Ok, well aware others will have their own opinions and also that tonight's loss has been sore for all of us but my thoughts are that amongst the many minor difficulties we were always going to have in the PL our biggest problem is how prepared our management are for what we are trying to do. I just think that we are trying to run before we can walk. Examples of this below: Adkins & The Media We've stepped up a level, and there's much more scrutiny from the media, and fan interest from places it wasn't when we were in League One, but WHY OH WHY does Adkins make it so blatantly clear so often in advance of/after matches that we're playing 4-3-3, that we're going to try to outpass/outscore the opposition rather than defend and/or counter, that we try to rotate our midfielders, and that the width will be provided by the fullbacks bombing on? I mean talk about telling the opposition how to beat us in advance! Talk about it on the training field, yep. To the media, nope! Tactics We've also made it clear that while our main formation is the 4-3-3, that we dip in and out of 2/3 other formations and variations thereof for 5-15 minute spells to mix it up. Is it just me that thinks we're confusing our own players more than the opposition with this? We don't seem to have the consistency that say West Brom tonight had for example where their players knew where each other were and their movements before playing a pass. Coaching With the greatest respect to Adkins & Crosby, it's blatantly obvious now that the players are so focussed on this 'ideal' of playing a style you'd expect to see from Barcelona (something they're not at the level to pull off) but by doing so it's more importantly compromising their ability to do a lot of the basics right also. You really have to ask why (particularly away from home) we're so aggressively trying to outplay the opposition and making it so easy for a home side to counter us. When we've got the ball they've always got more at least 2 or 3 more men behind the ball than us, yet the other way around we find ourselves with so many 3 on 3's and 4 on 4's when we lose the ball. Training Big 'squad', and youths training regularly with the first team. Encourages leadership and development of the youth, but depending on the level of the commitment, it can also distract the senior pros from focussing on the main task at hand. Now, I'm not saying all of the above is down to just Adkins & Crosby rather than the 'vision' from above (the first two are mostly their fault though), but this is where it's going wrong. That combined with youthful players who need stronger leadership to help them out of a hole when they're low on confidence, rather than a management team who admit they're learning all of this for the first time also. I'm a big fan of Adkins and what he's done for and with us, you have to love his positivity, but I think now it is time for a change. I would certainly wish Nigel all the best should he go, but we need a stronger more experienced hand and backroom staff to take the next step of the evolution on. To end on a metaphor...... We're the equivalent of a typical 16 year old douche that tries far too hard to get laid. If only we chilled out a bit more and had some fun doing the basics, we'd be a lot more attractive and successful. Lat
1 - All managers can say what formation and exactly what they're going to do. All other managers are able to watch videos and see it anyway. Fergie can say his formation however there are always other discreet messges for players to do this when that happens etc. I don't think that matters at all. 2 - 4-4-2.....4-3-3 matters not a jot when you haven't got the ball. Matters even less when you see point 5 3 - Barcelona may say they play 4-3- but do you see 4-3-3 on the pitch? More like 2-5-3!!! at all times. 4 - Do we want a Pulis 'win at all costs' style just to stay in the Prem? Is being in the Prem the only thing that matters? 5 - Our biggest problem with Saints has been all season and even worse tonight: Fonte to Yoshida to Fonte to Yoshida to Fonte to Yoshida to Fox to Yoshida to Schneiderlin to Fonte etc. 56% possession IN OUR OWN HALF. So either our defenders are too worried to play the passes into midfield, or Schneiderlin/Davis are too worried OR the forwards (including Lallana, Ramirez, Lambert and Rodriguez) are not managing to get into spaces!!!! i.e. teams are sitting back and marking the only 4 players that matter in terms of goal threat and the rest aren't taking advantage of this fact. Other teams se that as long as they have these 4 marked that our other midfielders aren't stepping forward into the space OR when they do they aren't very good at doing so!!! Thats why I don't like 2 holding midfielders playing together. Schneiderlin or Davis for me and JWP in every game next to Ramirez or Lallana (whoever you want to play No10)
Adkins doesn't speak to his players through the media, so we don't know what his tactics are, or what his training and coaching is like.
