da realbet：
da betsson： Nigel Adkins took over at St Mary’s last September with Southampton struggling in 22nd position in League One after winning only one of their first five games under former manager Alan Pardew.
Moving from Championship side Scunthorpe he quickly revitalised the pre-season promotion favourites, turning them into a side capable of producing attacking free-flowing football as well as giving the resilience to break down the most defensive of sides.
Losing just once at St Mary’s after he took charge, he led them on the march to automatic promotion which included winning all ten games up until the end of the season. It is now six years since the Saints last graced the top-flight but if Adkins can repeat this sort form while building on the momentum from last season there is no reason why a return could not be on the cards.
After last year’s heroics, the hard work really starts now for Adkins and his young hungry side. The pressure will be on him to repeat his success at Scunthorpe where he helped the Iron achieve Championship survival despite having by far the lowest budget in the league.
It is easy to see why he is regarded as one of the finest up and coming managers around after achieving three promotions in his four years as a manager and it should not be long until the former physio makes the step up to the Premier League. However after agreeing a new contract with the Saints up until 2015, his long term future remains at the St Mary’s.
He has stated that he doesn’t believe he needs to sign a whole new team to compete in the league and instead he wants an evolution with only a few quality players coming into the settled side.
The recruitment of excellent young central midfielder Jack Cork who he had on-loan at Scunny, is a statement of intent of the quality that Adkins is after and the failed bid for highly-rated midfielder Neil Danns, who instead joined cash-rich Leicester City, shows the potential he has in the transfer market.
At Southampton he already has the nucleus of a fine championship squad with five of the team achieving a place in last season’s PFA League One team of the year. Goalkeeper Kelvin Davis, left-back Dan Harding, Portuguese centre-half Jose Fonte, England U21 international Adam Lallana and £12m rated man Alex Chamberlain were all recognised as some of the best players in the division. Add to that striker Rickie Lambert who has scored 51 goals in only two seasons and Lee Barnard who netted 15 times last season and they certainly have a team capable of doing well this season.
It is possible that 17-year-old wonder-kid Alex Chamberlain will get his big-money transfer this summer and if they can reach the £12m asking price I think they will be able to use that money to further strengthen the side and mount a challenge for promotion.
However this year’s Championship could be the toughest for a long time with the relegated teams having a much stronger base than Portsmouth and Hull had last season with both West Ham and Birmingham looking to bounce straight back to the Premier League.
Add to that big-spending Leicester City, Nottingham Forest under McClaren, relegated Blackpool and then the usual suspects of teams that will be expecting to challenge for playoffs, it is easy to see why people think it could be difficult for them to do much more than just establish themselves as a Championship side.
A season of consolidation would certainly be acceptable for most Saints fans who will just be hoping to avoid a relegation battle and Adkins will no doubt keep his players grounded on what they can achieve this season. His first aim will be to secure safety but once this has been achieved then no doubt talk will turn to promotion.
I believe the Saints have the quality to mount a serious promotion push this season and under the brilliant man-management of Adkins they have the man to take them to the promise land, whether it is this year or the next. Whatever happens it is clear to see that Southampton under Adkins are a team on the up; the question is just how far can they go?