Eddie Howe

[The College Dropout]

9 minutes ago, Numbers said:

Has he said we played really well yet, really hope he doesn't like.

Of course he has. 

 

5 minutes ago, Heron said:

We will come back a different beast. Mark my 

[andycap]

I'm worried that he thinks his system isn't working because of tonali and is therfore hooking him early every game. 

[Gallowgate Toon]

Just now, Kid Icarus said:

 

It's been a baptism of fire for our midfield tbf. I've seen enough to feel confident that it'll click. I'd like a @WillDanceForChocolate post now tbh. We're still finding out Howe's idiosyncrasies right now so getting some insight would be great.

 

Maybe I'm being too blasé about today but for me today I was mainly just so impressed by Brighton, as horrible as it was.

Aye, good point to remember Howe is a streak machine. I think it makes sense as his football is quite ambitious - when it comes off and confidence is flowing then it feels effortless. Opposite when things aren't firing.

[Smal]

22 minutes ago, Gallowgate Toon said:

Aye, the calls for DMs now seem a bit weird considering we were very successful without a true DM last season.

Not really. Teams can analyse you and work you out. Both City and Brighton relentlessly exploited the half spaces between our midfield and defence.

 

You need flexibility to counter that and we don’t have a specialist 6 in the entire squad.

[Guest]

I'm not saying everything's hunky dory because something's clearly been amiss but I'm not majorly concerned just yet. I trust the players and Howe to go on a run though. 

[Myleftboot]

1 minute ago, andycap said:

I'm worried that he thinks his system isn't working because of tonali and is therfore hooking him early every game. 

Maybe Tonali and Bruno swap positions.

[The College Dropout]

1 minute ago, Gallowgate Toon said:

Aye, good point to remember Howe is a streak machine. I think it makes sense as his football is quite ambitious - when it comes off and confidence is flowing then it feels effortless. Opposite when things aren't firing.

Also… he likes to do the same thing. So when it works and team is confident we string wins together. When it’s not working the limitations of the approach are exposed. 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Myleftboot said:

Maybe Tonali and Bruno swap positions.

 

I think he'll sacrifice Joelinton first for Longstaff.

[Heron]

3 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Of course he has. 

 

...?

[The College Dropout]

2 minutes ago, Smal said:

Not really. Teams can analyse you and work you out. Both City and Brighton relentlessly exploited the half spaces between our midfield and defence.

 

You need flexibility to counter that and we don’t have a specialist 6 in the entire squad.

We can change defensive shape. 
 

Villa caused us issues in the half spaces too. That’s where they got a lot of joy.  I said this after the game.  Howe has not successfully addressed it at all.  

[Interpolic]

21 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

With Howe I’ve always thought he really only has a Plan A and his plan B is doing Plan A better. I think he’s been done tactically 3 games in a row and he hasn’t responded in the match or in the following matches.  If he’s going to take us to the top he’s going to need to be able to switch things up. 
 

I like him. I want us to give him lots of time. But I think I can see the limitations of his current ability. 

 

Just quoting this again as we're on another new page @The College Dropout 

[Super Duper Branko Strupar]

1 minute ago, Optimistic Nut said:

 

I think he'll sacrifice Joelinton first for Longstaff.

 

Or Anderson.

[The College Dropout]

1 minute ago, Heron said:

...?

He said we were good.  

[Vinny Green Balls]

3 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said:

I'm not saying everything's hunky dory because something's clearly been amiss but I'm not majorly concerned just yet. I trust the players and Howe to go on a run though. 

Continuing his streaky trend since Bournemouth.

[andycap]

1 minute ago, Optimistic Nut said:

 

I think he'll sacrifice Joelinton first for Longstaff.

Nah not the way he's been leaving joe and bruno on even though they've been less effective than tonali. 

[Heron]

1 minute ago, The College Dropout said:

He said we were good.  

Ermmmm okay?

[Numbers]

Just now, Heron said:

Ermmmm okay?

Any links to him saying we were good?

[madras]

4 minutes ago, Smal said:

Not really. Teams can analyse you and work you out. Both City and Brighton relentlessly exploited the half spaces between our midfield and defence.

 

You need flexibility to counter that and we don’t have a specialist 6 in the entire squad.

Last season we were great at blocking the channels. That was with longstaff and Willock/Joelinton though. 

 

Brighton don't seem to have changed a great deal, we were today.

 

It may go back to last season when we couldn't beat teams around Spring and we gave a little away to get a little, the defending wasn't as tight in order to push more forward, we had to change and it got us what we needed. The next step in change is proving difficult.

[Vinny Green Balls]

1 minute ago, Numbers said:

Any links to him saying we were good?

Plenty back in May

[The College Dropout]

2 minutes ago, Heron said:

Ermmmm okay?

Someone asked if he had said we were good yet and I said yes.  

[midds]

Main worry for me is the complete lack of intensity and energy so early in the season. For a club to come up with 'Intensity is our identity' mantra and play the way we have done for the last 3 halves or so is baffling. Not a huge sample size but the lack of clean sheets for nearly half a season would suggest something isn't working and needs fixing asap.

 

Another worry is the suspicion that we've been sussed. Klopp and de Zerbi have utterly schooled him over the last 2 weeks and also given the rest of the league a blueprint to negate us and pressure certain players in certain positions and wait for the mistakes to arrive. We've looked sloppy, timid and disorganised and Howe will need to find a solution, either changing formation or personnel or maybe both. CM looks great on paper but it's being bypassed and far too easy to play through with simple passes. Hope he's torn a strip off the players in the dressing room tonight, they've totally let him down  

[TRon]

13 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

It may well be that the balance of the midfield three is off. Team are finding it too easy to isolate Bruno.

 

Willock and Longstaff might not be as technically accomplished as some of our midfielders, but they are both quite mobile in different ways. Willock had pace to burn, and Longstaff has a good stride which achieves the same thing.

[madras]

2 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

Willock and Longstaff might not be as technically accomplished as some of our midfielders, but they are both quite mobile in different ways. Willock had pace to burn, and Longstaff has a good stride which achieves the same thing.

Both very good at stopping teams passing through as well.

[black_n_white]

It’s all about confidence, a couple of wins and we’ll be fine again. It happens in football, all teams go through bad spells and this could be ours. How we bounce back is the key and hopefully Howe can do it.

[Jordan]

The press was weird today. First 5/10 mins we were pressing hard and having success with it and then just dropped off and didnt press again rest of the game.