AyeDubbleYoo

Poll is crazy given only 20% were Howe out before. Does not back mean want sacked now?

I mean, obviously everyone will be down with how things have gone. But losing the dressing room is usually more than that. If Tonali isn’t trying then I’d hate to see how much he runs when he is

Said before I think Nick was very unlucky, he was doing fine but I guess the manager thought Wissa would guarantee goals. Then Wissa failed, results were bad and Eddie went back to the familiar pressing forward.

Chucking in Tonali, Hall and Barnes is very odd. Tonali runs miles every game, Hall was just left out for one game. Gordon aye, and maybe Tino, they’re looking for the exit.

Sounds like the journo said how we avoid a shit season and Eddie said we need to work hard. Standard?

I would like to see the 4231 but FWIW I do think we overrate the importance of formation. Formation isn’t ’the plan’ really, that’s much more about patterns of play and the movement of individual players.

A nice way to phrase it but not really.

Even at 50% (wages) it’s hefty. Guess as long as they come up at the first attempt it’s manageable.

Would also work with Osula up top or even on the right. Worth a try as you say, didn’t expect it v Arsenal but would love to see it from now on.

4231 with Ramsey left seems ideal to me, although you would sacrifice a bit of presence in the middle defensively.

I don’t think anyone ever thought Nick was going to be a midfielder. I’ve said loads of times, it was a way to try and get him some minutes while falling back on the pressing forward.

He's an absolute freak and a weirdo.

Absolute nonsense

I think our signings were meant to be more technical than the players they were meant to replace as well. Elanga > Murphy, Ramsey > Joelinton and Thiaw/Botman is overall very good on the ball. And of course Woltemade. Could even include the GKs we went for to replace Pope. Just the fact so few players have performed well and now our confidence is shot (plus injuries etc). So Howe has decided to lean back on a pressing forward and the likes of Joelinton which is more in keeping with the previous style. I do think he wants us to play with the ball more, in theory at least.

Yeah, I've gone from 'still the man' to 'unhappy but give more time', but there was only one of the previous options that were clearly sack now, 22% I think.

Quite a big variation in the poll, IIRC only about 20% were clearly Howe out in the last one.

I’m hoping they’ve already decided and summer plans are in motion.

You are off your rocker my friend.

Now we’re talking.

He wasn’t ever really in a position to play for the first team. We don’t really know anything about him.

I don’t think anyone attributes no mistakes or blame to Howe TBH. It’s a non-position.

But I mean, by any measure he’s a good manager. If not a great one. I don’t mind talking about why he should stay or go. I just don’t know if the best approach is to list all the problems and theoretical things he could’ve done to make sure they weren’t problems. Seems too high a standard to hold anyone to IMO.

Are you saying there can never be any mitigating factors for a bad season then? By this logic, you can put absolutely any reason beside something the manager should have done to make sure it doesn’t have an effect. Seems a tall order.

Would you not factor in if your best player had a major injury?

Yeah of course, it’s part of his job. I’m just saying how the compounding of negative effects makes everything harder to turn around. And it also means it’s not terminal when you do manage to start the pendulum swinging the other way. That’s how we were able to get so much out of the same players in the past. Hopefully the off season will create the space everyone needs and give us a fresh start.