Eddie Howe

[madras]

1 minute ago, TheBrownBottle said:

It is basic.  And he didn’t do it when he had the full squad available to him.  He also had a WC break coming up mid-season.

 

Howe shouldn’t be under pressure for his job at the moment, but that doesn’t mean he’s beyond criticism. 

When was that ? Fucks sake look at our squads since the start of October ? We even started the season playing Tonali well before he was ready due to Willock and Longstaff being out.

[huss9]

save us Joe Willock. You're our last hope.

[dcmk]

1 minute ago, TheBrownBottle said:

They can’t train because they were already paggered.  Other clubs have similar fixture lists and their managers aren’t in the press complaining that they can’t train - and someone like Ten Hag would absolutely have used that excuse.

 

This will happen again and again and again under Howe unless he learns from it.  I’m more than happy for him to be given the time to learn, but he absolutely is not the victim of bad luck re injuries and fatigue. 

 

We obviously need a bigger squad but even then it doesn't prevent injury crises. Who could have possibly foreseen a crisis like ours?

 

It's been unreal, and came about in the very worst period of the season,  and I'm sure you have seen some of our benches in recent weeks, right? 

 

So I can't comprehend how it can't be a legitimate excuse? Immediately throwing players into the first 11 when they are just back from injury because we have no one else.

 

Surprised anyone would expect it's all on the manager.  

 

It seems Howe's failing for some on here is wanting to win every game in every competition.

[Tiresias]

2 minutes ago, madras said:

It's not the defence, it's the defending and the entire team does that. Schar wouldn't be playing if Lascalles was able to start, Botman should be on the bench to be played back in but we have a small squad which we knew would take time to build. We probably started 5 or 6 players today who shouldn't have started or even played at all.

 

Fair, and i agree, but my point is we can't press we need to be more compact, no matter what I don't think conceding 3 at home to Forest is good enough. I am not pissed off, still very much team Howe lol, and think we were always going to have a tougher season, but think this is embarassing even with dummett and lascelles starting shouldnt be happening

[TheBrownBottle]

Just now, madras said:

When was that ? Fucks sake look at our squads since the start of October ? We even started the season playing Tonali well before he was ready due to Willock and Longstaff being out.

I don’t think Howe has a choice but to do what he’s doing now - and yes, I’m well aware of how long this has been going on.  Just saying that he overplayed players when he had a choice - even in October we had multiple options at FB, for example, and he wouldn’t drop / rest Trippier or Burn until they were completely fucked.  Don’t take it as me saying that Howe is 100% to blame or responsible for an injury crisis; I do though think he isn’t blameless 

[Yorkie]

 "The fatigue excuse has to stop now." Now. It was a fine excuse before. But now they're even more exhausted I don't want to hear it any more. Some logic, that. Get Ritchie on, Eddie, do some fucking managing. And that gadgie from the academy, whichever one. Anyone. 

[Erikse]

This was pretty much the last game of the insane fixture congestion.. I know the next games in the league are difficult, but atleast there will be several days between each fixture. This might help us to not look awful atleast.

[Amir_9]

Problem is we don't have the personnel (injuries/enough top class players to pick from generally) to get away with playing the same exact style week in week out expecting it to go our way and we put them all to the sword. As by this point with all the injuries we have, we done it with more or less the same exact players it has become rather predictable. I feel teams have sussed out these passes to Almiron and Gordon. All of this is now starting to show but also is a huge testament to how long they were able to pull it off with the calibre of opposition and frequency of games along the way, so fair play to them.

 

When you have the likes of Almiron, Longstaff and Burn etc you have to expect limitations or downright bad performances without consistent quality in depth to pick from just yet. Then you have the back line which has regressed unfortunately with the Botman injury and Pope injury not have helped and Trippier's recent problems. This is probably why it wouldn't hurt Howe to adopt a pragmatic and a more balanced approach to rely on in certain games or when certain players are missing until we have much less injuries.

 

 

Edited December 26, 2023 by Amir_9

[Collage]

5 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

It is basic.  And he didn’t do it when he had the full squad available to him.  He also had a WC break coming up mid-season.

 

Howe shouldn’t be under pressure for his job at the moment, but that doesn’t mean he’s beyond criticism. 

This, pretty much. I love EH, he’s the man for the job, hopefully for years to come. But there’s no doubt he has a weakness when it comes to rotating the squad and making subs in time.

[SUPERTOON]

For the people saying it’s Howe’s fault they are burned out, what would you have done differently ? Genuine question, because other than swapping a fullback what other options has he had ?

[TheBrownBottle]

1 minute ago, dcmk said:

 

We obviously need a bigger squad but even then it doesn't prevent injury crises. Who could have possibly foreseen a crisis like ours?

 

It's been unreal, and came about in the very worst period of the season,  and I'm sure you have seen some of our benches in recent weeks, right? 

 

So I can't comprehend how it can't be a legitimate excuse? Immediately throwing players into the first 11 when they are just back from injury because we have no one else.

 

Surprised anyone would expect it's all on the manager.  

 

It seems Howe's failing for some on here is wanting to win every game in every competition.

I’m going to just hop off this thread.  People are getting far too defensive. 
 

I never said it’s all on the manager - it isn’t.  I have seen the bench in recent weeks - which is why I wrote that he hasn’t now got much of a choice.

 

That doesn’t mean that the manger is completely blameless.  He has a footballing approach which is likely to lead to fatigue and injuries, and he didn’t develop either an amended plan A (and no plan B).  It’s not all bad luck

[Holmesy]

Just now, Yorkie said:

 "The fatigue excuse has to stop now." Now. It was a fine excuse before. But now they're even more exhausted I don't want to hear it any more. Some logic, that. Get Ritchie on, Eddie, do some fucking managing. And that gadgie from the academy, whichever one. Anyone. 

Seriously, you don’t think it’s a manager’s job to manage the energy levels of his squad? If they’re knackered, do something different. If you can’t do something different, you’re not a very good manager. 
Are the players fatigued? Yes. Should we just accept that we’re going to lose every game until they get some energy back? Fuck no. Fucking manage it! It’s not an unreasonable thing to suggest a manager should have more than one trick in his playbook. 

[TRon]

7 minutes ago, Gallowgate Toon said:

There's absolutely no way sitting back at 1-1 against Forest would've been acceptable at home to 'conserve energy'. We went for it to try to kill the game early and we had the lion's share of possession to manage tempo and energy, as we have done in lots of matches recently. We should've resigned it in a bit but it's the right idea and served us very well at home for years.

 

Regardless of whatever tactical approach is taken, it's going to need a level of energy to win duels, territory, battles. There's no successful team around that doesn't do this, this isn't walking football.

 

You don't have to sit back, just make it so our defence isn't left exposed time and again to their rapid forwards who are licking their lips at just that prospect. We are 1-0 up at that stage, it's them that needs the next goal, not us.

[Lish007]

I love you Eddie Howe ❤️ 

[Ronaldo]

The papers are jumping all over silly tweets from our lot about wanting him sacked. Embarrassing.

[nemtizz]

1 minute ago, Ronaldo said:

The papers are jumping all over silly tweets from our lot about wanting him sacked. Embarrassing.

 

#journalism

[The Prophet]

6 minutes ago, Holmesy said:

Seriously, you don’t think it’s a manager’s job to manage the energy levels of his squad? If they’re knackered, do something different. If you can’t do something different, you’re not a very good manager. 
Are the players fatigued? Yes. Should we just accept that we’re going to lose every game until they get some energy back? Fuck no. Fucking manage it! It’s not an unreasonable thing to suggest a manager should have more than one trick in his playbook. 

 

So how do we manage it then?

 

 

Edited December 26, 2023 by The Prophet

[Yorkie]

1 minute ago, Holmesy said:

Seriously, you don’t think it’s a manager’s job to manage the energy levels of his squad? If they’re knackered, do something different. If you can’t do something different, you’re not a very good manager. 
Are the players fatigued? Yes. Should we just accept that we’re going to lose every game until they get some energy back? Fuck no. Fucking manage it! It’s not an unreasonable thing to suggest a manager should have more than one trick in his playbook. 

 

He's set them up more passively and it hasn't worked. You could argue that that's no defence -  because it demonstrates his inability to implement a tactical setup which differs from his preferred one - but the stuff about "no Plan B" is horseshit. We've tried something different but broadly speaking the squad hasn't had the time on the training pitch (or off the treatment table) to implement it effectively. 

[dcmk]

Just now, Holmesy said:

Seriously, you don’t think it’s a manager’s job to manage the energy levels of his squad? If they’re knackered, do something different. If you can’t do something different, you’re not a very good manager. 
Are the players fatigued? Yes. Should we just accept that we’re going to lose every game until they get some energy back? Fuck no. Fucking manage it! It’s not an unreasonable thing to suggest a manager should have more than one trick in his playbook. 

He has tried to manage it.

 

Which is why they haven't trained properly in a month. Because if he attempted to, they would be even more fucked. 

 

Results have suffered as a result, and it's all because he wants to still win games, with the players who can achieve that.  It's commendable in my opinion.

 

Albeit the opposition is always fresher & more prepared.  Since, again, we can't train at normal levels.  Every game in the PL is difficult, there are no gimmes.

 

And to his credit, he refuses to use it as an excuse.  Just wants to get on with it.

[TheBrownBottle]

1 minute ago, dcmk said:

He has tried to manage it.

 

Which is why they haven't trained properly in a month. Because if he attempted to, they would be even more fucked. 

 

Results have suffered as a result, and it's all because he wants to still win games, with the players who can achieve that.  It's commendable in my opinion.

 

Albeit the opposition is always fresher & more prepared.  Since, again, we can't train at normal levels.  Every game in the PL is difficult, there are no gimmes.

 

And to his credit, he refuses to use it as an excuse.  Just wants to get on with it.

He literally used it as an excuse in his post match interview.  Otherwise why raise it?

[Holmesy]

3 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

You don't have to sit back, just make it so our defence isn't left exposed time and again to their rapid forwards who are licking their lips at just that prospect. We are 1-0 up at that stage, it's them that needs the next goal, not us.

Maybe bring Hall on to deal with Elanga’s pace, go 5 at the back and give ourselves greater numbers to mitigate the counter attack. There are loads of tactical tweaks that could’ve been made, but we just let them run right through us time after time, pushing EVERYONE forward and leaving ourselves vulnerable to the counter. It isn’t a groundbreaking suggestion to say the manager should make in game changes in reaction to what we’re all seeing.

[Scoreboard82]

14 minutes ago, Holmesy said:

Again, I pin that on the manager. This season has highlighted a glaring glitch in EH’s matrix. If he can’t execute plan A, there’s nothing. Yes, he’s been unlucky with injuries, really unlucky but I’d expect a top class manager to be able to chess game his way out of it, to a degree. 
Have we all just got to accept that because players are tired and we have an injury list, we aren’t winning games? 

I would say we have to accept these are major factors in making it harder to win football matches at least.

[Ghandis Flip-Flop]

7 minutes ago, Holmesy said:

Seriously, you don’t think it’s a manager’s job to manage the energy levels of his squad? If they’re knackered, do something different. If you can’t do something different, you’re not a very good manager. 
Are the players fatigued? Yes. Should we just accept that we’re going to lose every game until they get some energy back? Fuck no. Fucking manage it! It’s not an unreasonable thing to suggest a manager should have more than one trick in his playbook. 

Please tell me you have no level of responsibility for juniors or safety, in whatever you do for a job. Maybe what needs to "just be fucking managed" is your fucking expectations

[Holmesy]

2 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

So how do we manage it then?

 

 

 

I don’t know, but it isn’t my job. EH is being paid £millions to manage a very ambitious, well run PL team. 

[SUPERTOON]

1 minute ago, Holmesy said:

I don’t know, but it isn’t my job. EH is being paid £millions to manage a very ambitious, well run PL team. 

And he is so, and doing a fantastic job.