Eddie Howe

[sh74]

Just now, Fantail Breeze said:

 

To be fair, he’s usually massively wrong about everything.

 

But on this occasion he’s actually right.

Sounds to me like he wishes Bruce was still here.

[Thumbheed]

Think I prefer being called a mackem tbh

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sh74]

Eddie Howe has been here for 5 minutes man and he’s getting criticism all ready off some fans. Give the bloke a chance man.

[Awaymag]

1 hour ago, Thumbheed said:

 

You can absolutely coach a defence beyond the sum of its parts. We've seen that over and over and over again in football. 

 

As for the lack of quality, well, doesn't that same argument stand up for Bruce? It shouldn't, but if you're saying the defenders have never been good enough, that these kind of performances are to be expected and that there's nothing Howe can do about it, then why did Bruce get such a hammering for our shit defence and what was Howe's plan when it came to addressing our biggest weakness? Wait till January?

 

All I'm looking for is signs of cohesion and coordination and I haven't seen that so far. Couple that with some strange selections and I think it's a worthy point of discussion. 

 

 

 

I get what you are saying but we are getting absolutely hammered by individual mistakes so early in games.   I dont think we have looked too bad organisation wise but when you have these individual mistakes, which for NUFC always lead to goals, then no amount of organisation is going to help that.

 

[Thumbheed]

10 minutes ago, Awaymag said:

I get what you are saying but we are getting absolutely hammered by individual mistakes so early in games.   I dont think we have looked too bad organisation wise but when you have these individual mistakes, which for NUFC always lead to goals, then no amount of organisation is going to help that.

 

 

Aye thats fair. I seem to remember the same thing happening with Rafa before things clicked. 

 

No idea how he managed it but defo rings a bell. Willing to wait and see how we get in with new signings but there's nowt wrong with making the observations beforehand. 

[Gallowgate Toon]

1 hour ago, Fantail Breeze said:

 

My earlier post literally answers all of your points here. These same players looked like a solid defensive unit under Rafa. 

 

“I’ve said it for a few weeks but I think the reason is relatively clear.

 

Trying to get our players to play it out from the back, puts us under unnecessary pressure and increases the risk of individual errors.

 

They panic, which causes an already low on confidence team to be unsettled even further.

If you’re asking them to do things they don’t understand, they’re too busy trying to think of a million things rather than the basics and the end result is brain farts like today.

 

They’re not good enough and don’t have the right skillset to play this style, it’s why they were much more effective under Rafa’s defensive set up. Get the ball and play it forward quickly, countering.”

I loved Benitez here but this core group of players looked worse under him than Howe, at times. 

 

Howe is working to build a different legacy and is learning about this squad. I honestly don't buy that a defensive manager would have come in and make all that much difference to this team from a points gaining perspective this season - the squad is incredibly stale and looks weary after years of scraping by. We tried being uber defensive a few years ago and didn't win our first 10 games or whatever. Things only really changed when we were able to defend from the front more and had an outlet in Rondon.

 

We need quality new players and we need them quickly. It's a pathetic indictment of our central midfield, perhaps the most important position in today's domestic game, that our best one at present is a failed striker.

[andyc35i]

We were well in that game in the first half and I actually thought we played very well despite the score line. That was the first time against this lot that we haven’t just been parking the bus for the whole game and hanging on for dear life. That being said, we keep giving absolutely shit goals away and unless that stops, we have no chance of staying up

[Thumbheed]

20 minutes ago, sh74 said:

Eddie Howe has been here for 5 minutes man and he’s getting criticism all ready off some fans. Give the bloke a chance man.

 

The coaching side of things can take a backseat for now, I agree it can take time for methods to bed in (time we don't have), and I'm happy to see how we get on in time but I don't think his judgement gets the same pass, because at the end of the day its his judgement which has lead him to play Ritchie over Lewis, Clark over any other defender and even Murphy ahead of Manquillo, all whilst failing to pick our best defender. These aren't minority opinions, they're observations the entire fanbase has been making for the past 3 years. 

 

Of course I'm desperate for him to succeed, but he does not have the time or scope to make mistakes, let alone repeat them. 

[sh74]

10 minutes ago, Thumbheed said:

 

The coaching side of things can take a backseat for now, I agree it can take time for methods to bed in (time we don't have), and I'm happy to see how we get on in time but I don't think his judgement gets the same pass, because at the end of the day its his judgement which has lead him to play Ritchie over Lewis, Clark over any other defender and even Murphy ahead of Manquillo, all whilst failing to pick our best defender. These aren't minority opinions, they're observations the entire fanbase has been making for the past 3 years. 

 

Of course I'm desperate for him to succeed, but he does not have the time or scope to make mistakes, let alone repeat them. 

I think Lewis is injured and so is Fede,Shar isn’t fit enough from what I hear. There’s a lot of games at the minute and he’s trying to rotate a shit squad . Let’s get to January and hopefully bring some players in and see how he does with a half decent team.

[The Prophet]

Fede and Lewis injured, Krafth and Manquillo ill, Schar in desperate need of a rest. His team selections haven't always been great, but its hard to be too critical today.

[Thumbheed]

6 minutes ago, sh74 said:

I think Lewis is injured and so is Fede,Shar isn’t fit enough from what I hear. There’s a lot of games at the minute and he’s trying to rotate a shit squad . Let’s get to January and hopefully bring some players in and see how he does with a half decent team.

Tbf I meant his selections throughout his time as manager but, but yeh thats fair enough. 

 

Just hoping for a massive January, nervous as fuck about it already. 

[Pata]

6 minutes ago, Thumbheed said:

Tbf I meant his selections throughout his time as manager but, but yeh thats fair enough. 

 

Just hoping for a massive January, nervous as fuck about it already. 

 

So that's like 6 games or something similar? FFS

[Thumbheed]

Does he train them with his eyes closed like?

 

What's he seeing that we've not seen the last 3 years?! 

 

Anyway, leaving it at that now. 

 

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by Thumbheed

[RS]

Alex Ferguson was wank in his first season at Man U. Just saying. 

[HaydnNUFC]

He's been here for a month. Benitez in his first 6 games started Steve Taylor in 4 of them. He's still learning about this squad and even still, the options are woeful. Going to use the knife and fork analogy again, Howe is like a brain surgeon needing to do complicated surgery but he only has a knife and fork to work with. Saying he should use his knife and fork in a slightly different way is still probably going to result in a dead patient.

 

We've improved tactically under him tenfold and clear plans can be seen. Individual errors and cunt referees are just fucking us in the arse time and time again. Once January comes and if we're still in touch, we'll be reet.

[Beth]

He needs to fuck off with this 4-4-2 and 3-4-3 shite, we don't have the required personnel to play it. 4-2-3-1 or 3-5-2 are the only viable formations with the dross we have atm. 

[The Bonk]

6 hours ago, Thumbheed said:

 

My concerns with Howe were and have always been he doesn't have a record of improving defences, which funnily enough is our weakest area and exactly what we need.  

 

So far, I've not seen anything to suggest I am wrong. 

 

As for team selection, he put Lewis in because Ritchie was suspended, Ritchie was 1st choice in all his games prior to suspension. (For someone who's analysed us for his interview, being unable to spot that Ritchie is poor and should not have been 1st choice is not a good sign)

 

Clarke was suspended, after Norwich and again should not have been selected in the first place. (We all know this)

 

Burn out? What burnout? We're not even half way through the season. 

 

Fernández has played one game for us, inspite of clearly being our best defender. (Again, something which everyone should agree on)

 

Shelvey and Willock have played the most games together, again, inspite of them both being defensively poor leaving massive gaps through the centre. 

 

None of what I've said is new to any us. I'm not saying anything which isn't a shared opinion for the majority of us, which, which makes it more frustrating that after a year off to reflect on his own weaknesses - and ours - he's still seemingly not addressed our defence in any meaningful manner and keeps making the most basic of mistakes.

 

Ultimately though, whatever defence you have of Howe is applicable to Bruce, so blaming the quality of the players just won't cut it.

 

 

 

 

Fernandez is hurt, isn't he? 

 

Fair criticism, but again, probably, on paper, the best two that fit into Howe's system. What are the other options? Hayden? Shite. Hendrick? Shite. Gan on, list the better duo.

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.......this last point, come on. Bruce ball was barely football, just no, there comes a point in time when you need to deploy a system, tactics and some semblance of formation. There was none of that under Bruce, just pure fucking luck, shithousing points we didn't deserve due to some herculean individual effort. Rafa had us in a defensive first, counter attack system, which worked for most of these numpty's. I'd expect that Rafa would have bought players that would improve the system and ease us into a more attacking team. We all know what happened instead.

Villa, Wolves, Brighton, Leeds (albeit look shit now), Palace, etc. all have better players than us. 

[Pata]

48 minutes ago, Beth said:

He needs to fuck off with this 4-4-2 and 3-4-3 shite, we don't have the required personnel to play it. 4-2-3-1 or 3-5-2 are the only viable formations with the dross we have atm. 

 

The current formation is very close to 4-2-3-1 actually, if it was marked like that no one would bat an eyelid.

[Kanji]

Seriously - stop harping back to Rafa’s period here. That was years ago, the players since then have aged, been injured, and have had over 2 years of bad coaching under Bruce.

 

No back 5 could have prevented the individual mistakes from today’s defenders and most of the games this season. We’ve had no proper investment in our defenders for years and we’ve sold off the best CB we’ve had since Colo. 

 

But again please use the old Rafa adage. 

[Hhtoon]

He's coaching and setting the team up to how he ultimately wants it to be. I'm sure he's aware now where the deficiencies are so I guess he has a choice...

 

1. change to a more conservative system to try and shore up/protect the defence. Potential short term gain but possibly a backwards step. 

 

2. Persevere and hopefully if we do get early signings in it'll all click in to place quicker.

 

 

[SchärMix]

1 hour ago, Beth said:

He needs to fuck off with this 4-4-2 and 3-4-3 shite, we don't have the required personnel to play it. 4-2-3-1 or 3-5-2 are the only viable formations with the dross we have atm. 

 

4231 and 442 are fundamentally the exact same. 

 

 

 

[MarkyMark]

5 hours ago, RS said:

Alex Ferguson was wank in his first season at Man U. Just saying. 

Alex Ferguson pulled Man Utd out of the relegation zone and finished midtable in his first season - and also had trophy-winning pedigree at Aberdeen (where he managed them to victory over Real Madrid in a European final).

 

Just saying ...

[GWN]

I won’t judge EH until it’s his team.

 

to do so is nuts, this mob should be nowhere near the PL .

[r0cafella]

11 minutes ago, GWN said:

I won’t judge EH until it’s his team.

 

to do so is nuts, this mob should be nowhere near the PL .

When will that be exactly? Isn’t part of his job getting the best out of what he has taken over?

 

I’m just curious what your metric is?

[Dandy Don]

2 hours ago, MarkyMark said:

Alex Ferguson pulled Man Utd out of the relegation zone and finished midtable in his first season - and also had trophy-winning pedigree at Aberdeen (where he managed them to victory over Real Madrid in a European final).

 

Just saying ...

And 8 of that team came through Aberdeen Academy.

Every team that wins a European trophy now is full of foreigners.