Eddie Howe

[TRon]

3 minutes ago, Gallowgate Toon said:

Think missing Longstaff has been a bit overplayed, he does some of the niggly stuff well but we saw against Brentford that he can struggle with physical teams & become a bystander.

 

Looks like we struggled with balls behind and were pushed too high with too large a gap between defence & midfield for second balls. Sure, the pressing in the middle could've been better but that's a hard task to maintain against a well-drilled side. It did look reminiscent of the Liverpool shambles.

 

Yeah I'm not sure playing Longstaff would have been the magic pill some seem to think it would have been. We just got found wanting shape-wise, and let's face it, individually we didn't stack up either. They won a lot of battles one to one, and we saw the limitations of some of our squad which Howe inherited.

[maze]

A really good manager. We will bounce back. Hope it's as clear to the owners as it is to us - we need to strengthen the team. Can't go on like this.

 

 

Edited April 16, 2023 by maze

[Vinny Green Balls]

 Hilariously, the mood on here feels similar to when we went six games without a win. We just came off a 5 game winning streak and are still duking it out for Champions League positions with 20% of the season left.

[Lotus]

37 minutes ago, Vinny Green Balls said:

 Hilariously, the mood on here feels similar to when we went six games without a win. We just came off a 5 game winning streak and are still duking it out for Champions League positions with 20% of the season left.

Tbf, if you don’t have an emotional reaction from watching sport I’ve no idea what the point is.

[Vinny Green Balls]

31 minutes ago, Lotus said:

Tbf, if you don’t have an emotional reaction from watching sport I’ve no idea what the point is.

I do, but I think have learned to temper it with a bit of perspective. I was bummed that the Warriors lost their first playoff game last night as well, but I will only start to worry if they go into an 0-2 hole.

 

If you haven't been paying attention on here since EH was appointed, there have been some interesting takes over his time here, enough that it would sometimes be tricky to distinguish from the Ashley era. Some  still treat these in a vacuum.

[huss9]

bad day at the office, but our lack of pace at the back was brutally exposed.

also, their fullbacks always seemed to be in acres of space and ready to receive the ball.

just a very strange performance.

[Guest]

 what a guy

[MrRaspberryJam]

Is that real fur? 

[Yorkie]

That hat is an insult to heads. 

[Mike]

Pardew in.

[Mike]

Also that's a mental getup for mid April. It wasn't cold enough for all that when I was there in February. Pardew IN.

[Coffee_Johnny]

53 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

That hat is an insult to heads. 

Modelling himself on Morten Harket. Stylish! 

[Kanji]

I think I remember him making fun of his own style in some interview. The man is always in hoodies, pullovers and jackets  

 

 

Edited April 17, 2023 by Kanji

[Lush Vlad]

2 hours ago, Yorkie said:

That hat is an insult to heads. 

Proper tea cosy  

[RS]

Out-coached on Saturday but he’s done the same to some serious managers this season. You know he’ll be reviewing it throughly and learning loads from it though, not dusting himself doon. 

[LFEE]

2 hours ago, RS said:

Out-coached on Saturday but he’s done the same to some serious managers this season. You know he’ll be reviewing it throughly and learning loads from it though, not dusting himself doon. 

Yep. That’s why I have complete faith in him.

[Rich]

I reckon he will be dusting himself down as well, to be honest, he's that thorough. He advised the players to do the same in his NUFC TV interview after the game.

[Gallowgate Toon]

Someone said they thought he went for it too early and, watching it back, I think I agree. After getting killed in behind for much of the first half, we had a better measure of the spaces for the first period of that second and then we seemed to become massively open again leaving huge gaps by committing forward (combined with rubbish tracking back). I feel like we've been decent at knowing when things aren't going our way this year and becoming more compact & upping the game management to try and reset. Not sure if we've been a bit unsettled by all of the media questions about dark arts but none of that was to be seen. It felt like we doubled down instead... maybe because of our recent form.

 

Overall, a bit of a strange showing from everyone involved which makes me hopeful that it was largely just an off day with some good tactical learnings about the squad.

[Kanji]

4 hours ago, RS said:

Out-coached on Saturday but he’s done the same to some serious managers this season. You know he’ll be reviewing it throughly and learning loads from it though, not dusting himself doon. 

he’s probably watched it back 50 times by now and already has the answers. 
 

29 minutes ago, Gallowgate Toon said:

Someone said they thought he went for it too early and, watching it back, I think I agree. After getting killed in behind for much of the first half, we had a better measure of the spaces for the first period of that second and then we seemed to become massively open again leaving huge gaps by committing forward (combined with rubbish tracking back). I feel like we've been decent at knowing when things aren't going our way this year and becoming more compact & upping the game management to try and reset. Not sure if we've been a bit unsettled by all of the media questions about dark arts but none of that was to be seen. It felt like we doubled down instead... maybe because of our recent form.

 

Overall, a bit of a strange showing from everyone involved which makes me hopeful that it was largely just an off day with some good tactical learnings about the squad.

 

Ya, I don’t think he got unsettled by that dark arts stuff but what did stick out to me was we didn’t settle down and adjust to what was clearly a lost battle in midfield and we had no answer for Watkins. I do think much of it was pure off day for us and pure on day for them. As good as they are and as good as we have been. Everything worked for them and nothing worked for us. 

[Shadow Puppets]

31 minutes ago, Kanji said:

he’s probably watched it back 50 times by now and already has the answers. 
 

 

Ya, I don’t think he got unsettled by that dark arts stuff but what did stick out to me was we didn’t settle down and adjust to what was clearly a lost battle in midfield and we had no answer for Watkins. I do think much of it was pure off day for us and pure on day for them. As good as they are and as good as we have been. Everything worked for them and nothing worked for us. 

The game reminded me of NUFC vs Man Utd, but this time we were on the receiving end.  A good team that couldn't get going, getting battered by a team that was clicking in everything they did.

[80]

22 minutes ago, Shadow Puppets said:

The game reminded me of NUFC vs Man Utd, but this time we were on the receiving end.  A good team that couldn't get going, getting battered by a team that was clicking in everything they did.

I remember one phase which summed the game up, late in the first half, where we got a free kick just in their half. All the time in the world and we played it slow and just gradually got pressed back, passing it between ourselves until 30 seconds later we were almost in our own penalty area. Never seen us so bamboozled, it was like our Boxing Day fixture against Leicester in reverse.

[TRon]

3 hours ago, Kanji said:

he’s probably watched it back 50 times by now and already has the answers. 
 

 

Ya, I don’t think he got unsettled by that dark arts stuff but what did stick out to me was we didn’t settle down and adjust to what was clearly a lost battle in midfield and we had no answer for Watkins. I do think much of it was pure off day for us and pure on day for them. As good as they are and as good as we have been. Everything worked for them and nothing worked for us. 

 

I think without doubt he'll be asking questions of himself how we didn't deal with Watkins - and Ramsay to some extent  - better. Schar looked totally unprepared, maybe he just underestimated Watkins sheer pace out of the blocks.

 

I'd like to think we won't make that mistake again.

[Solitude20]

If you watch the 2nd Aston Villa goal again, you can see how it was mainly caused by a tactical error and miscommunication between Bruno and Joelinton.

 

As we were playing 4-4-2 at that moment, both of them pushed up the field and left the defense completely exposed without anyone covering that space in front of our defense. You can see McGinn simply running through that area in front of our defense completely unchallenged. He really took his sweet time to run with the ball in front of the box and both Bruno and Joe were still rushing back from the other side of the pitch. I don't blame them though; our team isn't really used to playing with two central midfielders, since you don't have a holding midfielder as in the case when playing with 3 central midfielders. In a midfield with 2 midfielders, tactical Awareness and communication are crucial to limit the space between lines and coordinate how both of them can cover all that area without being exposed. I am sure Eddie will take to them about that moment, especially if he decides to play 4-4-2 more often in the remaining matches. 

[Colos Short and Curlies]

Meh, Saturday can happen to pretty much any team.

 

A good team with a good manager on good form had a good day where everything went to plan. The opposition have an off day and get out played, out thought and out fought.

 

It's happened to Arsenal, to Liverpool, to Man Utd, to Chelsea (when they were good), Man City and even the likes of Barcelona, Madrid and Bayern. It will happen to us again and we'll do it to others again

 

Just don't make a habit of being on the receiving end Eddie!

[Coffee_Johnny]

 

Thought I’d look at Eddie’s record over four time periods. All games since officially in charge (Norwich City); all games since January 2022 (allowing a six game settling in period); 2022 as a whole; and 2023 to date.
Third option is the most impressive. Over 55% win percentage, 1.96 points per game, and a goal difference of +40. Hoping remaining 2023 games (should be about 36 to go) show an even better return. They don’t to date, but only 13 games in.