How to restore confidence?

[Shugs]

Agreed he's getting the basics wrong. The question is why. It may be EJ has messed with his mind. It may be a case of too much adulation too soon. Personally I just think the England thing has accelerated our thoughts about how good he should be. He's a young 10 with limited experience but the turnaround we've seen in our fortunes coupled with the England selection has meant we think he's the finished product. He's actually far from that and maybe we should expect less than we do.

[HDAWG]

I think it's that he's a talented 10 who's still young and in his second season.

Marcus Smith had a phenomenal first season, but he was quiet in his second one. Joe Simmonds had a phenomenal first season, had a dreadful prem final. What I'm getting at is young talented players look promising at first, but sometimes dip in form. They have been through dips in form, probably not this big, but they improved substantially as a result of their dips in form or poor matches.

This step, making sure he keeps his confidence and keeps playing well, is essential to his development. It just happens sometimes.

[hopwood]

Agreed he's getting the basics wrong. The question is why. It may be EJ has messed with his mind. It may be a case of too much adulation too soon. Personally I just think the England thing has accelerated our thoughts about how good he should be. He's a young 10 with limited experience but the turnaround we've seen in our fortunes coupled with the England selection has meant we think he's the finished product. He's actually far from that and maybe we should expect less than we do.

I think he’s been encouraged to over-think the game.
Definitely a side-effect of the English training environment.
He would have learned some good stuff.
But he will also now be second guessing things he did off the cuff previously.
Not very helpful for Wasps fans.
He’s going through a temporary stuttering phase.

[westwaleswasp]

Imagine today's game with Lol as captain. After the first missed touch, he would have walked over and put his arm round Jacob, before telling him to give for the 22, not the 5m line. Now Shields was a good captain today in terms of many things,  but perhaps Jacob needed someone to say ' there, not there'.  I think he won't get the starting shirt next time out.

[SilverShire]

With regards to missing touch, I'm a bit lost on why it has happened. You would think that after missing touch once or twice in a game that you as a player would learn your limits and at times when it is imperative that touch is made, kick relatively conservatively to hit 5m in from the 22. However, with Jacob missing touch is becoming too frequent. Am I right in thinking that he misses touch roughly once a game? He is young and will learn, hopefully sooner rather than later.

[RogerE]

I tend to agree with VV about this. The same thing happened to Gizzy, who at the time had the best kicking stats in the Premiership. He was taken into the England camp, where he "was re-trained to kick properly" and when he came back to us was a shadow of the former player and never really recovered.

[Neils]

I tend to agree with VV about this. The same thing happened to Gizzy, who at the time had the best kicking stats in the Premiership. He was taken into the England camp, where he "was re-trained to kick properly" and when he came back to us was a shadow of the former player and never really recovered.

Many will not remember that(or be aware).

[Vespula Vulgaris]

I tend to agree with VV about this. The same thing happened to Gizzy, who at the time had the best kicking stats in the Premiership. He was taken into the England camp, where he "was re-trained to kick properly" and when he came back to us was a shadow of the former player and never really recovered.

I remember it well.

[asteriskszegol]

Restoring confidence in Jacob? Give him back the 10 shirt and tell him to get on with it. It's always worked with him before. Lee Blackett has gone on record to say as much: he's always, in fact, had the ability to make howlers, but usually they are far outweighed by his ability to do great things. He just needs to be trusted. How often have we seen him next to JG after getting something simple 100% wrong and all JG and he are doing is getting on with the plan? That's the way to turn things round. No 10 on earth could have made much of the ball Jacob was receiving from the pack and 9 last week against Quins. At the same time (and with Dobbo's unusually nervy performance yesterday in mind) instruct him to uninstall EJ from his mindset immediately!

[Neils]

I have posted it many times mainly because it stuck in my mind- Cotterell always said that he needed time to de-programme his England players when they came back because the training and tactics didn't meet Tigers needs.

[mike909]

I have posted it many times mainly because it stuck in my mind- Cotterell always said that he needed time to de-programme his England players when they came back because the training and tactics didn't meet Tigers needs.

That's quite a worry...as surely the players ought to be bringing to England the best of the play that got them selected....but looking at England yesterday - 4 pass made by outside backs all game.....and Lawrence zero metres gained - perhaps he was 100% correct.

[Hymenoptera]

I genuinely think Umaga's issue is EJ.

When Lee gave him complete freedom to play his own game he was great. The odd mistake, but generally brilliant.

So good in fact he ended up in an England training camp. He came away with instructions on how to play in order to "improve" his game and suddenly he is no longer playing with flair, he's Farrell lite and terrible at it.

He needs someone he trusts to tell him that playing his own game got him into the squad, and Wasps to the final.

He can smile and nod at EJ as much as he needs to, but he needs to be the authentic Jacob Umaga on the pitch.  Not the dull, unimaginative kicker he is trying to emulate.

Your not suggesting that EJ has instructed him to drop passes, miss penalties to touch and pass forward are you? These are things that Farrel can't be accused of. Respectfully, that's poor reasoning.
He got selected whilst widely regarded as not as good as Simmons nor Smith...much like Youngs gets selected as not being anywhere near the best English 9. EJ selection is a joke and baseless in any argument, he selected Atkinson after 3 appearances! I'd love to blame EJ but in this case I can't.

No I'm clearly not suggesting that.

The end of Dai's tenure showed very clearly what happens to talented players when you crush their confidence by trying to get them play in a way that isn't natural for them.

Jacob is young and struggling for confidence because his long-term prospects ride on impressing a man who wants him to play the game a different way.

I guarantee he knows he is failing. So right now he is failing Wasps, and also failing to impress EJ enough to actually get into the squad.

That has clearly had a big effect on him.

Kicking long is over confidence, not lacking confidence. Passing a straight forward pass isn't a confidence issue, it's an execution issue. Dropping balls is also execution. Being hesitant or conservative would be a playing style issue but we are nowhere near that sadly. I don't for one second believe holding tackle bags in training has in any way affected his mindset. And let's be honest, he must know that he isn't representing England any time soon, if ever. Ford Farrel are there until they retire, by which time Jacob would be 28/29 and Smith would be 26, Aktinson (if) 24.
I understand what your saying but for me it's a tenuous link and the facts don't support the argument. A bit like Sops is settling in, new country, new place, new team, new style, missing Gops...over 2 years later he is still shit. Sometime it is what the can actually says.

[Shugs]

So, for you Hymoneptera he is just an average/poor 10. Do you think he has potential to improve? He is still young. Also, where does that leave us as he is our main 10. For me he's a very natural player who is thinking about things too much. I think at the minute he can be a good Premiership 10. Cutting the core skill mistakes out is what will take him to the next level. At the moment I have him behind Ford, Smith and Simmonds internationally.

[Hymenoptera]

His current form is poor Shugs, I think we can all agree on that. When you negatively impact a game to the level he is, it's not a good situation. I recognize form can be temporary but he has to make changes to improve.  I was baffled by his Eng inclusion and I too have him behind who you mention, including farrel. Thats pretty much every starting Eng 10 in the prem isn't it?

I have yet to see his DNA. He isn't instinctive like a Smith or Cips. He hasn't the control or reading of the game of a ford, farrel or simmons. He is also a below average place kicker. Yes he's young and will hopefully improve. I'm not sure what level he'll end at to be honest, hopefully much higher I believe he will, I love to be proven wrong, but it's fair to say I have never been on the hype train...not to say I won't board at some point.
I'm realize i'm in the minority in thinking that he has benefited from being part of some very strong team performances but when the game isn't going our way, the locker appears empty.

I'll be honest in saying I am much more excited by what I have seen from Atkinson even given his relative age, experience and exposure. I see him owning Wasps starting 10 jersey sooner than later.

[Hymenoptera]

I'll also use Rob Miller to counter the confidence argument.
This is a man who starts in some other teams yet rarely gets near Wasps 23. Every time he gets a playing opportunity he's playing to impress to keep his spot and in some ways his job. This is a man who i suspect has some self confidence questions or overthinking issue's, and you expect would overplay his hand yet I can count on my hand the bad games he had for us. When i see him on the teamsheet i'm never nervous or disappointed.
He's older granted, but age comes with it's own differing challenges.