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Post by THE BEAST on Apr 13, 2011 10:15:19 GMT
Cathartic, post-match anti-Adkins rant. Please feel free to disregard as sour grapes in the midst of a 12 hour round trip... This Adkins bloke is a fecking dickhead. I know that sounds odd when we're second in the league, but we're there because we've got the best squad. He insists on playing this stupid midfield diamond which means we can't double up on opposition wide players, meaning we have to deal with cross after cross because there's no pressure on the ball. He almost invariably ends up going 4-4-2 when it inevitably doesn't work anyway, so why play that way in the first fecking place? Week in, week out he starts with the same ineffective system, and every time he ends up changing it because it's not working. On Saturday we got lucky, tonight we got found out. Harding was taken off directly after their second goal. Great management Nige- why start the dumb motherfucker in the first place when his arse had clearly gone? Anyway, rant over. Roll on Saturday. This has been going on all year, it's disappointing to note that nobody seems to learn from experience (either the players how to play that formation or the manager that it's not suitable when playing without wingers to track back) I would Exalt but I've used up my quota for this hour, thanks for the post, I hope you feel better now you're home?
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Post by The Rover on Apr 13, 2011 11:16:02 GMT
Cathartic, post-match anti-Adkins rant. Please feel free to disregard as sour grapes in the midst of a 12 hour round trip... This Adkins bloke is a fecking dickhead. I know that sounds odd when we're second in the league, but we're there because we've got the best squad. He insists on playing this stupid midfield diamond which means we can't double up on opposition wide players, meaning we have to deal with cross after cross because there's no pressure on the ball. He almost invariably ends up going 4-4-2 when it inevitably doesn't work anyway, so why play that way in the first fecking place? Week in, week out he starts with the same ineffective system, and every time he ends up changing it because it's not working. On Saturday we got lucky, tonight we got found out. Harding was taken off directly after their second goal. Great management Nige- why start the dumb motherfucker in the first place when his arse had clearly gone? Anyway, rant over. Roll on Saturday. Much as I think we'll still go up in second I agree it will be, by and large, because of our squad rather than by inspired management. I do have my doubts (to put it politely) as to whether Nige is the man to get us promotion from the Championship.
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Post by shirleymush on Apr 13, 2011 11:20:08 GMT
I must say I'm quite surprised to have people agree with me on this- even as I was typing it out I wondered if I was being over-critical.
Things were put into perspective somewhat on the M6 when we nearly got cleaned up by a lorry that was lurching from side to side across two lanes. Now that really would have been a disaster.
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Post by The Rover on Apr 13, 2011 11:25:04 GMT
I must say I'm quite surprised to have people agree with me on this- even as I was typing it out I wondered if I was being over-critical. Things were put into perspective somewhat on the M6 when we nearly got cleaned up by a lorry that was lurching from side to side across two lanes. Now that really would have been a disaster. Luckily not your time to go marching just yet then. Have some Karma.
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Post by shirleymush on Apr 13, 2011 11:28:33 GMT
Better news today on the Echo site- Lallana to start on Saturday and Barnard bailed until June.
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Post by Mandochris on Apr 13, 2011 11:38:34 GMT
Shirley, what was your view on Stephens last night?
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Post by shirleymush on Apr 13, 2011 12:20:31 GMT
Shirley, what was your view on Stephens last night? He didn't look particularly comfortable on the right of the diamond, misplaced a few passes and was understandably perhaps short of full fitness. There were one or two occasions where his commitment to possession football saw give give the ball to a team mate when they didn't really want it. I still think he's worth persevering with as his more progressive mentality might serve us well in games where the opposition are sitting deep. In fairness Saints' man of the match yesterday for me was Dean Hammond. He seemed to be liberated by the desperate situation and was much more forward-thinking than usual. For their part, Rochdale looked a tidy outfit with plenty of pace, particularly their right winger and centre forward. Looking at the stats though we have had about 40 shots at their goal over our two fixtures against them without scoring. A tad unfortunate, I would venture. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the players' attitude last night- they seem to be very together and they never lie down. Even in the 94th minute Barny was sprinting to get the ball back and place it on the spot for their 'keeper when it had gone out of play. If Lallana's shot with about 10 minutes to go had gone in it would have been a hell of a finish. We were just undermined by a tactical error from the gaffer and a couple of silly mistakes from Davis and Harding respectively. We still have one more "life" in the form of our last game in hand, Huddersfield's run-in is every bit as tough as ours and we may well be playing against a number of teams with little to play for in the coming weeks. It's still there for us, but let's not be naive- they will make it as stressful as possible for us!
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Post by eusebio on Apr 13, 2011 12:33:13 GMT
SM your comments on Stephens are interesting as unlike others I wasn't that impressed when he made his debut the other week. I wasn't at the game but was it really tactics that were the fault or players not performing I only ask as everytime we lose it seems to be the tactics. Apart from when we made the changes later in the second half at orient I didn't think we changed tactics but we were poorer because for all the good things we were doing in the first half we stopped doing in the second. Having said that any team missing Spider, OXO and for the most part Lallana is not going to be as effective.
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Post by Mandochris on Apr 13, 2011 12:33:18 GMT
Thanks for that SM. I thought Stephens was a centre mid box to box player. Putting him on the right of a diamond can only be counter productive to him and the team.
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Post by shirleymush on Apr 13, 2011 13:14:00 GMT
SM your comments on Stephens are interesting as unlike others I wasn't that impressed when he made his debut the other week. I wasn't at the game but was it really tactics that were the fault or players not performing I only ask as everytime we lose it seems to be the tactics. Apart from when we made the changes later in the second half at orient I didn't think we changed tactics but we were poorer because for all the good things we were doing in the first half we stopped doing in the second. Having said that any team missing Spider, OXO and for the most part Lallana is not going to be as effective. Interesting question sir. It's probably a chicken-and-egg one though isn't it? Do the players underperform because they're not comfortable with the system or does the system not work because the players aren't good enough to implement it? It seems to me that either way there is a simple solution, and one that Adkins himself almost always finds. Sadly by the time he found it last night the damage had been done. I am far from a 4-4-2 addict. At the highest level it is becoming outmoded (in spite of United and Chelsea both using it of late). For our immediate purpose though, it seems to be the system our players are most comfortable with. Nigel should stick with a winning formula between now and the end of the season. Then go 4-3-3 in the summer in preparation for the Championship where the midfield numbers game might be more important. I completely agree about the injured players- any other squad in the league would have been unable to cope with the loss of those talents. By the way sir- can you recommend a couple of books for the Easter holidays? I am currently plodding through The Sound and the Fury but by God it's hard going. I'd ideally like to have read one good contemporary novel and one classic by the time I go back to school.
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Post by eusebio on Apr 13, 2011 13:28:14 GMT
Always thought systems are over played. Very interesting last night Fergie at HT was asked what they would do as Drogba had come on for Torres. His response was that he didn't know that and basically the players just have to do their jobs and it doesn't matter what the other team does..........pass/move and when you don't have the ball work your sock off to get it back.....sounds so simple !!
Comtemporary. Don DeLillo - White Noise Classic. Has to be Charlie. Great expectations.
An off the wall. Cold Comfort Farm.......one of the funniest books I've read
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Post by shirleymush on Apr 13, 2011 14:29:43 GMT
Always thought systems are over played. Very interesting last night Fergie at HT was asked what they would do as Drogba had come on for Torres. His response was that he didn't know that and basically the players just have to do their jobs and it doesn't matter what the other team does..........pass/move and when you don't have the ball work your sock off to get it back.....sounds so simple !! Comtemporary. Don DeLillo - White Noise Classic. Has to be Charlie. Great expectations. An off the wall. Cold Comfort Farm.......one of the funniest books I've read I've actually read the latter two, but will check out White Noise. Great title anyway... Dickens- the one good thing to come out of Portsmouth. Thank you sir
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Post by Mandochris on Apr 13, 2011 14:57:03 GMT
Furry Frank The Combat Wombat on this week's Americana podcast (about the South and remembering and all that), there is an interview with the 85 year old niece of Faulkner. Quite interesting. I love all Dickens and am still saving Barnaby Rudge to read one day as I know I will derive great pleasure from it. I have read all the others but, thinking about it, I'd better not wait too long. Have you tried Michener?
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Post by Furry Frank The Combat Wombat on Apr 13, 2011 16:12:31 GMT
Furry Frank The Combat Wombat on this week's Americana podcast (about the South and remembering and all that), there is an interview with the 85 year old niece of Faulkner. Quite interesting. I love all Dickens and am still saving Barnaby Rudge to read one day as I know I will derive great pleasure from it. I have read all the others but, thinking about it, I'd better not wait too long. Have you tried Michener? thx, will try and remember to dl
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