A must win game for Nigel Adkins.
As the crowds start to dwindle and those left start to get on the backs of both the team and the Chairman, Nigel Adkins is the man who holds the key to changing things round.
All he has to do is win a game of football, something we have only managed to do once in our opening six games meaning that our points total now matches exactly that of last season in the same period.
To do this Adkins has to make changes, the team is poorly motivated at present and confidence is through the floor and this is a time when a manager earns his corn, yes there are gaps missing in the squad through injury, suspension and a failure to sign players in key positions, but overall it is still a squad that is far stronger than any other in this division, take up front for example where many would say we are short, we still have three class strikers that would start in any other team in this division, this is league 1 ffs, three strikers is as much as our rivals have.
Some say that its the loss of Antonio & Waigo, of course this plays a part in that we have less bodies to choose from, but we still have in Mills, Dickson, Puncheon, Holmes, Lallana & Chamberlain six wide players, even with one injured that still leaves five for two positions and before people start moaning about some of them being pants remember two things, firstly Mills was taken by Adkins on loan at Scunthorpe and can be put forward as one of the very reasons why Adkins profile is so high, ie his ability to get the best out of young players, so it could be said Mills is one of the few players in this team who has actually done what we desire, ie play in a promotion winning side and secondly any one of those six would walk into just about any other League 1 side.
So the problem isnt lack of players or the quality of them, its purely a motivational and organisational thing, from this point of view its not something that happened the moment Pardew was sacked, in truth the roots of this were seen last season and certainly in the opening games of this, but they have been compounded by the Chairman's recent actions which has served to disenfranchise the squad further.
So Adkins job is simple he has to unite the squad and turn it back to winning ways, of course he will feel that the squad isnt fit enough, most incoming managers will point to problem areas to give them a good excuse why they cant turn it around in a day, Adkins is certainly not in a minority of new bosses here, but its not just about fitness and as I keep saying, man for man we have a side better than any in the division and I would also say that we could put out a second side capable of more than holding their own in this league.
But football fans dont take any notice of excuses all they care about are results if a side is winning they turn up and if they are losing then they done, its as simple as that.
So against Colchester, incidentally a side we havent beaten in six league meetings since our relegation from the premier we dont need to win in style we just need to win.
As mentioned Adkins has to make changes, I would bring in Dickson at left back and restore Barnard in place of Connolly, whilst i dont think many would argue with the latter there are some who would question the former, but would argue the case for Harding, well firstly the defence needs a boost in the number of sloppy goals conceded and to be blunt harding has played more than his fair share in that, starting with Plymouth at home and even on MK Dons opener, he came across and then allowed the man to poke it across goal, he should have put a challenge in, whilst most would agree he is good going forward, defensively he is a liability and he is there to mainly defend not attack.
These two changes in my book are mandatory although there are others that could be considered, Davis is not commanding his box enough and this is causing its problems, take the Swindon goal for example, again I may have mentioned this a lot in recent years, but you probably get five times as many crosses into the box than you get shots on target during a game in this division, that being the case do you need a shot stopper or a box commander in your goal, I think the answer is one of pure mathematics, if you dont believe me take a look at our ratio of shots on target to goals.
There are other possible changes, Dean Hammond is certainly one candidate for a spell on the bench, I find it very ironic that Hammond is underperforming whilst a man not considered good enough for our team, Simon Gillett is starring for Doncaster in the Championship as they hit the lofty heights of fourth.
But all these are only opinions and only one mans counts, Nigel Adkins, on Saturday he needs to show us that he is the man to make decisive and difficult decisions, indeed decicions that win games !