Who/what is to blame?

[mambo3]

ownership and injuries is what i went with. AZ promising money then disappearing and leaving us in the shitter. then the ridiculous string of injuries that led us to have wingers play in the middle of the pitch, players out of position, etc.

Were we forced to play 2 wingers in CM though?

Bournemouth away: Played McAnuff and Obita in CM.
It did not work, their combined performance was pure, unadulterated rubbish. People said "It's not Nige's fault". Critics pointed out Jake Taylor (a CM) was fit and ready to play. People brushed this off with "But Jake Taylor is shit".

Well now look, Jake Taylor is clearly not as shit as many people thought is he?
Criminally underused this season, by a team with constant CM injuries.
Nigel Adkins picks the team, and Taylor wasn't even supposed to be on the bench against Bournemouth until Guthrie got injured in the warm up.

Nobody forced Adkins to place McAnuff above Taylor in the CM pecking order did they?

I see a lot of people have graciously admitted they were wrong in writing Jake Taylor off as shit. Well it's too late now, isn't it?
CM crisis all season and we had a decent young CM sat on the bench, or the reserves.
A league season of 4140 minutes and Jake Taylor was given all of 168 minutes to impress...

1)The writing was on the wall with the OMAN Game.
2)Tactics failed time and time again.
3) Team selection was more a less the same every game did not utilise squad.
4) suspect man management skills

[floyd__streete]

Nigel Adkins.

The ownership excuse is a crock of sh*t when you have one of the highest wage bills in the division yet still produce a poorly organised badly motivated dispirited group of players week after week. I said after the Peterborough game that we look unlikely to achieve anything under this management with this group of players and I was proved right of course. Some of us are quicker on the uptake than the rest of you.

Given the likelihood that the high earning wasters will be sold off, would you trust Adkins with our young players given his failures managing big earners this season? There has to be a over his abilities at the very least!

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Nigel Adkins.

The ownership excuse is a crock of sh*t when you have one of the highest wage bills in the division yet still produce a poorly organised badly motivated dispirited group of players week after week. I said after the Peterborough game that we look unlikely to achieve anything under this management with this group of players and I was proved right of course. Some of us are quicker on the uptake than the rest of you.

Given the likelihood that the high earning wasters will be sold off, would you trust Adkins with our young players given his failures managing big earners this season? There has to be a over his abilities at the very least!

Floyd. Do you not think that the players are highly culpable though? Yesterday proved (well the last 3 games actually) that when they can be fcuking bothered to show up they can actually play a bit!

In the cold light of day this is where I point the finger most TBH. Half a dozen more performances like yesterday would have seen us pushing for automatic. They've been sleepwalking through much of this season thinking they can just walk out and get 3 points & then only when they started to realise they were losing their grip on promotion they sorted their sh1t out.

I voted injuries / player performances.

I do trust Adkins FTR - look at how he is integrating Obita / Hector / Taylor etc. Granted he has had a wobble sometimes, but again I really feel a lot of this is because senior players have really fcuking let him down.

Last thing we need is a firesale & a new management team. We are treading on thin ice as it is. Give him a chance & back him for next season I say. I like the guy & I really believe he can do well for us long term.

[floyd__streete]

Adkins is responsible for performance of players. That is how it works. Signing people with a track record of poor fitness also doesn't help.

[soggy biscuit]

Why does someone have to be to blame?

Are our fans so arrogant that they just won't accept there were 6 teams better than us?

[MmmMonsterMunch]

So senior players like Jobi, Gorkss, Bridge, Le Fondre et al cannot be professional and do their job to a decent standard? Sorry I don't buy that.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Why does someone have to be to blame?

Are our fans so arrogant that they just won't accept there were 6 teams better than us?

True but I think deep down we all know there was easily enough in that squad to get top 6. That much is clear given how we performed yesterday. They have obviously got inflated opinions of themselves / personal motivation issues if they think they can turn up to Yeovil, Sheff Wed, Barnsley etc & just go through the motions to get a result.

I think everyone unanimously agrees those were the types of games that cost us.

[Ian Royal]

Home record is a product of other factors, not a factor in itself. You might as well say what were the factors in not finishing in the top six and then have "we didn't get enough points" as an answer, it's essentially the same thing.

Ownership issues caused a major problem. Drenthe seemingly brought in without Adkins approval on big wages, Anton pulling the money before Adkins could finish building the squad he wanted in the summer. No money to sign players at all in January. Combine that with one of the worst injury hit seasons we've had in years and you've got the key reasons.

Lesser factors were players not performing at the level they could and Adkins struggling to find a system and consistent XI that worked. Fans probably could have done more to be helpful, the players certainly seemed nervy at home for a lot of the season and the fans being so quiet and quick to turn probably didn't do much good there.

[sandman]

Why does someone have to be to blame?

Are our fans so arrogant that they just won't accept there were 6 teams better than us?

Even if they are what do you care what others do?

[weybridgewanderer]

2-0 up v watford an half time, drew 2-2 , those 2 points see us in the play offs

1-1 draw with Millwall, those 2 points see us in the play offs

6 points out a possible 18, including 2 home defeats, in December

0-2 at home to sheffield Wednesday those 3 points see us in the play offs

1-1 at home to Yeovil those 2 points see us in the play offs

1-3 at home to Barnsley those 3 points see us in the play offs

1-1 at him to Huddersfield those 2 points see us in the play offs


14 additional points, comfortably in the play offs

[Unbelievable Jeff]

Adkins
Home Record

[windermere_royal]

3-3 vs Watford

[kwik-silva]

I think you can also add in 1-0 loss away at Blackpool with that calamitous defending

[Ian Royal]

3-3 vs Watford

Agree that was a key match. We were devastating first half, playing some of the best football I've seen in years. Then the confidence shattered.

[soggy biscuit]

Why does someone have to be to blame?

Are our fans so arrogant that they just won't accept there were 6 teams better than us?

Even if they are what do you care what others do?

[sandman]

Well you're right, there is fishing going on, but it's not from you.

[Vic_Flange]

Sod all cash didn't help, yes I am aware of other clubs like this but if Adkins was promised a holiday in LA but got a wet weekend in Bognor it hardly helps matters

[soggy biscuit]

Why does someone have to be to blame?

Are our fans so arrogant that they just won't accept there were 6 teams better than us?

True but I think deep down we all know there was easily enough in that squad to get top 6

Disagree. We might think some of the players have the technical ability to be better than we often saw them but many other mental factors come into play like staying calm, sticking to tactics and game plan, positive attitude/not letting your head drop when going behind etc. Its a combination of many things and this season showed there were 6 teams with better players than us

[tmesis]

Nigel Adkins.

The ownership excuse is a crock of sh*t when you have one of the highest wage bills in the division yet still produce a poorly organised badly motivated dispirited group of players week after week.!

It's only as high as it is because of the pay rises players got upon promotion, and pogrebnyak's salary.

It was a vastly overachieving side that got promoted, and given how few will attract premier league interest this summer, there's little to suggest finishing 7th is underachievement.

We finished probably about where we ought to have finished with this squad of players, although maybe with a few less injuries, things might have been better.

[P!ssed Off]

I do trust Adkins FTR - look at how he is integrating Obita / Hector / Taylor etc. Granted he has had a wobble sometimes, but again I really feel a lot of this is because senior players have really fcuking let him down.

Obita - yes
Hector - maybe
Taylor -definitely not. He wrote him off from almost the beginning. Only 168 minutes of league football over the whole season, a 22 year old will never realise their potential with such a lack of opportunity.

Opportunities for the youth have been severely limited this season, no matter how much Adkins goes on about his record of bringing in youth.
1st team players going should be great for the youngsters, but I'm not that confident Adkins will give the likes of Tanner and Kuhl a proper chance in the near future.