Eddie Howe

[Izakaya]

Happy to eat my words and say he's turned it around and then some. 

 

Cant help but wonder why he didn't do the Tonali / Bruno thing earlier but still...

 

Bakayoko and Tomori in January and we'll be back in the CL no bother. 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2024 by Izakaya

[Erikse]

1 hour ago, Groundhog63 said:

Creased at the usual suspects who, absolutely, think they were seeing something Howe couldn't and the only credit they give Eddie Howe is his finally coming around to their way of thinking 😂😂😂😂

 

Allways puzzled by the expectation some have that if you criticize Howe it means you're anti Howe and if you ever give him creds it's all fake. The idea of someone just trying to be honest and somewhat balanced instead of polarizing and having clear agendas is apparently unheard of. It's interesting because if I'd instead somehow be critizicing Howe for something right now, you'd ridicule that aswell.

 

I'm giving Howe credits now because he made things work. Things didn't work earlier in the season. I judge based on recent performances. It's not that deep.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2024 by Erikse

[Sibierski]

When we play like we did yesterday, I swing back towards all in on Eddie and give him his players  Because when it clicks it’s bloody good fun. 

[Lush Vlad]

Only mild criticism of the last 6-7 games or whatever it is since Liverpool (ignoring the Brentford second half). Is how we often take a long while to make subs. Then when we do, we tend to get noticeably worse. 
 

Had two games that were done and dusted at 4 nil. Plus yesterday against 10. Cup game was comfortable, too. So we may well just be cruising by that point.
 

But it seems like we finally have a bit of depth. But regularly rely on the same 12-13 players and rotation from the off or earlier in games doesn’t seem like an option. As the drop off is a lot bigger than you’d expect. 
 

This is me looking for negatives, mind. I suppose the worry will be when we have injuries and suspensions. We are more than likely going to struggle. But that’s true for most teams up to a point. 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2024 by Lush Vlad

[STM]

I just think he waited too long to try Tonali 6, in the same way he probably could have used Hall sooner but for me, that's barely a criticism of Howe because most managers struggle to even identify the problem, let alone fix it.

 

I'd rather a manager that slowly tinkered in order to find the solution, rather than one that threw the puzzle pieces in the air and hoped that they would land in the right pattern.

 

The one great thing is that now Howe has found the solution, you can bet he won't fuck about with the side unless he absolutely has to.

[Hanshithispantz]

14 minutes ago, STM said:

I just think he waited too long to try Tonali 6

Aye Tonali's pace across the pitch and speed in which he releases the ball sorts a lot of our issues out in defence and in build-up.

 

As good as Bruno is he's far slower, both at getting about and releasing the ball.

 

It's about Man City but this video is a decent watch for the importance of getting the 6 right.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2024 by Hanshithispantz

[Lotus]

Re: Tonali, I think it’s much more likely the issue was with Tonali than EH just not realising he could play him there. 
 

[Menace]

To think some people genuinely wanted Mourinho in a few weeks ago man... insane stuff

[Bunk Moreland]

13 hours ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

I don’t think it was always obvious that Tonali would play deepest. From what I understand of his career so far he’s been very much box-to-box.

 

Aye, when he signed Milan fans were telling us he was a much more advanced midfielder and we shouldn't expect him to be this deep so I was one of those who'd altered expectations.

[mondonewc]

51 minutes ago, Erikse said:

 

Allways puzzled by the expectation some have that if you criticize Howe it means you're anti Howe and if you ever give him creds it's all fake. The idea of someone just trying to be honest and somewhat balanced instead of polarizing and having clear agendas is apparently unheard of. It's interesting because if I'd instead somehow be critizicing Howe for something right now, you'd ridicule that aswell.

 

I'm giving Howe credits now because he made things work. Things didn't work earlier in the season. I judge based on recent performances. It's not that deep.

 

 

 

A lot of the contributions criticising Howe had zero balance though! 

 

Some of the posts about Howe and Tindall where fucking beyond disrespectful. 

 

Of course, it's fine to be critical, Howe will get it wrong sometimes, and it's more than fair to call that out, in a constructive way. Some of the comments and criticism where nonsense though, and hopefully some who contributed to that noise will be a bit less haste to be in the "Howe out" or "Howe's too stubborn to change" camps next time we have a blip and give the man the time and support he's earnt and deserves!

[Lotus]

If it was obvious to a lot of us that Tonali could be just what we needed at 6 and it would help integrate him into the team than you can bet EH saw it too. Whatever prevented that at the time must have been valid. My guess is it was issues with Tonali himself.

[Super Duper Branko Strupar]

I think it was more likely more than just Tonali, but the entire 3. It's not just a change for Tonali, it's a change for all 3. And everyone else tbf. Including playing out from the back, the balls to the full backs, the runs of the wingers, the balls Isak expects. I've no doubt at all this change was always the plan, though I do know Howe hates suggesting he has midfielders set in certain positions to make it easy for the opposition. It's not just been integrating Tonali, it's been integrating the entire team in to the new system. It's not just a case of a different player in a position someone else had, that role has changed with the different attributes Tonali has. Would I have liked to see us like this quicker? Yes. Do I think it's as easy as just plopping him in there and it working out this well? Absolutely fucking not.

 

Credit to Howe for us working this well pretty much as soon as the change has been made. Most teams make the change before the systems is working. Howe doesn't do that and I see the argument and the benefits. Confidence from the off, rather than the risk of trying to gain it game by game and maybe it not working and it impacting the confidence or players view of the change.

 

He's smarter than us all.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2024 by Super Duper Branko Strupar

[M1tche]

Delighted with what he's done with the team to turn round the form. Really hope we keep going and get Europe because I can see the owner pulling the trigger if we're not in any European competition. I'll follow that up by saying, I don't want that to happen. 

 

He's the perfect fit for us, and want him here long term. If there's money to spend, I want him to be the one building the team with it. 

[Geordie Ahmed]

I have no issues with those that were critical of Howe, whether that was the team selection, formation, tactics, subs etc etc

 

It's quite reasonable to ask "where has the intensity gone?", "an xG of 0.04 is not good enough" and so on 

 

The issue I have is those that were clamouring for Mourinho, those that said they had enough, that it was time to go, time to move on, he's done, blah, blah, blah 

 

Those are the people that need to present themselves and accept they were being impatient, petulant and quite frankly utterly disrespectful towards a manager that has been on the whole bloody amazing for us

 

Those that backed Howe were not saying an xG of 0.04 was acceptable but rather Howe has a body of work at this club that he has morethan earned the right to correct any poor performances/results

 

The impatient would do well to remember that the next time we do have some poor performances/results 

 

TLDR : Eddie is lush, stop calling for him to be sacked whenever we have a bad spell 

[Southern Geordie]

Completely agree.

 

if we want to be the next Manure and start sacking managers every six-twelve months, then fine.

 

if we want to actually build the club up to a competitive and successful outfit, Eddie is the man.

[Erikse]

1 hour ago, mondonewc said:

A lot of the contributions criticising Howe had zero balance though! 

 

Some of the posts about Howe and Tindall where fucking beyond disrespectful. 

 

Of course, it's fine to be critical, Howe will get it wrong sometimes, and it's more than fair to call that out, in a constructive way. Some of the comments and criticism where nonsense though, and hopefully some who contributed to that noise will be a bit less haste to be in the "Howe out" or "Howe's too stubborn to change" camps next time we have a blip and give the man the time and support he's earnt and deserves!

 

It really seemed like it was aimed at me as I was the one who used the word "creds" like 2 posts before, but I haven't read all the pages from yesterday and today. Maybe it wasn't, my bad if so.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2024 by Erikse

[Displayname]

19 minutes ago, Geordie Ahmed said:

I have no issues with those that were critical of Howe, whether that was the team selection, formation, tactics, subs etc etc

 

It's quite reasonable to ask "where has the intensity gone?", "an xG of 0.04 is not good enough" and so on 

 

The issue I have is those that were clamouring for Mourinho, those that said they had enough, that it was time to go, time to move on, he's done, blah, blah, blah 

 

Those are the people that need to present themselves and accept they were being impatient, petulant and quite frankly utterly disrespectful towards a manager that has been on the whole bloody amazing for us

 

Those that backed Howe were not saying an xG of 0.04 was acceptable but rather Howe has a body of work at this club that he has morethan earned the right to correct any poor performances/results

 

The impatient would do well to remember that the next time we do have some poor performances/results 

 

TLDR : Eddie is lush, stop calling for him to be sacked whenever we have a bad spell 

Never called for him to be sacked, but I have no problem with coming forward admitting that i took the criticisms to far and doubted Eddie to much. Would like to say I have learned, but knowing myself thats probably not true. 

[J7]

We look as good as we have since points of the season finishing 4th, if not better in the last few games. The criticism a month or so ago was still valid though. The next three games will tell us even more too as we’ve fluffed a lot of big games over the past few years.

[kingxlnc]

He has had to redesign his all systems go philosophy on the fly so naturally it's going to take some tweaking to get it working. The result is measured controlled high performances that is sustainable and should minimise injury. 
 

Tonali wasn't available in pre season remember and Bunce had only just come in. As did Mitchell, plus the chaos of the summer window.
 

It's not a surprise that he needed some time to figure it out but I do think this is now very well set up and bodes excitingly. 

 

However a system is only as good as it's quickest point of failure. It's very heavily reliant on Isak (so needs backup) and Tonali/Bruno and also Schar. So we do need adequate backup in case the spine is out. 

 

 

[toon25]

He has to be up there as one of the best at improving players and getting them playing beyond their capabilities. It takes some time, but just look at what he's done with the likes of Murphy, Burn etc.

 

Has to be given money to spend in Jan.

[Displayname]

1 hour ago, toon25 said:

He has to be up there as one of the best at improving players and getting them playing beyond their capabilities. It takes some time, but just look at what he's done with the likes of Murphy, Burn etc.

 

Has to be given money to spend in Jan.

After this run i agree, he has to be given money to push for top 4-5. Paying a little overprice would easily be worth it if we get another CL qualification. 

If that means we have to sell in the summer then so be it.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2024 by Displayname

[The College Dropout]

49 minutes ago, Erikse said:

 

It really seemed like it was aimed at me as I was the one who used the word "creds" like 2 posts before, but I haven't read all the pages from yesterday and today. Maybe it wasn't, my bad if so.

 

 

 

You were never knee jerking calling for him to be sacked. You said we were bad which was the truth. 
 

I’ve never been a Howe fanboy but I was shocked by how quickly people turned on him. We were bad but we weren’t that bad. People were acting like we were 15 points off the pace and needed a change.  It felt like the twilight zone.  Having barely changed my stance on how I became one of his biggest supporters  football fans are very fickle

[Displayname]

Just now, The College Dropout said:

You were never knee jerking calling for him to be sacked. You said we were bad which was the truth. 
 

I’ve never been a Howe fanboy but I was shocked by how quickly people turned on him. We were bad but we weren’t that bad. People were acting like we were 15 points off the pace and needed a change.  It felt like the twilight zone.  Having barely changed my stance on how I became one of his biggest supporters  football fans are very fickle

There is also an effect where the positive people on the forum retreat a little in tough times and negative people take their place. Not necessarily people just people being as fickle as me.

[Decky]

2 hours ago, Menace said:

To think some people genuinely wanted Mourinho in a few weeks ago man... insane stuff

 

Did anyone actually come out and say this?

[The College Dropout]

7 minutes ago, Decky said:

 

Did anyone actually come out and say this?

I remember there were more than one in favour of this.