Shirls, don't forget us when you're famous

[batterseasaint]

I see your article is creating a fair bit of Twitter interest. Is all over the saintsfc hash tag, which I guess means it is being read by most fans that are on Twitter.

[batterseasaint]

Oops, this was posted on to the wrong forum. Anyway, if anyone is interested, there's an article on ItsBeautifulOutside which is a pretty well thought out view on the situation.

[Danny R]

Oops, this was posted on to the wrong forum. Anyway, if anyone is interested, there's an article on ItsBeautifulOutside which is a pretty well thought out view on the situation.

 

Just read.. Excellent piece that makes you understand the logic behind the decision. I just hope it's the right one!

[StDunko]

link or cut and paste anyone?

[WindsorSaint]

Why was Nigel Adkins sacked?

20/01/13 09:34 Filed in: Club

After Friday's events it has taken a while to get any sort of perspective on what actually has happened at Southampton Football Club and what it might mean.

 

One of the regular posters on the IBO Forums, shirleymush has felt that the only way he could make sense of it all was to sit down and write an article about it. After reading it I realised that it mirrored my thoughts about the whole episode. So, here it is :

 

 

 

The reaction to Nigel Adkins being replaced as Southampton manager has been such that the phrase “widespread disbelief” has almost become a cliché. However, while the suggestion that a Napoleonic chairman has fired a good man out of spite might be a good story, a careful look at the situation suggests that a change was inevitable.

 

Because of the way Southampton Football Club is run - dealings with the media are kept to a minimum - the following will necessarily contain speculation, albeit speculation that is no less credible than that of the local and national papers. The fact is, no one except Nicola Cortese, Les Reed, Adkins himself and possibly the Liebherr family, on behalf of whom Cortese runs the club, know exactly what has happened to bring this about. Make no mistake though - it has been on the cards for some time.

 

Even in the euphoric aftermath of Saints’ return to the Premier League, Adkins talked about an eventual “parting of the ways” in a strange interview after the promotion-clinching win over Coventry at a delirious St. Mary’s. “I just hope it’s handled in the right way”, was what Adkins said at the time. Sadly, few would argue that this has been the case. The club find themselves in the midst of a public relations disaster, the football world at large hoping that the decision backfires and results in an instant return to the Championship.

 

By way of explanation, only a vague and mealy-mouthed press release has been forthcoming. Yet by reading between the lines of the club statement, it is possible to gain some insight into what had become an unsustainable relationship.

 

“Mauricio is a well-respected coach of substantial quality who has gained a reputation as an astute tactician and excellent man manager. I have every confidence that he will inspire our talented squad of players to perform at the highest possible level.

 

“He also shares my belief that the most successful clubs are built by nurturing young players through a development system that provides a clear path to the First Team, thereby creating a culture that keeps them at the Club for the long term. This is an approach he has employed with great success in the past and I look forward to him bringing that experience and expertise to Southampton.”

 

The key phrases are “astute tactician” and “clear path to the First Team”. In an otherwise banal talk at a coaching forum, Saints’ Head of Football Development and Support made some interesting comments about what the club refer to as “The Pathway” (

); while players are taught a variety of styles of play, all the academy teams are expected to play variants of a 4-3-3 formation. This has been the case since before Reed’s time at the club - a legacy of French coaching guru Georges Prost’s spell at the club.

 

In the excellent Soccernomics, Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski discuss the way Lyon went from provincial also-rans to European powerhouse thanks to a transfer strategy predicated on signing young players by committee, and how Barcelona have managed to minimise risky transfers by bringing players through from their youth teams. Part of heir policy all the teams - from academy to first team - using roughly the same system in order to facilitate young players who understand the formation and their role within it to progressing smoothly from the age group teams to the first team. According to Graham Hunter in Barcelona- The Making of the Greatest Team in the World, this is was one of the first things Johan Cruyff insisted upon when he took over the management of the first team. All the coaches at the club have regularly referred to “The Southampton Way”. This seems to entail a high pressing, short passing approach. “The model is Barcelona, who have home-grown players and success”, Reed has confirmed.

 

Adkins also spoke often of “the Southampton Way”, yet he had guided the club to successive promotions largely using a 4-4-2 formation. His favoured variant was a 4-4-2 diamond formation (which many fans were suspicious of). A brief flirtation with 4-2-3-1 around Christmas 2011 ended when the striker Billy Sharp was signed from Doncaster Rovers and paired with Rickie Lambert. Although the talismanic Lambert was occasionally used in a slightly deeper role thereafter, it was 4-4-2 that was Adkins’ default tactic, and it was to 4-4-2 that he returned after a chastening 4-1 defeat to West Ham at Upton Park. The Saints had enjoyed the better of the first half without really threatening, and after the match Adkins was asked by local radio whether he had considered a switch to 4-4-2, amid strong rumours that the manager was being told which players to pick and how the team should be set up (Lambert had surprisingly been missing from the starting XI). “We’re gonna play 4-3-3” Adkins repeated several times in response, almost as though reciting a mantra. Then came “The Man in the Glass”. In a slightly surreal press conference in the lead-up to the following game, at home to Tottenham, Adkins recited - in its entirety - The Guy In The Glass, a Dale Wimbrow poem which emphasises the importance of being “true to yourself”. Saints lined up in a 4-4-2 against Tottenham - and chased shadows until a switch to 4-2-3-1 in the second half. By that point, they were already 2-0 down.

[WindsorSaint]

Undeterred, Adkins against went with 4-4-2 in the next game against West Brom at The Hawthorns. “It’s not about formations,” he told the media “it’s about getting the better players on the ball”. His team were comprehensively outplayed in a 2-0 defeat, and what were referred to as “crisis talks” with Cortese followed.

 

Having survived that meeting, Adkins reverted to 4-2-3-1 and the team embarked on a good run, beating QPR and Newcastle and having the better of draws against Swansea and Norwich. Marquee signing Gaston Ramirez became increasingly influential, playing behind Lambert in the “number ten” position. After a 1-0 defeat at Anfield though (incidentally the only defeat the team have suffered thus far this season when playing Ramirez through the middle of a 4-2-3-1), Adkins went back to 4-4-2. This brought a win over a wretched Reading (who also played 4-4-2), but also an insipid defeat against Sunderland. Suddenly Ramirez - comfortably the club’s record signing - was being deployed on the left wing and becoming peripheral. Even a return to 4-2-3-1 at Fulham on Boxing Day didn’t see Ramirez return to the middle of the pitch until the second half. Steven Davis - a neat and tidy box-to-box midfielder - surprisingly started as the ten. Cortese spent weeks agreeing the deal for Ramirez, which was considered a huge coup for Southampton. He cannot have been happy to see his crown jewel marginalised. Another, less expensive signing was that of Zambian forward Emmanuel Mayuka. Mayuka was recently (perhaps spuriously) voted the world’s 85th best player in a newspaper poll, but has hardly played since arriving from Swiss side Young Boys.

 

Taking the above into account, it seems obvious that there has been a disconnect between board and first team manager. Whether it is right or wrong that the board should influence selection and tactics, the model that Southampton have adopted involves continuity of tactics and style of play. Adkins is far from a long-ball merchant but he has been willing to abandon short passing when he has deemed it necessary to do so. The recent fixture at Stoke saw the Saints have less possession than a Stoke team that finished the game with ten men, as they adopted a more direct approach, presumably in an attempt to fight fire with fire. Even if this had been successful though (the match finished 3-3 as Saints squandered a two goal lead), it is inconsistent with the stated aims of the club as a whole. If Adkins - who, in the Southampton’s continental structure was merely a middle-manager - was defying the board and flying in the face of “The Southampton Way”, his employers probably regarded him as insubordinate. Whether this mode of operation is right or wrong, Adkins was surely on borrowed time the moment he deviated from the script.

 

Cortese cannot come out and say that he wants all the teams at to play the same way - even if the model is Barcelona, he does not have the credibility of Cruyff, and would face ridicule from the football establishment. In the conservative world of English football, board interference in team matters is deemed a cardinal sin, even if Southampton’s grand plan is based on extensive research conducted by a “football man” in Reed. “The Southampton Way” is really little different to Swansea City’s “different route” (http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/jan/08/swansea-city-different-route-league-cup)- yet the ruthlessness with which Cortese has disposed of a manager unable or unwilling to fully buy into an ambitious philosophy has become the story.

 

A good man has lost his job, which is always sad - tremendously so when he is synonymous with some of the club’s happiest memories. The recollection of Adkins’ quiet dignity when addressing the media while those ecstatic scenes unfolded on the St. Mary’s turf still sets the nerve endings tingling. “I’d just like to go and thank my players, if I may” he told Dan Walker, politely concluding an interview. The poignant note left in the dressing room following his dismissal was typical of the man. “Keep smiling”, it said. Whether there were tactical shortcomings or not, Adkins’ relentless positivity unquestionably helped drag the club out of the wilderness. He will be missed.

 

Sadly though, football is brutal, and contrary to popular belief, it always has been. “Observe and replace” was Peter Taylor’s chilling motto during his and Brian Clough’s glory years. This applies to managers, not just players. As well as the likely differences of opinion regarding tactics, it also seems likely that the Southampton directors believe the squad was underachieving with Adkins at the helm. They will have looked at the success of Swansea and wondered - in light of a hefty outlay on transfers - why they are not enjoying similar success. Adkins’ sacking was callous, cold-hearted and poorly-timed. It was also inevitable.

 

shirlymush - 19th January 2013

[Window Cleaner]

Nice article but it merely looks like a very well expressed précis of some of the more objective posts in our Nigel Sacked thread. All of those points were made in it, they were just completely ignored or obscured by ridiculous outpourings of support for Adkins.

[pingwing]

It's style over substance, for me Cortese has a dream/image of what a premier league club is (in the news, playing a single brand of football, world image, full of internationals and big names) and Adkins at the helm was leading us to just be a bit like Norwich or Swansea, well run but unremarkable.

 

The change is to make the club into something more marketable, european and bigger. Though it generally looks like a soap-opera for now sadly.

 

I don't agree with running the club this way, no club can just buy the image and mould long term success in the background (all eyes on Blackburn for this buying a title then never really building a legacy from it) but it is what Cortese has chosen to do and we (sadly) have to accept that.

 

I don't like the idea that half the squad isn't good enough, some of it very much is and I am concerned that the chairman has too high expectations for our club that don't match the reality and prey we don't get caught into the old pompy trap of buying bigger names to try and "take the next step"/

[Saint_Ash]

Cracking article.

[dubai_phil]

Agree that is a great article and while I will never defend the timing or method of losing Nigel, there is a level of logic behind it.

 

Now of course the ISSUE is whether the logic is coming from people who are clinically insane.

 

Perhaps we are no longer a football club, we are now an experiment.

 

Can we change the world?

 

Only a very very few people in their chosen sport have ever managed to do that and survive?

 

Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods spring to mind.

 

And look what happened to them. They changed their sports but in very different ways pay back was a b1tch

[StDunko]

Many thanks for the "cut and paste" Windsor. That is the best I've read on the subject so far.

[dubai_phil]

Can anyone find the original link? Have some twits I'd like to get that sent to

[Smirking_Saint]

Great article that sums up exactly how I feel about the situation. Which is the majority of my sadness of Niges dismissal was for him as a man and the way he was discarded and not really due to his talents as a tactician or talent spotter.

 

What is worrying is the man we have in place cannot speak english. If it were the summer it would not be so bad.

[WindsorSaint]

http://www.itsbeautifuloutside.co.uk/blog/files/why-was-Nigel-Adkins-sacked.html

[Tokyo-Saint]

I am pretty sure we played 4-2-3-1 against West Brom. For me the change came after the 'crunch meeting'. After the meeting it seemed Adkins was able to pick his own team, play his own style and be true to himself. The all out attacking football was replaced with a tough to beat team, we started to get clean sheets, pick up points and pick up the odd win. I feel though, after this meeting NC thought, well if you can't do it this way, I will find someone who can.

[stevegrant]

I am pretty sure we played 4-2-3-1 against West Brom. For me the change came after the 'crunch meeting'. After the meeting it seemed Adkins was able to pick his own team, play his own style and be true to himself. The all out attacking football was replaced with a tough to beat team, we started to get clean sheets, pick up points and pick up the odd win. I feel though, after this meeting NC thought, well if you can't do it this way, I will find someone who can.

I'm inclined to agree with this. We played the same way through the majority of those first 10 games, with disastrous results, and then after the West Brom game Adkins felt he was free to tailor the tactics to suit the opposition's particular strengths or weaknesses and we started picking up results.

 

Some of the tactical observations in that article are, quite frankly, nonsense. Ramirez's move to the left flank has been solely as a result of Adam Lallana's injury - suggesting it was some sort of brain-fart on Adkins' part is bizarre.

[CityRanger]

I am pretty sure we played 4-2-3-1 against West Brom. For me the change came after the 'crunch meeting'. After the meeting it seemed Adkins was able to pick his own team, play his own style and be true to himself. The all out attacking football was replaced with a tough to beat team, we started to get clean sheets, pick up points and pick up the odd win. I feel though, after this meeting NC thought, well if you can't do it this way, I will find someone who can.

 

We were way too open in a 4 3 3 early on in the season and easy to pick off, whereas recently we seemed to have tightened up I agree.

The first few home games I couldn't beleive that even when the opposition had the ball we'd have 3 men spread across the half way line waiting for us to win it back.

Nigel wouldn't change it and it certainly did seem he was under instruction from above.

Fascinating summary from Shirleymush.

[Tokyo-Saint]

I hope our early season ways don't make a return. We are not Barca and if we want to be (like) Barca, we have to build up gradually. The start to this is cementing our place in the division, keeping the defence tight and making us hard to beat. That's what Everton do and have built on that. Man City did not start their their revolution by trying to be world beaters (bar the ill fated Robinho signing). They bought players like Bellamy and worked their way up. You can't suddenly become Barca over night, dominating possession and not giving the other team a sniff. Not when the other team has better players than you anyway.

[SaintBobby]

Great article.

 

Which surprised me...as the opening line "The reaction to Nigel Adkins being replaced as Southampton manager has been such that the phrase “widespread disbelief” has almost become a cliché." is one of the worst I've ever read....

 

The phrase is already a cliche.

[Dibden Purlieu Saint]

Excellently written, erudite article.

[Frank's cousin]

I'm inclined to agree with this. We played the same way through the majority of those first 10 games, with disastrous results, and then after the West Brom game Adkins felt he was free to tailor the tactics to suit the opposition's particular strengths or weaknesses and we started picking up results.

 

Some of the tactical observations in that article are, quite frankly, nonsense. Ramirez's move to the left flank has been solely as a result of Adam Lallana's injury - suggesting it was some sort of brain-fart on Adkins' part is bizarre.

 

 

Fair enough Steve, if there are inaccuracies, and the conclusions drawn may not fit with everyones own opinion, but the main point is someone actually took the time to try and understand the issues and rational behind the decision - tried to get a balanced perspective after the initial emotional recoil suffered. For that reason it's a great article, even with its flaws.

[Tokyo-Saint]

I wouldn't really say it is balanced. The facts are IMO wrong, they are adjusted to fit a theory. It is well written and interesting but pretty far off the truth in some parts. As Steve said the Ramirez stuff is way off. He was not moved to accommodate anyone. He was moved because Lallana was injured and it was either him on the left or Steve De Ridder...

[Frank's cousin]

I wouldn't really say it is balanced. The facts are IMO wrong, they are adjusted to fit a theory. It is well written and interesting but pretty far off the truth in some parts. As Steve said the Ramirez stuff is way off. He was not moved to accommodate anyone. He was moved because Lallana was injured and it was either him on the left or Steve De Ridder...

 

Sorry, it is 'balanced' if not accurate - the point being its not a emotionally driven rant - but a calmer reflection - you can disagree with the content and conclusions, fair enough, but good to see some fans think about it in more depth.

[Window Cleaner]

I wouldn't really say it is balanced. The facts are IMO wrong, they are adjusted to fit a theory. It is well written and interesting but pretty far off the truth in some parts. As Steve said the Ramirez stuff is way off. He was not moved to accommodate anyone. He was moved because Lallana was injured and it was either him on the left or Steve De Ridder...

 

Not Guly then or JRod as as the start of the season?

[stevegrant]

Sorry' date=' it is 'balanced' if not accurate - the point being its not a emotionally driven rant - but a calmer reflection - you can disagree with the content and conclusions, fair enough, but good to see some fans think about it in more depth.[/quote']

Surely it's only "balanced" if it presents arguments from both sides, which it plainly doesn't.

 

It says "this is why Adkins was sacked" and then goes on to use inaccurate and flawed tactical analysis to justify it.

[Frank's cousin]

Surely it's only "balanced" if it presents arguments from both sides, which it plainly doesn't.

 

It says "this is why Adkins was sacked" and then goes on to use inaccurate and flawed tactical analysis to justify it.

 

Perhaps, but its not based on an out pouring of collective Diana like grief which is what I am getting at - Dont get me wrong, I am glad that others have taken the time to comment and highlight teh inaccuracies - as should be done and that does begin to undermine the content and conclusions, but would much rather we had more of thsi sort of attempt at understanding than the public hanging and ***** fest that has been so 'dramatic' these last few days.

[Tokyo-Saint]

Not Guly then or JRod as as the start of the season?

 

Other options, but it was the 'first team coaches' call, given his success in the past, I would have gone with that.

 

What's all this talk about Diana dying?

[The9]

Thanks to Steve Grant linking this to me, I can dump my Facebook ramblings here too - suffice to say I also think there's a load of revisionism in the article and some outright mistruths, though the overall desire to play 4-2-3-1 is clear nevertheless :

 

"utter b0110cks ... claiming we've only lost one match (away to Liverpool) where Ramirez has played through the middle of a 4231.

 

Absolute cobblers... he played there against Everton too. We didn't play with more than one striker in [most] matches. If anything the argument is what constitutes the 5 in midfield - if the article is claiming Cork's return is a 4231 and Schneiderlin with Ward-Prowse or Davis isn't, well that's just to fit his agenda, we've played mostly the same formation, it's just Cork sits deeper naturally."

 

Then later

 

"I keep going back to it just to find more holes.

 

"suddenly Ramirez was deployed on the left of a 442"? No, Lallana got injured and we played Guly in the hole instead in the same formation.

 

The only times we've been close to 442 has been when Rodriguez and Lambert both start, and that's very rare. Even Mayuka got dumped on the right wing just as Rodriguez often got dumped on the left."

 

Spookily enough, last night we brought Rodriguez on... to play on the left of our 4-2-3-1. It was by no means the first time that happened this season (Man U as well, when it was was roundly criticised by a number of people who seem to have been fine with it last night).