to the excellent post from @BR7_addick, the squad is good enough, if it had say been the Cowley's who had taken over when Bow left, we would know the style of play. If Bow had this squad I would expect them to be top half.
Adkins has been lining up the excuses with the 'I wanted the squad together on the first day of pre season', which is a lovely aspiration, but not going to happen in League 1 and in a major tournament summer. Was the recruitment slow, who knows, it is what it is, and a good manager given the quality of the players provided, should do better with this. No manager is going to control who comes in now in the modern game, Kloop for example didn't want Salah when he signed for Liverpool, and clubs throughout the leagues have Directors of Football and Recruitment who make the call based on a load of things.
This is a top half squad, people like Stockley haven't become terrible players, and the Kirk's of the world have been badly mismanaged.
The squad argument is back again. And I’m sticking to the original point I made weeks ago.
I’m not having that 7 maybe 8 of the players we had last season have turned into bad players, i still, despite what we’re being served up believe with a different manager our squad could easily compete at the top in league one.
There was a transfer window thread we had going a while back discussing our business, the overwhelming majority said it was a good window and we should be top six.
If we let Stockley, Famewo, Matthews, Gilbey to name a few, piss off to rivals in this league you’d see them flourish in an organised side I’ve no doubt about that.
Was it assembled late? You could argue that, is that Adkins fault? Probably not. But fuck me come on even the most patient amongst us know W2 D3 L7 is unacceptable despite this.
A lot of the players who were here last year and are here now are the ones that looked, often, hopeless under Bowyer and picked up when he left.
This squad lacks bottle and leadership on the pitch. The arm band gets passed around by default.
I might even go as far as to say all our players are worth a place in a top 6 squad but they are missing too many of the vital ingredients to be a good team and no manager is going to change that, certainly over night.
That said its totally unacceptable and for that reason the manager needs to go. But don't expect a serge up the table when he does.
Bowyer can point to the fact that the poor run he had, which was nowhere near as bad as this season run by the way, was due to having Oshilaja and Pratley at centre back for a lot of it. We leaked goals at an embarrassing rate but he could give you a reasonable excuse. Adkins cannot.
Too many lightweights out there Saturday....Kirk, Leko and CBT even Gilbey was anonymous. Davison had his worst game for us ....didn't put in a shift. Arter was one of the few putting himself about. I don't know what has happened to Dobson but he has completely disappeared off the radar as far as the L1 squad. That said its up to the manager to gee them up and its not happening. Needs to go.
There's plenty of perfectly good reasons that this team with these players might not be at the play off level. But I absolutely cannot believe for a minute that they are not better than relegation places.
In some ways Adkins has made a rod for his own back as there have been passages of play and 10-15 minute periods where the team have played decent football. But for whatever reason (organisation, fitness, motivation or something else) we have not seen a good 90 minute performance from them. Not once.
Changing the manager might not lead to any improvement. But not changing DEFINITELY won't.
Not convinced we have a top 6 squad but I do expect a lot more than they’re showing.
Take Kirk as an example, he scored 6 goals in 42 league games for Crewe last season. He clearly has no confidence and looks like someone playing about 3 levels above where he should be. There’s no way if he moved on to a better run club that he’d look so ineffective.
Clubs like Lincoln and Cheltenham have smaller budgets and yet they play out from the back, create chances and press far better than we do.
We’ve made mistakes with recruitment, we’re still building up fitness levels and players need to settle in but by now we should at least see signs of a style of play emerging. That’s my biggest concern and why I don’t see Adkins turning it around. If we saw signs of that we’d see a way we could improve results, but we’re nowhere near, we’re poor in every area.
To start with we need to stop being so open and be braver on the ball. Plenty of clubs manage that without our resources, it’s down to motivation and tactics. There are plenty here if moved on would do well at another L1 club.
These are not excuses anymore, the season started 3 months ago, and it's been a month & a half since the window closed. This group of unfit lazy arseholes are being coached by an incompetent twit & every game it's like "ahh next game is the final straw, and then the next game and the next" & here were are 3rd from bottom and the bloke in charge, the "saviour" is sitting on his hands with his guitar pic shoved up his arse not leaning one way or the other, if he's gonna stick with him no matter what, just fucking say so, his silence is totally complicit in the angst and dread we're all feeling & now I know I'm just rambling, but it's all just so fucking frustrating.
I hate to suggest this because I really want things to work out for Thomas at Charlton but there will surly come point soon if he doesn’t act that some sort of protest may need to take place to force his hand a touch as everyone seems to be able to see Adkins isn’t the man apart from Thomas himself
Protests, oh my, your football club is going to the wall and may disappear is something you protest about, the team being shit, no, you make your opinions heard from the stand, not arrange a march
Protests, oh my, your football club is going to the wall and may disappear is something you protest about, the team being shit, no, you make your opinions heard from the stand, not arrange a march
A club of our size and infrastructure getting relegated to league 2 would have serious implications on the long term health and security of our club. Whilst I agree that we dont need to be lobbing balls on the pitch just yet, we shouldn't underestimate the impact this shambolic period could have.
Protests, oh my, your football club is going to the wall and may disappear is something you protest about, the team being shit, no, you make your opinions heard from the stand, not arrange a march
You do realise that Going into league 2 will be worse then anything Roland ever done !!
Protests, oh my, your football club is going to the wall and may disappear is something you protest about, the team being shit, no, you make your opinions heard from the stand, not arrange a march
You do realise that Going into league 2 will be worse then anything Roland ever done !!
Not sure. Roland wouldn't sell the club with the Valley and SL included. IMHO that's far worse.
The squad argument is back again. And I’m sticking to the original point I made weeks ago.
I’m not having that 7 maybe 8 of the players we had last season have turned into bad players, i still, despite what we’re being served up believe with a different manager our squad could easily compete at the top in league one.
There was a transfer window thread we had going a while back discussing our business, the overwhelming majority said it was a good window and we should be top six.
If we let Stockley, Famewo, Matthews, Gilbey to name a few, piss off to rivals in this league you’d see them flourish in an organised side I’ve no doubt about that.
Was it assembled late? You could argue that, is that Adkins fault? Probably not. But fuck me come on even the most patient amongst us know W2 D3 L7 is unacceptable despite this.
I remember a lot of player criticism last year, especially when in that shite patch, with most of that criticism being repeated again now.
Gunter / Pearce/ Watson - were all "past it" last season
Famewo -"not been the same since that injury"
Matthews - "better in the championship" was a common one. Morgan - "not kicking on" Washington - "if he could finish he wouldn't be in league one"
Gilbey / DJ - hardly kicked a ball under Bowyer.
Inniss - forever injured.
JFC/ Stockley - played well and didn't get too many negative reviews, but JFC injured this season and Stockley looks worse.
Amos/ doughty (briefly)/ maatsen!/ Millar/ Aneke - apart from Amos the other 4 didn't draw too many complaints either, they also happen to be playing in higher divisions this season (with Amos above us in league 1)
It's definitely not a bottom 6 squad, but it ain't top 6 either imo
Somebody Tweeted today that Adkins has taken training this morning and they had a team meeting and the players are fully behind Nige - he has 3 games to save his skin as there's nobody out there - what a depressing thought!
Amazed there's been no comment from our 'leader' not even a vote of confidence
Nobody out there - what a ridiculous reason for keeping Adkins on (if true of course).
Not convinced we have a top 6 squad but I do expect a lot more than they’re showing.
Take Kirk as an example, he scored 6 goals in 42 league games for Crewe last season. He clearly has no confidence and looks like someone playing about 3 levels above where he should be. There’s no way if he moved on to a better run club that he’d look so ineffective.
Clubs like Lincoln and Cheltenham have smaller budgets and yet they play out from the back, create chances and press far better than we do.
We’ve made mistakes with recruitment, we’re still building up fitness levels and players need to settle in but by now we should at least see signs of a style of play emerging. That’s my biggest concern and why I don’t see Adkins turning it around. If we saw signs of that we’d see a way we could improve results, but we’re nowhere near, we’re poor in every area.
To start with we need to stop being so open and be braver on the ball. Plenty of clubs manage that without our resources, it’s down to motivation and tactics. There are plenty here if moved on would do well at another L1 club.
These are not excuses anymore, the season started 3 months ago, and it's been a month & a half since the window closed. This group of unfit lazy arseholes are being coached by an incompetent twit & every game it's like "ahh next game is the final straw, and then the next game and the next" & here were are 3rd from bottom and the bloke in charge, the "saviour" is sitting on his hands with his guitar pic shoved up his arse not leaning one way or the other, if he's gonna stick with him no matter what, just fucking say so, his silence is totally complicit in the angst and dread we're all feeling & now I know I'm just rambling, but it's all just so fucking frustrating.
If we were improving they’d be reasons why I’d accept us not flying towards the top of the league. However as we’re not they can’t be used to explain why we continue to play like we did on Saturday.
Protests, oh my, your football club is going to the wall and may disappear is something you protest about, the team being shit, no, you make your opinions heard from the stand, not arrange a march
You do realise that Going into league 2 will be worse then anything Roland ever done !!
Not sure. Roland wouldn't sell the club with the Valley and SL included. IMHO that's far worse.
Why would you say its alot worse, many teams don't own there stadium plus what would be the point in having a 27,000 seater stadium in league 2 when you only have 5-7000 going, being relgated to league 2 will be one off the worse things to happen to us.
Somebody Tweeted today that Adkins has taken training this morning and they had a team meeting and the players are fully behind Nige - he has 3 games to save his skin as there's nobody out there - what a depressing thought!
Amazed there's been no comment from our 'leader' not even a vote of confidence
Nobody out there - what a ridiculous reason for keeping Adkins on (if true of course).
It's an even more ridiculous reason when Thomas told us that Jackson would take over when Nigel left.........
Nowhere near any sort of protest imo and it would be a very dangerous/damaging route to go down based on the state of performances on the pitch and the financial input TS has given. However, I do agree TS is inviting discontent on if he continues to employ Adkins and results continue to carry on in this vain. None of us wanted to see this situation, and I am sure TS doesn't want the headache of replacing NA. However, he will have bigger headaches if we do nothing
Nowhere near any sort of protest imo and it would be a very dangerous/damaging route to go down based on the state of performances on the pitch and the financial input TS has given. However, I do agree TS is inviting discontent on if he continues to employ Adkins and results continue to carry on in this vain. None of us wanted to see this situation, and I am sure TS doesn't want the headache of replacing NA. However, he will have bigger headaches if we do nothing
Starting to feel similar to that 2008/9 season when Murray didn’t want to do the necessary and sack Pardew, and gave us little chance to stay up.
I can see us winning tomorrow, lose at Sunderland, the game after might be the final straw.
Any more than 15 games with the current set up remaining will enforce the belief that relegation is not just a real possibility, but we will actually be in a relegation battle.
I have said before 10 games is fair, however after each glimpse of improvement we regress like Prince Williams hairline.
Nowhere near any sort of protest imo and it would be a very dangerous/damaging route to go down based on the state of performances on the pitch and the financial input TS has given. However, I do agree TS is inviting discontent on if he continues to employ Adkins and results continue to carry on in this vain. None of us wanted to see this situation, and I am sure TS doesn't want the headache of replacing NA. However, he will have bigger headaches if we do nothing
Starting to feel similar to that 2008/9 season when Murray didn’t want to do the necessary and sack Pardew, and gave us little chance to stay up.
I can see us winning tomorrow, lose at Sunderland, the game after might be the final straw.
Any more than 15 games with the current set up remaining will enforce the belief that relegation is not just a real possibility, but we will actually be in a relegation battle.
I have said before 10 games is fair, however after each glimpse of improvement we regress like Prince Williams hairline.
We already are in a relegation battle. No doubt about it.
Let's be honest, Tommy has not got the money to pay Nigel off, and he deffo has not got the money to pay him off and pay compo to steal another manager.
If, and its a big if he gets rid of Nigel someone within the club will promoted to manager be it JJ or JE giving him the cheap option.
Personally I think Nigel will still be in charge come Christmas.
Lincoln looked better than us in every department. Their main issue was they looked lacking in goals. Hence the closeness of the scoreline but we shouldn't look at that. It is their problem whereas everything else is our problem. They were so much better than us with their movement and we couldn't string two offensive passes together. That is how you judge that performance. It was abject in every way.
Somebody Tweeted today that Adkins has taken training this morning and they had a team meeting and the players are fully behind Nige - he has 3 games to save his skin as there's nobody out there - what a depressing thought!
Amazed there's been no comment from our 'leader' not even a vote of confidence
Sounds as if sandgaard has set out his stool, which is good - just a shame he hasn’t pulled the trigger!
Sounds as if work is on going to find alternatives to Adkins which is positive - should it be correct
A dirty protest from the owner? It’s certainly different.
We have not been on the end of a bad beating like some teams which is a positive! beat Stanley and the. We can go on a run!
Bolton at home?
Not getting hidings isn't the point is it, it's the manner of the defeat, the Cheltenham performance was the equivalent of getting done 5 nil
As BR7 said a few weeks ago. I can take losing, even on a regular basis it's the manner or the loss. Even if we had picked a point up Saturday it would of still been a bad as performance as a loss. All I want is some fight in the team. Sort out the problems in the club and if that means Adkins to go and half the team being u23s because others players are not up to for the cause , then so be it.
Yes, I think the starting point (whoever is in charge) is to pick 11 players that will give you everything. If you can find 18, then pick those 18. We are not competing because we have too many players who do not want to battle. Saturday the biggest culprits were Kirk and Leko. I'm no fan of Dobson's early performances for example, but at the moment I'd choose him over Kirk, because he will contribute something. I know they play in different positions, but as I said choose 11 battlers and then see how you can fit them into a sensible formation.
Comments
Adkins has been lining up the excuses with the 'I wanted the squad together on the first day of pre season', which is a lovely aspiration, but not going to happen in League 1 and in a major tournament summer. Was the recruitment slow, who knows, it is what it is, and a good manager given the quality of the players provided, should do better with this. No manager is going to control who comes in now in the modern game, Kloop for example didn't want Salah when he signed for Liverpool, and clubs throughout the leagues have Directors of Football and Recruitment who make the call based on a load of things.
This is a top half squad, people like Stockley haven't become terrible players, and the Kirk's of the world have been badly mismanaged.
In some ways Adkins has made a rod for his own back as there have been passages of play and 10-15 minute periods where the team have played decent football. But for whatever reason (organisation, fitness, motivation or something else) we have not seen a good 90 minute performance from them. Not once.
Changing the manager might not lead to any improvement. But not changing DEFINITELY won't.
I remember a lot of player criticism last year, especially when in that shite patch, with most of that criticism being repeated again now.
Gunter / Pearce/ Watson - were all "past it" last season
Morgan - "not kicking on"
Washington - "if he could finish he wouldn't be in league one"
Gilbey / DJ - hardly kicked a ball under Bowyer.
Inniss - forever injured.
JFC/ Stockley - played well and didn't get too many negative reviews, but JFC injured this season and Stockley looks worse.
Amos/ doughty (briefly)/ maatsen!/ Millar/ Aneke - apart from Amos the other 4 didn't draw too many complaints either, they also happen to be playing in higher divisions this season (with Amos above us in league 1)
It's definitely not a bottom 6 squad, but it ain't top 6 either imo
I have said before 10 games is fair, however after each glimpse of improvement we regress like Prince Williams hairline.
Let's be honest, Tommy has not got the money to pay Nigel off, and he deffo has not got the money to pay him off and pay compo to steal another manager.
If, and its a big if he gets rid of Nigel someone within the club will promoted to manager be it JJ or JE giving him the cheap option.
Personally I think Nigel will still be in charge come Christmas.
I still believe we will finish easily in mid table but every final chance is going to make that a little bit more difficult
If you can find 18, then pick those 18.
We are not competing because we have too many players who do not want to battle.
Saturday the biggest culprits were Kirk and Leko.
I'm no fan of Dobson's early performances for example, but at the moment I'd choose him over Kirk, because he will contribute something.
I know they play in different positions, but as I said choose 11 battlers and then see how you can fit them into a sensible formation.