Adkins last stand?

Tonight won't be one for the faint-hearted at the Priestfield Stadium. Two and half thousand Addicks fans will pack themselves onto the seated gallows at the Bobby Moore Stand and pray for some mercy.

It promises to be a dramatic evening. Ordinarily, we should really be fancying our chances and that's why I believe we sold our ticket allocation early. However, two depressing performances since and many will be regretting their eagerness to be there in person. We should also go there with some confidence looking at the injury list the Gills are struggling with and the fact that MK Dons won there 4-1 on Saturday.

However, this is Charlton and this is Charlton under Nigel Adkins after an unconvincing Summer recruitment programme and a dire start to the season that sees us go there in joint bottom place in the table - a new lifetime low for this football club. Nigel Adkins felt the heat on Saturday and this evening the fire will be even closer. If ever he needed to dig a performance and a result out, it is now. He hasn't had much time to recover from Saturday's embarrassment and I am sure his biggest focus has been deciding who will play and hopefully throw him a lifeline. 

Something clearly isn't right within the set-up and I am unsure what that is but Adkins clearly has a big piece in it. I have been openly critical about our transfer policy this Summer - not just because it was delivered late and has been largely underwhelming  - but because I haven't felt Adkins has been nearly as involved as he should have been. He was often the last person of the gang of four (Roddy, Sandgaard, Gallen and Adkins) to comment on signings and when he did the words were more often a polite welcome that any forthright emotion associated with what he expected to see from the player. Gallen's 'recruitment interview' didn't dispel the notion that Adkins was the least involved of the recruitment team or that players were being identified and recruited primarly by others. In the end we got there on numbers and we did finally bring in another striker in Leko but who can say any of them, with the exception of MacGillivray, has staked their place in the side? The simple fact is we have been terrible to watch. Barely creating more than two chances per game and often spending most of the time passing the ball between the defence, the midfield and back to the defence.

In spite of the reassuring noises from above, Nigel Adkins is in big trouble and unless he gets a sudden dramatic improvement, he is going to be replaced. Sandgaard has invested too much to let this continue unchanged. I would suggest he's as much emotionally committed as he has financially. Defending his corner on the Summer recruitment as robustly as he has was one thing but saying we would "blow the league apart" on the back of his five year ambition, he won't want to be left to wither on the vine for another season because he stuck with the wrong manager for too long at the start of this one.

So, to tonight then and what to expect? Either the players take a personal responsibility to show their worth or a collective responsibility to save their manager, but anything less than that will be very hard for Sandgaard to let ride. I don't think it is about picking formations or even individuals this evening - just finding those who are hurting most and up for doing something about it. Apart from MacGillivray, the only starters I expect to see are Blackett-Taylor, for showing the urgency and desire required in his Saturday cameo and Jayden Stockley because he's the best finisher we have. I suspect Adkins will be forced to go 4-4-2 and encourage his side to be much more direct than of late. 

Changing managers is always a risk and there is, of course, no guarantee you don't end up with a bigger turkey - the Duchatelet years rammed that one home. It's also potentially a very expensive business and not one I think Sandgaard will want to risk. Much more likely he would take the least-risk option and appoint from within, most likely putting up a caretaker manager to relieve the pressure on them and give the players a chance to respond. Jackson or Euell would be least-cost but I wouldn't rule out a Curbishley return (as he's been in the building for ages) although that would be a big step up in money and I suspect would come with a lot of demands that Sandgaard might be wary of. 

The bigger picture is still a concern but that can wait until we find a bit of playing consistency and get some points to move us out of a prolonged relegation struggle.