Eddie Howe

[AyeDubbleYoo]

1 minute ago, Terrymac1966 said:

We are at home we should be killing teams from the get-go. Southampton were the more offensive side prior to the sending off. All they lacked to get the job done was quality...other teams will come and will have it. 

 

We won't play like that against everyone for the whole season. 

[madras]

Just now, Terrymac1966 said:

We are at home we should be killing teams from the get-go. Southampton were the more offensive side prior to the sending off. All they lacked to get the job done was quality...other teams will come and will have it. 

 

Not really, they played 3 at the back which got them round the initial press and created an overload in the second phase but then it fizzled as they went forward, hence they created little, and didn't look it when we had 11.

[Erikse]

9 minutes ago, Theregulars said:

At no point was the match 2-1. 

 

Right, we got another goal right before theirs. Point still stands though, in some situations there was no need to give the ball away with a hollywood pass. That's not what you want to do when you are 2 or 3 goals up against a strong side. He will probably look different this time around though.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 13:10 by Erikse

[AyeDubbleYoo]

We will improve with Tonali playing but I'm not sure that loads of possession is really in Howe's game plan. I love keeping the ball and starving the opposition but we might just have to accept that it's not going to be our style.  

[Terrymac1966]

8 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

We won't play like that against everyone for the whole season. 

Agreed but it needs addressing. Hall needs to spend all week passing yet he looked decent in preseason and didnt give possession up like Saturday.

[Theregulars]

9 minutes ago, Erikse said:

 

Right, we got another goal right before theirs. Point still stands though, in some situations there was no need to give the ball away with a hollywood pass. That's not what you want to do when you are 2 or 3 goals up against a strong side. He will probably look different this time around though.

 

 

 

I personally don't think there's any use judging Tonali on the contribution he made before being banned. He looked great at times, he looked crappy at times. Clear destabilising and mitigating circumstances given what happened to his career and personal life shortly after arrival (aside from not speaking the language and leaving his home city [and I assume friends and family] for a different country). Bruno misplaces passes and loses the ball, Isak misses sitters, Gordon runs into too many players... it's football. You have to try things quickly, you don't have much time, you have to be hyper athletic etc. Players make mistakes.

[Erikse]

16 minutes ago, Theregulars said:

I personally don't think there's any use judging Tonali on the contribution he made before being banned. He looked great at times, he looked crappy at times. Clear destabilising and mitigating circumstances given what happened to his career and personal life shortly after arrival (aside from not speaking the language and leaving his home city [and I assume friends and family] for a different country). Bruno misplaces passes and loses the ball, Isak misses sitters, Gordon runs into too many players... it's football. You have to try things quickly, you don't have much time, you have to be hyper athletic etc. Players make mistakes.

 

I was talking more about what type of player he is by the way, not how good he is. My impression was that he's more of a high risk high reward type of player, or one that tries to be very effective on the ball. Which is different from the type that is really good when you are trying to control a game.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 13:36 by Erikse

[Groundhog63]

 

[madras]

27 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

We will improve with Tonali playing but I'm not sure that loads of possession is really in Howe's game plan. I love keeping the ball and starving the opposition but we might just have to accept that it's not going to be our style.  

I'm sure in the close season of 23/24 Howe said his plan was to develop and become more possession based. The injuries put paid to that last season but with Tonali coming on and hopefully a more 'normal'season injury wise we'll see if a) that is the plan and b) He's capable of carrying it out.

[Erikse]

On what basis do we actually think that one of Tonalis biggest strengths is in keeping possession? Where did that come from? Not only from what we saw last season, but also most of the analysis of him from Milan, points to a player that fits the high intensity pressing and counter attack game that Howe has done so well with. One that likes to move the ball quickly or look for the killer pass, where the upside of it makes up for losing the ball a little more often than others.

 

Ofcourse, 1 year of coaching can change that. Maybe he has just not really been used in a role that would have him try to keep possession to a bigger degree, and he can actually play that role aswell. Who knows.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 13:56 by Erikse

[Lush Vlad]

I’d like to think he is better/more comfortable receiving the ball than Longstaff. So that would be a start. 

[The Prophet]

We played some lovely possession football, before the injuries kicked in last season. Palace at home was probably the peak of that.

[timeEd32]

58 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:

Ipswich were the better side against Liverpool first half. Then they came unstuck and could have lost by a lot more second half. 
 

Arsenal were making uncharacteristic mistakes against Wolves and were lucky not to concede. 
 

City even looked disjointed at times against a wide open, lazy Chelsea side. 
 

Using one game, the opening game of the season, even. To try and over-analyse the team, manager and everything else seems a bit ridiculous. 

 

The first game (or two) of a season is always dissected to an extreme degree. Look at a search for NFL week 1 overreactions - it's content fuel. The biggest issue is if it's not blatantly great or terrible then it's going to be full of confirmation bias. This game will probably have telling things when we look back a month or two from now, but at the moment you can basically twist it to fit any narrative.

 

Positive: When Newcastle United surprisingly finished fourth in 2022/23 they did so with the league's second best defensive record (behind only perennial title winners Manchester City). Eddie Howe probably dreamed of another opening day demolition like last season's 5-1 win over Aston Villa, but he may be even happier at this weekend's hard-fought three points. The defence was already thin with Sven Botman and Jamaal Lascelles sidelined long term and Kieran Trippier still recovering from England's Euros run. The 28th minute dismissal of mainstay Fabian Schar and a makeshift back four could have led to the type of calamitous defensive performance seen too many times last season, but instead the Magpies kept their shape well, used their press to create a goal, and started the season with a galvanising three points. The attacking outbursts will almost certainly come, but if Newcastle can also get back to defending well and winning ugly then a return to the Champions League could be in the cards.

 

Negative: It's been a summer to forget on Tyneside with ownership and executive changes, a PSR scramble, perpetual rumours linking standouts Anthony Gordon to Liverpool and Kieran Trippier to somewhere, and only one new face in free transfer Lloyd Kelly. Newcastle would have been hoping a home start against Championship playoff winners Southampton would have provided the right tonic, but instead they hung on for dear life to claim the three points. It was a performance that provided more questions than answers and Newcastle, already thin at the back, will now be without leader Fabian Schar for the next three games. Eddie Howe used some of his goodwill last season as the Magpies limped to a 7th place finish and no European football. With his boardroom pal Amanda Staveley now out of the picture the pressure will be on to deliver better performances than this one.

 

I can do it for Southampton too...

 

Positive: While surely disappointed to come away with nothing from a 10 man Newcastle, there's a lot to like from Southampton's return to the Premier League. St. James' Park has been one of the league's most difficult away trips in recent seasons and the Saints were the better side by basically every measure but the scoreline. 78% possession, a 19-3 shot advantage, and 1.77xG to Newcastle's 0.25. There's been questions about whether Southampton's possession-based football would translate to the top flight and the early signs are promising.

 

Negative: Southampton were given a gift in the 28th minute when Fabian Schar's gentle headbutt of Ben Brereton Diaz sent Newcastle down to 10 men. But the Saints, who have only won one away match since April 1, did very little with all their possession. This is a familiar story from last season when the Saints enjoyed possession of 55%, 58%, 65% and 66% in their four games against Leicester City and Ipswich Town, the Championship's top two teams, but lost all four by an aggregate score of 13-3. Adam Armstrong bagged 21 goals last season, but he's unlikely to repeat that record in the Premier League. Southampton may have problems at both ends of the pitch

[Coffee_Johnny]

1 hour ago, Sibierski said:

I mean, just conceding possession at home is dumb and not sustainable long term.

Not going to read too much into first game or games. It’s 5+ in where we should be settled down fitness and cohesion wise, and if we’re turning in home performances like Luton / Forest / Southampton of past 8 months, then there’s concerns. 

Highlighted for subsequent reflection. 

[Lush Vlad]

@timeEd32 you could do that for most close’ish games across a season to be fair. Either in stats or score line. There are usually positives and negatives for both sides. Apart from some of the football served up under Bruce, Allardyce and Pardew towards the end  

 

Listening to a 5Live pod this morning. Stephen Kelly and Asmir Begovic were sort of referencing the first game of the season, almost being an extension of pre-season. I fully agree with that. 
 

Teams are not fully fit, there is some ring rust, not quite up to speed and comfortable with their system. Especially if there has been a change in the coaching setup or big changes in personnel. 

I suppose when there is an international tournament and players returning to their clubs late. It is further accentuated. 
 

In the games I saw and the highlights. I feel like there was plenty of sloppy play on show and teams nowhere near 100%. 
 

I’d be worried if we were regularly turning in performances like the first 30

minutes after say 5-10 games AND it carried on for the full 90 AND we lose the game.
 

So in short, I’m not worried. 

[NWMag]

RE Tonali there was a few times last year he was playing quick one touch stuff just to keep and rotate the ball - it actually felt like he was too quick (as in not on the same wavelength) for the rest of the team so as much as he needs to get used to our style, there is also an element of our players needing to learn his style too. 
 

I’m sure that will have happened over the last 10 months. 

[timeEd32]

1 minute ago, Lush Vlad said:

@timeEd32 you could do that for most close’ish games across a season to be fair. Either in stats or score line. There are usually positives and negatives for both sides. Apart from some of the football served up under Bruce, Allardyce and Pardew towards the end  

 

Listening to a 5Live pod this morning. Stephen Kelly and Asmir Begovic were sort of referencing the first game of the season, almost being an extension of pre-season. I fully agree with that. 
 

Teams are not fully fit, there is some ring rust, not quite up to speed and comfortable with their system. Especially if there has been a change in the coaching setup or big changes in personnel. 

I suppose when there is an international tournament and players returning to their clubs late. It is further accentuated. 
 

In the games I saw and the highlights. I feel like there was plenty of sloppy play on show and teams nowhere near 100%. 
 

I’d be worried if we were regularly turning in performances like the first 30

minutes after say 5-10 games AND it carried on for the full 90 AND we lose the game.
 

So in short, I’m not worried. 

 

For sure, but when it happens in November you have a dozen+ games to compare it to. A game where our best defender gets dismissed before the half hour mark and yet we still win would quite easily be dismissed as an excellent three points. But everything is magnified in the first couple weekends, so now we get a fun week discussing Gordon's body language and Eddie's shortcomings.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

6 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:

@timeEd32 you could do that for most close’ish games across a season to be fair. Either in stats or score line. There are usually positives and negatives for both sides. Apart from some of the football served up under Bruce, Allardyce and Pardew towards the end  

 

Listening to a 5Live pod this morning. Stephen Kelly and Asmir Begovic were sort of referencing the first game of the season, almost being an extension of pre-season. I fully agree with that. 
 

Teams are not fully fit, there is some ring rust, not quite up to speed and comfortable with their system. Especially if there has been a change in the coaching setup or big changes in personnel. 

I suppose when there is an international tournament and players returning to their clubs late. It is further accentuated. 
 

In the games I saw and the highlights. I feel like there was plenty of sloppy play on show and teams nowhere near 100%. 
 

I’d be worried if we were regularly turning in performances like the first 30

minutes after say 5-10 games AND it carried on for the full 90 AND we lose the game.
 

So in short, I’m not worried. 

I don’t get why anyone could be worried

[Collage]

16 hours ago, Izakaya said:

I think he just mumbles 'unfortunately' or it was a slip of the tongue. I don't see any situation where Howe says a red for one of our players is fortunate. 

Yes, I know. I was on about the subtitles.

[TRon]

22 hours ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

We won't play like that against everyone for the whole season. 

 

I would just write that game off tbh, we came out of it with 3 points after playing with 10 men for most of the game. We'll get a far better idea of how we are setting up over the next month or so.