Eddie Howe

[Guest reefatoon]

27 minutes ago, KingArthur said:

Fernandes is veeeery slow also, its not like he is Maldini. Our centrebacks are awful.

He gets around that by being able to read the game better. 

[Guest HTT II]

My main worry right now is I only see very small and marginal improvements, fitness being the main one which you’d expect as a given anyway. It’s currently not good enough and whatever they are doing in training isn’t quite working and although we are hamstrung in terms of personnel, we are not playing to the strengths of the current players we do have whatever they are right now and a good coach, like Rafa, would work on that and eventually get an upturn in form and with it results as he did. I support Howe 100%, but if we are to go down, don’t give the likes of Lascelles and fucking Shelvey their opportunity to hammer that nail into the coffin. Get them out of the team ASAP and go to the owners and demand they spend what is needed on better players. They don’t have to be a Botman, look at Watford, they spent a few million on some random CM who ran the show against us. That player in ahead of Shelvey would have been a massive improvement on the waste of space that he is. 

 

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by HTT II

[Ben]

We have a very limited squad that Howe needs to work with, he needs them all on board just now to get the best out of them, it would be crackers to upset them just now.

[Ste]

When he first came in and the training clips were released, I was encouraged by the focus on pass and move. We aren't carrying any kind of threat, our midfield is either stationery (Joelinton aside) or disjointed, there's no communication between players. We aren't covering space, we aren't offering anything different with our attack, it's like everyone goes into position to receive the ball and we never stray from it. I'm not expecting our front three to turn into Messi, Neymar and Suarez, but at least see what isn't working and change it. 

 

Cathcart looked shakey, why wasn't our focus changed to work ASM into positions to run at him, or have Wood drop deep and a midfielder run beyond him. Make their defenders think instead of our attack being like a real world example of Subbuteo?

[xLiaaamx]

His reaction post Cambridge annoyed me so much. Its just a farce to try defend that as good enough but he did because he's desperate to be nice with them. He's not ruthless enough to make the changes the squad need either. 

[xLiaaamx]

3 minutes ago, Ben said:

We have a very limited squad that Howe needs to work with, he needs them all on board just now to get the best out of them, it would be crackers to upset them just now.

Babying them hasn't worked. They've had it easy and nice far too long. 

[Ben]

Just now, xLiaaamx said:

Babying them hasn't worked. They've had it easy and nice far too long. 

I don't think that's true, Trippiers comments this week about the good lads in the squad seems to be true, there are never any stories about players kicking off or being arseholes and getting pissed up, the problem is lack of talent and a championship ability in the premier league.

[toon25]

There are definitely not three worse squads than us, like. We're the only team in the league without any discernable style of play.

 

Most of the players still don't look as they have a fucking clue what they're supposed to be doing on the pitch over the course of 90 minutes

[Bimpy474]

I think i said this before, we have a very very poor squad, in fact we're a terrible team. I think most of us know it, and we need better players obviously. Of the two we've bought so far, I'd say we've upgraded at right back. Striker wise, we've added a body which we needed, rather than the quality we ultimately wanted imo.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by Bimpy474

[Ste]

These players are comfortable behind their barrier of people writing them off. It's unacceptable to be in this position, good coaching and mentality see us out of it. If Shelvey is dropping that deep out of instruction, then they're getting it horribly wrong. If he's doing it and it's not what they want, then they should be drilling it into him to get forward and offer support, or you drop him. This goes for ASM, Fraser, Wood, Lascelles, Schar, you tell them exactly what you expect regardless if it's what they want to do or not, it gets drilled into them.

 

It's like we're trying to keep everybody happy in their own little comfort zones of being beyond criticism because everybody think they're shit anyway. Majority of this squad feel sorry for themselves and Ashley will get the blame and he should in some respects, but this squad shouldn't be in the bottom three.

[Guest Biggsbond14]

7 minutes ago, toon25 said:

There are definitely not three worse squads than us, like. We're the only team in the league without any discernable style of play.

 

Most of the players still don't look as they have a fucking clue what they're supposed to be doing on the pitch over the course of 90 minutes

That is the most worrying thing actually as they don’t have a plan to break teams down , wood looks lost as a lone forward as no one can actually get the ball to him from wide as fraser misses him and asm never acts like a trad winger and woods/ Wilson even if they do win it the back up is 20 yards behind them 

[Bimpy474]

We have a squad of players put together to achieve the minimum, It's ingrained in the players and was in the club. The club you can snap out of it immediately as we've seen, the players on the other hand, not a chance.

 

We bought average players to be an average team, chucked in a couple of sparks like ASM to do the little bits of magic now and again. That's a culture, a long term culture that's festered away for years.

I don't disagree Howe should have done better, but i can understand why he hasn't.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by Bimpy474

[KingArthur]

1 hour ago, ManDoon said:

He's our best CB by a country mile like. He's a very good PL centreback in general.

Not good enough tho. He makes a lot of mistakes too. Of course a lot better than Clark or Lascelles, but still we need better players.

[Guest neesy111]

3 minutes ago, Bimpy474 said:

I don't disagree Howe should have done better, but i can't understand why he hasn't.

 

He hasn't orgnaized us imo, this is why he was the wrong guy for the short-term situation we are in.  We needed organizing badly, we've kept 1 clean sheet all season which is unacceptable.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by neesy111

[Guest neesy111]

1 minute ago, ManDoon said:

Agree Nees, that's who I see it really. We needed an Emery/Nuno type. Not pretty but pragmatic.

It was the big question over him for many was his defensive organisation with how freely Bournemouth shipped goals under him.

[Sean]

I really don't think he's the right man to this club forward. Even if he somehow manages to keep us up, he doesn't have the profile to attract the best players we as a club can attract, he has no experience of how a big, successful club should be set up or ran, he hasn't succeeded anywhere other than Bournemouth, he hasn't got experience of coming into a failing team and keeping them in the PL, in short he has pretty much no relevant experience that I would look for in a candidate for the job. My initial reaction was one of bemusement and head scratching, but I did hope that he could assuage those fears. 

 

I'm not saying I want Rafa back, however I was hoping to be able to replace my avatar of Rafa with him. Just can't see that happening though.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by Sean

[Guest HTT II]

My main worry with Howe was/is does he have the cult of personality to manage a club like ours, he’s a nice guy, very straight and decent, but does he have the ruthlessness or strength of character maybe needed to cultivate a winning team on and off the pitch and I’m mainly worried about Tinsdale, for no real reason, other than a hunch that he’s not someone who can galvanise and motivate players as a number 2.
 

I’m probably being harsh on him and my thoughts are totally unfounded, but I just have this hunch with him for some reason. I like Howe though, I think he’s an exceptionally gifted coach/manager and he comes across so well and if I was a player under him I’d relish what he brings, but it’s not so easy say managing Bournemouth and then go to NUFC, especially after 14 years of neglect and in the circumstances we are in.

 

I’m on record stating we will go down, and I do feel he will bring us back up, if so, I’d be saying thank you, here is a nice pay off and look to someone with the right characteristics to manage a big club like ours.

 

Ideally, he keeps us up, we rebuild, he takes us up a few levels and we kick on under him. I do feel we lack the right kind of players not just ability wise, but mainly character wise for a Howe revolution and that maybe shows in the results and performances since he arrived. I’d honestly get rid of them all minus Dubravka, Joelinton, ASM (at a push), Wilson, Trippier and Wood. That’s what we are dealing with here.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by HTT II

[Billy Pilgrim]

I don’t care about his charisma, or how cool he looks, or whether he says PFM things. I care about points and results. Eddie clearly isn’t a dickhead which is a huge boon in his favour but if you put a gun to my head and say, do you want a guy who isn’t aggravating, or do you want a complete bastard who dances on the graves of his defeated enemies on a weekly basis, I am going to pick the bastard. Sorry not sorry. Life is too short to stick with losers for abstract reasons, and this is true beyond football. Politics, work, relationships, everything. Your fight and drive to push against the universe as hard as you can is what brings victory.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by Billy Pilgrim

[Kanj]

Despite the individual mistakes we should have taken 3 pts from Norwich, Brentford, and Watford. We should have saw off Man United too. 8 pts man. 20 pts total and we’d be 15th place. We’d be confident in staying up. Whether that’s down to Howe or the players or both, the man who manages the team has to shoulder the responsibility.  

[TRon]

2 hours ago, The College Dropout said:

I think a Gerrard would’ve helped with a new manager boost at the least.  
 

in our situation there’s always the chance players mentally log out because they know they won’t be part of the long-term project.  A Gerrard appointment, certainly for the English players would energise them.  
 

 

IMO Bruce would have won more points if not for the toxic crowd.  

 

  Where have you been hiding? It was the toxic crowd who got rid of Bruce right? Did you read Ron Liddle's column today?

 

 

[1964]

1 hour ago, neesy111 said:

 

He hasn't orgnaized us imo, this is why he was the wrong guy for the short-term situation we are in.  We needed organizing badly, we've kept 1 clean sheet all season which is unacceptable.

 

 

 

Yeah, my mate is a season ticket holder and says exactly that, players have no discipline and are all over the plae 

[Shearergol]

I’d have Rafa back, no questions asked. Even if he then took us down I’d trust him completely to take this club where it needs to be. I don’t get that feeling with Howe, but he needs much more time either way.

 

It looks pretty certain that we’re going to go down, which delays the transformation of the club. I think Howe needs the next two seasons to show what he can do.

[Bimpy474]

1 hour ago, neesy111 said:

 

He hasn't orgnaized us imo, this is why he was the wrong guy for the short-term situation we are in.  We needed organizing badly, we've kept 1 clean sheet all season which is unacceptable.

 

 

 

 

Apologises as my post should have said, 'i can understand why he hasn't'

 

You're not wrong either, organised we haven't been. But his defensive record at Bournemouth was atrocious, it was about goals scoring, that's not going to work with us, especially with our lack any forward attacking plans over the last few seasons.

[Beth]

It's effectively a four team mini league now for survival. Looking like a minimum of 6 wins from 18 games to survive after 1 win in 20 so far. Unlikely unless we can get a decent CB and CM in before the window shuts.

 

[Guest HTT II]

Toxic crowd, they were asking for a wave early on in the season man, he’s had the easiest of rides of any of our shit managers and he’s arguably the worst of them all, except Pardew of course!