Well, now that the dust has settled re Alex Neil's appointment and we have witnessed our meteoric rise up the championship to be within one point of top spot, I feel we must give credit to his predecessor Neil Adams. NA must be credited with retaining the bulk of the squad from last season and whilst most of the players he signed haven't exactly shone (with the exception of Jerome and others we've hardly seen due to injury), but Grabban especially has blossomed into a useful player under AN. Credit must of course also go to McNally and the board for making such a brave appointment after initially offering the job to NA, who's biggest failure IMO, was that he appeared to have no 'plan B'. On my last few visits to CR, the crowd really seems to have got behind the players andt hey in turn seem to be responding (with the exception of Wigan!!!). I'm hopeful that we can keep the run going and make the autos (or even sneak the title), but unlike SN23, I'm taking nothing for granted, as it is all too close to call and I'd be surprised if anything is decided much before approximately 2pm on 2nd May
I don't think NA had many failings regarding NCFC. For me he did his best within his knowledge and experience. He was honoured to take the job and did his best. He decently resigned. Big respect for that. Whether he should have been offered the job is a different question and water well under the bridge now. Seems to me the board? McNally? Pulled a very smart one appointing AN from nowhere. The last time I watch City was at Craven Cottage in October and knowing our history with them in crucial games I only hope our promotion is sorted before that last game.
I have always given NA credit for what he did, and after all he did manage to rack up a very good points total before it went Pete Tong in November. Had it not been for that fantastic start, I dare say this thread would never have been started. He clearly did have something about him and I still can't understand why it went so wrong, so quickly. It's hard to criticise the board but I guess they could have acted a bit sooner, perhaps 2 or 4 weeks earlier, which may have appeared quite harsh at the time, but just think where we might be already had DM done so.
I'm sure the majority of fans on here would agree with you Thai and I think it went wrong with his team selection and tactics for the game against Middlesbrough (our heaviest defeat) and he was also guilty of playing players 'out of position'. IMO, he also fell foul of Hughton's problem in that he was selecting his starting 11 based on who they were, as opposed to how well they were playing (look at how Hoolahoops has been playing of late)
He is certainly silencing the critics (myself included), something that really came to my attention in the 'Goal of the Month' selection for February. In most cases, it is Wes with the assist, and when he has not made the direct pass for the goal, he is somewhere in the build up just about every time.
AN has certainly found the best position for Wes, but he still worries me when he's back defending, as he'll often try to play the ball out of defence, rather than belt it into row Z!!! I'd start him when he's fit, but not sure I'd play him against Huddersfield next Tue, but keep him for Forest on Sat!!!!
Much as I respect everything Adams did for the club and the honourable way he left his appointment was, with the benefit of hindsight, an error. None of his defensive signings made the grade and he managed to freeze out our best CB and most creative midfielder. Lending Bassong to Watford was foolish and if they finish above us then maybe this could be seen as a contributing factor. I know hindsight is 20/20 but looking back these boards were full of people all of whom have a reasonable knowledge of the game questioning why we were playing systems that did not suit our personnel and why despite having a very strong squad (kudos to the board for holding on to most of our better assets) he did not seem to know what his best XI or best formation were. I have a lot of time and respect for NA but the difference that AN has made is huge and he is only marginally more experienced in management than NA at a lower grade of the game. Even when we were on our good run at the start of the season we were relying on scoring three goals to win matches due to our leaky defence and even those with the most yellow and green tinted glasses would have to admit that we had a hell of a lot of breaks - I reckon most of Grab's early goals were owed much to lady luck. We got the penalties and our opponents didn't, we played 10 men for large parts of matches etc. We basically got the sort of breaks that the bigger clubs in the prem get against the likes of us. I am feeling very confident about Saturday and I feel that if and when we beat Derby it will be the spur to push us on to win the league.
I said as much about Grabban at the time, but one or two posters totally disagreed. and I'm never confident when he takes a penalty. I'm hopeful we'll get a result against Derby and push on, but know that there are many hurdles to overcome.before the end of the season.
I also think that this is water under the bridge. Neil Adams recruited a good squad which Neil has now added to with Andreu and Dorrans as well as bringing back Bassong (much as Adams did with Wes). The biggest problem for Adams was opposing teams packing the goalmouth and being difficult to break down. Ironically that's been a problem for AN as well in the few matches he's faced it (Birmingham and Wigan). Blackpool tried it but were overcome fairly easily. It's also worth remembering that we had taken 10 points from the last 5 matches before AN took over, including a 2-2 draw away at Derby. Adams resigned but he's still part of our club and now AN has taken over and moved things on big-time, so let's move on with that.
I totally disagree about the comments regarding Adams getting lucky breaks, other than Boro we lost games by a single goal, we conceded more soft pens than awarded and came up against keepers playing out of their skins . Ruddy and his back 4 seemed to let in more shots than they saved at times. Say what you like about Adams but he was not blessed with good luck. Tactically naive more like.
Hi JR, we have discussed this previously on another thread but in terms of our views, I agree that NA should be given credit in that of the relegated teams we were best placed and he had us playing a moe attractive style of football than we had endured recently. The problem was that there was no plan b when we had been 'sussed' and I feel pesonally that AN commands more respect fromthe players and is more clinical in his requirements, they all seem to know exactly what is required of them both individually and as a team. I am delighted though that NA stepped aside ather than go through another BG experience - that was awful!
If you read my post I am referring to the early part of the season when we had a good run and were top of the league under NA. If you reckon we had no luck during that period and that all of Grab's goals were all quality strikes with no good fortune whatsoever then we must have been at different matches. That said I do also agree with you that later on the reverse happened and the good luck we had enjoyed did even out somewhat but my thoughts are that whilst we utilised our good fortune to pick up early points we were not capable under NA of counteracting the soft pens and keepers having blinders against us that did occur. I would also argue that we have given away a lot of soft pens that were, unquestionably pens, just soft through poor defending and decision making - both Cuellar and Turner have been guilty of crazy challenges on the corner of the box against strikers with their backs to goal resulting in penalties. I certainly don't have the feeling of fragility under AN that I felt under NA - I feel the team are working harder and relying on graft and skill to grind out results where necessary and win with style where we can. Looking forward to seeing Derby beaten on Saturday OTBC.
