Article: Adkins - Rating on the first half of the season? | Southampton, Football

After the first 8 to 10 games there were some (not myself) that thought Adkins should have been removed from his position as Manager. I always thought he should be given to Christmas and his position reviewed.

I have been less than impressed on a number of occasions where he seems to have:

1. Shoe-horned players into unfamiliar positions
2. 2. Chosen questionable formations (e.g. 4-3-3 at the start of the season and I did not like the 5-5-1 for the last game versus Fulham where Lambert was effectively isolated);
3. 3. Poor team selections on occasion;
4. 4. Poorly timed substitutions and not always the right choice of substitute either

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All that written – I do however believe that Adkins, like the players, is having to learn how to cope in the EPL and I do believe he has improved slightly since the early part of the season when it should be remembered he faced a large number of 'top ten' teams.

I feel that to date; Adkins deserves a rating (out of 10) of a steady 5.

In essence, he has improved but I feel he still has a lot to learn and hopefully he gets to the season-end with a least a respectable rating of 7.

I would be pleased to read the views of others - I will take this opportunity to wish all Saints fans a happy New Year!

 

Well, seeing as we are outside the drop zone (as of the morning of 29/12/12) I'll give him a 7.

There was a lot of frustration early doors but I don't think another manager could've done an awful lot more with our squad.

 

Agree with that DTLW and happy new year Romsey!

 

I think the issue with the side stems from not strengthening in the areas that we knew were weak, a very difficult fixture list at the start, and lack of experience in the EPL. How much of that was Nigel's fault I don't know, but things have picked up a little.

I agree with all of your points, for instance the team against Sunderland what was that about, but I want to give Nigel more than 5 but I can't, so 5 seems a good place to start

 

Agree with DTLW & LAMB .

Happy new yearall .

 

Think he's done okay.

It was always going to be a tough start for you lot. It was a case of how quickly you could get things going after the big fixtures.

I think he has now, and thus getting you to first base.

6.5

 

I'll give him a 7 as well. Tough to fully judge him from what is effectively an outsiders view point when judging transfers and whatnot. But from what I can judge I think he has done well but with a few little errors but nothing too disasterous and we're on course for where we need to be.

 

I would give him an eight because we have had back to back promotions with a squad of league 1, championship & a few premiership quality players. He's had to learn fast & hard. Credit to him for not giving up!

 

Well nobody could accuse Nigel of having an easy introduction to Premier League football could they? If you look at the first half of the season in any detail, you would have to conclude that there were really only 2 poor performances by Saints, the home games against Wigan and Sunderland. Both of these should have been won, in which case we would now be on 22 points and in about 13th position. If that was the case, Nigel would have deserved at least a 9; as it is I would give him 7.5 out of 10.

 

5/10 is harsh.

Adkins has shown himself willing to try different strategies and move things around. I admire that even if he hasn't got all the calls right as it shows he is willing to learn. Reading on the other hand have stuck with the same formation and the same kick and rush tactics that got them up. Despite learning the limiotations pretty quickly, McDermott has done nothing to change it.

A solid 7/10 from me.

 

Personally I think we were poor and dropped 4 points in the draws against Norwich and Swansea who were both very poor on the day. So make that 26 and 9th!

 

Although some of you think I have been harsh - I am pleased to read that nobody has rated him lower than my scoring of him!

 

I'll give Adkins a 6.9 out of 10. Not quite good enough for a 7 because of some rather odd decisions, but definitely not out of his depth, and the fact is we're not in the bottom three at Christmas.

The squad itself is coming on nicely with every game. A couple of players have seriously upped their game who I never expected to, like Puncheon. And perhaps Nige didn't expect him to, hence why we went and got Mayuka and subsequently benched him most of the season.

We need a goalkeeper and a defender so badly though.

 

Don't worry, GMI hasn't been on yet.

 

im well pleased with adkins and our new scouting system. our unknown summer signings like yoshida have turned out to be little gems

 

Well I've never wanted him sacked, I was open to finding a replacement after the WBA game but the game afterwards I believe we beat QPR 3-1. Some weird substitutions yes, but we've got a reasonable amount of points and have bought some good players, on top of that almost holding our own against some of the big sides. 6/10.

 

I'd give him 5/10, as he's half way towards getting you relegated.

Nah, in all seriousness he's doing better than I expected. In my opinion Reading, despite their win today, will finish bottom. That leaves Southampton as one of around seven clubs trying to keep clear of the other two spots (that includes QPR: they will bring themselves back into contention, whether they're good enough to actually survive is much harder to say).

I think any grounded fan would have taken that situation at the start of the season, given that you were losing home league games to Rochdale not so long ago.

 

I think the most important thing Adkins needed to get right was to keep the team fighting given a schedule which almost certainly would put Saints at/near bottom with almost no points after five games. He got that right.

I think the second most important thing Adkins needed to do was use those early games to try out different tactics and have a squad and philosophy in place. He didn't quite get that right. In fact, there was a time where I started to wonder a little if he was up to the task but he seems to be on the right track now, albeit later than I'd like and having dropped a few more points than I was hoping.

I thought the team would struggle to stay up, which they are. I also think Adkins would probably have some learning to do and mistakes would be made, which has also happened. So I guess that means he's done a good enough job, or at least met expectations. I'd say a 6 or 7. Call it 6.5.

 

Results
We're in an interesting position in the table, 2 or 3 good results could send us up quite a few places and 2 or 3 bad results could see us drop to 20th again. The biggest plus point is that morale has apparently stayed relatively high. After our tough start to the season heads could easily have dropped but we've improved since the early weeks of the season and picked up some good results recently. Another small but potentially significant point is that our goal difference is currently the best in the bottom 5. On the down side we've let too many leads slip, conceded too many late goals and seem to be struggling to balance defence and attack. Adkins has to take some of the blame for that and I also don't recall any of his substitutions having much of a positive effect on the team's performance. The bottom line is that after 19 games we're in the relegation zone, which is below expectations.

Team selection
The biggest problem here is the goalkeeper merry-go-round. Adkins doesn't seem to have a number one and this really doesn't provide a solid base for the team at all. The preferred back four (Clyne, Yoshida, Fonte, Shaw) functions decently now but no more than that and really needs strengthening in January. From the midfield forward the players have generally been good individually but we don't seem to have found a formation and system that gets the best out of them all.

Summer Signings
These have so far proved to be a mixed bag. In alphabetical order:

Boruc - 6 - Looked a bit overweight and lacking fitness when he signed but goalies can often get away with that. Had one poor game and one decent game before being dropped (for non-footballing reasons) and hasn't been given another chance. Given his experience, proven quality and the poor performances from our other keepers I think he can consider himself a little unlucky

Clyne - 7 - Has generally been very good, although I think there've been a couple of costly slips in the box and he's not great in the air

S Davis - 6 - Slightly disappointing for me. He's proved a good freebie I suppose but with his experience I had high hopes and expected him to be a first team regular. Of course Cork and Schneiderlin work so well together that his chances have been limited since Cork came back from injury

Gazzaniga - 5 - Wasn't bought as a first choice keeper but got thrown in early and did okay. However the quality of his performances dropped markedly just before he got injured. I'm not totally convinced he'll ever be good enough to start but he's not a lost cause either. Could probably do with a loan to get some experience and confidence

Mayuka - 3 - Hasn't played much to be fair to him but, apart from a good half hour against Spurs, he hasn't been up to scratch

Ramirez - 6 - Looks an incredible player at times but doesn't always seems to be on the same wavelength as the rest of the team (this isn't exactly a criticism - he seems to see things and think faster than the rest of the side). I think there's a lot more to come from him but right now 2 goals and 2 assists don't really justify the amount paid for him. Hopefully he'll produce more tangible results in the second half of the season

Rodriguez - 5 - Has looked lively and hard working and has sometimes had to play out of position. As with Ramirez I think there's more to come from him but strikers are primarily judged on goals and he hasn't scored enough to justify his reported price tag. However I'm confident he'll improve

Yoshida - 7 - I was at the Arsenal game when he came on for Hooiveld after half an hour. He wasn't incredible (or even good tbh) but the defence was an utter shambles at that point and, although they were still pretty poor, you could see an immediate improvement when he came on. He seems pretty solid and unspectacular but he and Fonte have developed a decent partnership, although I hope they aren't still our first choices come February 1st

There's more negative than positive above but given our tough start to the season I'd say it's just about been an acceptable first half of the season. We're still in the mix, which was all we could hope for a few weeks ago, and likely to sign some players in the next month. With 2 or 3 decent signings we can hopefully pull clear of trouble. So at the halfway mark I'd probably give Adkins a 6.

 

Niggly point being that Steven Davis wasn't free (although very cheap by today's standards)

On the Ramirez point what is it with people saying that 'he is on a different wavelength to the rest of the team and he seems to see things and think faster than the rest of the side'

I agree he is on a different wavelength and that needs to be worked on but the latter part is just one of those silly football cliches!!! What exactly does he see or think faster than the rest of the side? Does he see invisible players in front of him to pass to? or is it he thinks Lambert is a speed king?

He is a good player and shows some nice touches but people seem to be blaming the fact that he is under performing on the rest of the team for not being in places that he passes to!!! I would suggest that they are moving into areas that they train to do and therefore he is not 'up' with our tactics (yet??) unlike Lallana who is twice the player yet manages to pass the ball TO players rather than where he thinks they might have been. Surely that's mind boggling because he must be seeing and thinking even faster than Ramirez.

And that brings us to Adkins. Solid 8/10 for me. You are judging a fledgling PL manager with an average first 11 that also lacks depth. If Saints started the season with Man U's squad I would expect him to be at least top 4 but not expect him to be doing a Fergie.

I think a lot of the criticism is undue over subs and the Mayuka love in from some is hilarious as is the hatred of Guly who again today showed that he is worthy of starting a lot more often!!!

Cant think of any subs that have made a difference? That first game was a long way away wasn't it. Errm Lambert on - goal, Davis on - Goal. Thats one I'll remind you of. How about Aston Villa - Fox finally retired from the starting 11, Clyne left and Richardson right. Another instance of his substitutions making a mark. I seem to think we scored a goal because of that change (or 4.)

So if he were a big name experienced manager he would get a 7, if he had a better squad then he would get a 6. As it is an unexperienced manager with barely a quality 11 then he gets an 8.