What shape would you have played against BC and LC then? Both teams got in our faces. Its similar to how teams used to beat Arsenal. Not that we are that good but chasing and hurrying us into playing dead balls is what teams do against us. How do you try and combat that? Play 5 in the middle?
You have kind of just put a valid answer/question into the debate, has Adkins got that ability to be able to adapt his team to combat opponents tactics, surely if it's as simple as getting in saints faces then teams would have worked it out before Christmas! I have been very impressed by Bristol and Leicester I have to add!
He's not a 'tactical genius' but he knows what he's doing and he's one of the few managers it seems who does have a plan B, C and D and they have got us out of trouble on many occasions. I think some people are forgetting how threadbare our squad is right now. Given the options he had last night he changed as much as he could, but can anyone suggest a sub or tactical tweak that would have helped? I can't. We were just beaten by a better team on the night, and there's only so much the manager can do about that.
So the fact its now the 24th jan we have had long term injuries and suspensions since the start of the year and we are yet to buy a single player when we were top of the league and every one in the football world knew we were in a bad patch. I feel that criticising NA and NC for not addressing these issues as a matter of priority is valid. I get really annoyed with people on here who always defend the saints i would almost say you are blinkered fans still living as if we are in the lowe days.
If I were to criticise anything it would be the esoteric attitude at St Marys. We have no idea how bad the current injuries are or when players are likely to return. We don't know exactly what is happening in the transfer window, especially with Lee. So when we see a performance like last night it's very easy to think the worst. Maybe there are some good thing coming up - it would be nice to know though.
Oh the burden of expectations, he most certainly has brought that upon himself, by doing so bloody well. 100% behind the gaffer. Sad to see faith waining as soon as we hit 2nd place.
Please name these occasions, only one i can think of off the top of my head was scrambling a draw away to reading.
As I said the time to judge is the 1 Feb not the 24 Jan. Of course I'll defend them. I'm a supporter!
I'm with kitch, panic buys no but we should have been way more prepared than we have been, it was an Imporabt month and now we have blown our precious advantage!
I agree with this - my absolute worst comment on these boards is "we would have taken this position at the start of the season". Well, it's not the start of the season anymore, we have proven to be a potentially great footballing side when we can field our first 11, punching above our weight, with an opportunity to be about 10 points clear, and royally messed up when it counted, against poor opposition in most cases. My main concern is that this is no longer looking like a blip - it's been going on for over two months now, and if you take the first third of the season, amost all favoured teams had troubles starting this season, and while they adjusted, we continued our good form from last season. Based on results over the last two months, we are where we are now purely because when we messed up, so - almost to a tee - did all the teams around us. If they hadn't, we'd have been off top spot about a month ago. That luck has run out, various teams around us smell blood, and are already burning up the transfer market. If we hadn't started so strongly, and been afforded those slip-ups, our last ten weeks form would be that of a middling table team. The Championship, as others have said, is a seriously difficult league to get out of, especially now we have lost the element of surprise, and missed opportunities can affect teams badly and permanently! Check out Cardiff - every year they are also-rans - it's now in their DNA to be up there all season, and mess it up at the end of the season and lose in the play-offs. I just think it is worth getting stuck into the transfer market, and paying the cash required to make this opportunity count. I also echo the sentiments of another poster - I have been wondering for a while now why players don't want to come here. I do, however, complete disagree with questioning Adkins. This is a new experience for him too, remember (finding his team atop the Championship and withing months of promotion). I just think we shouldn't treat this as a blip that will come to an end, but a general averageness throughout the team for a while now, with too many players not performing. I'm positive we will come through this, but am also of the view that if we finish below the top two, we won't go up this season. Too many teams will be up there with serious experience of that kind of pressure - Birmingham, Reading, Cardiff (even if they never quite make it). On the positive side, good, passing football has been well-represented in the promoted sides of late - Blackpool, Swansea.
How many other clubs have bought players? Barely any. All the activity happens in the last few days of the window, so let's reserve judgement for a little while longer.
I would like to say that being positive or negative in life is also in your DNA. There are people (like me) who prefer to see the positives and others who are natural doom merchants. Neither type has any affect on what happens on the pitch. However, wouldn't it be better if my type was proved right at the end of the season.
i think its a tough time for the team and manager, a number of teams have worked out how to play against us, Leicester pressed us really high up the pitch and we were unable to deal with that. with the spine of our team being out this doesnt help either (lambert, lallana, fonte). I think it is a lot more difficult to go to plan B, or C with these players missing. But i do believe that we will come through it. We should back the team and manager fully, the booing last night was ridiculous. I think the signings we have made have been calculated and measured recently, and its not the time to panic buy.
Woeful as the performance was (oh and wasn't it just?) there are 2 key points here - the importance of any league game can only be measured over a season. Last season we lost badly at Rochdale (2-0 and to quote the great Lawrie we were lucky to get the 0!) when we could have opened up a gap between us and Huddersfield but in the end it didn't matter because of the way the team reacted. If last night has set the tone for the rest of the season we're stuffed. But let's wait and see.
On another thought, NA puts a team out, they must have been given instructions on what to do, however once the Team is out on the pitch it is out of NA's hands, if the players don't keep to the plan, there is little NA can do except to change the plan, sometimes it will work, on other occasions it won't. Yesterday things fell apart, more down to lack of punch up front than any other reason, most of us on here wanted to see a back up for Rickie Lambert so that the basic game plan can work, it hasn't happened for whatever reason, without a holding centre forward the usual methods don't work, but neither have the alternatives. I am prepared to be patient and give them a chance, that when the key players have returned, that normal service will be resumed, but if we are to get promotion, some better depth in the squad is essential, no need to panic buy, but time is not on our side. Please despite the setbacks, try to be more positive and once more get behind the Club, the Team and the players, and most of all NA and NC, negatives can be very damaging. If you cannot handle the pressure, there is a very good Bowls Tournament on the telly, a lot less stressfull.
I comlplety disagree with you there,but I respect your opinion,it's a valid one but different to mine though. Adkins isn't out of his depth,he has a plan b,c,d...but he can change as much things around but that won't mean that the game will change... "His attempts in this transfer window have been appalling",I wouldn't say that.Adkins has bought in some good players(Falqué on loan,Tadanari Lee) and he might sign another player or two...
