And I remain confident that so will the bounce-back... ...comfortable victory. Just like that after the defeat to Reading, and the draw with Pompey!
Evidence? We may not have lost, but I am not sure we'd have won. I don't think we would have created a clear cut chance if the entire Boro team had nipped off for a "comfort break". I was worried about the bench, but the problems ran deeper today and I don't think it is just down to Adkin's team selection or formation. They just seemed to be not quite at the races.
Or the fact he was very impressive in the second divison of Spanish football last season? Or that he's played for Barcelona, Juventus and Tottenham?
Im not a Guly badger but I thought he was awful today, when he came on he hugged the line, didn't make any runs and just jogged at a slow pace. Chaplow since returning has lost his touch, his final ball has been poor but at least hes been making runs and getting into good positions. We really need to strengthen RM soon.
Re: the referee, no one seems that pissed off about the linesman and ref flagging that ball out when Rickie had kept it in on the left and would most likely have scored if the whistle hadn't have gone (I know he put it in the net, but keeper had stopped). 2-0 and we would have kept our nerve.
IMO Nigel made a mistake in not bringing Richardson back in. Middlesborough played the diamond and as we know, the diamond is vulnerable when fullbacks double up and run at them, which is Richardson's game to a tee. I'm not sure whether that cost us the game, but Butterfield looked shattered and didn't get into the game. Butterfield is in there to put in those sweeping crosses from deep and he didn't do that.
So Adkins may have made a mistake. We all make mistakes. It's whether he learns from his mistakes that counts and judging by Saints' response in the wake of recent setbacks he does! After all playing in this division has been a huge learning curve for Adkins, the players and us supporters. We're not like Boro who are semi-permanent residents at this level (and I don't want to detract anything from Boro who have had a good season and are a battle-hardened Championship team).
Now you and I know that is utter nonsense. We could have slaughtered them 6,7,8 - 0 and you would still have the usual suspects on here moaning that we should have done better...
He pinged a few aerial passes though which were smack on the money. I never thought he was that good.
If we go up, then I 100% agree. But for the time being, in this league, we're alright at RM. His name is Jason Puncheon.
