Eddie Howe

[Sean]

2 hours ago, Cf said:

 

Given the ridiculous level of injuries we had and the amount of games we had in December if we only played fully fit players we'd have been putting the reserves out.

We might well be in a better position if we had though. We couldn't have done any worse over the winter period.

[The College Dropout]

19 minutes ago, Sean said:

We might well be in a better position if we had though. We couldn't have done any worse over the winter period.

Rafa pretty much put out suboptimal teams early in the season often with the plan to have a fit squad by crunch time.

 

Pep has been doing the same the last couple of seasons too.

[Cf]

2 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Rafa pretty much put out suboptimal teams early in the season often with the plan to have a fit squad by crunch time.

 

Pep has been doing the same the last couple of seasons too.

 

There's a difference between suboptimal and what we had available. 

 

Also worth bearing in mind how badly our seasons started with Rafa. 

[The College Dropout]

9 minutes ago, Cf said:

 

There's a difference between suboptimal and what we had available. 

 

Also worth bearing in mind how badly our seasons started with Rafa. 

I mean this from August, not when we started picking up injuries and suspensions. Rafa would do this without European football from the start of the season. He has a proactive approach to managing players fitness. That’s not Howe’s style. 
 

Second point is true.  We trusted him that he had a plan for the season that would work. I don’t have that trust with Howe in terms of navigating a CL or European campaign and fighting for domestic titles.  If anything his inexperience makes me doubt his approach (which hasn’t worked for whatever reason) more. 

 

 

Edited January 15 by The College Dropout

[TheBrownBottle]

We have actually been playing a player at DM all season - he just lacks the discipline to play in his favoured position, and leaves gaping holes between DF and MF

 

It’s probably safer to just say something negative about Longstaff mind. 

[TheBrownBottle]

6 hours ago, Turnbull2000 said:

Forum favourite Louise Taylor somewhat scathing of Howe on the Guardian website today

Link?

[The College Dropout]

Out of possession - he hasn’t been instructed to play DM. We are purposely flat. 
 

IIRC Shelvey was instructed to sit behind a midfield 4 and infront of the defence when he played that role. The tactics have evolved away from that. 

[TheBrownBottle]

1 minute ago, The College Dropout said:

Out of possession - he hasn’t been instructed to play DM. We are purposely flat. 
 

IIRC Shelvey was instructed to sit behind a midfield 4 and infront of the defence when he played that role. The tactics have evolved away from that. 

Glad someone’s had a chat to Eddie.  Otherwise this is just a guess

[The College Dropout]

2 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Glad someone’s had a chat to Eddie.  Otherwise this is just a guess

?? We do the same things game in game out. It's clearly by instruction or at least not forbidden. Bruno's press is hyper-aggressive and advanced. And when defending for large periods without the ball, it's a flat midfield. That must be by design.

 

From memory, we didn't defend like that when Shelvey was here.

[80]

We'd definitely have heard something if Bruno was merrily abandoning his DM tactical instructions every match for the past year. Eddie's public criticisms of the team always revolve around the team not pushing forward enough, not being aggressive enough in the press - never that we've overcommitted in attack and left ourselves vulnerable.

[TheBrownBottle]

5 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

?? We do the same things game in game out. It's clearly by instruction or at least not forbidden. Bruno's press is hyper-aggressive and advanced. And when defending for large periods without the ball, it's a flat midfield. That must be by design.

 

From memory, we didn't defend like that when Shelvey was here.

Sorry, was only kidding.  The MF is incredibly flat without the ball - but I don’t know if that is by design or a lack of discipline.

 

Villa first really exploited it late last season - the back four’s lack of pace and lack of cover in front of them.  Willock/Joelinton and Longstaff/Almiron(or Murphy) offered a lot of cover, but if a combination of those players didn’t start then we looked incredibly exposed.

 

The gaps between DF and MF are often huge, and we’re being caught game after game now.  The loss of Pope to play ‘sweeper keeper’ has pushed the back four even further back, opening up even more space. 

[Jagten]

Our midfield is definitely flat by design, and our out-of-possession game looks like it might have been "figured out", in combination with an absence of intensity in the press. 

 

 

Edited January 15 by Jagten

[GideonShandy]

2 hours ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Link?

Howe’s tactical decisions should be questioned.

 

Kevin de Bruyne made it 2-2 by scoring a fine goal before creating Manchester City’s stoppage time winner for his fellow substitute Oscar Bobb against Newcastle. That contribution marked the playmaker’s return to Premier League combat after five hamstrung months but it was significant that Pep Guardiola bided his time before introducing De Bruyne, subsequently explaining he is not yet ready to play 90 minutes. Does Eddie Howe regret playing Joe Willock in the autumn after a lengthy injury induced absence? Willock swiftly broke down with the key midfielder now sidelined indefinitely. Admittedly their squad is considerably slimmer than City’s but Howe’s deployment of a single late substitute in Lewis Hall perhaps explains why a tiring side lost. An imbalanced bench was stocked with defenders so why not have introduced Paul Dummett or Jamaal Lascelles, switched to a back five and secured a point?

 

Louise Taylor

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, GideonShandy said:

Howe’s tactical decisions should be questioned.

 

Kevin de Bruyne made it 2-2 by scoring a fine goal before creating Manchester City’s stoppage time winner for his fellow substitute Oscar Bobb against Newcastle. That contribution marked the playmaker’s return to Premier League combat after five hamstrung months but it was significant that Pep Guardiola bided his time before introducing De Bruyne, subsequently explaining he is not yet ready to play 90 minutes. Does Eddie Howe regret playing Joe Willock in the autumn after a lengthy injury induced absence? Willock swiftly broke down with the key midfielder now sidelined indefinitely. Admittedly their squad is considerably slimmer than City’s but Howe’s deployment of a single late substitute in Lewis Hall perhaps explains why a tiring side lost. An imbalanced bench was stocked with defenders so why not have introduced Paul Dummett or Jamaal Lascelles, switched to a back five and secured a point?

 

Louise Taylor

 

A lot of the issues are nothing to do with the back line as such, though. It's about having no options in the front 6 positions to freshen things up when we're trying to keep the ball, chase the ball, hold the ball up front. Dummett and Lascelles don't change that. 

[Erikse]

Just saw the interview Howe did on talksport. He said:

 

"I allways believe in time you'll get the results that you crave if you keep being consistent with what you do."

 

What we are doing works really well when we have the energy levels to do it, plus a bench. What if we are back in Europe and/or get another injury crisis? Our players will go through fatigue (and injury problems) again in future seasons.

 

 

Edited January 15 by Erikse

[TheBrownBottle]

6 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said:

 

A lot of the issues are nothing to do with the back line as such, though. It's about having no options in the front 6 positions to freshen things up when we're trying to keep the ball, chase the ball, hold the ball up front. Dummett and Lascelles don't change that. 

I agreed that this is part of the problem, but that gap between DF and MF is an also a problem which isn’t to do with freshness, and Guardiola clearly spotted how wide it had become.

 

Bringing on Lascelles and pushing Schar just in front of the back four doesn’t seem that crazy an option 

[TheBrownBottle]

1 minute ago, Erikse said:

Just saw the interview Howe did on talksport. He said:

 

"I allways believe in time you'll get the results that you crave if you keep being consistent with what you do."

 

What we are doing works when we have the energy levels plus a bench, but what if we are back in Europe and/or get another injury crisis? Our players will go through fatigue (and injury problems) again in future seasons.

Yeah, I’m not sure that repeating something until it works always pays off.

 

If we’re in Europe again next season and no lessons are learned then it will happen again. 

[Erikse]

Just now, TheBrownBottle said:

Yeah, I’m not sure that repeating something until it works always pays off.

 

If we’re in Europe again next season and no lessons are learned then it will happen again. 

 

Yeah, I'm not sure how literal he's being in that statement, and to what extent he wants to use that philosophy. I agree that consistency is important, but sometimes flexibility is important aswell.

[TheBrownBottle]

1 minute ago, Erikse said:

 

Yeah, I'm not sure how literal he's being in that statement, and to what extent he wants to use that philosophy. I agree that consistency is important, but sometimes flexibility is important aswell.

His style has evolved over recent years as well.

 

I can’t picture Howe making dramatic changes tbf - but I still think he’ll be smart enough to identify the tweaks he’ll need to make during the summer.  

[The Prophet]

The gap between the defence and the midfield is exploited when our press is beaten. Absentees and a fatigued front six makes it that much easier to beat. We force less errors from the opposition and leave the defence exposed.

 

Without a number six type or being able to do a whole lot of work on the training ground until recently, the only solution seemed like a more risk adverse style of football, which Howe was never interested in.

[Kid Icarus]

If we happen to have another season with players more or less constantly out to this extent then I'll be more concerned about that than how we respond to it, but until then I'm willing to view it as a freak season that probably won't be repeated

[Wilson]

49 minutes ago, Erikse said:

What we are doing works really well when we have the energy levels to do it, plus a bench. What if we are back in Europe and/or get another injury crisis? Our players will go through fatigue (and injury problems) again in future seasons.

 

Yes but by then it shouldn't have as much of a negative effect as we'll hopefully have a very capable squad and academy to call on. 

 

It's going to take time. 

[Zero]

58 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

If we happen to have another season with players more or less constantly out to this extent then I'll be more concerned about that than how we respond to it, but until then I'm willing to view it as a freak season that probably won't be repeated

And then my friend reminds me that Howe last season at Bournemouth was exactly like this - serious injury crisis this ended up worst defending record in the league.

 

Anyone mind to verify this?

[Isaksbigrightfoot]

9 minutes ago, Zero said:

And then my friend reminds me that Howe last season at Bournemouth was exactly like this - serious injury crisis this ended up worst defending record in the league.

 

Anyone mind to verify this?

It is possible when you implement a style of play which hinges on players putting their absolute soul on the line to get every last ounce of ability.

 

At some point a switch has to happen between that and quality overtaking. Which is where we are.

 

Players will become better and thus have to rely less on work rate but that work rate will still remain. 
 

Which means an optimal level of players which we simply do not have.

 

So Eddie is going to have to adapt.

[Ghandis Flip-Flop]

39 minutes ago, Zero said:

And then my friend reminds me that Howe last season at Bournemouth was exactly like this - serious injury crisis this ended up worst defending record in the league.

 

Anyone mind to verify this?

Right I get people’s frustration but let’s actually look at the types of injuries we've had this season.

 

Murphy and Pope - Dislocated shoulders - so not related to training or playing intensity

Barnes - freak foot injury - not related to playing or training intensity

Burn - Fractured back - impact injury following awkward fall - not related to playing or training intensity

Anderson - Spinal stress fracture - unsure of circumstances resulting in injury - possibly training related?

 

Willock and Joelinton - recurrent muscle injuries - genuine possibility these haven’t been managed well, but given the lack of minutes Willock had it’s not down to cumulative intensity of play.

 

Botman - ACL issue post impact - impact injury not related to intensity - was initially misdiagnosed however which is a black mark against the medical team.

 

Wilson - continues to be made of glass.

 

So whilst I’d agree there is much for the entire club to learn, I’d argue a significant portion of these long term injuries are just unfortunate, rather than being the result of how the team play. 
 

Obviously in top of this the Tonali situation has left us short of numbers in midfield too, which has resulted in overplaying of whoever is currently fit. But that would potentially be an issue even if we played in a less intensive tactical manner. Mainly as I suspect much of the fatigue the players are experiencing is mental rather than physical