Holmesy

Hopefully that’s the last we see of Darlow.

Just a very impressive guy all round. His dedication, intensity, application and obsession with being the best he can be shines through. He seems like the kind of manager that will make impactful in-game changes, give inspiring team talks and have a plan A,B &C for every situation. I really fucking hope he succeeds! He’s great!

Reading between the lines, it seems to be an issue with structure. The board has given Jones assurances about his future but Howe wants his own coaching team. He also wants his old Technical Director but that probably doesn’t fit with the DOF model they’re trying to put in place. I assume we’re negotiating a compromise of some sort.

Best thing we could do is get all of our negotiations out of the way in the run up, all new signings join in the first week of January and we can use them for our January fixtures.

To be fair, Brighton played him well today. As soon as he received the ball he was closed down by multiple Brighton players and given no time to turn. He definitely hasn’t looked himself in the past couple of games, but today Brighton played him as well as any team has since he’s been here IMO

Maybe but take him off and we lose any momentum we have.

Like it or not, we always look better with Shelby in there. Who are you going to swap him for?! If Willock comes on it has to be for Almiron - he’s been anonymous all game

I cannot fathom for the life of me why this clogger is starting ahead of blatantly better players.

9.75. I think we’re doomed. There’s just too much to do. we need a result against Brighton and that isn’t going to happen.

Clark must look like Paulo Maldini in training to get picked. He’s fucking terrible

Can’t get excited about goalkeeper rumours, they’re boring!

Watching that video of Howe mic’d up, there’s a decent amount of counter attacking drills, which he could employ here to tighten up our defence, similar to what Rafa did. Plenty of numbers at the back and rapid counter attacks could be our get-out for this season. In Murphy, Almiron, Willock, ASM and Wilson we’ve definitely got the forward players to do it.

Tactically astute - yes Adaptable - yes Improves players - yes Creates teams that are better than the sum of their parts (one of the most telling attributes of a good manager) - yes Acts with dignity and diplomacy - yes Could we have appointed someone more high profile? Yes of course. But Howe is a monumental upgrade on Bruce in every capacity so we’re moving forward. I think he’ll surprise a few people

I’d rather see ASM on the flank and Fraser in the #10 role - he’s done fuck all anywhere else so might as well try him there ??‍♂️

You don’t have to bring them in in order though. We’re probably negotiating for other players as well. Just because we get in a creative player doesn’t mean we’re not going to bring in CMs, fullbacks and a striker. In fact you could argue it makes more sense to sign someone like Coutinho first as a signal of intent. Players like him will attract other players

What kind of player do you need for a relegation battle? I’d say an immensely talented creative goalscoring midfielder with PL experience isn’t a bad place to start. Howe (if it is Howe) is not going to park the bus. He’s going to try and play technical attacking football, which means we need technical attacking footballers.

Yeah, we are strapped for cash to be fair. It’ll likely be one or the other.

If someone had told me 4 weeks ago that we’d be shot of Ashley, we’d be absolutely minted and have Eddie Howe as our manager I’d have been over the fucking moon! Thats what I’ll base my reaction to Howe joining us on, if he does.

It’s another sensible move as well - minimise financial risk in the short term while making significant improvements to the playing squad. If they’re not players for the long term, we’re not too fussed about recouping transfer fees. Hopefully it’ll also piss off the PL clubs hoping to shaft us on transfer fees in the process.

I think the Martinez talk is just because of the Jones link. It’s typical lazy journalism. If they’re being advised to look at the likes of Conte, Ten Hag, Emery, Rafa etc. Martinez doesn’t fit into that category. He’s probably category B or even C

Tactically it was one of the most inept performances I’ve ever seen and bearing in mind the managers we’ve had over the past 14 years in particular, that’s quite the accolade.

Again, it wasn’t the result that’s concerning - it was as expected. It was the performance! The team selection didn’t help but the lack of movement, motivation, energy, fitness etc. suggest there’s a lot of work to do to turn this around. Fundamental stuff seems to have been coached out of these players.

I didn’t see the game live but I’ve watched the highlights and it looks every bit as bad as it sounds. However, the omission of Almiron and then playing ASM centrally means there’s never an out-ball and that can make your midfielders look a lot shitter than they are. Chelsea press aggressively so you’ve got a couple of seconds max to make a decision and pick a pass, but with no options around you, you’re fucked! It’s years of bad coaching and poor motivation and it makes us so easy to play against. I actually have some sympathy for Longstaff. He’s not good enough but he’s being made to look worse than he is in this team right now.

Even a back 5 with Manquillo, Schar, Fernandez, Dummett, Lewis would be better. I advocated playing Ritchie and Murphy as wing backs last season because it gave us more goal threat, and it worked. But it only worked because we had those 3 playing CB. Now we’ve got Clark and Krafth in there we’re fucked regardless of who else plays

Is Dummett fit now? For all his limitations, we are significantly more solid with Dummett in the back line.