Derek Adams, his management, tactics & squad options

The cap has stayed at 22 according to press coverage and doesn't include goalkeepers, so my quick count seems to be either 17 or 18 depending on Watts date of birth. So even if it has moved to 20 we still have a couple of spaces.

I can not find anything to prove this except a few articles but it is strange that a number of clubs and press think it has changed back to 22 and no keepers. I know the PFA were threatening arbitration again like the salary cap from last year so maybe that is behind it

 

Have a look at Morecambe last year. Were they besieged with injuries? Post Christmas he may slacken off

 

I thought it was just Championship clubs that had stayed at 22 but if it's all EFL clubs, maybe City and the T&A were the only ones that DID get the memo!

 

Championship were 25 and should have dropped to 22 I think. Who knows. Just seems strange for at least us and Bolton to be looking at extending our squads over the straight 20. Even at 20 though including keepers I only counted 19 as Watt is under 21 at the cut off date, but again that could have been last seasons cut off date.

 

What I've liked about Adams so far have been how astute his little tactical tweaks have been to expose the opposition weaknesses. Against Exeter, he had Angol stopping out wide to use his pace as the outball behind their full back, and down the side of their wide centre back.

Then against Oldham he's switched it to a 4-2-2-2, which might seem oddly narrow given they had wingbacks pushing right on but I think he's decided he wasn't too worried about their threat and allowed them possession and to carry the ball without engaging them too high up the pitch, meaning we were compact and they weren't getting down the sides of us and were resorting to trying to hit it from deep, easy meat for Canavan and Paudie. We then had 4 v 3 on the break if both wingbacks commited.

Against Stevenage, he's changed it to a more traditional 4-4-2 so Angol and Cook could mark their centre backs when the keeper had the ball, preventing them from trying to play it out from the back and forcing their keeper to play it long and so it just kept coming back at them, clearly what he was on about with his Playstation comments before the match (love his mind games as well, by the way!)

Against Mansfield, certainly in the second half, the tactic seemed to be as simple as 'give it Vernam', which paid off very well in the end!

 

Home grown…….sounds like a commodity? Oh!

 

[So does that mean we have room for three more ? Current squad = 23. This includes 2 keepers and four under 20 ( Sikora, Scales, FCD and Staunton). 23-6 =17

QUOTE="StaffordBantam, post: 540441, member: 86"]This is the relevant regulation for 2021/22:

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https://www.efl.com/-more/governance/efl-rules--regulations/[/QUOTE]

 

Any idea what the cut off for Under 21 is? Watt might fall in it?

 

found it.


‘Under 21 Player’ means a Player under the age of 21 as at the 1 January in the year in which the Season concerned commences (e.g. for Season 2021/22, born on or after 1 January 2000).

So Watt will not count either as his DOB is 11 March 2000

 

Sparks and Adams are savvy - know what they need to do. To suggest they dont know the league rules on registration is ludicrous.

We can obviously afford it but 26 man squad does seem a tad high number to me. Fully fit that is 4 senior pros and the 4 nippers missing out every week.

Very well stocked though so Derek will be delighted on his options.

 

You've lost me. What's wrong with the style of play? If we lose whilst still creating chances, then so be it.

I'm lost as to what people expect in League 2

 

Of course they do, never in doubt. The comments about not getting the memo were a bit of fun and say far more about my lack of understanding of the current rules and regulations regarding squad sizes than they do about Adams, Sparks and Turnbull's!

 

Agree, most of us are struggling until the post earlier from Staff.

And still are taking birthdays into account as well!

 

This explains a lot. I had both keepers and Watt down as part of a maximum 20 squad and thought there was no more room at the Inn. Turns out we've got rooms going begging!

 

Quote here from Adams, never heard pre season training described this way before, working on attitude as well as fitness, and it’s working

“These players have shown on pre season training, they’ve gone through a regime where we test their character, we test their mental strength and if you come through that then you’re gonna do it week on week out.”

 

At the moment nothing is wrong but looking back at his previous clubs it has been said time and time again that his default position is defensive and playing put tight wins. That if fine if we win but if we don’t then it is a different story

 

Good work Staff

 

I believe he was referring to circuits of Horsfall running track?