Holmesy

Is there another CB who can do what he does, anywhere?! Passing, ball striking, finishing, all combined with exceptional defensive positioning and intelligence. From the point of view of replacing him, we’re not going to be able to do it like for like presumably?

Far far too good to be warming the bench. He’s absolutely class. Obviously he’s the natural successor to Trippier, but he’s surely not going to be happy as a bit part player for another season or two?!

Can’t imagine it’s doing wonders for Livra’s motivation

Yeah, I’ve got a feeling we’re going to show up for this one

I think there are very few who are saying enough is enough. There are always a few bedwetters on bad match days but in general the discussion around Eddie's strengths and weaknesses are pretty balanced and reasonable. The injuries and fixture congestion have to be taken into account, without question. However, what they have revealed, in Eddie's handling of them, are some clear things that need to be worked on if he wants to be considered in that elite bracket and probably if he wants to be our manager for the long term, specifically more ruthlessness towards dropping poor performing players and more flexibility around systems and tactics - a setup to help us see out games when we're in the lead, a system that still allows us to grind out results when we're not at full strength, an alternative way to approach games against superior or tricky opposition. If he continues with his 'one setting fits all approach' he only has himself to blame if at all falls apart again. We've got to remember, this is Eddie's first season in the Champions League and first season balancing 4 competitions. He's had every bit of bad luck you can imagine, but he's also made some clear errors along the way. Hopefully he can learn from them and kick on, and the owners give him the time to do that.

I was genuinely shocked he went for so little. Proven PL door openers with end product are not easy to come by, and all of his best years should be ahead of him. And we sold him to a country that was chucking money about for fun. Feels like we had our pants pulled down

St Maximin?

Hopefully a busy summer selling our dross. There’s plenty of it

Good. Busy summer sounds like exactly what we need.

I think the season and sentiment would be very different if we had a fully fit Tonali available for most of it. He was clearly brought in to bring creativity, class and drive from midfield and yet we've had to battle on with Longstaff and Miley for months on end. On balance, given injuries, suspensions and management's reluctance to play certain players, we've arguably been weaker player-wise this season than we were last despite signing 4 talented additions. Couple that with teams now knowing how to effectively play against us, and it's surprising the decline hasn't been worse.

I turned on at 55 minutes and saw us have all of the ball and create a boatload of chances to win the game in the following 65. Blackburn created 2 chances in the time I was watching, scoring 1. I’m not saying we were decent, the football was devoid of ideas, lethargic, rushed, players were static and we gave the ball away loads. Watching Longstaff was painful and Dan Burn’s inability to head the fucking ball at 6 ft 7 is baffling. But, we weren’t as bad as a lot of you are making out. We dominated the proportion of the game I watched and deserved to win on the balance of play. And to be fair to Blackburn, they’ve got a few players who really caught the eye.

We need a big clear out

Useless cunts!

Danny Murphy can get in the fucking sea. Insufferable prick!

Not necessarily although i'd like to see it. I just think with the pace of Almiron and Gordon, the clinical nature of Isak and the precision of Bruno and Tripper, we have the perfect set-up to hit teams on the counter. So maybe play deeper, press when the opposition cross the halfway line and capitalise on the space in behind. Basically exactly what some teams have done to us. If that's a deeper 4-3-3, fine. And not all the time, just as a plan B to see out games or against teams who are shitting on us - Arsenal, Dortmund, Forest etc.

You could be right. I suppose what this conversation confirms is that there's a definite loss of confidence in Eddie from me, given some of the things we've witnessed this season. I remember under Rafa, I just trusted absolutely in everything he did because he consistently made silk purses out of piles of shit and seemed to have a tactical answer for everything. Last season I felt the same about Eddie, but that confidence has definitely eroded a bit. Hopefully it comes back next season.

Perhaps they couldn't, and that ultimately led to their demises. Maybe they reached the limit of what they were capable of with the groups of players they had. Maybe the same is true of Eddie. Who knows?! Maybe he is literally a one setting manager. What you've described in your post is the various different ways we've tried to implement setting 1. Even when we were down to bare bones, we still had the pace and the players available to play an effective counter-attacking style, which we didn't do even once. Instead, we further rinsed the players we had trying to play high intensity front foot for 90 minutes.

You're probably spot on with that, but isn't it the manager's job to find a way around it? For me, some of the criticism of Eddie is way over the top, but some of it is warranted. One of the frustrating narratives is that he can't do anything about it when it's literally his job to do something about it. Who is it setting the midfield up to push so far forward? Who is it deciding not to play one of the midfielders deeper? Who is it not experimenting with different formations, shapes and systems to negate our weaknesses? Who persisted with probably the slowest outfield player in the PL game after game, when he was getting torn to shreds after the pedestrian midfield was bypassed? You can't say it's down to the midfield and absolve Eddie of blame, when he sets up the midfield. It's like we're stuck on one setting and people are defending Eddie by saying we don't have the right players to play that setting, so what do you expect?! Honestly, I expect us to be able to change setting.

His energy and movement are going to be so welcome, assuming he can stay fit. If we keep Livra as first choice LB and have Willock's pace in CM, i think we'll go a long way to negating some of the glaring problems we've been experiencing over the past few months.

Dan Burn

Totally understand where you're coming from, but when one player is consistently costing you goals and points, picking him is a basic error. Not just from a tactical POV as well - players will be talking, regardless of how matey they are or how tight knit they are, there will be elements within the squad that are talking about Dan Burn letting the side down and undoing their efforts. It just doesn't send a good message to other players, that consistent shit performances will not be punished. No 'elite' manager would persist with a player like this - they had/have a ruthlessness that demands higher standards, and they all would've dropped Burn a long time ago. EH has literally ignored a catastrophic weakness in our team, that every opponent has exploited to good effect over the past few weeks. They don't have to be any more sophisticated tactically than 'fast player, run at their left back'. That's as basic as it gets. It's non-league level stuff. Attacking plays in the PL should never be as simple as that, this is elite level sport ffs! Pundits have started questioning his selections and highlighting DB, journalists as well. All that stuff starts to seep into cracks that weren't there before and threaten to pick away at the positive atmosphere that has been around the club since the takeover. And it's just not the DB element that had led to some doubt creeping in - poor squad/fatigue management, mis-managing certain games eg. the Liverpool one mentioned earlier. If it was a one-off, you put it down to a bad day. But there have been 2-3 more occasions this season where poor game management and tactical naivety have cost us. I am still firmly behind Eddie Howe as our manager. I think he's been a revelation, but where I was 100% last season i'm probably more 90% now. Still firmly in his corner but with some question marks creeping in.

I’d really love that to be the case, but I can’t see anything other than Dan Burn at left back getting dry bummed by Saka, us conceding another 3 goals and Eddie doing exactly the same the following game. He just seems determined to keep Burn in the starting lineup regardless of consequence. 3 CBs, with Livra in at LB would make so much sense, but I fear it’s wishful thinking.

It is 100% Eddie Howe’s fault, 100%. Burn is absolutely the wrong choice for whatever we’re trying to execute right now.

I am, I really am. Thanks for making me see the error of my ways. Ever thought of being a therapist?

So change the system so we can accommodate two fullbacks. Virtually every other team in the league manages it - Liverpool play with Trent and Robertson, and last time I looked they were pretty fucking good! No one is holding a gun to Eddie’s head telling him he has to play a lopsided formation, with Burn dropping into a 3 to allow Trippier to get forward. It’s his system. And it currently doesn’t work! So change the fucking system. When Tino was starting games, the world didn’t end. In fact we looked more balanced and better defensively than we do now. We’re not suggesting some wild, experimental setup that’s never been seen before. We’ve seen it, and it worked. That’s why we’re so incredulous at this predictable clown show we’re being served up.