Eddie Howe

[Aiston]

Why did he start a clearly injured Joelinton though

 

[duo]

Just now, Nine said:

If you think that because we managed to achieve top 4 last season that should mean we do again and anything less is failure, you are a clown.

 

 

 

Forget the table - it's the performance that is disappointing. We weren't at the races.

[Vinny Green Balls]

The vast majority of you are being annoyingly reasonable.

[Miggys First Goal]

Oh, I’m all ears for this post-match interview. 

[Beth]

1 minute ago, Aiston said:

Why did he start a clearly injured Joelinton though

 

Because the alternatives were Longstaff and Anderson. Barnes aside, we have literally no-one who can come on and make a difference in midfield/on the wing.

[mouldy_uk]

Definitely a below par start to the season, but I trust Eddie to turn it around.
 

He obviously likes to play a consistent starting 11, but hopefully that doesn’t blinker him to poor form (Bruno) and injuries (Joe). Managing a bigger squad and rotating players at the right time will be his biggest test. 

[clintdempsey]

I don’t think we ”should” achieve a Top 4 finish this year. I’d wager that the aim is European football through league position. The thing is though we haven’t really been at the races this far, maybe we’ve had a real tough preseason and things will start falling into place after the break or maybe something is more “off” than we realize.
 

We have a run of good fixtures after the break and if we want to achieve Europe through league position we really should be aiming for 15 pts out of 18 before Arsenal to show that we can do that. We’ve had a horrible fixture list so far but we could definitely have been more impressive even in defeat in my opinion. 

[Weezertron]

Just now, Beth said:

Because the alternatives were Longstaff and Anderson. Barnes aside, we have literally no-one who can come on and make a difference in midfield/on the wing.

this is true but we also just had a summer window where we dropped 100m+

[Guest]

Fwiw, some of Arsenal's results last season:

 

Man City 4-1 Arsenal

Arsenal 1-3 Man City

Arsenal 0-3 Brighton

 

Some of Liverpool's results last season:

 

Brighton 3-0 Liverpool

Man City 4-1 Liverpool

 

How about Man Utd?

 

Man Utd 1-2 Brighton

Brighton 1-0 Man Utd

Man City 6-3 Man Utd

Liverpool 7-0 Man Utd

 

All 3 finished in the top 5. Just doesn't stick out much since they weren't 3 on the spin. 

 

 

 

 

[Beth]

1 minute ago, Weezertron said:

this is true but we also just had a summer window where we dropped 100m+

It could be worse, we could be Chelsea.

[Gallowgate Toon]

Ultimately, we're a point down on last year based on relative fixtures but the last 135 mins have been very poor.

 

The team feels similar but also weirdly quite different at the same time. Almost passive.

 

 

 

[HaydnNUFC]

Comparing fixtures' results from last season to this is as pointless as thinking because we finished 4th last season we can do it again. The last 3 fixtures have been difficult but the performances have been really poor for me.

 

Something doesn't seem right. Have a couple questions about the transfer window now as well given its now shut. I have utmost faith in Howe to produce the answers, mind. Just as he did in February 2022.

 

Did find it slightly baffling though that West Ham and Everton in May gave a blueprint of how to play Brighton at their place yet we chose to not follow one bit of it.

[The College Dropout]

20 minutes ago, Ronaldo said:

What’s the aim then, if we’re not capable of challenging for top 4 despite the investment?

The investment is in line with 7th.  Everyone else has spent money too. 
 

i look at this squad and I don’t think it’s a top 4 squad. Not top 6.  
 

31 minutes ago, TheInfiniteOdyssey said:

He hasn’t been learning lessons from the previous game. The midfield setup is still easily ceding space behind the lines.  

I said this after Villa.  There’s so much joy for opposition to be had between our midfield and defence.  Foden punished us. Liverpool punished us.  Joao Pedro punished us. We need to change it tactically. 

[The Prophet]

It's way too early to be looking at what we can and can't achieve this season.

 

Two things we know about Howe is i) our form tends to be quite streaky ii) he's instilled a strong mentality in the squad. Last season we started with one win in seven and one win in eight. The season before three losses in a row post-January. In both season we overachieved.

 

There are certainly things to work on during the break, a couple of lads look off the pace and there our tactical tweaks we could make to make ourselves more watertight, but there's no need for a root and branch overhaul. 

[Miggys First Goal]

Reckon he has the next three PL games and if things don't improve, PIF might get the itchy trigger finger.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, HaydnNUFC said:

Comparing fixtures' results from last season to this is as pointless as thinking because we finished 4th last season we can do it again. The last 3 fixtures have been difficult but the performances have been really poor for me.

 

Something doesn't seem right. Have a couple questions about the transfer window now as well given its now shut. I have utmost faith in Howe to produce the answers, mind. Just as he did in February 2022.

 

Did find it slightly baffling though that West Ham and Everton in May gave a blueprint of how to play Brighton at their place yet we chose to not follow one bit of it.

 

West Ham and Everton were struggling in the league and had no other way of playing them. We have a style of play which should be able to beat them. We've just been shite last game and a bit. 

[Menace]

I wish we signed João Pedro btw. Was decent today.

[Displayname]

No where near calling for him to be sacked, but his unwillingness to rotate clearly out of form players is unironicly worrying.

[Beth]

1 minute ago, The College Dropout said:

The investment is in line with 7th.  Everyone else has spent money too. 
 

i look at this squad and I don’t think it’s a top 4 squad. Not top 6.  
 

I said this after Villa.  There’s so much joy for opposition to be had between our midfield and defence.  Foden punished us. Liverpool punished us.  Joao Pedro punished us. We need to change it tactically. 

Which will be hard as the only natural holding midfielder we have is Issac Hayden.........

[The College Dropout]

2 minutes ago, HaydnNUFC said:

Comparing fixtures' results from last season to this is as pointless as thinking because we finished 4th last season we can do it again. The last 3 fixtures have been difficult but the performances have been really poor for me.

 

Something doesn't seem right. Have a couple questions about the transfer window now as well given its now shut. I have utmost faith in Howe to produce the answers, mind. Just as he did in February 2022.

 

Did find it slightly baffling though that West Ham and Everton in May gave a blueprint of how to play Brighton at their place yet we chose to not follow one bit of it.

Maybe I’m wrong. But it looks like we setup the same way tactically or close to it every game. Like today I think we tried to go 1v1 in the press. But it didn’t work. After that nothing. When teams play with 2 10’s we do the aggressive CB thing which works when we are pressing. But in ‘rest defence’ opposition pop it through the lines again and again. Howe does nothing about it. 

[Donut]

3 minutes ago, Miggys First Goal said:

Reckon he has the next three PL games and if things don't improve, PIF might get the itchy trigger finger.

LOL no chance.

[HaydnNUFC]

Just now, Optimistic Nut said:

 

West Ham and Everton were struggling in the league and had no other way of playing them. We have a style of play which should be able to beat them. We've just been shite last game and a bit. 

 

West Ham are still unbeaten, are in 3rd after taking 10 points from their 4 games. Wouldn't say they were struggling at all when they went down there last week. 

 

They've shown under De Zerbi that they struggle against a low block and teams that break with pace in wide areas. We opted to press high with what currently seems an incredibly questionable midfield 3 offering next to no protection should Brighton have been able to play through the press, which they did.

[The College Dropout]

Just now, Beth said:

Which will be hard as the only natural holding midfielder we have is Issac Hayden.........

A normal 442 defence protects that gap well. Or any 2 banks or 4 really.  

[Myleftboot]

3 minutes ago, Miggys First Goal said:

Reckon he has the next three PL games and if things don't improve, PIF might get the itchy trigger finger.

And bring in who? 

[The Prophet]

3 minutes ago, Miggys First Goal said:

Reckon he has the next three PL games and if things don't improve, PIF might get the itchy trigger finger.

 

I'd be concerned if they did.