Adkins - Pros and Cons

[Martin41]

Pros.......hmmmm he's a game closer to the exit door.

Cons.....he's not gone yet!

[Y21]

My knee is jerking and hopefully kicking Adkins in the arse and out the door. Yet again we concede 3 which must point to something wrong with the defence yet the only change was because Hector was banned.

Surely Adkins must be hammering on the door of the owners to get some cash for a loan or two? But somehow, I don't think he is, he seems to be stubbornly sticking with players that just aren't working. I'm convinced the players at his disposal are better than the results we are getting...which means he either isn't able to communicate with them his plans, or his plans are shit.

And his interviews piss me off.

And he's a smug twat.

[ManchesterRoyals]

What did he say in his interview today any links?

[Armadillo Roadkill]

Caught the tail end of the interview, in which he talked about how strong the bench is now, how he didn't regret his starting line up, and how everyone needs to focus on the next games.

In other words, for me, he was slipping back into the sort of denial that has annoyed so many. And I must admit, I'm starting now to get the same sort of feeling I got in the weeks before both Big Nose/Big Watch and McDermott got the sack. Running out of excuses and making weird choices.

Next two games are make or break for Nigel I'm afraid. I hope it's two good victories and the start of a new run of form, but I'm having my doubts.

[ManchesterRoyals]

Well we lose 3-1 and we still got a good bench Fxxking Great

[windermere_royal]

Did we lose?

[Y21]

Err, I think we came third.

[Man Friday]

I'm convinced the players at his disposal are better than the results we are getting...which means he either isn't able to communicate with them his plans, or his plans are shit.

This ^

[Martin41]

What did he say in his interview today any links?

Same old rubbish....started well etc, I picked a team to win.
Once again most questions asked were side stepped!

[MeMeMe]

Pros:
He talks like a politician... is that good ?

Cons:
He 'bigs up' the opposition every time like he is expecting defeat so he can say "told you so" when we are beaten. This must destroy our own teams confidence. Vicious circle.
What the F is he doing about our defence?, nothing from what I see and our defence is clearly not working!. Specsavers ?
One style of football that may work well with the right players such as Lallana and Ricky lambert, others not so.
Southampton moved him on so they could move on, now they are 2nd in the Prem
Recent ramblings smack of someone who is struggling to say anything good and has no real clue how to make things better.

[Royality creeps In]

Pros:
He talks like a politician... is that good ?

Cons:
He 'bigs up' the opposition every time like he is expecting defeat so he can say "told you so" when we are beaten. This must destroy our own teams confidence. Vicious circle.
What the F is he doing about our defence?, nothing from what I see and our defence is clearly not working!. Specsavers ?
One style of football that may work well with the right players such as Lallana and Ricky lambert, others not so.
Southampton moved him on so they could move on, now they are 2nd in the Prem
Recent ramblings smack of someone who is struggling to say anything good and has no real clue how to make things better.

You do realise that making comments like that you'll have the Dullards from this board on your back

[SCIAG]

One style of football that may work well with the right players such as Lallana and Ricky lambert, others not so.

Our current style of football bares little resemblance to that Adkins used at Southampton, which was based around defensive midfielders sitting deep so full backs could push on and hit long crosses from deep for Lambert at the back post. In the Championship, Adkins used 4-4-2; with us, he's using 4-2-3-1 this season.

[Lower West]

What did he say in his interview today any links?

Same old rubbish....started well etc, I picked a team to win.
Once again most questions asked were side stepped!

Unfortunately this isn't Championship Manager. Adkins is making do with what is a very limited squad at the moment. The holes in the team are blindingly obvious . Opposition coaches are ruthless exploiting them.

[leon]

What did he say in his interview today any links?

Same old rubbish....started well etc, I picked a team to win.
Once again most questions asked were side stepped!

Unfortunately this isn't Championship Manager. Adkins is making do with what is a very limited squad at the moment. The holes in the team are blindingly obvious . Opposition coaches are ruthless exploiting them.

Sorry but we have a decent squad.
Adkins is doing nothing to fix the "holes in the team" that we have. We're set up all wrong. There's no organisation in defence and we don't even protect our fragile defence. Our centre mids don't close down or tackle and nor do our wide players. Sorry but that's our coaching that's at fault.

As for "Opposition coaches are ruthless exploiting them (holes in the team) " well fix the f ucking holes - make us difficult to beat Adkins FFS.

[Martin41]

I wish people would stop with this limited squad rubbish. Yes injured players like lots of teams now and in the past, deal with it. I just don't beleive that even with the players he have we are not better than he is getting from them.
Plenty of experience in that starting line up yesterday with the exception of cooper , and Taylor.

[Sutekh]

We're apparently not getting loans in, or short term contracts, as NA is waiting for the right fit to become available.

We had Onweyu on trial but turned him down and now he's signed a deal at Charlton - so guess who'll be outstanding next Saturday

Meanwhile our ridiculously under resourced defence is letting in 3 goals a game and has had their confidence completely shot to pieces at least three times over

If he's not going to get short term cover then he has to change our playing style (if anyone can actually work out what it is) so that it becomes more of a solid plodding difficult to break down unit.

While all this is going on our new board is completely absent with no comment, no statements and no-one has any clue as to who actually calls the shots on running the club.

[marcusopp]

I wish people would stop with this limited squad rubbish. Yes injured players like lots of teams now and in the past, deal with it. I just don't beleive that even with the players he have we are not better than he is getting from them.
Plenty of experience in that starting line up yesterday with the exception of cooper , and Taylor.

Exactly.
That's the excuse sh1t managers make when they lose. Good managers adapt and get the best out of the XI on the pitch, rather than moaning or believing their own propaganda.

[Royal Lady]

Pros:
He talks like a politician... is that good ?

Cons:
He 'bigs up' the opposition every time like he is expecting defeat so he can say "told you so" when we are beaten. This must destroy our own teams confidence. Vicious circle.
What the F is he doing about our defence?, nothing from what I see and our defence is clearly not working!. Specsavers ?
One style of football that may work well with the right players such as Lallana and Ricky lambert, others not so.
Southampton moved him on so they could move on, now they are 2nd in the Prem
Recent ramblings smack of someone who is struggling to say anything good and has no real clue how to make things better.

You do realise that making comments like that you'll have the Dullards from this board on your back

I was actually going to post about his pre-game interviews - he should be saying something like they have their strengths, but we know their weaknesses and we'll be keen to exploit those or something like that - or just not talk about the other team at all ffs. If he talks in the dressing room, like he does to the media, it's no bloody surprise the team are downhearted before they even kick a bleeding ball. I've never liked Adkins, couldn't warm to him, rather like Brendan Rodgers, but I have given him a chance and I could see what he was trying to do, I thought,. But now I've completely lost patience and think we need some new blood in, someone who makes the players believe they are invincible and encourages them to keep battling, working for each other and someone who appears to know what the hell they are doing.

[RoyalBlue]

I wish people would stop with this limited squad rubbish. Yes injured players like lots of teams now and in the past, deal with it. I just don't beleive that even with the players he have we are not better than he is getting from them.
Plenty of experience in that starting line up yesterday with the exception of cooper , and Taylor.

Exactly.
That's the excuse sh1t managers make when they lose. Good managers adapt and get the best out of the XI on the pitch, rather than moaning or believing their own propaganda.

Ever crossed your mind that maybe he is getting the best that those available players can currently deliver? Some of those players are clearly very out of form and need to be dropped. However, thanks to the injuries, chairman signings, and lack of investment due to the two consecutive sale fiascos, there is no one really available to replace those players were they to be dropped.

The squad is f*cking extremely limited in certain areas. Yesterday Kevin Dillon spent a lot of time bemoaning the fact that there just aren't enough defensive options available, particularly at centre back. Gooding has said likewise. Trouble is, Adi Williams (nice guy but not the sharpest knife in the block) then pandered to the Adkins out brigade by immediately ignoring everything that Dillon had said and stating that we had a strong squad! In some areas, we may appear to have strength in depth but the squad is extremely unbalanced and Adkins hasn't been allowed to do anything to rectify that.

[Ian Royal]

Adkins is certainly making mistakes and could be doing better. But it's stupid to ignore the problems he's got and had just because you're fed up with how things are going. Equally, no one here is in a position to know what he's doing about trying to get loans in, who's available and how good they are.

Time is certainly a ticking now and he needs to improve. He simply has to do something about our defence soon. Whether that's tinker with personel, change our shape or change our style. Continuing to ignore our poor form and keep going for wins isn't going to work. We need to grt out of the rut and even a run of draws to go unbeaten would help.

Thankfully the approaching turning point for the fans is coinciding with the return of some of our best players. Hopefully we'll pick up a couple of results. 4 pts from the next 6 would actually see us in reasonably good form despite appearances currently. And whilst results and defending are bad, the rest is fine.