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2 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

The thing I like most about Howe is he does get the best out of most players.

 

Like Krafth. He's been decent man. Murphy was decent considering he's Jacob Murphy. Decent assist. Give him some proper talent.

This is the main thing for me.

I want to see what he can do with a more talented and well rounded squad before any talk of making a change.

He's shown a lot making use of some very ordinary players so far.

It's such a shame this FFP nonsense means we have to build so slowly.

29 minutes ago, captainhaircut said:

Well played Sean. 

So never mind actually winning any duels, he wasn't even involved in any?!

According to these numbers he was basically out there just to miss chances and give the ball to Man Utd.

He was essentially playing for the opposition for goodness sake.

5 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

You don’t have faith he can build a solid defence, despite the fact for most of last season and the back end of the one before we had close to the best defence in the league ? Even before the injuries this season we where rock solid (go back and watch the Arsenal home game).

Prisoners of the moment man.

Never mind the season we had the year before.

Despite the issues we've had this year, and what he has still managed, the manager needs replacing.

Zero perspective.

1 minute ago, Dr.Spaceman said:

 

There isn't one Premier League manager who isn't under pressure. You think if we lose the first 3 games there'll be no consequences? Yasir will be on the blower at the very least.

He is under no greater pressure than any other manager, based off of what has happened this season.

Happy?

5 minutes ago, et tu brute said:

Howay pretty obvious what I meant and I clarified that in other posts

If that's what you meant fair enough.

2 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

He said like it or not he’s under massive pressure next season, which pretty much is what you just accepted in this post.

Don't think he's under pressure going into next season at all.

The issue this season has been player availability, no matter how much people might want to overlook this. It won't be the same next season, and we won't be inconsistent in  the same way. 

If somehow this does end up being the case then I'm sure questions will start being asked at the end of the season.

This is not the same as saying he is under pressure going into next season.

This guy has really screwed us over these last two games. Actually really pissing me off.

Even that whole penalty incident was weird, which makes me think he is throwing a strop.

Absolute joke if so.

Just now, Whitley mag said:

With all respect don’t think I have, the discussion was started with @et tu brute suggesting he would be in trouble next season if things go in the same vein as this season.

 

I don’t think the is an unreasonable assertion as some have painted it out to be.

 

 

 

He didn't say if things go the same as this season though.

It goes without saying that if at the end of next season things are similar to this one despite the squad being improved and players coming back, that questions will start getting asked.

Just now, Decky said:

Im not suggesting anyone is better than Howe for us, far from it. He’s the man to take us into next season and beyond but I just think performances need to improve. We had 6th in the palm of our hand and we’ve blown it. There’s no other way to look at it for me. One point from Brighton and Man Utd is piss poor, we’re better than that, even with a midfield of Bruno Longstaff and Anderson. 

Performances don't need to improve, they absolutely WILL improve. There's no doubt about it for me. I cannot see a situation where we will be missing all of Joelinton, Tonali and Willock again, all at the same time, for such an extended period.

The last two games have been frustrating. We're already making the midfield work as best we can, then on top of that Isak has apparently been ill, and of course Wilson is then not available either. Even today here comes Trippier to directly affect two of Man United's goals.

Don't know what on Earth is going on with Wilson, but just having him available likely gets us at least 3 or 4 points from both games.

I'm already looking forward to next season. I know it's going to be very different and the joke is going to be on everyone else.

6 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Aye. Playing a lot of the season without 3 of our 4 best CMs has been a killer.  We’ve been so weak in there. 

It's why the team performances have been so inconsistent. The midfield as a unit has been poor.

This has affected the team both going forward and defensively at various points. 

We're not even seeing the Longstaff of last season in there as he is not even at those levels.

It hasn't been good.

1 minute ago, Decky said:

Longstaff has frustrated the life out of me this season but to suggest our midfield isn’t capable at this level is laughable. Again, we’ve 57 points after the worst injury hit season in our history. Bruno didn’t do all that by himself. Our midfield has been absolutely fine in plenty of games. Last night, Brighton, Palace, all those games was the whole team underperforming. Our midfield has had its problems all season but you don’t get this many points in the Premier League with players that aren’t capable of being good at this level. 

We have been achieving what we have despite the midfield combinations we've had to manage with this season.

That is credit to Bruno  and to the manager for finding a way to make it work.

That is why it is comical when people moan about the manager so much.

I need to know which manager is going to have us controlling games with Longstaff, Miley/Anderson and Bruno.

Please let me know.

4 minutes ago, Mikky said:

Look I am not saying get rid of Howe and there’s reasons for why we haven’t been as strong this season, of course there is.
 

My stance has always been let’s learn from this season regardless - EH has effectively been on a seasons secondment where everything has been thrown at him  - search deep into what hasn’t worked, what we need to improve on - box clever in the market with clever signings (Tosin/Kelly)

 

If it is to be the Europa Conference then I am more than happy with it - it’s a chance to win something 

This season is the aberration. I fully expect us to return to what we showed last season come August.

The reality is that we have been missing Tonali, Joelinton and Willock for large chunks of the season. It is very unlikely this will be the case again.

Just by virtue of that alone, we are going to be back to business. Especially with a right winger coming in too.

5 minutes ago, Decky said:

Our midfield has proven itself to be more than capable. We’ve 57 points, we’re not just about scrapping survival here. The fact is that performances haven’t been good enough. This team as a whole needs to be more clinical. We should have beaten Brighton and Man Utd but we’ve walked away with just a point.
 

Man Utd had a makeshift defence, does their injuries not factor into this? The entire country has been laughing at them for weeks now and they’ve beaten us when Europe was on the table. The players have to do better, that seems clear to me. I can guarantee you we’ll be poor again this weekend too. It’s been happening for weeks now. 

Our midfield has absolutely not proven to be more than capable.

The story of the season has been Bruno having to carry the whole unit, while Gordon and Isak have had standout performances higher up the pitch to win us games.

6 minutes ago, Mikky said:

What’s wrong with saying 11 defeats in 18 is a poor return? It’s a fact - got nothing to do with us finishing 4th - in those 11 defeats, which matches can we say we were unlucky not to get anything?

 

And yet at home we look a totally different team - EH has had the same tools home and away or is it just away from home where we suffer more with injuries?

 

 

 

Players, particularly the ones that aren't as good, absolutely tend to play with much more confidence at home, yes!

1 minute ago, Jack27 said:

Hard to control games with no consistency and a third string back five

If there's one thing I know for certain, it's that we are not controlling any games with Longstaff playing the way he has been in midfield. Especially when we also have had to use the inexperienced Anderson/Miley in there so much too.

Apparently this is surprising to some people though. And they think some revolutionary tactic should sort it out.

The truth is though, most other managers would most likely have us looking far worse than we have with these options.

1 minute ago, Mikky said:

 

We have lost 11 out of 18 away games - that’s unacceptable in my view - yes you can point at injuries, but tactically we’ve been ordinary and at times been a soft touch 

It's unacceptable in your view because of your arrogance.

You think we have a right to get a result in these games just because we came 4th last season.

This isn't a video game. You can keep dismissing the injury situation all you want, but at the end of the day, most of this season we've ended up playing Bruno in midfield (the most impactful part of the pitch) with some combination from Longstaff, Anderson and Miley.

And you really think this is no big deal and 'tactics' can simply sort this out, so we can go to these away games and just beat these teams, because it's just that easy, and everyone else is doing it.

It's this kind of thinking that means I cannot take you guys that 'keep it real' seriously.

30 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

Don’t see why it’s so unreasonable to think Howe would be under pressure if we missed out on Europe and had another disappointing season next year.
 

A few on here go way over the top after he beats Burnley and Sheff Utd, the truth lies somewhere in between and though overall he’s got a lot of credit in the bank, next season with Tonali and new signings on board there will be targets set internally by PIF, that unless there is serious mitigation such as Isak being crocked all season he will need to hit.

 

The recent interview with Neville clearly confirms he has veto over transfers, so this summer is on him and he needs to get it right.

 

 

 

 

 

From the outset of your comment you have already got the premise of the whole discussion wrong, which is typical.

You've added on if he has a poor season next season, which was never what we were talking about.

Regarding his transfers they have mostly been excellent, and with another summer to continue to build the squad and with Tonali also coming back in, and the right wing finally getting addressed, I'm betting on Howe making all the nagging naysayers look impossibly dumb.

I'm really really looking forward to it.

3 minutes ago, madras said:

And Longstaff energy off the ball, we need both.

 

I think Tonali was the catalyst to change the plan, his ban kept things as they were.

The energy off the ball is gone. I don't even see him getting back or winning the ball back anymore.

2 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

Willock and Joelinton show flashes of real ability on the ball, that's the difference for me.

The play from Joelinton to receive the ball run through the centre and thread through Longstaff was absolutely brilliant, as an example.

Incomparable what Joelinton and Willock add in general play compared to Longstaff.

3 minutes ago, madras said:

Isn't the first paragraph Son the other day ?

 

Even  last season he had an issue missing seemingly g sitters...as did Willock and Joelinton.

Yes, it was Son the other day.

However, most of what Longstaff adds is so poor at this point, that he can't be fluffing such chances. No way. He doesn't have that luxury.

3 minutes ago, Ronaldo said:

Can’t absolve him completely. Maxi gone so we could spend nearly £40m on Harvey Barnes to sit on the bench behind Jacob Murphy? There’s time for it to change but that’s a shitshow.

I can accept this gripe as well. That decision wasn't great. So many signings have been though, so hard to be too upset.

My thing is just play them both, especially when the alternatives are Almiron and Murphy, especially at this stage with a few huge games remaining.

Even bringing on Almiron well before Barnes wasn't great.

It's unfortunate really, but these issues will clear up as the squad improves. I really cannot wait to see what he can do with a more well rounded squad without having to use some of the players we've had to quite so often.

1 minute ago, 80 said:

That's something the management have to take responsibility for, mind.

I agree completely.

So for all the folks that claim we only ever praise the manager. This one is for you.

I think it was unacceptable that Gordon was taken off set pieces. And I'm not at all happy with the decision from the manager and his team.

Maybe for direct free kicks on goal he could have come back in, but absolutely nothing else.

Perfect position, in lots of space, great angle to hit it low and across goal on his strong foot. And he just whacks it straight at Onana.

This is the one thing he needs to be able to do, as he typically strikes the ball pretty well. If he can't manage it then he has to be pushed way back in the midfield reckoning.

The falling over continues and the amazingly poor passes in great positions. 

It's just too much man. Please no more.

This guy plays these last two games and I think we get 4 points from both at a minimum.

Don't know what he's playing at but we can't be having this nonsense next season again. Not under any circumstances whatsoever.

Just now, TRon said:

 

His set pieces which used to look deadly also seem to be fading into distant memory. Not really sure why as age shouldn't really make a difference there.

Oh my God ...

This really pissed me off today.

Gordon's set pieces have looked so much more dangerous since Trippier has been out.

Really annoying that Trippier just stepped back in taking them, despite not being great on them all season like you say.