Eddie Howe

[Dr.Spaceman]

Logic

[Ghandis Flip-Flop]

4 minutes ago, Dr.Spaceman said:

Logic

It'll never catch on with some

[STM]

Still blaming Ashworth for not having access to Tonalis phone I see. 

 

Fuck me. They should know though.... they should just know... somehow. 

[The College Dropout]

46 minutes ago, Shearergol said:

 

Wilson being made of glass is a huge issue to us. We can't continue trying to nurse him through a season, it's far too much for Isak to cope with in this system.

 

Stick Tonali and Willock back in this squad and the Joelinton injuries don't happen. It's clear a few mistakes have been made (which club doesn't?) but I think people are far too quick to dismiss the freak injury situation we've seen. Add the demands of the CL's and expected cup runs in, we were always going to be worse off this season. We're still a very good team, we just have far too many key players out to show it every week.

 

 

 

We've not dealt with either Isak or Wilson well. Wilson came back before he was ready. Same with Isak. They are picking up as many injuries as each other.

 

Willock was mismanaged. Tonali we got got - plain and simple. Anyone that gets got like that you have to question but at the same time it's understandable. And Joelinton was mismanaged.

 

Aye these things happen. Not the end of the world. But it's not just bad luck.

 

@Optimistic Nut

 

 

In my view, we should finish 7th.

 

Chelsea are horrendously run club. I expect West Ham to go deep in Europe and I think we have a better manager. We've invested more than Brighton. We should finish above them all.

 

Liverpool, City, Arsenal, Villa, Spurs, Man U - they will and should finish above us.

 

7th is par for me. 8th if Chelsea somehow clicks into gear. Any less is an underperformance. I'm not a doom-and-gloom merchant. We have a good manager, we've invested a lot in recent years and we've invested well. 

34 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said:

 

So we've got the 8th or 9th best squad in your view, we've got the 8th-9th largest wage bill, surely there shouldn't be much stick or even hints of criticism to a manager who has had that team around at least 9th pretty much all season, with 1/4 of the squad missing for a huge chunk of it.

 

 

 

[The College Dropout]

15 minutes ago, STM said:

Still blaming Ashworth for not having access to Tonalis phone I see. 

 

Fuck me. They should know though.... they should just know... somehow. 

If the situation was in the England camp. I don't think we would've been had. We've got players, coaches and connections to the setup. We would've heard whispers.

 

I can't prove it but I'm certain AC Milan and Juve knew it was coming. Which means people were talking. They palmed the players off to rich foreign clubs who weren't itk.

[The College Dropout]

51 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

And we are a good team. We’re just not a team that can have all their best players injured and still qualify for the Champions League. 

Who expects us to qualify for the CL?

[Shearergol]

13 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

We've not dealt with either Isak or Wilson well. Wilson came back before he was ready. Same with Isak. They are picking up as many injuries as each other.

 

Willock was mismanaged. Tonali we got got - plain and simple. Anyone that gets got like that you have to question but at the same time it's understandable. And Joelinton was mismanaged.

 

Aye these things happen. Not the end of the world. But it's not just bad luck.

 

@Optimistic Nut

 

 

In my view, we should finish 7th.

 

Chelsea are horrendously run club. I expect West Ham to go deep in Europe and I think we have a better manager. We've invested more than Brighton. We should finish above them all.

 

Liverpool, City, Arsenal, Villa, Spurs, Man U - they will and should finish above us.

 

7th is par for me. 8th if Chelsea somehow clicks into gear. Any less is an underperformance. I'm not a doom-and-gloom merchant. We have a good manager, we've invested a lot in recent years and we've invested well. 

 

Well quite, can't argue with this one. Perhaps we're missing that squad depth where a young healthy striker can come in for each of them?

[The College Dropout]

1 minute ago, Shearergol said:

 

Well quite, can't argue with this one. Perhaps we're missing that squad depth where a young healthy striker can come in for each of them?

How many teams have 3 strikers? Isak, Wilson and Gordon as backup is as good as the league has IMO. 

 

That's fine. But I think we are missing 1 CM or winger. 1 of those free's up Joelinton's role. As soon as Willock & Tonali went out, Joelinton was a full-time CM. Then Barnes out. Gordon is a full-time LW. If we had 1 more winger option, we could mix up Gordon's minutes upfront and give him some more rest even with the injuries and suspensions. 

 

IMO Murphy should have the Ritchie role but one that can actually be used.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

28 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Who expects us to qualify for the CL?

 

I'm not saying anyone expects it, but there seems to be a feeling that this season has been disappointing and that we should be higher.

[Shearergol]

11 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

How many teams have 3 strikers? Isak, Wilson and Gordon as backup is as good as the league has IMO. 

 

That's fine. But I think we are missing 1 CM or winger. 1 of those free's up Joelinton's role. As soon as Willock & Tonali went out, Joelinton was a full-time CM. Then Barnes out. Gordon is a full-time LW. If we had 1 more winger option, we could mix up Gordon's minutes upfront and give him some more rest even with the injuries and suspensions. 

 

IMO Murphy should have the Ritchie role but one that can actually be used.

 

How many have 2 strikers where one of them is almost always injured these days?

[huss9]

2 hours ago, Geogaddi said:

I don't remember Benitez getting much stick at all, I think Benitez could have finished rock bottom with zero points and still got no stick as he won the champions league 20 years ago and all the stick would have been directed at Ashley. Howe has received more stick than Benitez ever did which is absolute madness really considering he has done a far far better job for us than Benitez did.

 

 

 

benitez never got much stick in the stadium at all - the odd one i recall re his negative style.

but as mentioed we could have finiched bottom and i would have loved him just for making me care again.

 

again howe personally hasnt had any stick - more along the "chanhe something" shouts rather than direct stick.

 

online abuse is a different beast though

[The College Dropout]

16 minutes ago, Shearergol said:

 

How many have 2 strikers where one of them is almost always injured these days?

He's not though. Like I said, he was brought back early. Played 90 minutes again and again until injured. He's as injured as often as Isak. 

 

19 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

I'm not saying anyone expects it, but there seems to be a feeling that this season has been disappointing and that we should be higher.

We've lost 7 out of the last 12. Including some bad results against relegation-level teams. People are going to be disappointed. At a point in time, we looked well placed to finish in Europe. Now it feels like an uphill battle. Finishing between Brighton and Wolves would be a disappointment. 

 

If we finish 6th and qualify for Europa. Most people would be delighted. If we finish 7th and go to Conference most people would be happy.

 

I've mentioned this several times. Eales seems to think Europe is a good and realistic target. If Howe achieves that, I think everyone is at least content.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

This one game a week gives us far too much time to chat

[Cronky]

The main areas of debate seem to be whether players have been unwisely rushed back from injury, and whether Eddie should have used his subs bench more. 

 

The first issue isn't a matter of science - there's always an element of risk, and we're really not in a position to say whether Eddie and/or the medical staff have gone too far. Personally, I think Eddie tends to err on the side of caution, compared to other managers. His own playing career was ruined by a return from injury that turned out to be premature.

 

Our subs bench has looked very weak over the last few weeks, there's no question of that. There's a case for saying he should have used Tino or Hall more, but they're both inexperienced and it's not as though we have a first team full of stars that can compensate. Eddie relies a lot on team-work, and he has a way of holding players back until they're fully integrated into his systems. Bruno and Gordon struggled to get starts at first, and now look at them.

 

The main voices questioning Eddie seem to emanate from the Metropolitan media. Because we're owned by the Saudis and have reached the Champions League, the journos are expecting our owners to react as though we were Man City. The expectations that should exist with our current squad are entirely different. 

 

Eddie has brains and balls in abundance and we could not be in better hands IMO.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Also we don’t know if players have been rushed back and we don’t know if rotating in random kids would have made any difference whatsoever. 

[The College Dropout]

13 minutes ago, Cronky said:

The main areas of debate seem to be whether players have been unwisely rushed back from injury, and whether Eddie should have used his subs bench more. 

 

The first issue isn't a matter of science - there's always an element of risk, and we're really not in a position to say whether Eddie and/or the medical staff have gone too far. Personally, I think Eddie tends to err on the side of caution, compared to other managers. His own playing career was ruined by a return from injury that turned out to be premature.

 

Our subs bench has looked very weak over the last few weeks, there's no question of that. There's a case for saying he should have used Tino or Hall more, but they're both inexperienced and it's not as though we have a first team full of stars that can compensate. Eddie relies a lot on team-work, and he has a way of holding players back until they're fully integrated into his systems. Bruno and Gordon struggled to get starts at first, and now look at them.

 

The main voices questioning Eddie seem to emanate from the Metropolitan media. Because we're owned by the Saudis and have reached the Champions League, the journos are expecting our owners to react as though we were Man City. The expectations that should exist with our current squad are entirely different. 

 

Eddie has brains and balls in abundance and we could not be in better hands IMO.

Based on the evidence - I don't think this is true.

 

We have a player on record - saying he rushed himself back to fitness. We've seen Joelinton & Gordon visibly injured and continue to play with Joelinton's injury a season-ender. We've also seen several players look unfit for several games at a time. And many players playing on despite clearly being exhausted.

 

We have several instances of players coming back and being injured again within 6 games. We have several instances of players playing until they pick up fatigue loaded injuries.

 

Again, I like Eddie a lot. Happy that he's in charge. But I think he's made several strategic and tactical mistakes that have contributed to a lot of our issues.

12 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Also we don’t know if players have been rushed back and we don’t know if rotating in random kids would have made any difference whatsoever. 

 

[TRon]

13 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Also we don’t know if players have been rushed back and we don’t know if rotating in random kids would have made any difference whatsoever. 

 

But surely random kids could at least press or close down more effectively than exhausted players who are barely moving after playing twice a week for a month?

 

 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

7 minutes ago, TRon said:

But surely random kids could at least press or close down more effectively than exhausted players who are barely moving after playing twice a week for a month?

 

In the abstract, as a fan, I tend to agree. But professional football managers don't really seem to go in for this kind of thing. 

[Ghandis Flip-Flop]

1 hour ago, The College Dropout said:

He's not though. Like I said, he was brought back early. Played 90 minutes again and again until injured. He's as injured as often as Isak. 

 

 

Id say you had a point if Wilson's issues were just this season, but it’s been the story of his career since before he even arrived here. Why do you think someone with his numbers ended up at Mike Ashley's Newcastle? 
 

Blaming the staff for not turning around a player the wrong side of 30, with a consistent history of being injury prone,  just seems incongruent to me

[Lush Vlad]

16 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

But surely random kids could at least press or close down more effectively than exhausted players who are barely moving after playing twice a week for a month?

 

 

Did you watch when the fresh legs of Parkinson against Bournemouth and Diallo and Ndiweni against Chelsea were introduced? They looked miles off the standard and pace of the game. Even in the 30 minutes and 5-6 mins they got on the pitch. 
 

That’s before factoring in Howe’s system

supposedly being very complex and demanding. Along with the fact he has his favourites who he trusts and for better or worse. He has historically taken his time to bed players in, where possible. 
 

If they’re some of the better options we have in the youth ranks. Then it’s not looking great for the future. 
 

Our U23’s don’t even seem very good at the level they play at. 

[Ghandis Flip-Flop]

19 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Based on the evidence - I don't think this is true.

 

We have a player on record - saying he rushed himself back to fitness. We've seen Joelinton & Gordon visibly injured and continue to play with Joelinton's injury a season-ender. We've also seen several players look unfit for several games at a time. And many players playing on despite clearly being exhausted.

 

We have several instances of players coming back and being injured again within 6 games. We have several instances of players playing until they pick up fatigue loaded injuries.

 

Again, I like Eddie a lot. Happy that he's in charge. But I think he's made several strategic and tactical mistakes that have contributed to a lot of our issues.

 

Right this is why you do annoy several people on here. Your opinion or observations are just that, observations and opinions. Conflating that with "evidence" is at best disingenuous or at worst just fucking deluded. Do you think your Mk1 eyeball is a better judge of player loading and fatigue than the clubs team of sports scientists? If you genuinely believe that, pimp yourself around PL clubs you’d save them a fortune.

 

 

[The College Dropout]

Again, we have 1 player on record saying he rushed himself back to fitness. Go and listen to his podcast. That is actual evidence against "being cautious with injuries". We know for a fact, Joelinton continued to play despite picking up what turned out to be a season-ending injury.

 

These 2 things are not opinions these are facts.

[The Prophet]

Howe has to make a call based on information from the medical team, the sports science team and the players themselves.

 

I dare say they've tried to minimise risk, but some risk has had to be taken due to the lack of fit squad members.

[madras]

21 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Again, we have 1 player on record saying he rushed himself back to fitness. Go and listen to his podcast. That is actual evidence against "being cautious with injuries". We know for a fact, Joelinton continued to play despite picking up what turned out to be a season-ending injury.

 

These 2 things are not opinions these are facts.

It happens all the time, players coming back quicker than ideal and playing through injury.

 

Re Joelinton, how many times have players played on not knowing their injury was more serious than thought.

 

Really we should take anyone off at the first twinge.

[TRon]

34 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:

Did you watch when the fresh legs of Parkinson against Bournemouth and Diallo and Ndiweni against Chelsea were introduced? They looked miles off the standard and pace of the game. Even in the 30 minutes and 5-6 mins they got on the pitch. 
 

That’s before factoring in Howe’s system

supposedly being very complex and demanding. Along with the fact he has his favourites who he trusts and for better or worse. He has historically taken his time to bed players in, where possible. 
 

If they’re some of the better options we have in the youth ranks. Then it’s not looking great for the future. 
 

Our U23’s don’t even seem very good at the level they play at. 

 

Those are probably the only two games I've missed all season due to prior commitments.