Memphis

Several of you were talking about it but I am incredibly impressed with his English comprehension. I could not believe that interview - his ability to understand what was being asked, more than competent answers, he's got a brain for languages. Look how many people - whether footballers or not - move to a foreign country and take ages just to communicate like a 7 year old. He's something else. Oh and the header was fucking amazing.

I have been so impressed with his mentality and his approach to things. After all the talk when he was hired of his inability to coach defence - and after that crazy 3-3 with Brentford - I was concerned about how he would coach and whether he had evolved in his methods. But he has shown without a doubt how much he’s improved as a coach, we are so much more competent in every phase of the game. We defend with a purpose and with composure, even without Trippier or having bought our preferred CBs. I remember Klopp, I think it was, talking about his team being a “mentality monster” and it seems to me that Howe has us headed in that direction. We are hard to play against but we also retain a creative outlet going forward. Even under Rafa, we often didn’t do both. We seem to have belief and composure. He has raised the level of play from everyone and eased the pressure that was all-consuming. Unbelievable professionalism. I think he’s a great fit, his attitude and even-tempered nature help to keep the lid on what can be a boiling atmosphere at the club. He deserves a lot of credit and I think he can grow as a manager alongside us as a club. Terrific job.

https://trainingground.guru/articles/dan-ashworth-inside-the-mind-of-a-technical-director Just listened to this and he could not sound more professional and competent, a staggering change of pace from our usual appointments pre-takeover. If he puts this structure he describes here in place at SJP, we're going to be in terrific position now and for the future. It's long but it's well worth a listen.

Truly astounded that we managed to sign him. What a coup for us considering our position, and it's the kind of signing that should help us attract even more and better players - if they see this man is willing to sign for us, then that speaks volumes for what we are all about.

The only thing I can cling to is that the rest of the bottom is so horrendously awful that we might actually still have a chance if we make several key signings. As bad as we have been, we should be 10 points off safety.

More depressed than angry. Starting to wonder about Eddie Howe now. Speaks well and seems to know the game but fuck me he can't manage a game, doesn't seem to have much tactical ability, we look as bad or worse than we did under Bruce and while the players are a huge problem, the manager getting fuck all more out of them is a big issue too. Without an incredible amount of investment in the next two weeks, we are a lock for the drop.

We have completely collapsed. Team looks shot physically. Hope we can hang on.

Never going to be easy to watch this. Desperate for a second.

Dummett has been such an improvement on the left. Not amazing but stunningly competent compared with Ritchie et al

Quality, finally!! That's why he's got to be in the side no matter what...

ASM looks uncomfortable with his role. Team is crying out for a CM who can move the ball around more quickly.

If we can't get a halfway decent striker for less than 30-40 million, how far do you really think Burnley can make 25m stretch?

20 mil is lunacy for Wood, but in our position it's justifiable. He's a definite improvement. His loss weakens Burnley. As long as there's more to come, it's not a bad idea.

It's so obvious that the game is up for so many of these frauds. They have been found out but there are no other options right now. We have to buy enough players to be able to put out 8 or 9 players who give a fuck, will work hard, and have at least some skill. 11 would be great but probably unrealistic. Right now I'd say Tripper, Wilson, (maybe) this new version of Joelinton, qualify. The rest are lacking in one or more of those areas. We have so much work to do to even be mediocre. Five signings, minimum, and ideally even more or we are truly done.

The squad stinks. Rotten to the core. ASM included. Get a new manager in and somehow they get worse. Need at least 5 more in or we are completely fucked.

Seems good

I don't care how it happened, it happened.

Darlow was inexcusably bad. Has been awful all season but this was the worst goalkeeping performance I can remember in a long time. Truly cost us any chance at winning.

I have no idea what to make of an ownership group that communicates with us. No frame of reference at all.

https://theathletic.com/1938983/2020/07/26/eddie-howe-bournemouth-relegation-premier-league/ This July 2020 piece from Oliver Kay in The Athletic has eased my mind a lot, it's very good indeed. Paints Howe as the type of manager who would thrive in this type of club and atmosphere, imo. (I pasted much of it below, for those who do not wish to read it for whatever reasons, don't click)

I think spending three weeks to find the right person, only to have it publicly end in said person pulling out with a flourish while much of the observing media/clubs cackled at our club is shambolic, yes. It doesn't mean that it's entirely Staveley et al's fault, but it is a pretty shabby situation. I don't think that's hyperbolic. And if a forensic search of the world's top managers ends in us hiring Eddie Howe after three weeks of stasis and dropped points, well, that's not exactly an amazing outcome.

Howe would be fine. I can't pretend to be excited given the shambolic search but I think he'd be fine. I would expect that he would help us crawl rather than walk, and he certainly wouldn't be the man to take us to the upper echelon.

No getting around the fact that this is embarrassing. No excuses. It's unacceptable to run the club like this - the new owners would have known that the first thing to do once in charge is replace the manager. That can't have been a surprise. So the manner in which they're approaching it is shocking, really. And the ham-fisted leaking on information to make it appear as if they're in control and "deliberating" over "proposed visions" and all is equally embarrassing. If you had a vision, you would have outlined it from the start and then tried to hire people to make it a reality. Whatever we are doing isn't that. I hope it all works out in the end, it likely will considering the money we have access to. But our new owners have made an awful start of it.

If a leak involving Eddie Howe has cost us Unai Emery, we are being run by a bunch of amateurs. And I guess we may well be. But this all feels very strange and manufactured. If Emery was prepared to accept the job, I can't imagine there would be a scenario where he would turn it down because of something like this. He would have known what kind of situation he was getting into. Again - if our people fucked this up... that's pretty ominous for our ability to get things done.

That was absolutely awful. I get the idea behind trying to make us hard to break down, but holy shit you've got to at least TRY to go forward every once in a while. The amount of times Hayden or Ritchie would get a ball and pass backwards or sideways was incredible. Darlow is not up to it, looked scared to death all match long. We need an injection of belief and confidence from a new manager more than anything else. And about 10 new players. I watched Brighton today and they were phenomenal at Anfield. Looked miles beyond anything we've shown for years. We are in deep trouble.