came back when Celtic pressed us, at 20-16 the next score was vital and we were able to get that score and go on and win it. All the new lads contributed but i was particually impressed with our very own "Richie Cunningham" Luke Swain, thought he was excellant.

did big Phil try & play the ball on the 6th tackle cos he'd shouted cinq beforehand?

But - I thought Mr Alibert had an excellent game - kept things going, wasn't constantly blowing just to show off his own ego on Sky like certain British refs do - tres bon - neuf out of dix pour that performance!

ok went to the match and watched the rerun on sky

so here are my thoughts for what they are worth,

first of all, good solid game, great result.

and now for the break down,

fitzy, good game solid in defence, good on attack backing up superb when
team in attack, getting back to the fitzy of old.

wilshere, good game solid in defence, kicking boots on today good to see.

henry, great solid game, was tested with kicks in the first half, and
responed well in attack, good in defence,

littler, good solid game was there in support through out the game in
defence and attack,

smith, what can u say, kicks good, tackleing gud attack gud, great speed
through out.

myler, same as above nice to see scrum half n stand off playing together.

cashmere, great in attack made plenty of yards, solid in defence, will do
better as the season goes on hopefully,

alker, one word superb, dont need to say anything else.

stapleton, great in attack took his try well solid in defence will improve
more game time,

sibbit, solid guy played well gud in defence and attack

parker, played well. looks still to be finding his feet, has played better for
warrington , hope to see improvement,

swain, looks the part, played well in attack n defence , turner will struggle
to get game time unless swain injured,

ok the subs,

big phil, looks fitter the season made sum good runs in attack not sure
about his defence at times,

nash, big youngster played well today against a big pack but needs to do
better in defence,

paul, if this is going to be his big season for us, he needs to improve,
medieocore game,

adamsom, played well, in attack and defence, needs more game time for
me , then hopefully see improvement,

talou, good game from what we saw of him, hope he is not going to be
wasted on the bench, there again who wud u drop?in the ?

overall, summary,

team at kick of brill attack supurb defence solid, game played down the middle of the pitch, wingers n left out in the cold most of the game,

then came the changes cashmere n stapo off i can understand that give them a rest but alker aswell ???? i question that decision????
we were on top of the game alker was running the show and the whole team was ripping the welsh side to bits in attack and we were satnding up in defence,

so on came big phil and adamson and robbie paul,
forwards did ok but for me paul looked slow and didnt want to play, only made a couple of advances from dummy half the rest of the time was a straight pass to the nearest player .

the team at the point to me seemed to loose control of the game and lack ideas,

half time

second half first 20 mins same as the last 20 in the first half and i thought here we go we gonna loose this one,

then came on alker , paul off and a change in the forwards aswell, and the game picked up again with said players and the team focused on the game again,

so for me . alker plays for 80mins, and if mcrae is going to take him of put ratchford on the bench and let robbie paul carry on like last season doing p.r for himself,

when the fowards change after 20 mins i think we need to play a diff game in attack and spread the ball out to the wings and bring them into the game, and just let the forwards do the defenecive work intstead of trying to do both attack n defence,

i would keep the same team for next week but change ratchford for paul, and keep alker on the pitch longer,

alker for me is still the captain out there on the pitch the players look to him for guideance, and without him we will loose matches,

bring on wakey/

soz for the long rattle but this is what i thought of the game.

Alker played like a captain last night.

Thought we looked weak down the wing, I dont know if it was a lack of understanding between Talau and Henry or Talou on his own. Henry looked solid enough.

We lost something when Swain, Alker and stappo went off.

When Paul came on we went off the boil, his passing was back to the old Salford rather than the sharp crisp passing we had prior.

Like everybody else I was very impressed with our first choice front row. With Cashmere, Alker and Stapleton firing on all cylinders we took a real grip on the game and Myler and Smith had room to dominate. It wasn't quite the same story when the three of them were taken off. In fact, I don't think Celtic scored a point against us when the starting front row were on the pitch together in both halves.

I hope that Shaun McRae doesn't bring a fixed plan to every game in terms of his substitutions and decide the starting props play for twenty minutes and the hooker for twenty-five beforehand so he is substituting players for the sake of it according to a formula. I am sure that Malcolm Alker is capable of playing for more than forty minutes! At least Shaun McRae brought him back when Celtic were getting back into the game. Substitutions need to be made to respond to what happens on the pitch and not because of a pre-determined plan.

Like others on here I wonder what Adam Sidlow has to do to get a place on the bench. I think he's a real talent who has a genuine physical presence about him.

Should have seen him today immense


Missed him off a earlier post of stand out performers for the reserves today