The first six weeks of Nigel Adkins rein have been strong at home and not so much away, it has to change !
After some time in the job NA has now had time to assess the squad he has, their weaknesses and strengths and it is now vital that he gets his team selections right, last season quite often Alan Pardew would get it wrong at the start of the game meaning that on too many occasions subs were brought on not just at half time but even in the first half, this was a big factor in our failure to drag oursleves into a play off spot.
Adkins has shown many good attributes as Saints manager and undoubtably has the backing of Saints fans, but the team has falen into a rut of being dominant at home but not on the road and this has to change.
Last Saturdays win against Oldham was a case in point, the same old players made the same old mistakes and some good substitutions turned it round, this time Adkins has to get it right from kick off.
Much has been made of nurturing Alex Chamberlain, but I would point out in the past when we were a Premier league club we sent our youngsters to league 1 clubs to get that grounding, if Chamberlain is good enough and he clearly is, then league 1 is not a trial for him, its a level that he should be comfortable in and able to excel.
We have to start winning on the road more often, of course we cant win every game, but we should be capable of a lot better than so far and its time for the likes of OXO to be unleashed on a regular basis, NA needs to produce a squad that knows that if they dont perform on an individual basis then they wont get in the team, too many have been cruising, knowing that they wont be dropped, its time for that to end, competition for places is healthy.
Apart from that its the same old same old when it comes to a preview, I have said it all before, we are good enough so its time to start proving that, otherwise the verdict on Sunday is going to be the same as every other away game, stories of the same old players underperfoming.