TheEntertainer

I think the stats are quite disingenuos as well and mask the issue, no-one is suggesting Eddie hasn't been brilliant for the club, most people agree this season has been awful, especially in the league. Lumping this seasons performance in with the seasons when we all agree he was doing well doesn't tell us anything we didn't know. Just like if I used just this season to say we've always been crap under Eddie it's entirely unfair to say this season hasn't been poor because when you lump it in with all his good seasons it's actually not that bad as an average. We all agree Eddie has been great for the club, something has changed this season.

Completely disagree that this is a 'more cautious, thought out approach' there are potential risks and potential rewards to either choice, not changing would probably be seen as cautious, but honestly in the footballing world sticking on a failing manager and hoping for better next year (based on previous acheivements) is probably the risky approach. Both sides of the argument can be thought out, they just differ. Generally bringing in a new manager when a team is under-performing has at least a short term benefit, not always and certainly not if you just do it all the time like Forest, but often enough for it to be the tried and tested approach for football teams around the world.

I think people who are talking about the transfer window being a disaster and saying we should give Eddie another window to try and sort it out are missing the point that Eddie has been coaching these players all season. Elanga was great last season, Wissa was great last season, Woltemade was great last season, I was excited about Ramsey coming in because he'd been consistently good (though never great) for Villa, Thiaw had had a solid season with Milan without really excelling and we knew what we were getting with Ramsdale a pretty good keeper who was never quite top tier. We actually brought in a crop of good players on paper and they've all got significantly worse this season with the possible exception of Thiaw. That's down to coaching and whatever else is going on behind the scenes at the club currently. On paper, the window should have been fine and we should have been aiming for European football again, losing Isak was always going to hurt, but we brought in a raft of players who should have improved the team. The problem wasn't the window (though yes Iask is a rat and obviously that had an impact but these things happen in football) but what has happened to those players since the window and honestly that's down to Eddie. And yes he's been fantastic for the club and given me some of the best years I've had as a fan, but it's clearly and obviously over now and both parties desperately need a change.

Where are you seeing enjoyment? People are angry and depressed about the state of the team this season. No-one is enjoying it. Stop thinking you know what everyone else is thinking. It’s shit, we all hate it.

100%, actually managing the game

The last few weeks have just been a virus right, possible he can't get around as well as he might but shouldn't be a risk of re-injury

Elanga man! I've actually not minded him as much as others and I don't mind a heavy touch at times when he's going full pelt, but that pass man!

Yeah as much as I'd prefer Tonali and Gordon not to leave as they're both good players, they both have limitations and aren't irreplaceable. I'd feel much less ok about Bruno or Hall leaving.

Gutted I missed this thread, would love to put some faces to names. I'm playing for my O40's team tomorrow or I'd have popped down anyway. Would be great to see some pics after the event and I'll try and make it next year.

If Bruno is back we actually have a really strong squad for this, no real excuses, only missing Joelinton and Schar and probably only Joe would start given everyone else is fit.

Yeah there's a real risk we wouldn't rotate properly given recent history, I'd still rather be in it than not though.

He does lie around on the floor when he doesn't get a freekick a lot, but I think that's more petulance than lack of effort or desire.

I'm always baffled by the 'don't want conference league' line of reasoning, we haven't won a European competition for nearly 60 years and that's eminently winnable as you've seen by how English clubs have done in recent years. It's also a much lower standard particularly early on which lets you rotate the team, try things and give promising youngsters game time which you basically can't really do in almost all of the domestic competition unless you just accept probable defeat. I honestly can't see the negative unless Howe just insists on playing his strongest 11 every single game and burns us out which I'd very much doubt in the group stage. European football is great as well and some of the teams in the Conference league aren't the usual big names which for me is really interesting to see what else is out there and get to see some new places and teams. I just can't see a negative to it unless we just manage it really really badly, which I guess is possible, but we really shouldn't. The whole point of every season is to try and achieve the honour of competing on the continent as a reflection on your domestic success, it seems mad that we don't want the reward unless it's the very best one. There's an argument that the current system has made the competitions less attractive which I get, but European competition is still what we should be aiming for every season no matter the level. I don't think we're going to finish in the top half of the table mind, but I'd love it if we did!

I don't think this argument holds any water anymore given the break we've just had, unless the players are so fatigued they have CNS fatigue and need a year off to recover, 3 weeks is plenty of time for anyone, let alone a young man to fully recover. I agree it was definitely impacting when we were playing twice a week every week.

I didn't get anything new from that conference, not that I was really expecting to. He still wants to be our manager and he still wants to play the same way but wants a reaction from the team. Same thing we've heard all season. Nothing good or bad about that, but nothing interesting either other than the Bruno might be available line.

Yeah I read that as him explaining what he means by saying 'hold him back' it could be either though

This season, only looking at premier league teams, we have lost to: Liverpool Arsenal Brighton West Ham Brentford Sunderland Man Utd Aston Villa Man City Everton Crystal Palace That's actually more than half the league. Clearly wasn't the case in previous seasons, but I think it's fair to say of this season.

Interestingly Poch had 5 fantastic seasons at Tottenham then it all fell apart in his 6th season (though they didn't give him much of a chance considering what he had previously achieved, he was gone by November!). Maybe some parallels there. I'd take Poch though, I think he'd be a good fit, plays a similar way but less focused on just outworking the opposition.

I was thinking that, can we go back to talking about how much we all definitely want Mourinho please?

I think the Aston Villa game and particularly the Everton game stick in the mind as they were both awful and create a false memory of the whole run in being crap. I definitely felt like it had been until I checked myself earlier in the season.

I'm not sure we can say Howe 100% can turn a successful team which has started to struggle around, the evidence we have so far is that he can turn poor teams into successful ones. This feels like it needs a plan B, it doesn't feel like Eddie has one. Maybe he can turn it around, I think he probably can't. I think if you gave him a year off then dropped him into a struggling team again he'd turn that around probably if he's still got the energy for it. That's not the same thing though, we aren't the same as when he first came in.

Almost exactly where I am, but I have more % in the thank him and move on camp than you just because I can't see it working now after the evidence of this entire season.

Haha, I did think the Barca example was a bit of a stretch, I do think we've obviously had problems all season though and nothing has been done to address them, we aren't dominating games and being done in by silly errors, we're desperately trying to hang on and then being done in silly errors and it's been the case in the second half of games all season.

1-3 I reckon, we go hard first 20 minutes and go 1-0 up, concede just before halftime and look a shadow of ourselves in the second half and concede another 2 while failing to take our chances. It's almost like I've seen this before this season! As usual, hope to be wrong!

Given what I've seen this season, I don't think Howe can do that, you obviously do. Honestly though I'd much prefer you to be right.