Eddie Howe

[Cronky]

On 01/12/2024 at 16:10, TRon said:

 

Did you see our bench yesterday? There was over £100m worth of talent sat there. I know we don't have Chelsea levels of reserves, but there's enough players to switch things around, I don't think we can use lack of options for looking stale.

 

I think that's a very optimistic view of the state of our bench. Barnes is potentially a game changer, though very hit and miss. Trippier and Wilson can offer something different, but they're past their best. The rest are pretty ordinary, by Premiership standards.

 

There's a chasm rather than a gap between the quality of our bench and that of the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal - even Man U.

[The College Dropout]

12 minutes ago, Cronky said:

 

I think that's a very optimistic view of the state of our bench. Barnes is potentially a game changer, though very hit and miss. Trippier and Wilson can offer something different, but they're past their best. The rest are pretty ordinary, by Premiership standards.

 

There's a chasm rather than a gap between the quality of our bench and that of the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal - even Man U.

Which is by design. Only 6 clubs are allowed to have a wage and transfer budget that can sustain a squad to be competitive in the CL and PL. 

 

Imagine Villa could keep Diaby and Luiz but still sign the players they did like Onana.  

[TRon]

22 minutes ago, Cronky said:

 

I think that's a very optimistic view of the state of our bench. Barnes is potentially a game changer, though very hit and miss. Trippier and Wilson can offer something different, but they're past their best. The rest are pretty ordinary, by Premiership standards.

 

There's a chasm rather than a gap between the quality of our bench and that of the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal - even Man U.

 

That would fly if we were playing Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City or Arsenal. But we weren't we were playing Crystal Palace.

[Kanj]

Does Havertz not count?

[JEToon]

1 hour ago, Cronky said:

 

I think that's a very optimistic view of the state of our bench. Barnes is potentially a game changer, though very hit and miss. Trippier and Wilson can offer something different, but they're past their best. The rest are pretty ordinary, by Premiership standards.

 

There's a chasm rather than a gap between the quality of our bench and that of the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal - even Man U.

 

There is, and to tie in to what is being spoken about slightly. 

 

Even Palace who aren't a spending super power by any means had an "EPL forward" on the bench who they could throw on who will end up costing them 30 million

 

Our spend has allowed us to catch up to a lot teams, over take a few but still left a limit on us, that isn't to say our squad is poor by any means, but it isn't some kind of wrecking ball squad, a lot of sides in the league can bring a lot of players off the bench who cost a lot of money, it's not that exclusive an asset to us 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2024 by JEToon

[80]

Thought experiment: Eddie is locked in here until at least Summer 2028.

 

Despite any friction, the board and Mitchell genuinely respect what he does, they're content with what he offers in terms of player development, being a steady hand and such, while the club gradually progresses off the pitch. So long as we're not in a relegation fight, at least. CL is a sincere hope and investment within PSR is fully available, but 11th is fine enough if we're consistently uprating the Isaks and Halls who can be traded with a view to the future.

 

What do you want to have happen in the coming year? Spend in January? Hang on to our purples in the summer for another push next season? Squad car boot sale and rebuild? Are you gutted with this news or delighted with the certainty and absence of urgency? 

 

Personally, I think it's crucial we go into this June debt free, and if that means no signings in January, so be it. Then, a full rebuild in the summer. I don't think we'd have the luxury of being too picky about exactly which players leave. One way or another though, the spine of Howe's squad has always been players he inherited or got in that first rushed transfer window - Schar, Burn, Trippier, Longstaff, Joelinton, Bruno, Murphy/Almiron etc. And we know most of them have pretty severe limitations, which must constrain his tactical options.

 

My hope is Eddie privately thinks there are key flaws in what we have that are preventing him getting us to the next level, and he has firm ideas of what he'd change if we lost - say - Bruno, Joelinton, Gordon and Livramento, along with the Almirons, Trippiers and Targetts, in return for a boatload of cash to spread around the squad and Mitchell's assistance in picking up players who might be stars of the future but are also at least viable in a PL first team. Then it would be a case of going again with a new model, probably from a lower base but hopefully with a surer footing in terms of technical ability, squad consistency and trading potential.

[LFEE]

 

[The College Dropout]

As someone that finds Jordan entertaining - why would Eddie sit down and chat with him? 

[mouldy_uk]

Just now, The College Dropout said:

As someone that finds Jordan entertaining - why would Eddie sit down and chat with him? 

 

Very surprised, but from those limited clips we might actually get some interesting responses

[Myleftboot]

1 hour ago, LFEE said:

 

Proper Bo a tell thee.

[Lush Vlad]

22 minutes ago, Myleftboot said:

Proper Bo a tell thee.

Ha. He does talk a bit like the Jonathan Ross off Bo Selecta. 

“wibble wobble wibble *shoehorn in a long word for no reason* wibbly wobble woblov.”

[Ben]

Looking forward to that

[Miggys First Goal]

Ooooh… could be interesting. 

[David Edgar]

Stop. Picking. Your. Turd. Favourites.

[Ronson333]

Subs 5 minutes too late, you could see we were struggling before their third goal

[Cf]

Agreed. Disappointing point against the probable league winners. 

[Myleftboot]

Same performance against the shit teams please.

[Smal]

coached a 3-0 (could’ve been more) win here.

 

It felt like we gave the ball away 3 times and Liverpool scored from all 3 of them, absolutely gutting. Great performance.

[Ellis H]

Man City, Arsenal, Tottenham and now Liverpool dropping points at SJP. Feels like that hasn’t happened in many years?
 

In Howe we trust.

[The Butcher]

His problem is not against the big sides. We're usually good against them.

 

Good point in the end

[Kanj]

Get this man a right winger, a proper class starting right winger. He's fucking HIM. 

[timeEd32]

We really should have won, but hopefully that game improves our collective confidence. I really don't understand what's happened to us mentally. We're so fragile in a way we weren't just over a year ago. You'd think the way the second half of last season played out that we could brush it off as injuries, etc., but it seems like it kind of broke us.

 

The individual mistakes are still there and very frustrating, but we could likely survive them against lesser sides if we played with that intensity and drive.

 

Maybe slightly dramatic but it feels to me like the season hinges on the next two weeks. 7+ points and a spot in the SF heading into Boxing Day would mean it's all there for us. Less than that and out of the cup will be a very different position and mood.

[midds]

That was much more like it, thought we were really good pretty much all of the time and absolutely deserved at least a point from the game. Showed heart, organisation and were on it from the first whistle. 

 

Unfortunately their finishing was top notch tonight, their 3 goals were all superb and you wouldn't normally expect all 3 of those chances to get converted on a normal night, there's nothing you can do about it. They were just ruthless and it happens. To score 3 against them is really good and normally should be enough but it wasn't to be tonight. Can't fault us really, thought Murphy was disappointing but he did his best which kind of sums up the situation on the RW. We're desperate for quality out there. It's a good point and a much better display, hopefully a bit of a springboard 

[nufc123]

Follow it up against Brentford now. We had a couple of sloppy moments that cost us goals, we need that gone.

[Jordan]

Great performance tonight and glad we got something out of it as it was least we deserved. Didn’t like Murphy starting and thought he was poor. We’re screaming out for a right winger and have been for years. 
 

Most important thing is following this up on Sunday with a similar performance. We’ve raised our game at home against the big teams a couple times already this season and they’ve been false dawns.