The Adkins Sack/Resignation Countdown Thread

[Cureton's Volley]

Can't we just swallow our pride and bring Brian back?

Pretty much this.

Agreed

[facaldaqui]

It should be noted how we haven't had much luck with injuries. We've signed the best full back in the league, but he's only been fit 50% of the time and is out for a while, we've paid a fair chunk of money for an international midfielder who wasn't close to being match fit at the start of the season due to a previous injury and as soon as he was approaching full fitness we lost him for 2 months. We brought in a guy on high wages who was supposed to be the centre of our attacking play this season, but he's been injured/woefully unfit for the majority of the season. We spent most of the end of last season developing a midfield axis based around Karacan, who then gets another long term injury just as he was starting to come into some form. Not to mention that in Roberts and Leigertwood we have two players that are taking up a large portion of our wage budget and haven't even come close to being fit enough to be involved. Our Uefa Cup winning leading striker was desperately trying to force himself a move so barely turned up to our first half a dozen games of the season.

Teams with this ^ kind of luck don't go on mega runs of form. It would be unfair on Adkins to judge him until he has at least 90% of his squad fighting fit.

Point taken, but can we not judge him on day-to-day matters like team selection, substitutions, pace of play, group strength of purpose, etc.? Given the players he has available, has he got them in the right pecking order and positions? Management is not just about waiting until someone buys you the team that you want or until everyone on the books is fit.

[winchester_royal]

Of course, but I don't think he's done badly considering. It's hard to build a cohesive team when key players are constantly getting injured. Its hard to build fluidity when 2/3 enforced changes have to be made every game. Its hard for a manager to build a team in his own image when his 3 main summer signings have hardly managed to get on the pitch.

I'll readily admit that our performances this season have been less than convincing, but I don't think we're even close to the team that Adkins wants us to be, and thus I think he deserves plenty more time, as he's shown in the past that when he builds a team he iis happy with then he tends to be successful.

[BILTON]

How can you judge Adkins when he hasn't been given money to build the squad he wants lol

[facaldaqui]

Of course, but I don't think he's done badly considering. It's hard to build a cohesive team when key players are constantly getting injured. Its hard to build fluidity when 2/3 enforced changes have to be made every game. Its hard for a manager to build a team in his own image when his 3 main summer signings have hardly managed to get on the pitch.

I think it is easy to forget how often we had injuries in the past but still kept our runs going. I can remember lengthy injuries to Long and N Hunt and sporadic injuries to Kebe, etc., and people like Tabb, Pearce, Ingimarsson, Kizanishvili, etc. filling in seamlessly. And back in Coppell's day, the likes of Oster and S Hunt plugged holes left by Convey and Little. If I remember rightly, we lost Forster, then Lita, for a lot of our promotion campaign. Then no sooner were we promoted than Kitson had a long injury--but the team held it together.

Gem of the lot was Cummings playing on the right wing when we beat Cardiff away in the play-offs.

[Wycombe Royal]

Of course, but I don't think he's done badly considering. It's hard to build a cohesive team when key players are constantly getting injured. Its hard to build fluidity when 2/3 enforced changes have to be made every game. Its hard for a manager to build a team in his own image when his 3 main summer signings have hardly managed to get on the pitch.

I think it is easy to forget how often we had injuries in the past but still kept our runs going. I can remember lengthy injuries to Long and N Hunt and sporadic injuries to Kebe, etc., and people like Tabb, Pearce, Ingimarsson, Kizanishvili, etc. filling in seamlessly. And back in Coppell's day, the likes of Oster and S Hunt plugged holes left by Convey and Little. If I remember rightly, we lost Forster, then Lita, for a lot of our promotion campaign. Rhen no sooner were we promoted than Kitson had a long injury--but the team held it together.

Gem of the lot was Cummings playing on the right wing when we beat Cardiff away in the play-offs.

Having one or two injuries is not the same as the 6 or 7 we have had for most of this season. If you can get 9 or 10 settled players in a team then you will be OK but we just don't seem to be able to manage that this season.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Of course, but I don't think he's done badly considering. It's hard to build a cohesive team when key players are constantly getting injured. Its hard to build fluidity when 2/3 enforced changes have to be made every game. Its hard for a manager to build a team in his own image when his 3 main summer signings have hardly managed to get on the pitch.

I'll readily admit that our performances this season have been less than convincing, but I don't think we're even close to the team that Adkins wants us to be, and thus I think he deserves plenty more time, as he's shown in the past that when he builds a team he iis happy with then he tends to be successful.

Well, if you sign players with a regressive profile and injury issues then that is what you will get. You can hardly use your wages budget up on Drenthe and Bridge and then call it bad luck when they aren't available. More like bad squad management in my book.

Our squad has had regression written all over it since the day Adkins joined the club. The players we already had have gone backwards and the players we have signed are going backwards in their careers as well. In fact, pretty much everything about the club at the moment says we are heading downwards, not just on the pitch. Thats not all Adkins fault, i think he's been done over by the owners to a certain extent. But if we dont make the top 6 it think he's a gonner. And so he should be with the buget he has avaialble, even if its way less than he thought he was getting. I dont think we will be even close to making the play offs tbh.

[winchester_royal]

Bridge played just about all of Brighton's 46 games last season. Williams has little in his history to suggest injury problems. Drenthe has had motivational issues, but no consistent injury problems. I don't think those signings were any worse squad management than those of say Harte, Leigertwood, and Roberts.

Then add in injuries to Karacan, Hal, and now Morrison.

I'm not saying that some blame shouldn't lie at Adkins' feet, but we've had a pretty wretched run of luck.

[facaldaqui]

Of course, but I don't think he's done badly considering. It's hard to build a cohesive team when key players are constantly getting injured. Its hard to build fluidity when 2/3 enforced changes have to be made every game. Its hard for a manager to build a team in his own image when his 3 main summer signings have hardly managed to get on the pitch.

I think it is easy to forget how often we had injuries in the past but still kept our runs going. I can remember lengthy injuries to Long and N Hunt and sporadic injuries to Kebe, etc., and people like Tabb, Pearce, Ingimarsson, Kizanishvili, etc. filling in seamlessly. And back in Coppell's day, the likes of Oster and S Hunt plugged holes left by Convey and Little. If I remember rightly, we lost Forster, then Lita, for a lot of our promotion campaign. Rhen no sooner were we promoted than Kitson had a long injury--but the team held it together.

Gem of the lot was Cummings playing on the right wing when we beat Cardiff away in the play-offs.

Having one or two injuries is not the same as the 6 or 7 we have had for most of this season. If you can get 9 or 10 settled players in a team then you will be OK but we just don't seem to be able to manage that this season.

And why is that? Injuries tend to multiply in teams that are not in shape overall. Injuries of the vaguer sort start to come along, such as those Kebe had and the one(s) Drenthe has got. (I noticed that when asked about Drenthe's fitness, Adkins sounded a little testy and used the phrase "I would like to think ...") Beyond that you have to ask whether Drenthe, Williams, and Bridge were properly assessed for fitness ... maybe, even Sharp (something odd about his slowness to get a loan and now to get a place). I do not get the impression the players are bursting to play in this team, and the management cannot be totally blameless for that.

[facaldaqui]

Williams has little in his history to suggest injury problems.

Williams was injured towards the end of last season. Wonder why little Reading managed to get a Bundesliga player to transfer to us. Fortunately, we did not fall for Sissoko.

[winchester_royal]

Williams has little in his history to suggest injury problems.

Williams was injured towards the end of last season. Wonder why little Reading managed to get a Bundesliga player to transfer to us. Fortunately, we did not fall for Sissoko.

1 injury =/= degenerative profile.

[winchester_royal]

Of course, but I don't think he's done badly considering. It's hard to build a cohesive team when key players are constantly getting injured. Its hard to build fluidity when 2/3 enforced changes have to be made every game. Its hard for a manager to build a team in his own image when his 3 main summer signings have hardly managed to get on the pitch.

I think it is easy to forget how often we had injuries in the past but still kept our runs going. I can remember lengthy injuries to Long and N Hunt and sporadic injuries to Kebe, etc., and people like Tabb, Pearce, Ingimarsson, Kizanishvili, etc. filling in seamlessly. And back in Coppell's day, the likes of Oster and S Hunt plugged holes left by Convey and Little. If I remember rightly, we lost Forster, then Lita, for a lot of our promotion campaign. Then no sooner were we promoted than Kitson had a long injury--but the team held it together.

Gem of the lot was Cummings playing on the right wing when we beat Cardiff away in the play-offs.

05/06 - Sonko and Ingimarsson played just about every game. Sidwell and Harper likewise unmoved, and if on the rare occasion they were injured Brynjar was always able to step in. Murty and Shorey were almost ever-presents, Marcus was injury-free, Little and Convey were available for the whole season, and two of Doyle/Lita/Kitson were always available. Forster had gone by then.

Squads have to cope with injuries, of course they do, but to build momentum you need a core group of players that stay injury free for the majority of the time. Where would Burnley be if they'd lost one of Ings or Vokes for a month?

It's not like we've collapsed, we're still right in the mix. The main complaint most have atm is that we're not looking at all fluent, but when you have 7 or 8 first teamers out injured that's hard to achieve. Adkins could have done certain things better, for sure, but it's one thing to seek improved performance, and it's another to suggest that his job should be under serious pressure.

[facaldaqui]

Williams has little in his history to suggest injury problems.

Williams was injured towards the end of last season. Wonder why little Reading managed to get a Bundesliga player to transfer to us. Fortunately, we did not fall for Sissoko.

1 injury =/= degenerative profile.

Williams got injured originally back in March and missed the rest of the season. At around the time we signed him he was sent home from the USA training camp for lack of fitness. I hope I am wrong, but I suspect this problem is not going to go away, and that Hoffenheim knew that when they let him go. Before that Williams had been a mainstay of Hoffenheim's team. That being the case you would have expected him to achieve more than the fringe role he did when he came to Reading; but, no, to the fans' surprise, Adkins mostly used him as a sub. A mainstay of the Hoffenheim team would not be a fringe player at Reading unless there was something wrong with him, I fear.

[winchester_royal]

Yeah, he wasn't match fit because of said injury. He was beginning to start games just before he got injured against Leeds, but that was a heavily bruised foot, not a pre-existing muscle injury.

[facaldaqui]

05/06 - Sonko and Ingimarsson played just about every game. Sidwell and Harper likewise unmoved, and if on the rare occasion they were injured Brynjar was always able to step in. Murty and Shorey were almost ever-presents, Marcus was injury-free, Little and Convey were available for the whole season, and two of Doyle/Lita/Kitson were always available. Forster had gone by then.

Squads have to cope with injuries, of course they do, but to build momentum you need a core group of players that stay injury free for the majority of the time. Where would Burnley be if they'd lost one of Ings or Vokes for a month?

It's not like we've collapsed, we're still right in the mix. The main complaint most have atm is that we're not looking at all fluent, but when you have 7 or 8 first teamers out injured that's hard to achieve. Adkins could have done certain things better, for sure, but it's one thing to seek improved performance, and it's another to suggest that his job should be under serious pressure.

I might be wrong but I thought Forster got injured in the 2005 pre-season. Despite that blow, we still got promoted. Doyle came pretty much out of nowhere. People who complain about Obita might remember the case of Doyle.

People maybe did not notice injuries so much under Coppell and McDermott because they had a concept of a squad and both professed that injuries did not matter because they had people they could introduce seamlessly, who they trusted to do the same job as the absent player. I loved that ethos, and the surprising results we achieved with it. Ingimarsson (by then a standby), for example, laying on the fourth goal at Nottingham Forest. Or Gunnarsson coming into the team and laying on Long's goal against Liverpool. These were mighty results achieved with key personnel missing. And even when we put out second string teams under Coppell, they replicated the first team. It is called good management.

To be fair to Adkins, he does not whinge about injuries--it is his apologists on here that are doing that on his behalf. By apologists, I mean those who are saying he should not be judged until he has his injured players back. I am afraid there is no pass--to be a manager is to be judged.

[facaldaqui]

Yeah, he wasn't match fit because of said injury. He was beginning to start games just before he got injured against Leeds, but that was a heavily bruised foot, not a pre-existing muscle injury.

I do not see how a bruised foot or a minor muscle injury could have this effect on Williams, who now has hardly played since March. I hope I am wrong.

[winchester_royal]

You are wrong, he was sold to Ipswich that summer.

As a poster above pointed out, it's one thing having 1 or 2 players coming into a very settled side, it's another having to chop and and change constantly because of injuries before you can even establish what your best team/formation is.

[melonhead]

Of course, but I don't think he's done badly considering. It's hard to build a cohesive team when key players are constantly getting injured. Its hard to build fluidity when 2/3 enforced changes have to be made every game. Its hard for a manager to build a team in his own image when his 3 main summer signings have hardly managed to get on the pitch.

I'll readily admit that our performances this season have been less than convincing, but I don't think we're even close to the team that Adkins wants us to be, and thus I think he deserves plenty more time, as he's shown in the past that when he builds a team he iis happy with then he tends to be successful.

Well, if you sign players with a regressive profile and injury issues then that is what you will get. You can hardly use your wages budget up on Drenthe and Bridge and then call it bad luck when they aren't available. More like bad squad management in my book.

Our squad has had regression written all over it since the day Adkins joined the club. The players we already had have gone backwards and the players we have signed are going backwards in their careers as well. In fact, pretty much everything about the club at the moment says we are heading downwards, not just on the pitch. Thats not all Adkins fault, i think he's been done over by the owners to a certain extent. But if we dont make the top 6 it think he's a gonner. And so he should be with the buget he has avaialble, even if its way less than he thought he was getting. I dont think we will be even close to making the play offs tbh.

any team that comes down from the prem will regress.
they have to.

you just cant maintain squad quality moving from the prem to the champ

[facaldaqui]

You are wrong, he was sold to Ipswich that summer.

He was injury-prone, but it did not put us off our stride. I remember long periods without Forster but no big deal was made of it. Good management should ensure that we always have replacements to come in, including at left back. And centre back, come to that--Adkins is talking of Baird playing there if another CB is injured (sent off is more likely in Gorkss' case). But then where would our defensive midfield come from? Oh for a Gunnarsson.

[melonhead]

oh for THE gunnarsson