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Arthur blames 'dumb' plays for Eels loss

Pamela WhaleyAAP
"Dumb" was the word Eels coach Brad Arthur kept repeating to describe their loss to the Roosters.
Camera Icon"Dumb" was the word Eels coach Brad Arthur kept repeating to describe their loss to the Roosters. Credit: AAP

Parramatta coach Brad Arthur has blamed dumb decisions for a 28-0 loss to Sydney Roosters that has the NRL side clutching onto their top-four hopes.

The Eels sunk to their third loss from their past four games on Thursday night as they prepare for a tough end to the season, facing all top three sides in the five rounds before finals.

Despite a strong start against the Roosters, the Eels could not convert field position into points and went into the sheds down 12-0 before they were overrun in the second half.

The error-riddled match was sloppy for both sides but the Eels finished with just a 72 per cent completion rate and only two line-breaks.

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"It was pretty dumb at times, we did some silly things on the field," Arthur said after the loss at Mackay.

"I thought the effort was there. I know the scoreline doesn't reflect it, but when you put yourself under that much pressure there's some dumb things that we did, not playing as a team.

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"We tried to play sideways.

"I thought we started well the second half, it would have been nice to be the first to score and give us some confidence, but we didn't and from there we compounded it by doing dumb thing after dumb thing."

After a shock loss to Canberra last week, the Eels are now desperately hanging onto fourth spot on the ladder, which they now share with the Roosters on 28 points.

Both sit just two wins away from third-placed South Sydney on 32 points, with the Rabbitohs still to play St George Illawarra on Saturday.

Sixth-placed Manly are just two wins off both the Eels and the Roosters, but that gap could be halved with a win over Cronulla on Sunday.

Arthur said he's confident of turning around the form that's seen the Eels slump to back-to-back losses ahead of a top-four clash with Souths next Friday night.

"There's nothing we can do about it right now, we just need to go back, recover, do some video and move onto our next opposition, which is Souths and they're tough," Arthur said.

"When we play as a team, majority of times we win those games. I just thought we played as individuals and did some dumb things."

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