Dai

[backdoc]

The problem I have is that if Dai turns things around, it simply means that we will start to win some of the games against low hanging fruit in the premiership. We won't be beating the top 6 or even 8.

[Heathen]

I don't care who stays or goes. The nest need poking with a sharp stick to renergise it.

[westwaleswasp]

The problem I have is that if Dai turns things around, it simply means that we will start to win some of the games against low hanging fruit in the premiership. We won't be beating the top 6 or even 8.

Right now I have would settle for low hanging fruit.
Most of the top teams have better players, certainly better backs. Most teams have strengthened in the past two years, very few have not.

We have no longer got Wade, Cipriani, Beale, Willie, Daly, plus Simpson, who was not playing well for us.  Robson is now playing like a drain, and a blocked one at that, Jimmy has been out a year. For all the talk of youth coming through, it has not come through yet in the backs. Excluding Lima whose travails have been done to death, only Minozzi, Fekitoa and Vellacott in their positions are top drawer signings, and one of them is injured without a serious game. If Wasps of 2017 played Wasps now I reckon the try count would be 8-2. Beating lower end teams is good enough for now, especially as we seem to have talent coming through.... M

[wasps]

I'd say that us and Leicester are currently the low hanging fruit.

Everyone else is firmly in the mix for top 6 at least, therefore beating any of them will be a significant step forward

[mike909]

Mike...
Apologies, I just took the date of a BBC article announcing Boyd, rather than reading the contents of it

Mate - no worries - there is too often too much info out there!

[RBB]

I think Leicester are significantly stronger than us, admittedly they won a soft European tie at the weekend, however, their returning players give them far more potency than we have at our disposal. Our backs are not firing, and our second-row problems are deeply concerning as the answer that we have to the problem just isn't there or made public yet, no word on Shields who was providing cover yet and the two youngsters are inexperienced.

I am an optimist but the current situation worries me, last season we had a good start which softened the impact of a poor middle section to the season. We seem to have no momentum and are consistently second best, there were glimpses of light vs. Edinburgh but in the main, it was comfortable for them. Dai has to change something as the current approach is failing and showing no sign of improvement. I don't want to see him thrown under the bus but he has to do something different or we will collapse in the new year and the trapdoor will be ajar.

[DGP Wasp]

I think if you're in DR / the board's shoes right now then you're very worried and considering all options.

The Coventry business plan has already been derailed somewhat as it was based on top level European rugby.  In that respect we are probably already approaching worst case scenario territory, with successive seasons failing to qualify only making it more challenging.  Relegation I'd imagine was not given any serious consideration through all the optimism that surrounded Wasps reinvention as a Midlands club.  If it comes to that then the plan is in ruins.  The question is, at what point do the board lose faith in Dai keeping us where we need to be.  Quins at home is now a huge game, win that along with much improved performances against Bristol and Saints and maybe we start to turn a corner.  Lose to Quins and get nothing from those other 2 and the pressure will just grow and grow.

Tigers away on 15th Feb is starting to look crucial.  Tickets now on sale Waspies.  Let's get there in numbers.
https://tickets.leicestertigers.com/en-GB/events/leicester%20tigers%20vs%20wasps/2020-2-15_15.00/welford%20road%20stadium?hallmap

[Rory87]

I'll be up front.... I am a Dai fan. However, I also feel some significant changes are required to get us back to competing for Top 4 spots in the future. My biggest fear is us doing a Leicester and making changes mid-season only to end up doing worse. Given our current position, we simply cannot afford to do worse!

So I'm trying to weigh up the bigger risk.... Leave things as they are and hope that returning players and a couple of results going our way, get us back on the path to safety.... Or... change it up now and hope that it has a positive effect rather than a negative one.

I'm inclined to go with the former and make the changes at the end of the season. Either way it's a risk, there's no denying. It's about what is the bigger risk....

Taking football scenarios out of the equation as it’s a different ball game (quite literally!). Can anyone point out a scenario where the sacking of a DOR has yielded an immediate upturn, as this is what people are after (this isn't me having a pop at people, I'm genuinely interested as my memory isn't finding one).... Ford from Bath, Mallinder from Saints, Cockerill from Tigers... all the examples people have outlined above haven't yielded immediate impacts but ones the following season. So for that reason, why would we not stick with Dai and the current set-up and change it up at the end of the season?

[Neils]

I must admit I am getting bloody sick of this constant griping. There is nothing we as Season Ticket Holders and distant fans can do. If there is somebody tell me. All I can do is turn up every week and support (and yes I will go to Agen even if it is meaningless).
The club are not going to sack Dai mid-term because there is sod all available to drop in as an immediate replacement not withstanding paying up until 2023 in wages. The thought of Costello/Blackett in charge leaves me in shivers. Bringing in star players mid season is pie in the sky - this is not football even if we have funds! We have just committed to a new contract for everyone's boy wonder and one for captain fantastic.
For the record I think we are in deep deep shit and the current playing staff have to dig the lot of us out of it.
Start looking at social media threads after our games and you will see supporters of other clubs discussing which of our players they want when we go down!
I know many on the other site and more and more on here just keep repeating the same ever more vitriolic requests for change but lets get real this is not football (just a game run by cheats) and things rarely change mid-season.

[mike909]

I hope I'm not being vitriolic in my requests we consider all options. However, the alternative to doing nothing in terms of change (of any sort - make Jimmy interim coach?) is to keep doing the same things and expecting a different outcome.

So - the options are doing "nothing" (I accept current coaches are likely to try any changes they can think of) and perhaps do what Newcastle did. They essentially kept everything the same and probably had the thought they were too strong to go down.

Others who have made mid season changes aren't necessarily comparable - in terms of reason. I've compared Saints as a club willing to make a change and iro a long term previously successful, loyal coach. But Mallinder went because he was not open to change and allegedly had lost the changing room. No, it didn't change things immediately and they were lucky that LI were so hopeless.

But as Rory87 notes - what is the bigger risk? I'm certainly not in receipt of any info that would suggest what's going on, but I'd worry about doing nothing at all, watching the Edinburgh game - Sop's frustration at sloppy play was obvious, and you worry about moral.

After reflection, Dai probably ought to stay - but needs to embrace the possibility of making some internal changes if only to stop "just carrying on, carrying on"

[matelot22]

Sorry to be so blunt but that is just nonesense. Fielding young 2nd rows did not lose us the game. The scrum in the 1st half was strong and was front row that buckled under the pressure.
We lost the game because we have poor defence strategy, no attacking threat and the odd individual slip.
Dai has his heart in the right place but he needs to change his coaching team now. If he does not then the board will likely change him.

It may not have cost us the game, but it was certainly the turning point. We were still in that game until we lost the second row. And as an ex prop I know the front row bear the brunt of the pressure of the scrum, but it sure helps if the bloke with his head up your arse can push a bit.

[DGP Wasp]

Mid-season coaching change would be an act of desperation, likely with a hastily arranged, and therefore not fully thought-through replacement brought in on a hiding to nothing.  It's unlikely to have the desired effect.

I'd be inclined to go down the more traditional route of some good old fashioned team bonding over several beers.  9 day turnaround between the trip to Bristol on Fri 27th Dec and Saints at home on Sun 5th Jan is the ideal opportunity.  Get out for a good old xmas lash up together on the Saturday night, day off on Sunday and train hard the rest of the week.  (One advantage of no longer having Cips is that if it all gets messy and they end up fighting each other, at least it'll stay out of the papers!)

[Shugs]

If possible let's forget last season. Circumstances are different. We're then looking at a perm season that is five games ( three away) old. I think some of the call for change and talk of relegation is a slight over reaction. The next five or six games are crucial - but even then they only take us to half way. We must start winning a few but to be honest I'm hopeful we'll do just that. I can't see any changes happening off the pitch so we may as well just buckle up and hope it turns.

[Hymenoptera]

I'm with Neils and don't comment much on these types of threads as frankly they are frustration threads. We all know nothing can change in terms of coaching or players in, it's just not a feasible option.
I understand our overall play governs the result, but I only have to look at knock on's, drop balls, penalties, one up missed tackles, decision making...these have directly and tangibly impacted the gameplay, results, points and ultimately table standing. When the players step up and start behaving like professionals and remove these errors, then all we have left is the coaching and there is no one else to blame but until that happens I believe its unfair to lay sole responsibility on Dai.

[Heathen]

I'm with Neils and don't comment much on these types of threads as frankly they are frustration threads. We all know nothing can change in terms of coaching or players in, it's just not a feasible option.
I understand our overall play governs the result, but I only have to look at knock on's, drop balls, penalties, one up missed tackles, decision making...these have directly and tangibly impacted the gameplay, results, points and ultimately table standing. When the players step up and start behaving like professionals and remove these errors, then all we have left is the coaching and there is no one else to blame but until that happens I believe its unfair to lay sole responsibility on Dai.

Great post. As you say, too many individual errors in our game. Cut these out and confidence would hopefully return to our play.