Aa Nigel would say, Listen,we need to work hard and stick together! Yes we played poorly last night but Leicester also played very well and IMO would have beaten most sides.We had our entire spine out and that would weaken any side. Its fully understandable that people moan after such a bitter disappointment but I have full trust in Nigel to put things right! It's clear he expects more transfer activity and we have several players coming back in the next week or so, Ricky, Jose, Chappers etc Lets get behind the team against Cardiff and roar them home. The Saints are going up! COYR!!!!
We're not going anywhere! Atkins is out of his depth now. As soon as we go a goal behind he has no plan b. Our style of play has been sussed out and its just too easy to blame missing players. His attempts in this transfer window have been appalling. One bloke on loan and some unproven foreign striker who seems to have gone awol. Am fully prepared to get my head bitten off for this post but unfortunately it will be me at the end of the season with a very unhappy i told you so
No they're not. Plan B was to put two wingers on last night. It's hardly his fault the players couldn't put two passes together or that both Connolly and Holmes missed two chances they should have put away. To say Adkins is poor in the transfer Market is also nonsense as you can hardly blame him for clubs failing to accept our bids for players.
Maybe you were a bit direct in getting to your point but I am starting to agree with you, I think Adkins is a good man manager, good spirit, good with media, good with club and fans but seriously lacking in the tactic department! Some decisions have baffled me this season!
Totally disagree. He's shown time and time again that he can change things when necessary. He can't be blamed for several players all being below par as they were last night.
Lincolnsaint do you goto games? Your attitude stinks. Guess what we may not have £50 million to spend behind the scenes. Buying players isn't like going to tesco and don't get on Nigel's back as its fans like you who will boo the team were we to drop further,or even call for Adkins head. It's all negative crap like we have a devine right to go up. We have been overachieving IMO. Let's support our frecking team and stop knocking them.
One thing we must not do is start criticising Adkins. He's done a fantastic job since he's been here and he's quite capable of taking us back to the EPL. He does have his idiosyncrasies and he can make some odd tactical decisions, but it's the team who are letting us down right now and that's mainly down to injuries and lack of depth. We are not that rich a club and Nigel has done a great job with what he has. We just need to get behind him, and the team, give our full support and certainly not start booing anyone just because things are going against the run of the season.
Yes I go to games as and when I can afford to. What has that to do with my comments? I never said we had loads of money to spend however a decent manager would have spotted the lack of depth we have in our squad and tried to rectify it. As for calling for nigels head if we were to drop further (which we will, we will be 3rd a week tommorow) then yes i would. This was the best chance we ever have had to get back in the prem and the club have blown it.
We are definately one of the best teams in the league and we had a storming start, but now other teams are becoming more consistent. The recent poor form has been aggravated by injuries, which happens by this time of the season. It's not the time for the team to lose heart or for fans to do sur present position is still better than we could hope. Every game is vitally important now, so we must all stick together.
How the f have we blown it. We are 2nd and most clubs would kill to be where we are with the manager, chairman and squad we have. Get a sodding grip and start enjoying this season. The Championship isn't easy! Look at Boro's recent results. We will come good again and come Easter I'm confident we'll still be up there.
I have to agree with some of what Lincoln saint says in that NA in my opinion is a great manager when his plan A tactic works, however the games where this tactic hasn't worked 9 times out of 10 we have lost these games. We have had some shocking results in our last dozen or so fixtures and when we go behind i am always certain we will lose. I am very disappointed with the way we have done business this jan. Seems to me we have spent 2 and a half weeks trying to get Hooper from celtic even though they are adament they wouldn't sell and Hooper himself has said he doesn't want to leave, for the money that was talked about (7 mill) we could have bought sharp, maynard, jay rod, and a decent centre back. (not saying that we need them obviously) Any way my point is that if we don't go up this year then in my opinion we have majorly cocked up, We will never have a start to the season like this again. As for calling for NA's head no way he's proved hes a good manager and i think he will learn from putting all his eggs in one basket if thats what he's done?
There are two schools of thought here...I have heard Adkins called crap and brilliant at tactics and substitutions. He didn't have the full team tonight and being human can make mistakes....Wenger anybody. This game was important, but we will be able to judge the team and Nigel by how they react to this and what happens at end of the season. Surely no one is suggesting a change of manager because we have dropped to second and have had a few substandard performances.
I have not seen so much negativity on here since the last time we lost a game, most of these posters were absent when we were doing OK, how come you only materialise when we have a bit of a down turn? Just how much good do you think your negativity is going to do? Yes, I was upset with the poor display last night but it isn't the end of the World, I defy any team that had so many key players missing, so much bad luck, to actually produce the kind of performance that we desire. In the cold light of day, try to accept that we have a problem or two which can and will be addressed in the short term and hopefully a gradual return to normal service, but quite frankly, some of you deserve diddly squat.
I have to say in a previous post I have for the first time questioned NA's judgement since his arrival here. That was because of his selections and line up mainly over the last 6/8 games. Even though we have won some of those games you cannot actually say any of them was that comfortable especially in the first half. To add to his misery he has had to keep chopping and changing the sides around and the players he is using are not exactly inspiring. Here I question his judgement again when dealing in the transfer market. (I agree though part of his problem could be Cortese here) Teams like Leicester had no problems getting players in nor did West Ham nor did others. It seems that for what ever reason some were reluctant to come to saints. We seem to be good at picking up untried people in the FL. (De Ridder, Guly and LT etc) but not very good at getting in our targeted players i.e Hooper and a few others. I am wondering if this is because of our managers and C.O.E inexperience or perhaps there interpretation and understanding of the current demand in wage structuring. In this particular area something isn't quite right. Normally I would agree about criticism of Atkins. However he should not be immune to it from fans if that is what they think although would agree that heavy criticism is uncalled for at the moment.
My point is when we first started to play poorly the happy-clappy brigade said "we're x amount of points clear stop worrying!" This continued where all the other teams gained ground even when we were just top on goal difference "we're top stop whining" now we have dropped to second people cant see that we have well and truly screwed it up. When we're 3rd next week then will they listen? Or will it take our drop out of the play off places before they conceede us unhappy fans may have a point?
Saint Kitch. We don't know what is going on in the transfer world. Nigel has confirmed an interest in Hooper but that's a long way to saying we have cocked up. There is plenty of time for players to be signed and Nigel indicated that after last nights game. The time to judge is on 1 FEB!
Who got us in the position we are in though Linc? The team and manager we have. You want to go changing it looking for glory. I hope for one your opinion isnt shared by many others as when you start the witch hunt for NA head and he goes because he gets fed up with the loud minority at St Mary's there will be a wake up call as oh actually there isnt a better manager out there. Nigel will improve as a manager as will the team. Changing managers did us load of good in the past 10 years didnt it? I would rather stay in the championship and keep NA than risk changing manager. Lack of ambition, No. Stablising a club which has been up and down for the past 10 years, YES. Plus unlike Gordon S, Burley and many other managers NA does have plan B and C. It doesnt always work but neither does Fergie. If you cant see that NA is the heart and soul of all things good at Saints then I am going to cry
Again maybe a little Direct and strong getting to the point but completely agree with the fundamental points of your comments, we were missing four guaranteed starters in our team tonight and what we had to replace them was not anything near the quality required for promotion hence the depth in the squad is poor! Going back to Adkins ability tactically well I thought tonight proved that.... You have a dodger left back playing right back with arguably one of our most consistent performers in Richardson our actual right back warming the bench?? You put a new guy in who has had 2 training sessions and leave Steve de ridder out who before his injury final started showing some promise? Bristol was another example of bad tactics, 0-0 at home lallana having a poor game agreed but we still want to win, so what do we do we take him off, even lallana with inelegant has more creative flair than harding.... But hey who am I.... Adkins tactical genius.....not sure?
