Charlton Athletic manager Nigel Adkins keen to bed in his ideas + explains thinking behind whole squad travelling to Plough Lane
Nigel Adkins will begin to inject his ideas and principles into Charlton Athletic squad from Tuesday, with the League One club having a fortnight’s break from fixtures.
The Addicks are not in action until April 2 at Doncaster Rovers.
And although Adkins took charge of Charlton for the first time in Saturday’s 2-2 draw at AFC Wimbledon, he lent heavily on assistant manager Johnnie Jackson after a matter of days in the job.
The Addicks already had a training schedule in place after a heavy schedule of matches – including a hectic finish after the current international break.
“The lads will have Sunday and Monday off,” Adkins told Valley Pass. “I’ve got a great opportunity to go and watch the U23s at Coventry on Monday, check out the players there.
“There are excellent medical staff here, I’ve established that already, and there has been a plan put in place for the days in and off leading to the Doncaster game.
“I get the opportunity over the weekend to look back at the game and see what we can learn from that, feed it back to the players.
“We’ve got three lads away on international duty, Conor [Washington] isn’t going to go away now [with Northern Ireland] I would’ve thought [after coming off with a hamstring strain]. But we’ve got an opportunity to get amongst the players – find out their strengths and how we can move forward and plan for the next game – and the principles of play we’re looking for.
“I’m fresh in and we’ve got to make the most of this opportunity now I‘m here.
“It’s been a whirlwind couple of days, so I’ve relied very heavily on Johnnie Jackson – the staff and all the players have been brilliant.”
Adkins took all of his first-team squad to Plough Lane including players who are not fit – Ryan Inniss also making the journey.
“As a new manager coming in it is a fresh start for everybody,” said the Addicks boss. “The longer term side of things is that I build a relationship with the players quickly, understand where they are and what’s important to them. We’re all part of a team. Together we achieve more. Everyone has travelled and everyone is in good spirits.”
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