Eddie Howe

[Wallace]

A Howe pre-season is said to be really tough.  The US tour would have curtailed that to some extent and I wonder if that has also contributed to our shortcomings this season.  Something else he will have to learn to adapt to as such tours will be the norm from now on.

[80]

"If I bring a defender on it is seen as a negative substitution."

 

It's really ok! Don't think of it as negativity, think of it as wiliness! Guile! Cunning!

 

 

Edited January 14 by 80

[Gallowgate Toon]

29 minutes ago, Smal said:

If our midfield line is pressing that high then the defensive line has to step up higher too. We can’t put all the focus on the midfield shape. The defence can’t be that deep when the midfield are pressing, it’s crazy.

Totally agree. If one of Bruno/Longstaff had dropped back for KdB, he'd still have an awful lot of room to run into, a quick knock past one of them and he's in a similar position with acres. They either all need to drop, defence push up, or a CB takes responsibility to fill the gap.

[duo]

59 minutes ago, Smal said:

If our midfield line is pressing that high then the defensive line has to step up higher too. We can’t put all the focus on the midfield shape. The defence can’t be that deep when the midfield are pressing, it’s crazy.

Over the last few weeks our problem has been our defensive line has pushed up too high.  How many goals have we conceded where Burn has gone high and got caught out.  If we had a DM to sit in that whole KDB just wouldn't have had the space he did.  Bruno just hasn't the discipline to do it. 

[80]

4 minutes ago, duo said:

Over the last few weeks our problem has been our defensive line has pushed up too high.  How many goals have we conceded where Burn has gone high and got caught out.  If we had a DM to sit in that whole KDB just wouldn't have had the space he did.  Bruno just hasn't the discipline to do it. 

I've seen this said a lot. In fairness to him, there's absolutely no indication that he's breaking tactical instruction.

[huss9]

42 minutes ago, 80 said:

"If I bring a defender on it is seen as a negative substitution."

 

It's really ok! Don't think of it as negativity, think of it as wiliness! Guile! Cunning!

 

 

 

i think he means psychologically for the players.

makes them drop even deeper.

 

still could have tried it though, but if we'd still conceded he would have got pelters.

[huss9]

if he had brought a defender on, krafth could have been an option rather than lascelles as we werent being bombared in the air, and he's able of carrying the ball.

but he do you bring off? Isak?

[80]

2 minutes ago, huss9 said:

i think he means psychologically for the players.

makes them drop even deeper.

 

still could have tried it though, but if we'd still conceded he would have got pelters.

I think you're right about him thinking of how the players see it, but he's allowed to educate them out of that.

 

I think the "never take a step back" approach was good for the first 18 months or so to properly inculcate ambition and aggression in the squad, but I think it's fair to say we've got that now. We do have to be careful not to lose it, but to be truly great you have to be able to thread the needle in difficult situations rather than just being a flat track bully.

[huss9]

3 minutes ago, 80 said:

I think you're right about him thinking of how the players see it, but he's allowed to educate them out of that.

 

I think the "never take a step back" approach was good for the first 18 months or so to properly inculcate ambition and aggression in the squad, but I think it's fair to say we've got that now. We do have to be careful not to lose it, but to be truly great you have to be able to thread the needle in difficult situations rather than just being a flat track bully.

i know he loves KK, but even KK had his critics over our tactics and the lack of defensive nous.

but even he had batty, brace, venners etc.

 

 

Edited January 14 by huss9

[Andy]

1 hour ago, The Prophet said:

 

Perhaps the defensive line has dropped deeper due to the absence of Pope? Total guesswork like. 

 

I think this is absolutely the case. Pope is very good at "sweeper keeping", and it's definitely one of Dubravka's weaknesses. In his first few games back in the team, it was exploited massively, and since then we have visibly played with a deeper line.

 

 

[80]

33 minutes ago, huss9 said:

if he had brought a defender on, krafth could have been an option rather than lascelles as we werent being bombared in the air, and he's able of carrying the ball.

but he do you bring off? Isak?

To be clear, I don't have a problem with how he managed the game last night. I'm very much on the Eddie train, and the last two months have gone exactly as I predicted due to forces (probably?) beyond our control - December awful, January steadily improving. I'm hoping for a mammoth run in from February onwards, ideally starting with Villa, and don't see this season as a write off.

 

That quote just stuck out to me as an indication of mindset that I'd like him to get over. By definition, if a tactical move makes you more likely to win in the short, medium and long term, it's not a negative move. Whether bringing a defender on would've done that last night, I'm agnostic on. It's more the principle that I'm interested in, as it's been consistent for two years in every situation now. The game that probably most upset me was Liverpool at home last season - a game they needed to win far more than we did at the time.

 

I think we can give ourselves a license to deliberately rope a dope opponents in let's say four matches a season. Maybe more in extenuating circumstances like a stonking injury crisis such as ours. To be the best, by definition you create opponents who will outwork you because they know they're competing against the best. That's the position we want to be in, and that's when we'll need something else.

 

Unless we're planning on just owning the 25 hardest working players in the world, which seems implausible and, ironically, lazy.

 

 

Edited January 14 by 80

[Sempiternal]

Did we change formation last season, like towards the end? I don’t know if I have imagined it but I thought we did maybe around this time actually not the end of the season. Wonder if Howe will consider it again

[80]

3 minutes ago, Sempiternal said:

Did we change formation last season, like towards the end? I don’t know if I have imagined it but I thought we did maybe around this time actually not the end of the season. Wonder if Howe will consider it again

No not really, but we changed personnel. Murphy for Almiron was the big move and contributed to a big attacking switch up on the pitch and got us out of our low scoring rut.

 

We dabbled with Isak and Wilson both sharing the same pitch too. But pretty quickly Isak moved into Gordon's left wing spot.

 

 

Edited January 14 by 80

[Cronky]

Recent results have not led me to doubt Eddie's ability one iota. The explanation is clear - we have not been able to rest players, either between games or by using subs - and we have generally been playing in mid-week every week. Given the pace of the modern game and the standards that are expected, rotation is an important weapon in the manager's armoury, and Eddie has been deprived of it. 

 

The scale of the over-achievement last year is being under-estimated. We didn't have, and still don't have, a Champions League level squad. In addition to the injury situation and the fixture congestion, that factor also has to be borne in mind.

[SUPERTOON]

https://x.com/PremLeaguePanel/status/1746522331810308448?s=20

[Sempiternal]

36 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

https://x.com/PremLeaguePanel/status/1746522331810308448?s=20

Yeah pretty much bang on I would say. 

[The Prophet]

It's always been there, but only teams such as Brighton and Villa have been good enough to beat the press. Unfortunately, fatigue and absentees has made the press much easier to beat.

[Kid Icarus]

3 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

It's always been there, but only teams such as Brighton and Villa have been good enough to beat the press. Unfortunately, fatigue and absentees has made the press much easier to beat.

 

Exactly this. Brighton especially had to play at a ridiculously high level of speed and precision to beat it and they did. I'll never accept that match as one of our poor performances, Brighton were outstanding and never gave us a chance to play our game.

 

 

Edited January 14 by Kid Icarus

[Ikon]

4 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

It's always been there, but only teams such as Brighton and Villa have been good enough to beat the press. Unfortunately, fatigue and absentees has made the press much easier to beat.

Most definitely. A good idea would be to fine tune it somehow so it doesn’t hurt as badly as it has done lately. 

[Isaksbigrightfoot]

49 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

https://x.com/PremLeaguePanel/status/1746522331810308448?s=20

This is why we need to mix it up. We can’t do the same thing every game.

 

Its why we couldn’t break down Luton and Forrest.

 

Howe is a good manager and just needs to develop. He is not the finished article.

[Dr Jinx]

All this tactical analysis is a bit pointless as it doesn’t really address the catalyst which is fatigue.

 

We're conceding most of our goals after 70 mins so let’s just assume that with the right energy levels out “flat midfield” is actually fairly effective.

 

Not so much when running on fumes.

 

Post game and post training recovery needs to change/improve as it’s not working. Can’t really lay all that at Howe’s door either. His sports science department should be able to give him data that backs up what we’re all seeing on the pitch and make recommendations based on that.

[SUPERTOON]

10 minutes ago, Dr Jinx said:

All this tactical analysis is a bit pointless as it doesn’t really address the catalyst which is fatigue.

 

We're conceding most of our goals after 70 mins so let’s just assume that with the right energy levels out “flat midfield” is actually fairly effective.

 

Not so much when running on fumes.

 

Post game and post training recovery needs to change/improve as it’s not working. Can’t really lay all that at Howe’s door either. His sports science department should be able to give him data that backs up what we’re all seeing on the pitch and make recommendations based on that.

Obviously fatigue and injuries are the main reason, but surely a tactical change is necessary if it keeps happening?

[nufc123]

6 minutes ago, Dr Jinx said:

All this tactical analysis is a bit pointless as it doesn’t really address the catalyst which is fatigue.

It isnt pointless, fatigue or not. There is a pattern to address. Obviously the late goals fatigue is a big reason, but if you look at the pictures its all from early in the games to around 60 min.

[Monters]

14 minutes ago, Dr Jinx said:

All this tactical analysis is a bit pointless as it doesn’t really address the catalyst which is fatigue.

 

We're conceding most of our goals after 70 mins so let’s just assume that with the right energy levels out “flat midfield” is actually fairly effective.

 

Not so much when running on fumes.

 

Post game and post training recovery needs to change/improve as it’s not working. Can’t really lay all that at Howe’s door either. His sports science department should be able to give him data that backs up what we’re all seeing on the pitch and make recommendations based on that.

 

3 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Obviously fatigue and injuries are the main reason, but surely a tactical change is necessary if it keeps happening?

For me the 5 subs rule plays a massive part in this and we struggle to make one or two subs some games, especially against teams like City when there is zero drop off in quality…

 

Pep and Klopp were desperate for the rule change as they have the biggest squads and even more important the most experience in managing with big squads. 

 

 

Edited January 14 by Monters

[Ronaldo]

23 minutes ago, Dr Jinx said:

All this tactical analysis is a bit pointless as it doesn’t really address the catalyst which is fatigue.

 

We're conceding most of our goals after 70 mins so let’s just assume that with the right energy levels out “flat midfield” is actually fairly effective.

 

Not so much when running on fumes.

 

Post game and post training recovery needs to change/improve as it’s not working. Can’t really lay all that at Howe’s door either. His sports science department should be able to give him data that backs up what we’re all seeing on the pitch and make recommendations based on that.

When we’re fatigued we’re especially terrible though. Incapable of doing anything but surrendering possession and playing backs to the wall, which completely ends us as an attacking threat and inevitably results in us conceding at least a goal or 2. That’s what needs addressing because fatigue will always be a factor even with a fully fit squad and every side needs a plan B.