Nigel Adkins faces a weekend of destiny culminating with the visit of Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon with defeat putting severe pressure on the manager.

In his relatively short managerial career Nigel Adkins hasnt really faced a lot of pressure, at Scunthorpe he took the club to unchartered heights meaning that even relegation didnt put his position at risk, at Saints although the magnitude of his task shouldnt be underestimated, the fact is that everything went in the right direction meaning that he never came under any real criticism of the job he was doing either from the Chairman or supporters.

However now he faces a real task, whilst around 75% of the Saints support appear to back him and feel he is doing a good job in difficult circumstances according to a Daily Echo poll, the fact is that many of those fans feel that last week the defeat was down to Adkins own tactical naivety and another comprehensive defeat would weaken his position not only in the boardroom but with the fans who have so far backed him.

With only one win in eight games and no signs that we can stop the unacceptable goals against tally, Nigel is going to have his work cut out, a week ago I stressed the need for him to get the selections right at Upton Park, he didnt to be blunt and that means he really has to this time out if we are to prevent ourselves getting into a rut.

Its about this time of the season when teams fall into slides that cant be stopped and we need to make sure that doesnt happen now.

But although supporters acknowledge that the manager was desperate for players in key areas that he wasnt given, the buck has to stop and he has to start doing a good job in bad circumstances and that means taking his own destiny in his hands.

If he is under pressure from above regarding team tactics and players he has to select then its time for him to stand up and be counted, there is perhaps only one thing worse than losing matches when you make tactical mistakes and that is losing matches when you allow someone else to dictate some of your decisions.

Adkins has to now stand up and take responsibility and pick the side he wants and the formation that he wants, if he does so then the supporters will back him to the hilt, if he continues with picking the same old players in the same old formation that they clearly cant play then he has to carry the can.

The phrase for the last two seasons has been In Nigel We Trust, most of us still do, time for Nigel to show us what he is made of !     

Photo: Action Images

landsdownsaint added 13:46 - Oct 25 Looking forward to Sunday but seriously worried,we really need to get behind the lads for this one.
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geezershoong added 14:43 - Oct 25 Without trying to sound nasty, rumour has it Gareth Bale is out... I hope so, can you imagine him running out our defence..? :(
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Saintist added 14:46 - Oct 25 Saints must play SRL for the full 90, we have seen Rickie get lost in a couple of games, but still is the best bet we have to score. Also, hoping NA gamble on Luke Shaw, maybe Ben Reeves. Playing our 3rd centreback at LB is suicidal, 2 games playing there Yoshida was made to look like a championship player or maybe worst. Get it right Nigel, we are with you all the way!

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StSaint added 15:54 - Oct 25 "the fact is that many of those fans feel that last week the defeat was down to Adkins own tactical naivety and another comprehensive defeat would weaken his position not only in the boardroom but with the fans who have so far backed him." How do you know? 75% of a poll of 5000 back him. Just because a few people moan on this site it doesn't make a comment you make as "fact" true. Most people that I have spoken to think he is doing as well as he can with a defence that isn't up to scratch. Until January we don't have players at the back to suddenly become a great defence, so goals will continue to leak. We might go down - it won't be the end of the world, as the last few years have shown. Adkins has proved he knows what he is doing and goes about things the right way. I will base my thinking on his behavior since he joined the club - not on the 8 games this season. I can't expect you to stop reporting in a pessimistic manner so I'm not even sure why I'm typing this!

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slynch added 15:58 - Oct 25 Unfortunately, Adkins did not do much wrong last game: he couldn't pick a better team than he did last week cos of injuries; bringing Lambert on could be construed as a error as (I think) they were 1 goal down when he came on and 3 down when he went off. Some suggest some new boys but had he done that and got beat he would of got slammed. He set Hooi on Carroll and that worked brilliantly. The rest of the defence ran around like headless chickens, and I dunno if you can teach headless chickens much. Some were playing out of postion but from what I saw they were all out of position. Hopefully, some defenders will come back from injury but I can't see any quality there. No we'll have to wait til jan and get 3 new defenders. Everyone is saying Saints will get thrashed by Tot, so I think this is not the biggest test for Adkins as you suggest.....but November IS! :-/

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BlackRod added 22:31 - Oct 25 When Rickie started on the bench for the Man City game and came on to score a goal this was regarded as a stroke of tactical genius by Adkins. When he starts on the bench against West Ham it's a tactical blunder! Fact is he struggles to last ninety minutes if it's an energetic game. With Villa and Stoke both after him his days at St Mary's are probably numbered anyway. We still have too many forward players and I would willingly swap Ricke for a decent centre back come January.

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