Adkins - Pros and Cons

[leon]

FFS
Is there really a need for yet another thread discussing the same oxf*rd thing. OP is a serial offender on this topic, too.

Come on Platypuss do the decent thing.

Think hobnob is the only one who can ban people

[Royal Rother]

Professional athletes and coaches should be driven and committed to success, not sat about going "oh well, 14th place is better than it might have been".

Is there anything at all that suggests this might be the case?

[ILoveMoonPig]

Agreed in principal. We haven't got the money to go sacking managers. Plus, getting rid of the manager would only plunge us into complete disarray. I'm not a fan of Adkins, but agree that for the team's sake, we need to support him.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Blackpool at home is as close to a banker as you'll get in the Championship this season so Adkins will lose a lot of support if we don't win on Saturday.

The fans are undoubtedly turning already and a loss against them will amount to a good few nails in Adkins' coffin.

If we fail to pick up a win in the next 4 he's gone IMO and frankly, rightly so.

Oh and agree with Mags post. That team should be doing FAR better than it is.

[leon]

I'm quite surprised at how many people are rolling out the "we were always going to struggle this season" line and placidly accepting the dross on the pitch.

Professional athletes and coaches should be driven and committed to success, not sat about going "oh well, 14th place is better than it might have been".

People say we're weak on paper but a team like this:

Federici

Gunter - Pearce - Hector - Obita

Mackie - Norwood - Guthrie - Blackman

Murray - Cox

shouldn't be getting turned over every week. That's millions of pounds of transfer fees in there, players who have played in the Prem or been linked with a move there. On top of that you have internationals like Pogrebnyak and HRK who I've not even mentioned. Federici and Pearce have played in a title-winning defensive unit. Obita was POTS last time out. Murray has scored bundles of goals in this league. Sure we're missing a couple of decent players but that side ^^ or something close to it should be playing better than it is.

I haven't seen a jot of progress during Adkins tenure and there comes a point when the excuses have to stop and achievement has to begin. I'm not saying get rid of the guy now but if I was his boss i'd be asking some questions that's for sure.

PS when "he" took over this forum was awash with smug types saying "oh the more intelligent among us appreciate he will bring a superior brand of football to the limited style imposed by McDermott". Yeah well I hope you were there last night enjoying the superior way we pick the ball out of the back of the net every fcking week.

This sums up exactly how I feel about Adkins reign so far.

Apart from the bit about Guthrie - who I think is utterly shit.

[Bob1871]

If you look through our most successful period at the club, we've played a similar style which started under Pardew.

We've played with real width. Wingers that could beat the full back and get a ball in to a good finisher, alongside 2 good full backs who were primarily defenders who could overlap and put a decent ball in.

Under Pardew we had Hughes and Solako with Murty and Shorey behind. The same defensive pairing under Coppell but with Convey and Little, our width was almost unplayable that year. Although McDermott was more direct, it still came about of great width in Mcanuff and Kebe with Cummings and Harte providing good defensive cover.

Adkins has moved so far away from this principle. Defensively we are playing with attacking full backs who are poor defensively. I know Gunter was a McDermott buy but Adkins made him captain. IMHO Cummings is a better RB. I'm not even sure who are wingers are under Adkins and they always seem to be played on their wrong side.

Adkins needs to go and we need to get back to what has made us a hard team to beat and a successful team.

[Royal Rother]

But it's a different set of players. Might just as well suggest that every team in the land should play that system because it made this club successful in the past.

[blueroyals]

He had the full backing of the real fans last night. It's the armchair plastics that want him gone.

[sandman]

Anyone who thinks Adkins is going imminently is almost certainly deluding themselves.

Managers simply don't get sacked under these circumstances, particularly at Reading, until at least a few home games after they've lost the fans. The last home game there was still lots of vocal support for Adkins and I'm pretty sure I heard some over the radio against Bournemouth, at least early on.

The boos need to ring out along with Adkins out chants before it's going to happen. If we lose against Blackpool I wouldn't be surprised for it to start. But I just don't see any realistic chance of him going anywhere before, at least, Charlton on 8 November. And probably more likely Bolton on 6 December.

The really frustrating thing is that we simply aren't playing that badly. We're defending reasonably well most of the time, keeping possession and creating chances. The problem is that we aren't taking the chances and whilst the defence is solid most the time, it's terrifyingly porous several times each game and we're getting punished most times it is, because it's so bad when its bad.

It really isn't going to take much for us to go on a good run and get good results. Some defensive concentration and playing to ability there would help. As would a midfield. As would Murray, in particular, taking the chances he's getting or Pog putting in a performance.

We are playing badly Ian. I know you want to defend Adkins but you don't keep giving three goals away each game if you're playing well.

[Royal Rother]

Read the balance in Ian's post. It's all there.

[SydenhamRoyal]

He had the full backing of the real fans last night. It's the armchair plastics that want him gone.

Bolux I am afraid. This season was always going to be transitional, so I wasnt expecting promotion or the play offs. I was expecting the kids, I was expecting mistakes. BUt what I cannot accept is highly paid professionals giving up. Adkins has never inspired passion and drive from Reading, and the team he inherited was mostly the one that won the championship on grit, determination, hard work and passion. My reason for wanting Adkins out is not because we are on a bad run of form of 6 games, but that ever since he arrived 18 months ago the team appear to have stopped trying.

[blueroyals]

He had the full backing of the real fans last night. It's the armchair plastics that want him gone.

Bolux I am afraid. This season was always going to be transitional, so I wasnt expecting promotion or the play offs. I was expecting the kids, I was expecting mistakes. BUt what I cannot accept is highly paid professionals giving up. Adkins has never inspired passion and drive from Reading, and the team he inherited was mostly the one that won the championship on grit, determination, hard work and passion. My reason for wanting Adkins out is not because we are on a bad run of form of 6 games, but that ever since he arrived 18 months ago the team appear to have stopped trying.

If I was playing with the likes of Akpan and Pog I'd give up too. We've McDermott to thank for that.

[SydenhamRoyal]

It was obvious last night that the players just didn't want to fight for the shirt, didn't want the ball & were playing out the game rather than trying to get back into it.

We used to be a team that would play with pace and width, at times direct but always looked like we could get something from any game. Adkins has turned us into a sideways team. I've lost count of how many times I've seen wingers drift inside and lose all of our width, this has to be a tactical instruction from the manager as he plays them on their weaker footed side.

Very strange selections and substations over the last few weeks, particularly last night taking Cox off.

I've had enough of watching it under Adkins, it's time to show him the door

I agree with all that except there were 3 players who did want to fight for the shirt, Feds, Akpan, Mackie. The worst offender was probably Blackman, who i have actually liked this season.
Taking a centre forward off when you are 3 down and replacing him with a midfielder was the most bizarre of several recent bizarre calls.

[EverHopeful]

instead of having a go at NA perhaps it would be nice if the new owners did a proper press conference on who they are, what their plans are, in principle, and maybe we can eventually make a considered opinion on where the club is...........

for me, staying up is the only thing i care about this season as like many, we knew that the kids would be involved and in general terms they have done OK. yeah mistakes particularly under pressure but some look good talents (Hector especially given time). lets enjoy the ups and downs of this season, maybe make a couple of sensible defensive acquisitions during January to stop the 3 goals a game in the wrong net and then watch as everyone develops. If they don't then clearly NA will be at a huge risk and he will probably deserve to go but whilst its a cliche, we really have too much in the squad to be even contemplating relegation, especially as the oldies come back (if you can consider McClearey and Williams old!)

enjoy the ride to mid table obscurity!

[OldBiscuit]

A big problem that we have here at Reading is the fact that we have a whole generation of fans up to the age of early 20's that have never experienced anything but successful times (Premier League what ever position and challenging for promotion from the Championship is success) . They have never had to put up with year after year of 3rd and 4th division football watched on sparsely populated terraces in a ramshackle Elm Park. Success then was promotion from Division 4 or mid-table in Division 3. As a result, this generation behave like spoilt brats, with toys flying from the pram at an alarming rate. One loss and off goes the dummy, 3 in a row and we have a nursery rampage. Its not really your fault young-uns, you don't know any different.
Just look what has happened here at the Madstad, Adkins comes in and in his first proper season we come within a gnats' cock of the Play-offs. At the moment, Nigel has financial restraints until the new owners get up and running, and is also playing with a small and depleted squad. I'm sure that Nigel will turn it around, but if after another year or 18 months it remains the same, then perhaps his incumbency may need reviewing. Remember, never show a job unfinished to Fools or Children.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Enough of the we're skint posts. So skint we got a recent prem winger, prem striker and championship golden boot winner to come and play here.......

[SydenhamRoyal]

He had the full backing of the real fans last night. It's the armchair plastics that want him gone.

Bolux I am afraid. This season was always going to be transitional, so I wasnt expecting promotion or the play offs. I was expecting the kids, I was expecting mistakes. BUt what I cannot accept is highly paid professionals giving up. Adkins has never inspired passion and drive from Reading, and the team he inherited was mostly the one that won the championship on grit, determination, hard work and passion. My reason for wanting Adkins out is not because we are on a bad run of form of 6 games, but that ever since he arrived 18 months ago the team appear to have stopped trying.

If I was playing with the likes of Akpan and Pog I'd give up too. We've McDermott to thank for that.

We have got the Russian to thank for the big fcking russian. McD had absolutely no input on that one. As for Akpan - one of only three players who actually tried last night

[mambo3]

We ain't defending very well but has nobody noticed we ain't scoring neither

[Waylenstreet]

Adkins is a symptom, not the cause.

[sandman]

A big problem that we have here at Reading is the fact that we have a whole generation of fans up to the age of early 20's that have never experienced anything but successful times (Premier League what ever position and challenging for promotion from the Championship is success) . They have never had to put up with year after year of 3rd and 4th division football watched on sparsely populated terraces in a ramshackle Elm Park. Success then was promotion from Division 4 or mid-table in Division 3. As a result, this generation behave like spoilt brats, with toys flying from the pram at an alarming rate. One loss and off goes the dummy, 3 in a row and we have a nursery rampage. Its not really your fault young-uns, you don't know any different.
Just look what has happened here at the Madstad, Adkins comes in and in his first proper season we come within a gnats' cock of the Play-offs. At the moment, Nigel has financial restraints until the new owners get up and running, and is also playing with a small and depleted squad. I'm sure that Nigel will turn it around, but if after another year or 18 months it remains the same, then perhaps his incumbency may need reviewing. Remember, never show a job unfinished to Fools or Children.

Actually a lot of the more impatient fans are older fans but don't let that get in the way of your attempt at smug superiority.

Adkins is not the manager for us, I have no doubt he will move on from Reading and will be successful at another club.

Ironically, his appointment was made by a young, impatient, glory seeking Owner who panicked at the first sign of things going bad. So when you think about it whilst backing Adiins you're actually supporting the very attitude you claim to despise.