If this is the midfield for the rest of the season ( and it includes Woolford as well by the way) I don't think many are confident it will see us through. If we use the maxim you seem to suggest " if it ain't broke don't fix it" then exactly the same applies to the defence which has lined up behind that midfield in those victories i.e. to include McEveley and Collins.
I fear this Back 9 won't see us through thick and thin for the remainder of the season, so it's valid to talk about where potential signings are targeted in the JTW and where Basham can find his best position for the team. There's the cover of central defence and midfield to think about, we don't have a long list of big, hard musclemen to cover suspensions and injuries for months, we've loads of those players who don't put a foot in. There's a great thread elsewhere which includes the question "do we sign for the new hard, tight approach or the more expansive approach?" Players from different segments of the market.
So I suspect it is an issue.
It is an issue but I sometimes wonder what fans want on here.
Adkins has given football a chance with the players we had in a 442 - it has by his own admission not worked.
Shrewsbury was Adkins watershed - as down as I have ever heard a manager after a game.
It was Adkins, himself who said "I will solve this from within the squad" - he said that, not me, and it is what he as manager is now giving us.
Solid, boring, effective, tough, uncompromising.
The fans cannot have it both ways with what we have - open football and get stuffed in midfield or strong and boring.
I don't particularly like it, but at least I have some realism in what the manager is doing - it's actually quite easy to see what he is doing, which surprises me that others can't or won't and seem to want something that this squad can never ever deliver.
It is the only football on offer - that is why, until the JTW opens and we may see some movement - or perhaps not if players can't be moved on, so we might, just might have to have this boring, tough style for much of the season.
It is in my opinion that we would easily make the positions 3-6 with this style as we will not be dominated as in the first 3 months of the season. The BIG question is whether Adkins changes it again in the JTW - if he does we may just be back to experimentation again - quite a dilemma for Adkins.
It's quite simple - it's crap to watch, but it is effective.
We need points on the board - we are now getting them and as we get more points and hopefully get more confident and Adkins may then tweak the team a bit.
Where Adkins may change it - is Flynn in midfield (left or right) - that would actually make us more solid and would create a virtual "thou shalt not pass under any circumstances" and probably more boring than ever - but it's amazing what wins and points do for fans - in reality, once points start going on the board, they don't give much of a fuck to performances (sad but true).
UTB
