WARRINGTON Wolves looked “burdened by negativity” during their defeat to Salford Red Devils, Sky Sports pundit Barrie McDermott said.

Six days after losing the Challenge Cup Final, The Wire were once again well below their best as they gave themselves too much to do following a nightmare first half that saw them go into half-time trailing 19-0.

The Red Devils eventually closed out a 25-14 victory to move level on points with Sam Burgess’ side, who have now lost three matches in a row in all competitions.

At the same time, Wembley winners Wigan Warriors were able to put their celebrations to one side by edging to a narrow win at Castleford Tigers, with McDermott saying that ability to find a way to win when not at your best separates the top teams from the rest.

“I can tell there’s frustration and deflation,” he said of Warrington.

“You should be at your best when you’re up against adversity and wanting to quieten everybody down, but they’re weightened and burdened by that negativity.

“There was every reason for Warrington to have the motivation to win. There was every reason for Wigan, who had celebrated hard we understand, to go to Castleford and not quite be there, but they still go and get the two points.”

Both McDermott and his fellow Sky pundit Jamie Jones-Buchanan agreed many of Warrington’s problems on Friday night lay in the halves, where star man George Williams was absent with a calf injury.

Stefan Ratchford and Josh Drinkwater were tasked with steering the ship but despite a brief flurry to raise hopes of a fightback, they never got Wire in a position to overhaul the deficit.

“We were talking about them maybe being better putting Sam Powell in there, as at least he would have a dominant voice,” McDermott said.

“Obviously, he makes his living as a nine now but he can be dominant. It didn’t look like anybody wanted to take control.

“Stef Ratchford was given the role and responsibility and had glimpses of that, but a born-and-bred number seven like Josh Drinkwater should be revelling in the fact he’s got the dominant voice to run this side.”

Jones-Buchanan added: “I was starting to think about what a Sam Burgess interview might look like if they’d clawed their way back.

“You fancied Warrington to kick on from there but Baz is right – they just didn’t offer enough in the halves.

“They ran well at times and took them on, but there wasn’t enough clinical execution to challenge Salford’s defence.”