Chris_R

We look like the players know Howe wants them to play out from the back, but aside from Botman none of them look capable of it and Sheff Wed seem to know this and are looking to exploit it.

Better going forward there from Lewis, who's otherwise been shaky as hell.

Where's this shit with Isak as a wide left player come from? He's never played there. He's a striker.

I'm desperate for ASM to be a success under Howe, he could be great for us. Against arsenal they were camped deep in our half for long periods after Wood came on and we were crying out for someone who'd push them back a bit just through fear. He scares opposition players just by existing sometimes and that's an important trait that nobody else in the squad has. And yes I know we got a point which is great and that he came on at the death but by then they were just having to commit everyone forward out of desperation, damn the consequences.

And they're just a skid mark.

Worse than signing McTominay for £55m would be giving a close rival £55m that they can spend elsewhere. That would be a £110m difference in what the 2 sides could otherwise spend. We can't hand them that kind of advantage.

Can you imagine them all sitting down to this on a Sunday? "Do you want some gravy pet?" "FUCK OFF I'M NO MAG, I'LL EAT IT DRY!" Fucking weirdos.

Had to walk out the room during that last corner, couldn't watch. They spent so much time just trying to get us booked in the first half, probably to lessen our pressing, so fuck the whining divers. They didn't like it at all when we started doing it back. Loved to see Arteta get nowt after his theatrics at the end too. Glad Howe stood up to him, not that I'd have doubted it. Lascelles getting another yellow was class. What teamwork.

We've been brilliant so far this season, so this feels like a free hit. Expect us to get beat because Arsenal are clearly the favourites, so I won't lose any sleep if we do, but I know we're definitely capable of getting something from the game which is a great feeling to have going into what on paper seems like it might be the hardest match of the season.

Passing players round is fine. Passing them round for free to get around FFP rules is what I'm thinking will be frowned upon. I haven't examined Watford's transfer dealings in detail but I presume a reasonably acceptable amount of money exchanges hands between clubs to keep everyone happy when the players move.

Well I mean we could do all our transfers that way in theory, have them bought by Al Nassr then loaned or sold back to us for £0 Think the PL might have something to say about that though...

That's great, but now deduct his £1.5m/week wages.

Owen had hamstrings made of cheese. Rooney liked the drink too much and didn't look after himself (just look at him now), Wilshire injuries too. I'm not saying players don't peak early, I explicitly acknowledged that. I said they don't peak early because of number of games in itself and I stand by that.

If 320 games make your legs stop working, someone needs to tell Messi and Ronaldo. Absolute nonsense talk. Sure people can peak early and maybe he has, but not just because he's played a lot. Injuries or attitude sure, but you don't have mileage concerns like he's a cheap Ford Mondeo.

PIF have just spunked $784m on golf in the first year of the LIV tour alone. GOLF ffs. Year ONE. Hell, they've spent over $200m just to get one old Portuguese bloke to run in circles in 45 degrees of heat in front of 8,000 disinterested people. Yeah, we're going to be prudent with our transfer business....

It's functioning exactly as intended.

We could play until next year and not score.

It's a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Asterisk? The gall.

Why is the goalkeeper playing up front? Honestly I hope there's a separate circle of hell reserved solely for people who post football formations upside down.

He left Burnley because his mum died in March 2012 and he wanted to move back home. Sure, he wasn't pulling up any trees there but you need players to buy into what you're doing and maybe that wasn't happening as he'd have liked. As for Bournemouth, what would realistic expectations be of a club with an 11k capacity in the PL? They finished 18th, just one point (and with a better goal difference) behind Aston Villa. They'd had bad injuries during the season too, plus it was during Covid times and many sides form was different (some better, done worse) when playing behind closed doors. Yes it was disappointing given the 4 seasons prior, but I think there were extenuating circumstances and the only person in Bournemouth who wanted Howe to leave was Howe himself, he never lost the fans, the players, or the board who'd have all kept him in the championship. Plus many great managers have suffered relegation. Wenger with Nancy, Benitez with Extremadura, it shouldn't be a stigma. But I guess it's our benefit that it has been seen as such.

Never let that stop you. Just put 12ft.io/ in front of the URL.... 12ft.io/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2022/12/30/manager-2022-isnt-pep-guardiola-mikel-arteta/ No need to give money to those Tory rags.

I don't think we need a calculator to do 0/2, but how will this increase their attendance?

Just checked with the wife - Howe was definitely pissed , and kept saying to her "Don't tell anyone you've seen me smoking!". But she says he was very generous and kept buying everyone drinks, players and staff, and was absolutely lovely.

Apologies for the long post but I felt I needed to just put down some of what Howe has done at Bournemouth for those who have only really paid attention to him since he signed for us. Some may know as I've said before, but I live in Bournemouth. I came down here in 2009 for work just after their "great escape" (and after our first Ashley relegation!) and have seen first-hand what he did here as although I've never supported any club but Newcastle and never could, I kind of adopted Bournemouth whilst Ashley gutted our club from the inside and I was marooned 360 miles away. What Howe is doing now is not new, and it should not be a surprise. He has a long and incredibly impressive history in improving players, massively. Obviously it doesn't happen to all players, as you have to buy in to what he wants of you and his methods, but for those that do they'll find he can have them playing easily 2 divisions higher than they've ever played before. At Bournemouth he did this with many players and I've long wanted him to get this job and was over the moon when Emery turned us down and we moved onto "that fella from Bournemouth". Although he didn't to my knowledge bring anyone all the way with him from L2 with Bournemouth, he variously bought or inherited many players in League 1 who became PL regulars with hundreds of appearances to their name. Here's Bournemouth's league timeline in the Howe years, and some key moments noted.... 2008–09 - League Two - Great Escape from -17 points 2009–10 - League Two - Promotion 2010–11 - League One - Jan 2011 leaves for Burnley, replaced by Lee Bradbury who fails in Playoff Semi Final 2011–12 - League One - Bradbury sacked, Paul Groves takes over with Bournemouth 11th 2012–13 - League One - Oct 2012 Groves sacked with Bournemouth near foot of table. Howe returns, turns it around and wins promotion in same season 2013–14 - Championship - Finished 10th 2014–15 - Championship - Promoted as champions 2015–16 - Premier League 2016–17 - Premier League - Finished 9th, highest finish in club's history 2017–18 - Premier League 2018–19 - Premier League 2019–20 - Premier League - Relegation and Howe leaves Now I've already said he didn't take anyone from L2 to the PL with Bournemouth (Though Ings was with him in L2 but then moved on to Burnley when Howe went there), but I think at least part of that is that from January 2008 to December 2010 Bournemouth were operating under a transfer embargo due to going into administration. This is why they had -17 points in 2008/09, and why they had to turn to 31-year-old Howe. That he not only saved them but got them promoted the next season whilst under that embargo is incredible enough, but all the below players (Except Ings) were then signed by Howe, Bradbury or Groves whilst in L1 and went on to make a lot of appearances in the PL as Howe took them up through the leagues when he came back from Burnley: 09/10 - League 2 Danny Ings - Came up through the U18s, Howe gave him his debut in the cup when in L2, played most of next season in L1. Howe then went to Burnley and took Ings with him. Also managed Tippier at this time, probably why Trippier was so keen to join. 10/11 - League 1 - Howe signings Adam Smith - On loan initially when in L1 due to embargo, then joined permanently, has made 158 PL appearances and still playing for Bournemouth now Marc Pugh - 67 PL appearances over 3 seasons Harry Arter - 69 PL appearances for Bournemouth, now at Notts Forest 11/12 - League 1 - Lee Bradbury signings Steve Cook - 168 PL appearances before moving to Notts Forest Charlie Daniels - 129 PL appearances Simon Francis - 136 PL appearances before retiring 12-13 - League 1 - Paul Groves then Eddie Howe returns in October for January window Tommy Elphick - 12 PL appearances in first season up before being signed by Aston Villa Lewis Grabban - 18 PL appearances in first season up, then went on loan to (amongst others) Sunderland, before moving to Notts Forest Matt Richie - Signed from Swindon by Howe after his return, 37 PL appearances before moving to us Ryan Fraser - Another Howe signing, 120 PL appearances before also moving to us And that's not counting the likes of Shaun MacDonald who played 3 times in the Prem etc, just the headliners. So that's a full TEN players who went from L1 to the PL with Howe and made a significant contribution, some over many years and 5 of them making 120+ PL appearances - 6 if you count Ritchie completing them here. If a manager can make a player 10% better, you take it and would say he's doing a great job, because that's a brilliant return. But we have a manager who can make you two DIVISIONS better if you trust the process and buy into his methods. We're incredibly lucky to have him, and nothing he's doing is a flash in the pan or anything he hasn't done before on a consistent and prolonged basis in terms of improving players, and so I expect he'll also continue to do it in the future with anyone else we sign - provided they have the right character and mentality. Small anecdote - He bummed a cigarette off my wife back in 2010. Bournemouth were having their end of season promotion party at the RNLI headquarters in Poole where my wife worked as a restaurant manager. She was a smoker back then, and was outside having a cigarette when Eddie Howe came out and chatted to her for a bit after asking if he could have a cigarette off her. At the time he was a nobody really, she didn't know who he was but knew AFC Bournemouth were booked in for a party and from chatting whilst they smoked for that few minutes she found out that he was the manager, so I had to fill in the blanks for her. She says he was really lovely, which of course we'd expect. No idea if he smokes regularly or if like some people do only when 10 pints in (He may have been sober for all we know, I'm certainly not saying he wasn't and even if he was wasted, he deserved it), and of course more than a decade has passed since anyway, but there you are. TL;DR - I think Eddie Howe is fantastic, and have done for over a decade. Even though he still owes my missus a cigarette.