We seem (hopefully) to be learning a lot of lessons pretty quickly upon our return to the Premier League. Personally I'm glad that we've learned them against Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal and Everton so early on. If we'd learned them against mid-table/ struggling teams we could have lost points (whilst learning) to some of our main rivals, lost ground on them and then still had the likes of City, Utd, Arsenal and Everton to play twice. Based on this theory I'm pretty happy with our somewhat challenging opening fixtures and feel they are/ were ultimately the best for us over the course of the season. Now hopefully with lessons learnt we can press on and apply what we've learnt with a good few 'winnable' games ahead of us.
Like the Villa game, the Fulham one feels like a must win again, so it would be nice to take some pressure off and snatch a point away from home at some stage. Saying that, Everton do look really strong this season so no disgrace yesterday. A little bit of luck wouldn't go amiss, whatever that means!
I rate Adkins very highly - from what I have read, seen and heard - I am pleased he is our manager and I do hope NC keeps faith with him. I feel he, more than anyone in the Saints setup, has lessons to learn. I think he has the intelligence, self belief and willingness to learn from his mistakes and as the season progresses will start to develop the formations for home and away fixtures and the level of opposition to suit the fixture and to select players to suit those chosen formations. Its a learning curve - but I think he has the strength of character to adapt and move forward. Hopefully, we have the opportunity in January to make some defensive additions to make the defense less leaky.
Some very good points expressed. 1] The acute learning curve has largely been against front running teams, this season, and 2] Adkins is certainly no mug. If he didn't know before, he knows full well, by now, that the defence isn't the best on the planet, and there's very little he can do except make the best of it and strengthen in January, as well as he can.
Adkins was asked whether we were too open/attack minded after the Everton match and he responded with a firm no. 12 goals conceded in 3 away games does make us look foolish, but these were games we would be expected to lose. Now he has to prove that we can go to more winnable away matches and take the three points that these tactics are designed to achieve
I'm pleased Fulham will not have Berbatov in their team when we play them, a little bit of luck on our side there. The only result that would worry my come Sunday would be one similar to their Norwich result. I would be immensely happy with a win or draw, and not to upset with a close loss. Hopefully the team/manager can put into practice the lessons learn and prove they are learning.
At the start of last season Paul Lambert was asked whether he felt lack of players with top-flight experience was a serious problem for Norwich. His reply: "If lack of top-flight experience is a serious problem then we're sunk, because as manager I have none at all." Great guy, and clever with it. I'm sure Adkins has it in him too.
I was quite happy when the fixtures were announced. I'd just as soon play all the top teams while we learn since the any points would be bonus. My only concern was whether it would get the boys too down if they got smacked week after week. I expected NA to keep smiling and hoped he could do the same for the players. I did not expect us to take the Man's to the second half with chances for points. I think that gave us confidence and we got to learn at the same time. What a bonus! We are to the point now though were the learning should be settling in to understanding what needs to be done to win. I'd like to think we could get something from this weeks game but November is the big month. There are a number of games in November where we should get 3 points.
I was fairly happy with the schedule as well. Gave NA time to experiment, to learn about the team, for the team to gel and gain experience, etc. all against sides they would not likely have beaten anyway. That said, I think it's too soon to say if Saints have learned anything yet. I realize Saints play a free-flowing game, but they still look disorganized for stretches of the game to me. Other teams will not be able to take as full advantage of this but it's still something they need to work on. Also think they too often give possession away cheaply. There are times to go full-speed ahead and times to just knock the ball about a bit and waste time while frustrating the other side. That does not mean you need eleven players back or to play tentatively. Saints seem to have been all-or-nothing too much of the time. Need to find that middle ground and try to control the pace of the game. Until they actually start taking some points, they've proven nothing.
Obviously better to lose to top teams than lose to bottom teams, but wouldn't mind being WHU with points on board. I wouldn't care about who we'd played then.
