Eddie Howe

[TRon]

6 hours ago, Froggy said:

 

Not outright, but there has been plenty of thinly veiled posts about how fatigue cannot be blamed anymore and how he has to turn it around quickly. About how much pressure he's going to be under and how PIF will be looking at other managers. The knives are certainly being sharpened.

 

He deserves at least the full season and another two windows IMO. 

 

You are always going to get a section of the fanbase who go hyper-critical, I'm sure it's the same in your neck of the woods as well. I actually hesitate to say anything critical about Howe on this thread because I don't want to be lumped in with them. I'm a massive fan of Howe as a manager, and I wouldn't replace him with anyone right now.

 

But does that mean I agree with every decision he's made? No. That doesn't mean I want him out, it's just my take as a fan.

[The College Dropout]

23 minutes ago, madras said:

Bruno is the one we can't replace and in that instance he didn't start, nor in the Man Utd cup game (some were even saying it was good management to give him 20-30mins in that game to keep him ticking over)......got to wonder why Haaland was even on the bench eh ?

 

I think Eddie has tried, we DID rotate when we could, he HAS tried to cut minutes but the injuries have become overwhelming.

If you think Howe couldn’t have done anything more to rest Bruno - then let’s respectfully agree to disagree.  Ditto Gordon, Almiron, Schar, Trippier, Burn when fit. 
 

Even Lascelles and Libra are picking up fatigue from injuries. But aye - nothing Howe could’ve done. 

[black_n_white]

What’s the goal now for Howe do we reckon? Top 7 finish? Anything less might feel a little underwhelming?

[madras]

18 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

If you think Howe couldn’t have done anything more to rest Bruno - then let’s respectfully agree to disagree.  Ditto Gordon, Almiron, Schar, Trippier, Burn when fit. 
 

Even Lascelles and Libra are picking up fatigue from injuries. But aye - nothing Howe could’ve done. 

He could have, he could have rested him in every other game and just wrote games off before KO, but he has the opportunity with his staff to monitor players, chat with them, almost every step they take is analysed. With having no ready replacement (Tonali suspension) it gets stretched.

 

He did rest Trippier, ditto Gordon, then injuries come along and they get pressed into playing more. We aren't the finished squad and I've no problem with giving it a go. We knew the squad was small to push on 4 fronts but he did make wholesale changes, even rotated for the Champs league. 

 

 

 

[Colos Short and Curlies]

40 minutes ago, black_n_white said:

What’s the goal now for Howe do we reckon? Top 7 finish? Anything less might feel a little underwhelming?

Top 5 will still be the goal

Winning the FA cup will still be the goal.

 

european football of some sort will be the minimum accepted finish.

 

Top 4 last season may have been ahead of schedule, but playing in Europe in 2024/2025 will have been part of the strategy

[black_n_white]

I think if we get top 7 we’ll have done ok, we’ll probably be up against West Ham, Brighton and Man Utd for the europa places.

[Myleftboot]

2 hours ago, madras said:

I still think that was the plan with Tonali.

Nar I think Tonali was Longstaffs replacement on the right of a 3.

[madras]

8 minutes ago, Myleftboot said:

Nar I think Tonali was Longstaffs replacement on the right of a 3.

His best football in Italy was centrally, as part of a 2 they won the title. Eddie says we need to have more control, we want Bruno to sometimes be able to get further forward.

 

All points to him not being seen as a Longstaff upgrade.

[nufc123]

1 minute ago, madras said:

His best football in Italy was centrally, as part of a 2 they won the title. Eddie says we need to have more control, we want Bruno to sometimes be able to get further forward.

 

All points to him not being seen as a Longstaff upgrade.

True. Tonali was brought in so him and Bruno could mix it up. Sometimes one of them further up the field, and the other more defensive. 

[TheBrownBottle]

5 hours ago, STM said:

 

I was half joking about "you lot", also I take your point about hardly anyone is asking for him to be sacked.

 

 

 

 

It's the stuff above that gets me riled up.

 

Pressing the red button at the first signs of problems.

 

 

 

Yeah, I saw that video in the ‘Twitter / YouTube’ thread.  There are some right whoppers knocking about.  

[TheBrownBottle]

2 hours ago, black_n_white said:

What’s the goal now for Howe do we reckon? Top 7 finish? Anything less might feel a little underwhelming?

I still stick by my view from the start of the season - anything less than a top half finish is failure, 7th and a cup run would be a good season

[madras]

2 hours ago, black_n_white said:

What’s the goal now for Howe do we reckon? Top 7 finish? Anything less might feel a little underwhelming?

There is no goal like that. Its just whether we feel we are  progressing  Should we finish outside the Champs league spots but look unstoppable when he have a normal amount of players out over a prolonged spell then I'm OK with that.

[Optimistic Nut]

3 hours ago, Kid Icarus said:

He's not really like that, but not unlike a lot of other fan channel members, he talks bollocks.

 

People who post stuff like that deserve all the shit they get. What a cretin. 

[AmericanLooneyToon]

5 hours ago, TRon said:

 

You are always going to get a section of the fanbase who go hyper-critical, I'm sure it's the same in your neck of the woods as well. I actually hesitate to say anything critical about Howe on this thread because I don't want to be lumped in with them. I'm a massive fan of Howe as a manager, and I wouldn't replace him with anyone right now.

 

But does that mean I agree with every decision he's made? No. That doesn't mean I want him out, it's just my take as a fan.

That seems to be the way of the world nowadays. There seems to be no room for opinions unless they are extreme. 

 

I've been frustrated with some of Howe's decisions the past few weeks. Does that mean I would get rid of him? No chance.

 

The way he turned a relegation team that Bruce left him with into an exciting side almost instantly was the first of many reasons that he has earned the right to fight out of some rough patches. 

 

 

 

 

[Mountain]

9 hours ago, STM said:

 

I was half joking about "you lot", also I take your point about hardly anyone is asking for him to be sacked.

 

 

 

 

It's the stuff above that gets me riled up.

 

Pressing the red button at the first signs of problems.

 

 

 

 

"It's all a bit reactionary"

 

The word reactionary describes a political ideology, where people want to revert to the traditional past.

 

People just don't understand that the word "reactionary" doesn't mean anything related to reacting to anything.

 

It's like when people think "ignorant" means someone who ignores people.

 

People are cretins, including me.

 

[Astroblack]

12 hours ago, black_n_white said:

What’s the goal now for Howe do we reckon? Top 7 finish? Anything less might feel a little underwhelming?

My goal at the start of the season was top 7 and we looked and still kind of look on course for that. If we lose the next few games, I’ll take the season as a write off and just hope all the injured players can get back to full fitness and the the starting 11 lads can have a break. 
 

We’ll be in and amongst come March-April when the likes of Villa, Brighton and West Ham have European knockout games to play. 

[Nowhere Man]

8 hours ago, Mountain said:

 

"It's all a bit reactionary"

 

The word reactionary describes a political ideology, where people want to revert to the traditional past.

 

People just don't understand that the word "reactionary" doesn't mean anything related to reacting to anything.

 

It's like when people think "ignorant" means someone who ignores people.

 

People are cretins, including me.

 

You’ve had a bit of a reactionary there mind ?

[Optimistic Nut]

2 hours ago, Astroblack said:

My goal at the start of the season was top 7 and we looked and still kind of look on course for that. If we lose the next few games, I’ll take the season as a write off and just hope all the injured players can get back to full fitness and the the starting 11 lads can have a break. 
 

We’ll be in and amongst come March-April when the likes of Villa, Brighton and West Ham have European knockout games to play. 

 

We're going to be lucky to get a point in the next 3 so you might as well write the season off now? 

 

Top 4/5 is gone, but we'll likely be around 7-8 behind 7th and mid-table after Villa, I'd still fancy us to be competing for Europe after that. 

[Miggys First Goal]

Even after January, there’s still 16 games to play (48 points at stake). Nobody should be writing off the season. 

[Andy]

45 minutes ago, Miggys First Goal said:

Even after January, there’s still 16 games to play (48 points at stake). Nobody should be writing off the season. 

 

It will be hard to shift the momentum though. We could be 9th tonight. If we lose the next 3, which is definitely realistic, we could be sitting 10th or 11th. It's not easy to suddenly turn that around into a good run of form. 

 

Unless we pull something out the bag from this tough run over the next month, we will definitely have our work cut out to finish top 6. 

[The Prophet]

This is a side that has shown they can go on long winning or unbeaten runs. We don't want to give ourselves too much work to do, but even if the next three are a disaster, top six is a realistic goal.

[madras]

8 minutes ago, Andy said:

 

It will be hard to shift the momentum though. We could be 9th tonight. If we lose the next 3, which is definitely realistic, we could be sitting 10th or 11th. It's not easy to suddenly turn that around into a good run of form. 

 

Unless we pull something out the bag from this tough run over the next month, we will definitely have our work cut out to finish top 6. 

Depends on the points. I'd rather be 11th and 5pts off a euro spot than 8th but 9pts off with so many games left 

[OoOGazOoO]

11 minutes ago, Andy said:

 

It will be hard to shift the momentum though. We could be 9th tonight. If we lose the next 3, which is definitely realistic, we could be sitting 10th or 11th. It's not easy to suddenly turn that around into a good run of form. 

 

Unless we pull something out the bag from this tough run over the next month, we will definitely have our work cut out to finish top 6. 

 

Agree, I'm pretty confident, unfortunately, that we will finish 6th or 7th, hopefully not any lower, but we have made it very hard for ourselves to finish top 5 in my opinion and like you say, this could become a lot worse in Jan!

[Andy]

Just now, The Prophet said:

This is a side that has shown they can go on long winning or unbeaten runs. We don't want to give ourselves too much work to do, but even if the next three are a disaster, top six is a realistic goal.

 

We've shown we're capable of doing that while riding the wave of positivity, it'll be a different task if we lose the next few though, especially the Sunderland game. There's already a big change in mood and slipping down towards mid table will solidify that in large chunks of the fanbase. 

 

People underestimate the value of mood and momentum in football. Ourselves and Villa are examples of what it can do for the better when it's going your way, Chelsea and Spurs (last season), the opposite. 

 

We're obviously capable of top six but it's definitely hanging in the balance and will be a bigger task than a lot of people think. There needs to be patience and an acceptance that it may be beyond us IMO. 

 

The best bet is probably to get a few players in during January to try and shift the mood back in our favour a bit. 

[madras]

1 minute ago, Andy said:

 

We've shown we're capable of doing that while riding the wave of positivity, it'll be a different task if we lose the next few though, especially the Sunderland game. There's already a big change in mood and slipping down towards mid table will solidify that in large chunks of the fanbase. 

 

People underestimate the value of mood and momentum in football. Ourselves and Villa are examples of what it can do for the better when it's going your way, Chelsea and Spurs (last season), the opposite. 

 

We're obviously capable of top six but it's definitely hanging in the balance and will be a bigger task than a lot of people think. There needs to be patience and an acceptance that it may be beyond us IMO. 

 

The best bet is probably to get a few players in during January to try and shift the mood back in our favour a bit. 

I think the mood changes as soon as players come back. Everybody knows the reason for the poor form. Just hope those who come back end of Jan can get back that bit earlier, to get up to speed, in the two week break