Poll - Adkins In or Out

[under the tin]

Possession is no good unless you use it in areas that hurt the opposition, most of our passing is in our own half. The other question is whether possession football is the best way to go now. There is a notable shift, a couple of years ago the Barcelona/Spain style was the style to follow, these days the best team in Europe is a counter attacking machine and Germany are World Champions playing a game where possession is not the be all and end all. Football goes in phases and fashion, possession football is going the way of the Dodo.

So you don't accept that these "phases" correlate with the available players, and how they are performing?
So the reason why the current Brazil side is not as good as the 1970 one is their manager's fault?
The shift in gravity about who's top dog in world football is down to superior Germanic fitness levels, tactical awareness, and counter attacking prowess: and nothing to do with the natural deterioration of a Spanish team past its best?

The wonderful German team would not have smelt the ball had they met the Spain/Barcelona of a few years ago.

And the Dodo statement...dear oh dear..

[Angry Shed Sex]

Saturday's game reminded me of a Rodgers team at its most tepid.

All fur coat and no knickers.

[Hendo]

60% possession against Charlton Athletic might help Nigel sleep at night, but do we think Bob Peeters gives a oxf*rd that his team were 'dominated'?
We're not the 1st team to have 60%+ possession against Charlton this season.
We're not the 2nd team.
We're not the 3rd team.
We're not the 4th team.
We're not the 5th team.
We're not the 6th team.
We're not the 7th team.
We are the 8th team to have 60%+ possession against Charlton this season.

And how many of those 8 games did Charlton lose? ZERO

Presumably the 9th team to have 60%+ possession against Charlton will also claim they were "unlucky not to win", rather than admit they were tactically outclassed by technically limited opposition.

I don't think a team can be classed technically limited if they get domin8ed in a game and still not lose, 8 times in 1 season. I would say that shows a high level of defensive technical ability.

[wingnut]

Not a bad post but you're really overstating the value of possession. It's what you do with it that counts. Plus some teams like Chelsea deliberately lose position in order to re-group.

Agree with your point. I was more alluding to the fact that if a possession based model of play is what Adkins is building towards, then we are seeing evidence of advancement. As You say, there is of course more than one way to win.

Dear me, are we back at this? We had all these "never mind the walloping defeat, just look at the possession stats" facile statements in Adkins's early days so I think this is further grist to the "no signs of progress" argument if it means anything at all.

[HoneyRoastHoax]

Harsh wingy, his early days was a different team to the one he has to field these days.

[wingnut]

The team's different. The sterile play isn't.

[HoneyRoastHoax]

The team's different. The sterile play isn't.

You just have a little think about that buddy

[wingnut]

Not quite sure what your point is, HRH.
If you're saying we had better players then (somewhat arguable in many positions) but we were up against much better opposition and now we have poorer players, well it's against much, much weaker sides. And what's the constant here? It's still one-paced, one- dimensional play that's easy to organise and defend against.
The only times when we've looked like we have a cutting edge is when we go more direct, like we did last January, after what was rumoured to be a mini players revolt, and in the better home performances against the likes of Fulham and Blackpool.

[HoneyRoastHoax]

No not at all. I'm just saying you're comparing two things which had fairly sizable differences.

[wingnut]

The thing I was highlighting was the arguments at the tail end of the prem season where folk on here were unfavourably comparing the possession stats of Adkins's side with Brian's (even though we still lost) seemed similar (to my eyes) to Portsmouth Royal's claim that the high possession stats against Charlton showed progress - even though we lost.

[DaddyKuhl]

Voted in. But the pressure is building on him.

[semtex1871]

If Atkins gets sacked I'm gonna flounce.....

[Martin41]

If Atkins gets sacked I'm gonna flounce.....

If you spell his name right I'm going to be shocked.......

[marcusopp]

60% possession against Charlton Athletic might help Nigel sleep at night, but do we think Bob Peeters gives a oxf*rd that his team were 'dominated'?
We're not the 1st team to have 60%+ possession against Charlton this season.
We're not the 2nd team.
We're not the 3rd team.
We're not the 4th team.
We're not the 5th team.
We're not the 6th team.
We're not the 7th team.
We are the 8th team to have 60%+ possession against Charlton this season.

And how many of those 8 games did Charlton lose? ZERO

Presumably the 9th team to have 60%+ possession against Charlton will also claim they were "unlucky not to win", rather than admit they were tactically outclassed by technically limited opposition.

I don't think a team can be classed technically limited if they get domin8ed in a game and still not lose, 8 times in 1 season. I would say that shows a high level of defensive technical ability.

Both statements are rubbish. I've played over 400 games in the amateur leagues and if you are up against fairly equal opponents, the possession is usually dictated by 'who needs it the most'. If a team are chasing the game, they tend to dominate possession at that stage. If a team are quick out of the blocks and gain the lead, it's natural to ease off a bit, no one knows why, but all sides do it, hence the cliche "you're at your most vulnerable just after you've scored". At the levels i've played, the result is most important, whereas someone like Adkins would rather play well than win ugly, hence he's at a championship club, doing badly.

[P!ssed Off]

60% possession against Charlton Athletic might help Nigel sleep at night, but do we think Bob Peeters gives a oxf*rd that his team were 'dominated'?
We're not the 1st team to have 60%+ possession against Charlton this season.
We're not the 2nd team.
We're not the 3rd team.
We're not the 4th team.
We're not the 5th team.
We're not the 6th team.
We're not the 7th team.
We are the 8th team to have 60%+ possession against Charlton this season.

And how many of those 8 games did Charlton lose? ZERO

Presumably the 9th team to have 60%+ possession against Charlton will also claim they were "unlucky not to win", rather than admit they were tactically outclassed by technically limited opposition.

I don't think a team can be classed technically limited if they get domin8ed in a game and still not lose, 8 times in 1 season. I would say that shows a high level of defensive technical ability.

By "limited technical ability" I am referring to what you can do with the ball at your feet. In that respect there is no such thing as "defensive" technical ability.

My use of 'dominated' was mocking what plenty have said on here. Do I think Charlton were actually dominated by Reading? No, of course they weren't. Charlton were in control of the game from start to finish; they came to Reading with the primary objective of not to concede and that never looked under threat for a minute.

[JIM]

Wait till end JAN 2015 and see if he can get a good looking team together, If the new owners have faith then give him a chance FFS

[Silver Fox]

If Atkins gets sacked I'm gonna flounce.....

Another reason to vote OUT

[Elm Park Pasty]

I am a bit surprised how many dummies have been spat out of the pram about this result to be honest, and some of the comments on here are quite bemusing. A well drilled team that work as a tight defensive unit will always present a problem to whoever they are playing, and I don't care what division you are playing in. I have been to enough games where we just could not unlock teams once we get in the final third of the field. This is not new, and Charlton are not the only team that have ever done it, so why act like we are the only team ever that were unable to unlock a determined defensive unit? To use a cliche they wanted to scrape a goal but stop us playing and that's exactly what they got. We are not the first team who failed to break them down this season, and we won't be the last.

[Einstein agogo]

I don't really like him as a person or as a manager.
I haven't really got so pissed off since the Liverpool Manager took us down to the depths of the Table.

[Man Friday]

I am a bit surprised how many dummies have been spat out of the pram about this result to be honest, and some of the comments on here are quite bemusing. A well drilled team that work as a tight defensive unit will always present a problem to whoever they are playing, and I don't care what division you are playing in. I have been to enough games where we just could not unlock teams once we get in the final third of the field. This is not new, and Charlton are not the only team that have ever done it, so why act like we are the only team ever that were unable to unlock a determined defensive unit? To use a cliche they wanted to scrape a goal but stop us playing and that's exactly what they got. We are not the first team who failed to break them down this season, and we won't be the last.

...and your justification for all those 3-0 defeats...?