Following Wednesday night’s defeat to Southend United live on Sky, Sheffield United now sit in 13th place in the League One table, 9 points adrift of the play off places.
With a squad which on paper looks to be a lot better than most in the league, it begs the question once again about manager Nigel Adkins, and what he is actually bringing to the table this season.
Last year, under then manager Nigel Clough, the Blades reached a cup semi final, and finished comfortably in the play off places before losing out over 2 legs to Swindon in a thrilling encounter. Since then, Clough was relieved of his duties, Adkins brought in, and a few players added to the books to ‘improve’ the first team.
Billy Sharp was brought in, and has been a success, followed, by Conor Sammon, Marytn Woolford, David Edgar, and then Dean Hammond on a season long loan in October. Of these, it can be argued only Sharp has come off.
Adkins continually breeds positivity in his interviews, to the point where fans have started to play word bingo as to what phrase he will use next, with ‘endeavour’, ‘game day’ and ‘can they do it in the arena’ featuring high on peoples lists.
This positivity has worn thin though now, with Blade’s fans becoming increasingly frustrated at his lack of admission to things that simply are not good enough. Indeed last night, he claimed it was a positive game for United, despite losing 3-1 to Southend, another baffling comment for fans to digest.
He was brought in during the summer, and it must be said to the delight of many, fans and board members alike. Looking at his previous record, it was easy to see why people clamoured for him, with promotions with Southampton and Scunthorpe to his name. However, when you look deeper into this, how much of it was down to Adkins?
Adkins inherited a decent side from Brian Laws with Scunthorpe, and led them to promotion at a canter, hats off indeed. But the following season, they were relegated after struggling in the Championship, before later returning to the second tier via the League One play offs. So far, it looks ok.
He then went to Southampton in 2010, and led them to successive promotions from League One and the Championship, before being replaced by Mauricio Pochettino in January of the 2013.
Now successive promotions might look impressive, but how much of this was down to Adkins, and how much was down to the fact he inherited a squad rich with talent far too good for both the second and third tier of English football.
Take a look at the squad in League One, Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, all England internationals now. Jose Fonte and Jason Puncheon are both seasoned pros who have gone on to play Premier League football for a number of years now and that is without even mentioning Morgan Schneiderlin, now at Man United!
Of those 5 top class players, Adkins signed none. He inherited them. Surely any manager would have led a team with that much quality to success? Adkins simply added steady lower league players to the mix, the likes of Richard Chaplow, Danny Butterfield, and Jonathan Forte, to name but a few.
When Adkins was relieved of his duties as Southampton manager, many felt it was harsh, but look at Southampton now. They have taken things to the next level, clearly something Adkins could not do.
At Reading, he could not save them from relegation, which granted may not be his fault entirely. The following season, despite the excellent squad at his disposal, he did nothing, and was sacked with Reading well off the pace in the race for the play-off places.
There is a little pattern here, that unless he drops upon a team already playing with confidence and filled with talent, he struggles. He struggles to pick teams up – barring maybe his first tenure at Scunthorpe – and it is quite clear some players struggle to buy into Adkins and his ‘positivity’.
Fast forward now to Sheffield United and it is a similar pattern. He inherited a team with over 40 professional players on the books, a team which had just come within 1 goal of getting to the play off final, and yet has not managed to do anything with them.
He has changed formation from 4-4-2, too open, to 4-3-3, not enough creativity around Billy Sharp, to 3-5-2, where United apparently look ‘exciting’.
This constant change of formation and personnel, to me, stinks of desperation. It is the sort of thing you would expect to see a 13 year old do on his games console, desperate for a result, he changes formation, picks up a 1-0 win, and thinks everything is solved.
The frank matter is, it isn’t. You could look all day and say players haven’t pulled their weight, you could throw all the blame in the world towards the owners, the bottom line is, Adkins at the moment, is a failure.
When clubs are struggling, you play your best players, in their best positions. You go back to basics. You defend well, clear your lines, and win your individual battles. You get the ball in the channels, and back it up with runners from midfield to put the opposition on the back foot.
What you don’t do, is play an out of date formation, with a striker at left wing back, an ageing failing midfielder attempting to pull the strings from the middle, and try and justify it game after game by terming it ‘exciting’. This is exactly what Nigel Adkins is doing.
His signings this season have failed, miserably, barring the aforementioned Sharp. His tactics have been baffling, desperate, and put in place with a seemingly lack of training ground practice. The substitutions, at times, leave people with mouths wide open.
United have failed to win back to back games since December. A fact which says it all really when you look at the team’s failure to mount a promotion push.
A few people have posed questions over the past few weeks to me, about Adkins and the club in general which have made sense.
Does Adkins really care about the club, or is he just trying to justify his job after every game?
Are the players sick of hearing the same old rubbish after games, just like many fans are?
What is going on in the dressing room, are there any leaders? Does anyone actually want to play for Sheffield United at the moment, barring Billy Sharp?
One thing is for sure, Adkins has been shown up for what he might really be this season.
In my opinion, he is behind the times, and not clued up on what is needed to get out of League One, despite his past successes in the division. Times have changed, and Adkins appears to have not.
I am by no means a football tactics expert, nor do I claim to be someone who can tell a seasoned manager how to do his job. I just expect better, from the club, the first 11, and the manager.
But am I right to expect better? I’m not so sure any more, after all, what have the Blades done in the last 10 years to give me, and many more fans who are probably even more passionate than myself, any sort of belief that the club is going to achieve something?
I will finish off by saying that I do not agree with the constant sacking of managers. However, there comes a time when it is plain for everyone to see that something is just not working out.
Adkins has lead the board and fans on a merry go round of false positivity all season. Perhaps it’s time he took that positivity elsewhere.
Blades fans, what do you think? Give us your opinions in the comments below!