Releasing Adams now would be as bad as the knee jerk reaction of getting rid of KB after 3 games of the start of this season after giving him the summer to prepare, the club desperately needs a stable footing, and Adams has to be given a chance to build his own squad with a pre season. Now on the back of signings like Bent, Doyle and Collins, then this looks rather worrying but, and for me its a big but, Adams was appointed a matter of days before the January transfer window, he had a matter of days and weeks to assess the situation, I think he gambled on some players he has previously worked with and it hasn't really worked, but he also gambled on others that have looked better.
Lets have a look at the situation though… when he took charge, the team had a patch work defence, with Ertl and Nosworthy playing CB against Burnley. Bartley came back the following game at home against Doncaster to partner with Ertl there but we had to then bring Kozluk and at the time barely tested Parrino in the fullback positions, we were scratching around to build a proper defence, I think his first dip into the loan market shows he does have a better eye to spot a player when given a few weeks to really look, as Lowry looked and still looks very capable, Mattock also looked steady before the injury and is slowly starting to look steady again, these two were on hand to see us to our first clean sheet in 6 games. Bent seemed like an ok but bizarre move, but in tough test against high flying Norwich, he looked to be a comfortable player, despite tiring quick, his touch looked good and he tried to bring other players into play (sadly this player was lost shortly after and hasn’t been seen since) and on a whole we looked very comfortable against them until Simmo dropped the ball under pressure and then fluffed a punch again under pressure.
The young defence Parrino, Mattock, Lowry and Bartley showed its first signs of naivety, there clearly wasn't a older more relaxed head to help them organise at the back and find free players, they hesitated and failed to pressure the Norwich player, with Britton wanting out or going at that time, Adams had another problem to address, with 9 days to go of the January transfer window.
Collins was cheap and available, not the answer clearly but a chance for us to have a contracted player in the centre of defence. He’s a cover player and I think he still would have been had Bartley not left for Rangers, some rumours had already suggested Bartley wanted out, maybe the signing of Collins gave him a sufficient excuse to seek a way out. Doyle may have also been cheap and available and with Britton out of the frame, Adams probably felt he needed another midfielder, however Doyle was the silliest transfer of the lot, we already had Monty and Ertl to do the role he does. I honestly believe they can both do it better too.
Problems continued and it showed at the back we didn’t field a consistent defence since Bartley had left till the Palace and Scunthorpe games, after that though Adams has relied too much on the experience of Collins and Nosworthy for me, certainly for Nosworthy, we’ve had better options on the bench at times with Lowton and Parrino. I’d even stretch and say Kozluk and Calve would be better options as they don’t prat about with the ball as much. Riise has looked his best signing and again with time allowed shows Adams can spot a player, but it also shows which market the board have backed him in more. Adams please for the love of god, utilise Riise more, even if you stick with your 3 man midfield, you could use, Quinn – Monty – Riise, or have a midfield of Willo – Monty – Quinn and use Riise in the front third to give us a proper channel player there. Adams success with signings is about on par with every other manager, 50/50. 3 bad, 3 decent even good ones and Vokes wasn’t too bad. The real change for me that needs to be made is Adams being braver, which in this situation is easier said than done, I don’t think he’s a bad manager, he’s certainly got some of our players playing far better, but he’s showing too much loyalty to his permanent signings, just because they’re scrappers. When a bit of flair and youth will also aid the scrap.
I think alot of us know that the situation we are faced with comes from mistakes and problems created by others as well as those mistakes Adams has made, the board, knee jerking at KB, Speed bottling it and creating an unstable enviroment, the board not backing the signing of decent permanent signings and prefer to tread water in the loan market again, players under performing and not taking part of the blame are all other parts of a very big equation in reason why we are in this position.
