Under fire

They can still salvage something with a death or glory bid in the Heineken Cup with a home game against Edinburgh and a pool stage finale at Newcastle to come. Bonus point victories in both and they could be in the last eight of Europe's premier competition.

But it has to be said they face very long odds, it's even out of their hands as they have to rely on the efforts of others to see them through.

I'll deal with facts alone rather than opinion, for the moment.

Last season the Dragons got off to to dreadful start with a hastily assembled squad and were everyone's favourites to be the Celtic League chopping blocks.

But they recovered to such a degree that at half-time in the very last game of the season against Leinster in Dublin they were still in with a real chance of winning the Celtic League title.

This season with a far better squad the Dragons' title hopes were over by Christmas. They won't go to the last game still in with a shout, they didn't even have a chance going into the second half of the season with Welsh rivals Neath Swansea Ospreys way out ahead.

And it's a fact that the Dragons have lost five of their last seven games, hardly what anyone connected with the squad from Tony Brown down had in mind for this season.

They lost three league games in a row for the first time, which included their first league defeat at Rodney Parade - and that was at the hands of lowly Edinburgh.

After that the Dragons were thrashed by Perpignan at the Stade Aime Giral and lost their most recent league game at the hands of Llanelli Scarlets.

Their only successes in the last six weeks have been against Perpignan at home when they showed flashes of what they are capable - if only they can produce that sort of form regularly - and against Cardiff Blues with a rather streaky Christmas triumph.

Again, all facts. Now for some critical opinion, and it's mainly directed at coach Chris Anderson whose time in charge can hardly be described as a roaring success.

Now I know it's not the coach who knocks on, gives a forward pass, gets turned over, misses kicks etc, etc. But he is the person in overall charge of tactics, strategy and planning of which, it has to be said, there is very little evidence.

Anderson is quite prepared to listen to advice, wherever it may come from to be fair, he's also a straight talking guy and can say some outrageous things, but he takes no notice at all of what anyone else says.

So he is hardly likely to listen to anything that I might offer. But he ought to take heed because most of what I write is little different from what the fans think - and they are the most important people of all at Rodney Parade.

So here's a few suggestions for Anderson, meant with the best of intentions, as we go into 2005. I would urge him to:

* Consider the opposing teams a bit more, spend far more time on video analysis studying tactics and danger men rather than trot out every week 'It's what we do that counts, we must focus on our game' etc, etc.

* Pick Luke Charteris to start every match and play him at number five on the Dragons' throw in, for he's got huge potential and should be the main line-out jumper.

* Recognise that running through a brick wall, going through a fireball is maybe desirable but not necessarily the only thing that counts.

* Give the kicks to touch and maybe a few long range penalties to Percy Montgomery, for his talents are being wasted. He was the star of the show last season whereas now he's under used and little more than a bit part player.

* Do something about making the pack a more acute driving force, a better unit, respected and feared again. A West Wales colleague asked at Llanelli on Saturday, "What's happened to the Dragons pack? It hasn't got the same edge as last year.' That said it all.

Even if major honours are out of reach for the Dragons this season - what a huge disappointment that is - there is still a lot to play for.

They're still in the Heineken Cup - just - and a high Celtic League finish is desirable for seeding in next season's European competition.

Failure and there could be dire consequences for many - including Anderson.