bobbydazzla

I think he'd be bored out of his mind in the England job. If his ultra-methodical control freak workaholic nature means he ultimately isn't able to become a manager who can successfully manage the demands of competing both in the CL and domestically, then I suspect the best home for him would be a club who would be happy to aim for trophies but aren't trying to break the cartel stranglehold and get an annual seat at the CL table. And maybe that club is us and the stated PIF ambition is just unachievable in the PSR era.

It's as simple as this: Be the best version of NUFC we can be. And right now we aren't the best version of NUFC we can be and it's been that way most of the season. We look lost. This is not the Eddie Howe's Newcastle that we saw previously. Looking at other teams and saying "but everyone's rubbish" isn't a valid excuse for us to have so many glaring issues in how we're approaching and playing games. Especially our lackadaisical attitude towards getting the basics right, tactical discipline and game management. My belief is that mental and physical fatigue of players and staff, plus Eddie not having the time available to do his job the way he prefers to do it, are at the heart of the problem. We're just not capable of running a CL campaign, alongside aiming for Europe in the league, alongside 2 x cup runs. And I'm not saying get shot of Eddie. But I'm also not saying stick with him unconditionally. At the moment I can't figure out if it's a one season blip or the start of a long term (multi season) problem. And fortunately, I don't have to decide whether to stick or twist. I'm just a punter with an opinion.

If you’re not concerned with how we’re playing, because the entire league is inconsistent, then that’s your prerogative. You’ve got your opinion, I’ve got mine. I see a team that isn’t demonstrating a desire to win at all costs and is appalling at game management. A team that’s consistently poor tactically, concedes way too many goals, misses way too many chances, has a midfield that is often non existent, looks tactically confused and regularly turns winning positions into losing or drawing ones. We know this team can be a hell of a lot better than this, in their tactics, performance, their attitude. We know the manager can be a hell of a lot better than this. Our desire to try and win at all costs from 21-23 has totally vanished. If Eddie is still here next season and we’re back to our best in the league with no European football. Then that’ll be the clearest sign to me that he’s an excellent domestic manager and it was simply the demands of Europe that stifled his ability to get this team playing the way we know they can this season. And if that’s the case the club probably need to make a call on whether to give him a 3rd crack at Europe (hopefully with a bigger squad and more quality) and see if he’s learnt from his 1st and 2nd experience, or risk another season of mediocrity on the pitch in 2 years time.

No it’s not. Everyone else isn’t impressive most weeks so it’s ok if we aren’t too is a ridiculous thing to say in all honesty.

I don’t really care about trends across the league. I care about Newcastle regularly conceding late goals, giving up leads easily, rarely being able to keep a clean sheet, rarely winning away from home and conceding 3 or more goals in numerous games. Because I know Eddie Howe has the ability to coach a team who can be much better than that.

I’m on about games where we got the result we wanted. . Villa away was a drab nowts each. We definitely didn’t boss it. Forest was a bit meh. And we didn’t seal it till late, but add that if you want. I missed out Bilbao and City at home in league as good games. I didn’t see City though, was stuck on a train with no signal or WiFi.

For me, playing well is winning comfortably. And by comfortably I mean with the minimum of fuss. To me, it doesn’t matter about the performance if you’re consistently getting beat or dropping points from decent positions. Because good performances when you lose, are bad performances. Maybe a last minute defeat happens from time to time, or you drop points from winning positions from time to time. That’s football. But for it to happen consistently demonstrates that’s there’s a fundamental problem with the players and management. And you see enough of my posts on here to know I defend Eddie and argue with the doom mongers who write him and our players off all the time. But I’m also a realist not a blind optimist.

How often this season have you thought “yeah, we bossed that today”. Not even in the score line but in playing with control and confidence. I’d say PSV, Benfica, Union, Everton, Spurs (LC), Burnley(a). We conceded 3 against Leeds and beat them with the last kick of the game. Bournemouth scored 3 and took us to pens and exhausted the squad, in a game we were leading at the death. Liverpool (a) one nowt up then implode. Wolves are shite and we barely troubled them. We got battered by West Ham, also shite. Villa schooled us in taking chances and game management. So did City 1st leg. And Barca. PSG were leading within 10 mins and we had to put in the performance of the season to get a draw. Liverpool, Arsenal at home conceding goals at the death. Leverkusen, Marseille, Chelsea, Spurs being ahead and capitulating. We were woeful tonight. It’s the same pattern again and again. Thats not bad luck, it’s players, manager and tactics not being up to the task.

I don’t have short term frustration, I’ve been really patient and have actively argued for other people to be patient and not demand he gets sacked every time we lose. And I’m still patient, I’m just increasing feeling like Eddie at his very best is an outstanding manager who can polish a turd. And he’s maybe not able to adapt his style enough to cope with the demands of a club in CL and wanting to compete in 3 x domestic trophies. And even if the worst happens and he gets bulleted or walks, I’d love him for everything he did here. It happens all the time in all walks of life, someone who was perfect to get you from A to B might not be the person to take your from B to C. There’s no shame or negativity in that, it is what it is. I didn’t marry my first long term girlfriend, it was class for a while then we outgrew each other and I needed more adventure both in and out of the bedroom. Shit happens.

Shoulda woulda coulda doesn’t lead to success. I prefer to look at the facts over the mid term. We’ve been awful in way too many games this season. And we’re not a shadow of the Howe side I fell in love with in 21-23. Tonight wasn’t a blip. We’re consistently conceding goals for fun, especially at critical moments and struggling to convert chances game after game.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have any suggestions on alternatives and I love Eddie and want him to fix this. But I can also see that we’re a mess on the pitch game after game. And I’m not blinkered enough to think everything will get fixed because I love Eddie.

But we didn’t draw the tie. We got blown off the park 1st half because we were all over the shop. We were 3 nowt down in 30 mins because our midfield was non existent and our defenders were like circus clowns.

Agree this season hasn’t been as bad as some people make out. In 2021 I would have crawled over broken glass for a season like this. But the way we’re playing isn’t Howe’s Newcastle that we know and love. We’re weak as piss at the back, weak as piss up front and completely invisible in midfield. It’s not bad luck or narrowly losing tight games, we’re regularly conceding loads of goals in games or vital goals in critical moments of game, especially late on. And Eddie seems to be unable to get the players to tighten up and sort this shit out. And that’s his job.

Aye, PSR is a doing what it’s intended to do in keeping the nouveau riche from getting on the gravy train. But I think Eddie’s meticulous control freak approach also means we struggle if competing on more than a couple of fronts. We’ve got a squad that can’t cope and a manager who looks like he can’t cope with that workload either. Getting beat but being competitive is one thing, you can’t win em all. But getting easily beat and conceding fuckloads of goals through basic tactical mistakes week after week is a sign that he’s struggling as much as the players.

That’s why I said “possibly hit his ceiling” Maybe he can make the step up, maybe he can’t. But someone at NUFC needs to make a call about whether we’re willing to stick or twist. And if we twist, who’s a better option that we can actually persuade to join. No-one can deny we’re a shadow of the team we were and whatever Howe is doing isn’t working in the circumstances.

I feel similar. I love Eddie. I love everything he’s done for the club. But I think maybe we’re starting to find his ceiling. It’s possible he’s simply just a very gifted fixer upper, absolutely brilliant at polishing a turd over the short and mid term. Like he did here and at Bournemouth. And the demands of long term multi-competition management of an ambitious top flight club are just a step too far for a self confessed meticulous control freak workaholic. Can’t be arsed to search for it but am sure the Bournemouth fan who gets on here said it was his reluctance to adapt and his need to control everything that meant he hit a ceiling which was ultimately his downfall. He fixed some of his failings by having some time out of the game, but it feels like they’re coming back to haunt him again.

The thing is about long term management is that inevitably, the football suffers. You constantly have to find new and erotic ways of spicing things up on the pitch.

We should be winning this 3-7

Thought your loads older than that TBH

If you press the red button on your remote you get the all new Sky Bath Cam feature

Mods - how do I delete this ?

Winner in the Club World Cup ?

Worst footballer to ever wear black and white this cunt. Can’t even kick a ball 5 yards, That’s what I was told by people who definitely know about these things.

How do we know when he’s lost the dressing room ?