Dear oh dear. So glad I didn't allow myself to be seduced into travelling. It's bad enough watching a loss at home let alone away so until the lads are a lot more reliable then away trips, for me, are a non starter.
I just hope we haven't slipped closer to the bottom of the league
come on Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose
Perhaps we must recognise, as AB seemed to agree in Tuesdays Question Time, that not only must we retain our undoubted flair moving forward this game is also about defence too with focus and patience over 80.
It's a squad game. It was disappointing that Hull secured a point but game time for the squad with such a lead that we had was always on the cards to ensure match time was given to as many of the squad as possible - fitness and fatigue issues come to mind. Now we'll have smash Darlington !
It is sad that Moseley seem stuck with a two half syndrome whereby they all too often play one good or reasonable winning half in most games - be that first or second half - but couple that with a poor losing half - be that first or second half. An example was the 'ull match where Moseley were on a scoring spree in the first half and created a substantial advantage, then allowed 'ull to have their turn in the second half. Fortunately for Moseley they won the first half by a bigger margin than 'ull won the second half so Moseley won overall. Sadly all too often the margin is too small and Moseley lose.
I am at a loss as to what is happening - not now and again, but on a regular basis - and it is frustrating. Moseley can and do play some really good attacking rugby but periods of whatever is happening - line out overthrows for example - lose the forward impetus and handle the initiative back to the opposition.
I feel that Moseley, as a team, are much better at creating periods of pressure than they are at managing periods of defence. I also feel that the periods of attacking pressure could be greatly improved if the team, as a whole went into attack mode - for example much more on the shoulder and close support - along with out-wide options. I noticed in the 'Ull match that the entire team went into attack mode with that one push-over try when they must have had 13 players in the shove.
In defence mode, particularly try line defence, Moseley are prone to conceding too many penalties. Using the 'Ull match second half as an example again, where the 'Ull pack, in the tight was outstanding, Moseley conceded umpteen cosecutive scrum penalties before a penalty try was awarded. And picking up on the 'Ull second half come-back, particularly in t' scrum, in 't tight, I noticed that the 'Ull pack, to a man, had ram rod straight backs which made a world of difference to their performance. In the first half 'Ull had humped backs which allowed Moseley to shove them all over the place winning numerous scrum penalties in the process.
All to often it seems to me that the opposition appear to have a better understanding of the Moseley playing mode - certainly as the game progresses - than Moseley do of the opposition playing mode. Here, going back to the 'Ull match I felt that the 'Ull ball retention, overall, in the first half was noticeably poor - and Moseley took good advantage of that whereas in the second half it was much better and denying the advantage to Moseley.
On balance I feel that the opposition make a much better use of the half time 'pep talk' - particularly when they have had a poor first half - than Moseley do, which is puzzling. The Moseley lads do keep their spirits up, that is more than obvious, even though they do seem to have difficulty managing their game.
Pam and I will be there on Saturday and whilst my heart will be hoping for a win, even a close win, my head is dampening my expectations. We supporters can but hope that Moseley play to their potential and come up trumps.
Come on Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose
