I think he got this spot on. Team looked alot more relaxed. Back 4 worked well together. Clean sheet Liked the way Guly and Richardson & Foxy & Lallana linked up play. Felt alot more relaxed today and the team looked really resilient.
Yeah and also Hoover in for Injured Seaborne. Best formation we had at the start of the season and also with our current set of fit players
Not knocking Martin here because he has played well but the team looked a lot more confident with the two more experienced heads at centre half. I would have liked Lee to come on for Sharp to get him more acclimatised but I suspect he could be a secret weapon to be used against West Ham coming on from the bench. I would guess same lineup against West Ham but with Chaplow on bench instead of Connolly. We're looking good once again. Happy days!
How was that Adam..? [been well away from almost everything today] Personally, that's as close to a full strength side as we've had since well before Christmas. Subtle changes like changing like-for-like from the bench doesn't weaken the side, but just refreshes it. And of course, there was no Chaplow, Harding, etc... who could all come in and the team could still be considered as being close to full strength. Albeit, with a slightly different flavour.
OK Guly was ok today for once. But i was slightly disappointed with the substitution of bringing on Connolly instead of lee. Thought lee played really well at the weekend.
I thought Connolly played well when he came. Linked up the play quite well, and helped us keep the ball - which is exactly what was required at that stage. Thought Adkins got that substitution spot on. Another thing which Adkins got right - and something which I've been calling for all season - was not selecting a goalkeeper on the bench. No need for it, and I give Adkins immense praise for having the courage to do it. It may only be one extra outfield player that you can select, but it really does improve your options no end. Huge, huge thumbs up for Adkins today from me.
Would have preffered Puncheon to start as I don't think Guly is a RM but other than that was spot on by Nige
if the selection was due to tactics rather than bart being injured then kudos to the gaffer, that extra outfield player can give so much more options to a manager- may it continue. with this weather its easy for a player to turn an ankle on the semi frozen pitches
Adkins said in his post-match interview that he didn't include Bart on the bench because he wanted "to be positive" today.
Fantastic win, just what we needed with a strong team back. Now to push on for Tuesday.........and please people, after the Millwall game there was so much negativity and so little foresight. Keep the faith!
i am totally in agreement with you that with only having 5 subs it is better not to have a keeper on the bench but with west hams hoof ball would it maybe be an idea to have bart on the bench just for that game?
Good team selection, I personally think puncheon is a better player than Guly, Guly is a very very good player for us and did well for us today but I think punch's pace and workrate are a valuble asset. Not complaining though as obviously we need rotation and players like Guly are too good to be out for long but IMO punch just edges it.
Also sharp made a big difference today (great goal ) he was direct and his first thought was always to get in the box and looked really dangerous running in behind think this was a big reason why we were so threatining today, early days but looks like it could be a great signing from NA
Just in response to couple of remarks above: Guly had a good game and has looked good in the RM position earlier in the season. Schneiderlin was great today; really impressed me just as much when he didn't have the ball as when he had it. His tracking back, tackling and positioning was great today.
I was thinking the same when that substitution happened but Connolly helped us keep the ball and helped us settle down. Shows why i'm not a manager!!! Thought Guly was quite quiet but did ok, Schmeiderlin was superb too.
