Agree with some of the points but I also feel Rob Murphy got it spot on in his article on Knockon

In the games we're expected to win, we seem to freeze. When the odds are stacked against us we produce, almost in fear of getting a thrashing. Loads of mistakes in Aironi, probably not to do with not trying but tenseness and pressure knowing that it was a must win game.

Need to have cool heads all the time, just have belief and here leadership kicks in. Do the simple things well and the rest will follow

have to agree borders. i think there is a hint of shop window mentality for some of the players.

then again they were told that they were playing for their futures. its a pity they werent told this a minimum of a week earlier!

Hard to say definitively as playing a big game in the HC (big crowd, tv, atmosphere etc.) is always going to be easier to get up for then playing someone like Aironi or Treviso.

Having said that I feel that there are some players in the squad who are really out to prove a point in the Heineken and go through the motions in some less glamorous Rabo games.

Squad depth and that sort of thing plays a part but I think there is a lack of leadership in terms of the standards the group are demanding of themselves in every game and big question marks as to the "bottle" in the squad when it comes to games we could/should win. They'll say the right things in public and say "we've had words on the issue" kind of thing but nothing changes.

Also there is the plain facts that we don't put up big scores so after a poor opening 20 against Treviso,Aironi even Gloucester at home etc. we were left chasing, trying to force things, making stupid mistakes compounding the earlier problems. Also we don't concede massive scores but with our record teams might regard us as a soft touch and expect a handy enough bonus point and not reach their normal level of intensity which was obvious with Toulouse for most of the game the last day and perhaps Harlequins were caught a bit unawares on the opening night after our poor effort against Ulster a week previously.

I think its a mental issue with the team.No doubting the talent i think there are issues behind the scenes involving management and its affecting the performances.

im posting this point here as there is a lot of feel good on the more recent threads(and rightly so) about toulouse trip and team performance there.

it just makes me wonder if some of these players are playing for themselves(in public eye sat) or the club.why does a team bust a gut in a dead rubber of a game one week and absolutely fail to perform in a must win winnable game the week before. The big diff between the two being media profile.

dont mean to piss anyone off but thought id ask the question?

Very Embarrassing indeed

RonanL, exactly what I was thinking. Of course I wouldn't expect Macca to say anything different than he has, but I hope the management will be realistic about this game. Let's mix somethings up and use the bench relatively early. The game they could win if everyone was at their best is the Quins at home. I'm not sure a handful of players in the squad could be at their best without a little rest.

Glad to hear from Mike that the team were embarrassed - they should be. And it's all well and good having a positive mental attitude about an upcoming fixture, but if ever there was a game where we should rest our front line lads, it's Toulouse away. We haven't a notion of winning so give a few lads a rest with a view to pulling a victory out of the bag against Quins.

Fetu is a good player, let him have the ball and you can see what he can do, but it's not just ball in hand watch him off the ball he wants to be involved he covers the whole pitch unlike TOH who drifts in and out of games. Henry and Fetu will come good given the chance, one off load from Henry and Fetu would be over the try line before Henry has hit the floor. Great article from Mike as well?

simpleton wrote: Can't write him off yet, because we can't afford for him to be as poor as he's looked so far.

Hope he turns out brilliant but not holding my breath, if he was a quality player we would have seen some evidence of it in his five games. Five starts is more than a lot of players get before being dismissed.

Last season we had big red haired winger, started 3 times i think plus maybe 3 subs looked excellent defensively and was a real weapon on the restarts, but he butchered a try scoring chance against leinster and was never seen again. Why does an niq deserve more chances than an Irish player?

Darragh Fanning was the chap, personally though he looked okay when he played. Maybe a little raw but was solid defensively and was proactive which is essential in a Connacht winger. He's back in Dublin playing for Mary's after a season in Australia where he played a full season in the Queensland Premiership with the eventual champions.

Anyway the thing with Fe'Etu is that he is like all our NIQ singings, a bit of a Wild Card. Our budget means that we're forced to sign players who have in the past played at a decent level or shown serious talent when younger. The physcology is that coming to us they will surely realise that they are on the donward curve and be motivated to rediscover their best form. As we've seen with the likes of Ezra, that doesn't always happen, but for every Ezra there's a Ray Ofisa thankfully...

Well said mike.

Chance for Moore to show what he can do in the abscence of murphy.

McCarthy refusing to lose faith as he targets huge Toulouse upset

Tuesday January 10 2012

THIRTEEN defeats in a row, the latest being an abject loss in Aironi, but Mike McCarthy is still a believer.

The province's beleaguered supporters may be dreading this weekend's Heineken Cup assignment in Toulouse, but the second-row is convinced Connacht can cause the biggest upset in the tournament's history -- if they play to their potential.

That's a big 'if' based on their 20-6 Pro12 defeat in Aironi at the weekend, which McCarthy says left the squad feeling "embarrassed" with the knowledge they had let their fans down

However, the Ireland international says going into the clash as massive underdogs works in their favour and says Harlequins have shown the way.

"I know we can win it because we have proven we can compete with the best sides when we play at our best," said McCarthy. "Toulouse beat Harlequins at the Stoop by a similar score to the one Toulouse beat us by at the Sportsground and then Harlequins beat them in France, so anything is possible.

"Gavin Duffy (Connacht captain) was saying today how everyone should be looking forward to it, it's like going to Manchester United, and I for one can't wait. They are not going to expect anything from us, no one is going to expect anything from us.

"I know for a fact that they will be taking us much more lightly than Harlequins going on our results. So, in that way, we couldn't be in a better place going over.

"We performed well against Leinster and against Gloucester away and Harlequins away, and you could argue we should have won those games.

"So, we know we are capable of competing against the best sides when we are at our best, but when we drop off one or two per cent we suffer, like we did against Aironi.

"We can understand the fans being upset and just hope they keep the faith. It has been a hard run of losses and we are embarrassed by our performance against Aironi.

"The performance was very poor. We let ourselves down and our supporters down. We just have to keep working hard, try and stay positive and hope it will turn around for us.

"The mood in the camp is very positive, we are sticking together and backing each other up and we're confident it will turn for us."

McCarthy, who was capped twice in August but missed out on World Cup selection, has been one of Connacht's most consistent performers during their losing run but says he has given no thought to the upcoming Six Nations squad selection -- focusing all his attention on turning Connacht's season around.

"I've made a few mistakes which I'm not happy with and I just have to keep working hard. It is not for me to decide how I am performing but I am just going to try as hard as I can and then wait and see.

"I was delighted to get the two caps in August and massively disappointed not to have gone to the World Cup. <strong>But I learnt a hell of a lot being in that environment.
</strong>
"Things are the way they are and you just have to keep working hard, that's all you can do. Now, every time I go out I just want to play my best for Connacht and try to put my heart and soul into every performance."

Connacht will be without Frank Murphy for Saturday's clash. The scrum-half is due to go in for a groin operation today on a long-standing groin problem and will be out for three to four weeks.

- Hugh Farrelly

Irish Independent

Can't write him off yet, because we can't afford for him to be as poor as he's looked so far.

Hope he turns out brilliant but not holding my breath, if he was a quality player we would have seen some evidence of it in his five games. Five starts is more than a lot of players get before being dismissed.

Last season we had big red haired winger, started 3 times i think plus maybe 3 subs looked excellent defensively and was a real weapon on the restarts, but he butchered a try scoring chance against leinster and was never seen again. Why does an niq deserve more chances than an Irish player?

Connolly, was thinking along the same lines. This season is a write off and Toulouse are going to put up a cricket score against Connacht if the Aironi game is anything to go on so it won't hurt to really experiment. One such experiment would be to play Henry and Vainikolo together in the centre, get two players out there next to each other that know how to offload the ball and be there to receive it. There's been questions about their defense, but as I said Toulouse are going to score a hatful of tries no matter what at least maybe Connacht can get a couple of their own.

rossie wrote: fetu cant catch the ball tho and thats a necessary skill for a winger in the sportsground

Jaysus hard to establish his catching abilities when he's hardly had any gametime for us, let alone possesion woth mentioning. He's played five games in the last four months, that's no where near enough game time to establish his worth, especially in a side completely lacking confidence.

It'd be like Arsenal signing Thierry Henry and then instead of getting Pires/Bergkamp/Overmars/Viera etc to provide the quality ball singing a couple of Isthmian League players and then blaming Henry for not bagging forty a season... (Okay, (OKAY... ) maybe a stretch to compare Fe'etu to The Hand of Henry

We're the second lowest try scoring side in the Pro12 for a reason....

it was a terrible effort at catching a rugby ball though!