Eddie Howe

[Nobody]

  On 26/02/2023 at 23:52, Ankles Bennett said:

I'm 72 years of age next April and I'm still waiting to see us win a domestic trophy as an adult, apart from the Fairs Cup, which most of the media seem to not recognise as a domestic trophy.  Am I doomed to depart from this mortal coil as a supporter of a team destined to persistently frustrate its supporters in the pursuit of any trophies!!!

 

Expand  

That's probably because it wasn't a domestic trophy Tbf 

[The Prophet]

I definitely think we should have abandoned our tried and tested formation for one we haven't played all season. Howe definitely wouldn't have been crucified if we lost.

 

[manorpark]

  On 26/02/2023 at 23:52, Ankles Bennett said:

I'm 72 years of age next April and I'm still waiting to see us win a domestic trophy as an adult, apart from the Fairs Cup, which most of the media seem to not recognise as a domestic trophy.  Am I doomed to depart from this mortal coil as a supporter of a team destined to persistently frustrate its supporters in the pursuit of any trophies!!!

 

Expand  

 

The "European Fairs Cup" (the name change from "Inter Cities Fairs Cup" was agreed during the season we won it) was the "2nd" European Tournament below the European Cup, as the "Europa League" is now.

 

It was a FAR harder tournament to win than the Europa League is today because in 1968/69 only ONE team from each country went into the European Cup (now called Champions League) unlike today, meaning that most of the very best teams in European Football were playing in the Fairs Cup.

 

 

 

Edited February 27, 2023 by manorpark

[dcmk]

He's class.

 

Outplayed the best in form team in Europe.  xG proves that.  Can't fault the performance, hope he doesn't get any stick for today.  

[The Butcher]

wat

[Stottie]

I think he picked the right team for the occasion yesterday, but various setbacks and dips in form meant it wasn't to be. We needed more things to go right for us to beat Man U on their current form.

 

Going forward, it's looking like he'll have to play Isak over Wilson, who's struggling. Gordon wasn't available for this game, but with Miggy's dip in form, the case for integrating him sooner rather than gradually has also become stronger. I wouldn't change anything defensively just yet.

[Conjo]

  On 26/02/2023 at 21:39, Scotty66 said:

 

Very highly rated and only a kid. Could well be our next Trippier for many years so was definitely worth 3m. Think we'll see a lot more of him next season. 

Expand  

 

21 (or 22 as he'll soon be) is young in life, but not that young for a PL footballer. He hasn't even made our bench which is pretty damning considering how it's looked the last month, and has hardly played first team football at any point in his career so far. It's not too late of course, but if he isn't even in contention by this age he's most likely not going to make it at this level.

[TheBrownBottle]

  On 26/02/2023 at 21:44, The Butcher said:

Turning 22 this year and has played 6 minutes of PL football if transfermarkt is right. Be amazed if he turns into a PL player.

Expand  

 

  On 27/02/2023 at 02:02, Conjo said:

 

21 (or 22 as he'll soon be) is young in life, but not that young for a PL footballer. He hasn't even made our bench which is pretty damning considering how it's looked the last month, and has hardly played first team football at any point in his career so far. It's not too late of course, but if he isn't even in contention by this age he's most likely not going to make it at this level.

Expand  

He signed a fortnight ago FFS  - can we at least give the lad a month before we write him off?

  On 26/02/2023 at 23:57, Nobody said:

That's probably because it wasn't a domestic trophy Tbf 

Expand  

I suspect he meant ‘major’ not ‘domestic’, which some quarters don’t recognise it - mainly because UEFA don’t recognise the Fairs Cup (unlike FIFA)

[Conjo]

  On 27/02/2023 at 02:20, TheBrownBottle said:

 

He signed a fortnight ago FFS  - can we at least give the lad a month before we write him off?

Expand  

 

I said it's not too late, but compare him to Gordon who is the same age as an example. Straight into the first team picture. This guy has not even made the bench. If he can't get ahead of the likes of Lewis and Ritchie from the start, there must be some glaring holes in his game.

[Zero]

I expect him to make some changes to our attacking form. It’s really too predictable and every team knows how to deal with us.

 

[soyt]

  On 27/02/2023 at 09:52, Zero said:

I expect him to make some changes to our attacking form. It’s really too predictable and every team knows how to deal with us.

 

Expand  

Yes, i think he has been against of too much changes because of the final on the horizon. Everyone has seen that something different is needed to freshen things up. But i can understand that he has been a bit worried to upset the apple cart because that formation and set of players got us to the final. Now that the final is done and dusted and our form is still bad, Eddie is justified to make more changes. In in any case, that is what i hope for.

 

 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

  On 27/02/2023 at 03:11, Conjo said:

I said it's not too late, but compare him to Gordon who is the same age as an example. Straight into the first team picture. This guy has not even made the bench. If he can't get ahead of the likes of Lewis and Ritchie from the start, there must be some glaring holes in his game.

Expand  

 

Are we talking about Ashby here? Ridiculous if so

 

Glaring holes in his game FFS, we just tracked the lad for a wile and got a deal done, a matter of days before our most important game in decades. Doesn't mean anything at all about his game. 

 

 

Edited February 27, 2023 by AyeDubbleYoo

[Gawalls]

  On 27/02/2023 at 10:00, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

Are we talking about Ashby here? Ridiculous if so

 

Glaring holes in his game FFS, we just tracked the lad for a wile and got a deal done, a matter of days before our most important game in decades. Doesn't mean anything at all about his game. 

 

 

 

Expand  

Agreed, it’s a pathetic statement. These will be the same people that expected kuol to rip up the Scottish league.

 

 

Edited February 27, 2023 by Gawalls

[The College Dropout]

The Ashby thing is genuinely weird.

 

He's 21 and made 7 senior appearances by the looks of things. That's an incredibly low amount for a player so highly rated. At the same age, Trippier played a full season in the Championship. Longstaff a season and a half of mens football.

 

 

[The College Dropout]

  On 27/02/2023 at 10:02, Gawalls said:

Agreed, it’s a pathetic statement. These will be the same people that expected kuol to rip up the Scottish league.

 

 

 

Expand  

Tbf Kuol is 18. Ashby is 21. That's a massive difference. 

[The Prophet]

Howe has already said that Ashby isn't match fit yet. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Just don’t see why we’re already doubting someone we just signed and haven’t even seen. It’s a little odd. 

[gbandit]

I don’t think Ashby not playing is indicative of too much about him, just really odd that Moyes didn’t ever play him given how highly rated he is and how much they wanted to hold onto him

[The Prophet]

Also quite harsh to talk about defensive set pieces on this particular occasion, granted we conceded two soft  goals v West Ham and Bournemouth. It's a quality ball in from Shaw and we've held our line pretty well. 

[number37]

I remember a previous West Ham United manager thinking Marlon Harewood and Hayden Mullins were better than Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano so maybe it's just one of those clubs. Ashby will be fine with us. 

[jack j]

Hope Eddie isn't a victim of his earlier success this season. Even if we completely drop off the end of this season he deserves full support which am sure the board will give him

[PauloGeordio]

He’s already won for me. A cup final, safety and belief restored. The only way is up! The futures bright, the futures black and white 

[jonny1403]

  On 26/02/2023 at 23:20, Away Toon said:

Nobody is ripping up the defense just replacing Burn with Targett, which more people on here are advocating. Now if Eddie doesn't think Targett is a better LB than Dan Burn you have to wonder who sanctioned buying him.

Expand  

Eh? Target doesn’t become a bad signing just because his competition is having a blinding season.

[Gallowgate Toon]

It's time to evolve... not revolve.

 

I think he'll be really relieved that this weekend is done now. I feel like we've been walking a tightrope the last few weeks in terms of team selection & squad management.

 

This is a big test for Howe now, a bit of a sticky patch and we'll see how ready he is to be ruthless - this is bigger club management decision-making time. I'm a bit worried for him with Wilson, feels like he's been trying to back him in spite of form which is against his entire managerial ethos of playing based on merit, competition in the squad etc. You can carry a striker in crap form for a while when you're vying for midtable but not when you want to be towards the top, especially when there aren't plenty of goals elsewhere.

 

He has to turn this disappointment around for the rest of the season and start building our next phase. For me, the rest of this campaign should be about getting our attacking mojo in order and preparing for next year. It'll likely lead to more losses than the first half of the season but it's something we have to go through. That, or we revert to more of a counter attacking team and re-style next campaign.

 

Options are to go for it with Isak and Wilson, but that may mean sacrificing ASM for Willock or Gordon to try and preserve defensive stability. Or he tries ASM off Isak and Gordon on the left. Maybe put Isak, Wilson & ASM together as a 3 somehow if we want to keep 4-3-3. I don't buy that we don't have goals in the squad, we can have a decent attack to see us through with some tinkering and perseverance.

[Conjo]

  On 27/02/2023 at 10:00, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

Are we talking about Ashby here? Ridiculous if so

 

Glaring holes in his game FFS, we just tracked the lad for a wile and got a deal done, a matter of days before our most important game in decades. Doesn't mean anything at all about his game. 

Expand  

 

Of course it does. He hasn't been on the bench for any game since he joined us. Difficult to track him properly when all he can be evaluated against is development team football. Maybe he just wasn't as promising as he looked against opponents in Premier League 2? If there's no issues and he looks good, why in the world has he not been an option from the bench?

 

  On 27/02/2023 at 10:45, The College Dropout said:

The Ashby thing is genuinely weird.

 

He's 21 and made 7 senior appearances by the looks of things. That's an incredibly low amount for a player so highly rated. At the same age, Trippier played a full season in the Championship. Longstaff a season and a half of mens football.

Expand  

 

That's part of my point though - if he isn't fit to play at this level now, time is running out quickly because 21 just isn't very young for a top flight footballer. Most of the top flight players that turn good start to get eased into the side around 18-19 or loaned out to be regular first team starters, and some are even established top flight first team players by 21. We got Kuol in January and he is now playing regularly first team football (albeit from the bench most of the times) at the age of 18. If he in 3 years is in our squad but not even getting picked to be on the bench, I'll be worried he may not be good enough to play for us either - with the same caveat that it isn't too late, but that something needs to happen fairly quickly.