ahha - the centre half dilemma - and as some have eluded to - it's now a 2+ year old problem.
If Adkins had solved the problem in the summer we would at least be in the playoffs (at least) - for me Clough, like most of us, knew it was an issue and would have addressed the problem if he had stayed, so give him some credit. Adkins didn't or wouldn't even consider and now only has himself to blame for the stick he is getting.
As for the 3-5-2 - it is there to accommodate the fact that Edgar and McEv can't play in a 2 and there is no evidence that Baptiste can play in a 2 either and we haven't seen him play in a 2. He just might be as bad with Edgar or McEv in L1. His pedigree is good, but then we have thought that of others who look decent a division up but can't adapt to a division lower (we have plenty of examples).
A team should ideally have 2 strong centre backs AND 2 full backs that can bomb forward.
Three centre backs is a bloody excuse for two not being good enough in the first place. We play 3 centre backs because it fits in with our present slowwwwwww midfield combination which is also not good enough.
This is going to be torture until we know the retention list and Adkins starts to bring in some players - I really hope he knows NOW who to bring in - just couldn't abide another o'grady/higdon type scenario.
UTB