Nigel Adkins has big Tranmere problem to solve immediately
Nigel Adkins has taken over at Tranmere Rovers after the sacking of Ian Dawes
Tranmere Rovers have endured a torrid start to the season so far, losing 6 out of their opening seven games and winning just once.
Results on the pitch leave them in a perilous position, sitting just above the relegation zone in 22nd , and have spelled the end for first team manager Ian Dawes, who had been appointed in May on a permanent basis after interim spells at the club. In the words of club chairman Mark Palios, “football is a results game”, and the results on the pitch had been poor.
The club would move to appoint Nigel Adkins as Dawes’ replacement on a temporary basis in an attempt to steady the ship and put an experienced head at the helm.
Does Adkins’ have the credentials to turn things around at Tranmere? He certainly has experience in the game. After securing promotion to the Championship on two occasions for Scunthorpe and back-to-back promotions for Southampton back in 2012, Adkins’ has gone on to manage five more teams, including Tranmere, but has failed to reach the heights he achieved with the Iron and the Saints. He has failed to last a full two seasons since, although it is clear that Tranmere are banking on short term rather than long term success.
Tranmere have failed to score in their last four games in all competitions and so Adkins’ will be hoping his strikers can find their shooting boots sooner rather than later. This had proved to be an Achilles' heel for the Rovers last season, with the club only finding the net 45 times in the campaign and club top scorer Josh Hawkes only finishing on 10 goals for the season. Couple this with the loss of striker Kane Hemmings, who finished the season as the club’s second highest goal scorer with eight, and Nigel Adkin’s will be desperate to find a way to get the goals flowing.
One thing is for sure, it will not be an easy fix for Adkins and his team. In their last outing in League Two under Ian Dawes, the club were beaten 2:0 away at Colchester United, but the stats suggest that the Rovers were lucky to lose by such a narrow margin. Colchester has an xG of 4.8 compared to Tranmere’s 0.48 and had the U’s had nine big chances to the away side's one. Cause for concern against a side only two places above them in the league.
The club travel to Crawley on Saturday and will be hoping for a change in their fortunes against a Red Devils side that find themselves 10th in the league. Tranmere have plenty of time left to turn around their season, but will have to learn their lessons quickly from the early months of the season to prevent a disappointing start becoming a disastrous campaign for the Birkenhead side.