Eddie Howe

[Guest]

20 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

I don't agree with this like. We had decent teams but a lot of people hyped up some dross - Anita, Mbemba, Yanga-Mbiwa, Santon

  

18 minutes ago, madras said:

It wasn't the poor start that done for Robson, it was the continuation of the season before and the massive drop off (although we finished in the same position) from the season before that. 

 

Maybe purple haze with it all, although doesn't bode well that as a fanbase we were ready to dump on them so quick. Hopefully we've learned lessons. 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2023 by OCK

[The College Dropout]

29 minutes ago, madras said:

It wasn't the poor start that done for Robson, it was the continuation of the season before and the massive drop off (although we finished in the same position) from the season before that. 

We went from 4th (71 points) 3rd (69 points) to 5th (56 points). So there was a fairly big drop off in results and performances.

 

But - wrongly IMO - there was this feeling that we should be doing much better. Klopp went from 92 points or something to 68 points or something. But the Liverpool fans and board believe in Klopp and he would've been afforded a fairly slow start to this season. Some of the fans and Shephard did not have faith in Bobby. And that was us done as a top PL club.

 

That night at home against Partizan Belgrade was a real sliding doors moment for the club. The defeat shifted the mood in the club and meant resources were pulled back.

 

 

Fundamentally, we were overly reliant on SBR (& Shearer). And they were ageing giants who were not at the top of their games. Shephard didn't know what he was doing. He was not half as competent as he thought, and he was overly involved, considering his limitations as the club leader/owner/ceo.

 

In that same era - Levy came into power at Spurs. Levy isn't perfect. He has made a lot of mistakes at Spurs - particularly early on. But he does know how to run a football club and Spurs were always going to have success with him. It took him 3-4 years to overtake us and they haven't looked back until PIF.

 

This is what makes me happy about our situation. The Saudi money is excellent and needed. But Staveley and co. are competent business people who know how to run a football club. We could lose Bruno, we could lose Eddie and hire a dud - they will get it right eventually and get it right more times than they get it wrong. We are on the up and up.

 

 

Edited November 15, 2023 by The College Dropout

[madras]

There were many that thought he should have gone in the summer (me amongst them) and it wasn't due to points or positions but performances over a long stretch that a good few couldn't see him pulling round.

 

Quite similar actually to what happened at Sunderland with Peter Reid.

 

 

Edited November 15, 2023 by madras

[madras]

20 minutes ago, OCK said:

  

 

Maybe purple haze with it all, although doesn't bode well that as a fanbase we were ready to dump on them so quick. Hopefully we've learned lessons. 

 

 

 

So quick ? It was about a year.

[Guest]

I guess my tolerence levels are higher.  Honestly would hate to have that situation happen again. 

[Guest]

55 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

We went from 4th (71 points) 3rd (69 points) to 5th (56 points). So there was a fairly big drop off in results and performances.

But - wrongly IMO - there was this feeling that we should be doing much better.

 

 

 

 

Not sure on the last bit mind. We should have been loads better than 2 away wins all season like. 4 wins would have been poor but enough for the CL. 

 

The depth in quality at the top was nowhere near what it was now either. We seemed to be fighting it out for ages with teams like Villa who were average and Charlton for most of the season. Man U and Arsenal were the heavyweights joined by the new Chelsea money, Liverpool had a poor season from the previous 2-3 years but we blew it. 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2023 by Optimistic Nut

[The College Dropout]

9 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said:

 

Not sure on the last bit mind. We should have been loads better than 2 away wins all season like. 4 wins would have been poor but enough for the CL. 

Sorry I wasn't clear. There was a feeling that we could do better than SBR. Shephard was never going to hire a better manager than SBR. Never. He tried to replace him with Steve Bruce I think. Then eventually went with Souness, Roeder and Allardyce. Many of us on this board wanted SBR gone but wanted the likes of Hitzfeld - who was basically retired at that point anyway.

 

Hindsight is 20/20.

[Paully]

19 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Sorry I wasn't clear. There was a feeling that we could do better than SBR. Shephard was never going to hire a better manager than SBR. Never. He tried to replace him with Steve Bruce I think. Then eventually went with Souness, Roeder and Allardyce. Many of us on this board wanted SBR gone but wanted the likes of Hitzfeld - who was basically retired at that point anyway.

 

Hindsight is 20/20.

 

Yep, Liverpool finished above us in 2003-04 and replaced Houliler with Rafa that summer

[wormy]

Hitzfield.  There's a blast from the past.

 

Nothing groundbreaking but when you look at Shepherd's managerial hirings it truly is shocking.

 

I can at least understand Dalglish with his recent pedigree, even if it didn't work out. Sir Bobby was an open goal that he thankfully managed to put away. Everyone else was purely reactionary, going the opposite direction in personality of the previous incumbant. Just desperate every time.

[The College Dropout]

1 hour ago, wormy said:

Hitzfield.  There's a blast from the past.

 

Nothing groundbreaking but when you look at Shepherd's managerial hirings it truly is shocking.

 

I can at least understand Dalglish with his recent pedigree, even if it didn't work out. Sir Bobby was an open goal that he thankfully managed to put away. Everyone else was purely reactionary, going the opposite direction in personality of the previous incumbant. Just desperate every time.

As you say, SBR was an open goal. We would've fallen faster if he wasn't around.

 

We were rarely even linked to promising managers, either. I'm confident Steve Bruce knocked us back twice. And when we sacked a manager, there was never another manager lined up.

 

Even the Bobby thing was done poorly. It was confirmed he was leaving at the end of that season, I believe - did we have a succession plan? Did we fuck.

 

RIP Shephard. At least he tried. I don't want to be overly critical of a dead man who I think tried his best. We had good training facilities. He tried to appease the fans. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, The College Dropout said:

Sorry I wasn't clear. There was a feeling that we could do better than SBR. Shephard was never going to hire a better manager than SBR. Never. He tried to replace him with Steve Bruce I think. Then eventually went with Souness, Roeder and Allardyce. Many of us on this board wanted SBR gone but wanted the likes of Hitzfeld - who was basically retired at that point anyway.

 

Hindsight is 20/20.

 

Apologies l, thought you meant that season.

 

Yeah the names linked around the time weren't inspiring. O'Neill, O'Leary, Bruce, McClaren, Allardyce...mad that 3 still ended up here. 

[Kanj]

Didn’t Liverpool go and hire Rafa and we hired Souness? We were a season too late on Mourinho too who went to Chelsea earlier right?

[wormy]

10 minutes ago, Kanji said:

Didn’t Liverpool go and hire Rafa and we hired Souness? We were a season too late on Mourinho too who went to Chelsea earlier right?

 

Yeah I remember those hirings were seen as a big turning point in each club's fortunes.

 

They parted with Houllier in the summer with a clear succession plan in place of Rafa and won the Champions League.

 

We kept SBR but told the world he was leaving at the end of the season anyway, sacked him a few games in before saving Blackburn, one of the few clubs below us in the table, from needing to pay Souness off for what looked to be an inevitable sacking itself.

[Abacus]

Well, Howe has a job on now for sure. But he's defied expectations before.

 

What annoys me is the suggestion that he may be under pressure, mainly from a couple of know-nothing journalists. E.g. Alyson Rudd in the Times (a Liverpool fan who writes some of the most biased anti-NUFC match reports I've read) gleefully suggesting on Monday that this might be the case on the basis of nothing at all.

 

I can't see any groundswell of opinion from actual fans that anyone seriously thinks someone else could do any better, or that he doesn't deserve anything less than our full support not least for his character, attitude and what he's already achieved.

 

Can think of a few fans of other clubs who look at him enviously. He's one of those rare managers where I just think "let him get on with it" and don't worry too much.

[The Prophet]

The person putting him under the most pressure will be himself. It's madness if there's any external pressure on him at the moment.

[mouldy_uk]

If anything surely Eddie is even safer as he has a built in excuse (not that he is that type of manager), for any potential downturn in form due to the injuries.
 

If you applied a similar magnitude of injuries to key players to any other squad in the league then they’d also be struggling.

[BonesJones]

I can't believe its even become a discussion, what a joke.

[wormy]

Taking stock in a Liverpool supporting journalist saying Eddie might be under pressure is like taking stock in any transfer rumour Luke Edwards feeds us. Why bother?

[TheBrownBottle]

Christ, I forgot just how barren the international break is for most football hacks.  If Howe’s under pressure then I think I give up.  Where exactly are we that we shouldn’t be - and how would the situation have been improved with someone else managing us?

 

I can picture in the not-too-distant future the ownership (and I mean the actual owners - not Staveley and Reuben) becoming ruthless with Howe; once the squad is fully recycled and a lot of money is sunk, then winning trophies and qualifying for the CL will no doubt be a minimum expectation.  But right now?  

[80]

In my heart of hearts, I don't really take this talk too seriously. But it's why I think any sign of dissent is very significant and we need to be as overt and consistent in our support as possible. It's as though some people have no idea how quickly the wheels can come off.

[Dancing Brave]

On 14/11/2023 at 18:20, PauloGeordio said:

 

Under pressure they say  

[Bally21]

Who is saying Howe is under pressure - the media?

 

3 games ago we beat arsenal having previously thrashed manure in the Cup.

 

Sure howe isn't above criticism, but to suggest his job might be under threat is nuts in my opinion. 

 

Just hope fans stick with him and the team at the present time, I'm sure they will as to do anything else would be frankly ridiculous. 

[Miggys First Goal]

The fact that we’re not top of the league and 15 points clear is clearly #worrying. 

 

 

Edited November 16, 2023 by Miggys First Goal

[Groundhog63]

International break fillers, transgender issues and Eddie's impending demise. Next up PIF selling up to Greggs

[Coffee_Johnny]

Thought it might be interesting to look at our record under Eddie. Across seasons and years (not many of either obvs!) 

 

Best performance is when sliced for 2022 as a calendar year. 36 games 58% win record, and 2.0 points per game (ppg)— good enough for second in eight (of the 31 Prem seasons) and good enough for third on 23 occasions. 
 

I think the ‘since January 2022’ gives the fairest picture of his reign to date. Half a dozen games to bed in, one transfer window and since then a 54% win rate and 1.87 ppg over 69 games. This ppg was equalled for last season (and in 2001-02) and has only been bettered by us in one whole season: 1995-96, 2.05ppg.