Former Sydney Roosters coach Phil Gould has lashed his former club saying they didn’t pay enough respect to Cronulla in their 10-4 loss on Sunday.

“They disrespect their opponents and open the game like they are going to win by 40 points” Gould wrote for Fairfax.

“Sometimes they do win by big margins too. But every now and then a side stands up to them and takes them down to the wire. Mentally they aren’t prepared for such a game. Sunday was a perfect example.

“They get frustrated and concede soft penalties. They turn the ball over regularly. They completed 23 sets from their 40 opportunities with the ball. Their fifth-tackle options were poorly directed.

“They failed to build any pressure on their opponents and as the afternoon wore on, they became more and more rattled by the tightness of the contest and the relentless nature of the advancing defensive line. The disappointing thing for the Roosters was when they couldn’t play on their own terms, they couldn’t change things up to play the Sharks a different way.”