Eddie Howe

[Sibierski]

We seem to be stuck in between two things and not good at either at the moment. Possession in good areas and pressing.

 

Possession, it’s with little tempo and minimal options. Too often we make our own mistakes from it in our own 2/3 of pitch, with players not really coached for it, and Bruno often on his own. In the final third, we zip it around one touch superb at times (yesterday in 2nd half for example), so we can move the ball with purpose just seemingly scared to do it elsewhere. 
 

Pressing, it’s disjointed, where we’re too often a bit like ETH. Where it’s one CM going, with another high elsewhere and not close, so if dribbled past / one two, we’re cut open and the defence is facing runners. Which either ends with them being burned for pace, or one needing to step in, but being slow can’t get there and there’s a bigger gap in defence.

 

Quality is there in right positions to be top 5 if all stay fit, just need to get a balance. This is where having no Europe I expect to see improvements from the increased time on training ground, and more targeted game plans for specific games against sides who have been in Europe that week.

[The College Dropout]

50 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

I think we are trying to moderate at least, the relentless high intensity pressing has been gone for a minute and isn’t showing signs of returning any time soon. 
 

We are a bit disjointed atm. 

Agree on this but we haven’t replaced it with anything coherent. 

[Sibierski]

1 hour ago, Thumbheed said:

I feel like we really miss Trippier's playmaking ability. Tonali will hopefully pick up that mantle but for now, it seems we're lacking any real incisiveness in our passing. 

The main concern I have with this, is how dependent we are on an aging RB whose legs are going as our creative outlet. Giving the quality elsewhere, you’d hope to see something else.

 

Would’t be against Howe reverting back to Trippier for short term to get some flow going to the game, but we need to start improving long term for a different option.

[TRon]

3 minutes ago, Sibierski said:

The main concern I have with this, is how dependent we are on an aging RB whose legs are going as our creative outlet. Giving the quality elsewhere, you’d hope to see something else.

 

Would’t be against Howe reverting back to Trippier for short term to get some flow going to the game, but we need to start improving long term for a different option.

 

I'm surprised Trippier hasn't started more games tbh. Maybe Howe really does think he's lost a yard of pace. We look really sloppy in possession, too many players are uncomfortable when pressed. You expect that with some of the players on show, but a lot of that comes because players are still moving individually instead of as a unit so no one is available for the obvious pass. Maybe you just need more players on the pitch who actually want the ball, then once they get it are confident in doing something with it.

[Coffee_Johnny]

Eddie Howe record versus best performing PL era managers. 

 

 

Not too shabby. Should be our most effective manager ever in the PL/Premiership era, on points per game return by end of season (all being well). Would make it even more definitive if his team finished second (or first ).

 

 

Edited September 16 by Coffee_Johnny
Even less shabby...

[Zero]

I just want to point out that Howe has changed the pressing formation - Bruno didn’t press that forward like last season, instead he stayed at the back and didn’t expose the space (yet)

 

He is obviously tweaking our tactics based on last seasons experience 

[Sibierski]

15 minutes ago, Zero said:

I just want to point out that Howe has changed the pressing formation - Bruno didn’t press that forward like last season, instead he stayed at the back and didn’t expose the space (yet)

 

He is obviously tweaking our tactics based on last seasons experience 

 

On yesterday? https://youtu.be/J3GmHXNVXmA?t=212

 

Multiple times Bruno in first half presses and is bypassed with ease. 4:23 is our biggest weakness though and something that's been there since start of last season, players sitting between midfield and defence line, and getting the ball all too easily on half turn in that space and then attacking the defence. Still not looked like resolving this despite a pre-season. Either need to be more compact, or get the press spot on. Can't be spread thin in a line time and time again.

[Dr Venkman]

8 hours ago, wormy said:

Pretty sure Ian is one of the more traditionally optimistic on this forum. He was the sole survivor of the Alan Pardew fan club ffs.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

TBF to yesterday the plan could easily have worked. We looked like we were cruising through to half time with the only question being why hadn’t we scored. Then you get hit with a counter goal and the whole complexion changed. 
 

We do tend to forget the other possible worlds when something like a conceded goal happens. 

 

 

Edited September 16 by AyeDubbleYoo

[Yorkie]

1 minute ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

TBF to yesterday the plan could easily have worked. We looked like we were cruising through to half time with the only question being why hadn’t we scored. Then you get hit with a counter goal and the whole complexion changed. 
 

We do tend to forget the other possible worlds when something like a conceded goal happens. 

 

I think the answer to that is because we weren't playing well as a team and not creating enough decent chances. We had possession but Wolves stepped off us from the kick-off.

 

I'm as forgiving as can be but yesterday was a robbery in terms of the result. Hats off to the lads for getting it done and making our extra quality be the difference, but I don't think what we're doing atm is sustainable. 

 

I suppose the most important thing to do after that summer, and with all the uncertainty and agendas, was get results through whatever means. We're doing that, but it's definitely a bit alarming that performances aren't really improving. 

[The Prophet]

There's probably a few things at play at the moment...

 

A disjointed pre-season - our better players still don't look fully match sharp. Bruno looks like he's lacking match fitness, while Gordon and Isak are improving but still aren't at the races. They're arguably our three key players. 

 

We're integrating a new back line - in the season we finished 4th, Trippier, Schar and Botman were all capable of picking up the ball and playing effectively through the lines. Schar is still there and Hall is very good at it, but while Tino, Burn and Kelly are tidy with the ball at their feet, they lack that ability to step into midfield or play a ball forward. It was compounded further when Krafth came in for Schar.

 

We're not pressing as much - possibly a consequence of the first, but I've not seen us press yet. In mitigation, we had ten men v Southampton and had a game plan v Spurs, while we've never pressed as well away, but it's definitely off at the moment.

 

Confidence - it seems that the summer has unsettled a few of the squad. Even putting the PSR deadline aside the likes of Dubravka, Trippier and Miggy were unsettled until recently. Throw in our shaky away form last season and we probably do lack a bit of confidence. Thankfully results fuel confidence and we're getting solid results.

 

All of the above is fixable over time, but we definitely haven't performed to our best yet. Thankfully we have a manager who won't settle for second best and a quality group of players. Probably worth pointing out we've been quite slow starters throughout the Howe era. We'll be fine and if nothing else it’s good to see we've got our grit back.

[The Prophet]

1 minute ago, Yorkie said:

 

I think the answer to that is because we weren't playing well as a team and not creating enough decent chances. We had possession but Wolves stepped off us from the kick-off.

 

I'm as forgiving as can be but yesterday was a robbery in terms of the result. Hats off to the lads for getting it done and making our extra quality be the difference, but I don't think what we're doing atm is sustainable. 

 

I suppose the most important thing to do after that summer, and with all the uncertainty and agendas, was get results through whatever means. We're doing that, but it's definitely a bit alarming that performances aren't really improving. 

 

I know it's subjective, but I don't think Wolves did enough to win the game. Fair enough, we didn't either, but we were well worth a point. I think a robbery does us a bit of an injustice.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

3 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

I think the answer to that is because we weren't playing well as a team and not creating enough decent chances. We had possession but Wolves stepped off us from the kick-off.

 

I'm as forgiving as can be but yesterday was a robbery in terms of the result. Hats off to the lads for getting it done and making our extra quality be the difference, but I don't think what we're doing atm is sustainable. 

 

I suppose the most important thing to do after that summer, and with all the uncertainty and agendas, was get results through whatever means. We're doing that, but it's definitely a bit alarming that performances aren't really improving. 

Nah but you know what I mean, I was thinking we were playing decent and if we’d got to half time we would’ve probably just tweaked things, made a sub and won. Certainly it’s plausible. 
 

I’m definitely not a results-only person, I just think we tend to forget the decent periods and overemphasise the bad periods. 
 

Of course the ideal is play well throughout and then we won’t need to discuss this

 

We’ve only played 4 league games, there’s no need to be drawing conclusions like we are. 

 

 

Edited September 16 by AyeDubbleYoo

[AyeDubbleYoo]

1 minute ago, The Prophet said:

 

I know it's subjective, but I don't think Wolves did enough to win the game. Fair enough, we didn't either, but we were well worth a point. I think a robbery does us a bit of an injustice.

I definitely wouldn’t call it a robbery. A close game where we managed to score one more goal. Nothing unfair about it. 

[Cf]

1 minute ago, Yorkie said:

 

I think the answer to that is because we weren't playing well as a team and not creating enough decent chances. We had possession but Wolves stepped off us from the kick-off.

 

I'm as forgiving as can be but yesterday was a robbery in terms of the result. Hats off to the lads for getting it done and making our extra quality be the difference, but I don't think what we're doing atm is sustainable. 

 

I suppose the most important thing to do after that summer, and with all the uncertainty and agendas, was get results through whatever means. We're doing that, but it's definitely a bit alarming that performances aren't really improving. 

 

Agree that we are getting fortunate with the results and the performances need to improve (acknowledged by Howe and the players) but I think calling the result robbery is a bit of a stretch.

 

Just from the top of my head in the first half we had the Murphy and Gordon chances which were both decent chances rather than half chances. And in the second half we had the Tonali chance and the late Barnes one (admittedly whilst they were pushing for a winner).

 

All the while Wolves had some chances but it's not like they battered us or anything.

[Gallowgate Toon]

I don't think performances so far have been great but also not that bad - we've had good chances in most games, this season, imo. It is in interesting that our games have largely followed the same pattern since Southampton though; start well for the first 20, become weirdly passive & messy for the next 20-30, finish well enough.

 

I thought yesterday's first 'quarter' was our best yet. We looked back to our old selves in many ways - energy, rotations, good build-up patterns - but just couldn't capitalise due to a lack of quality as they sat deeper. We then seemed to lose a bit of impetus & confidence and it became open. Confidence is obviously fragile but I'm just not convinced we look fit enough yet - it's so important to win battles regardless of 'tactics' and we feel a second slower at this, at the moment.

 

Well, that and technical quality balanced across the team is lacking when we're under the cosh. Tonali really could be such a help here - Longstaff's game just isn't great in tighter areas and never will be - but there are other balancing acts in the team we need to figure out on this front too. 

 

 

Edited September 16 by Gallowgate Toon

[Erikse]

6 hours ago, KingArthur said:

You do know that a) Nations League games are pretty much friendlies b) tempo in the Premier League games is way higher than in international games

 

I am not saying I would have made the same decisions, but i try to understand his reasoning. On the other hand you and me are guys on the sofa playing FM and Howe is one of the best managers in the league. Pretty sure he has his reasons for these decisions. If someone thinks Howe rates Longstaff more than Tonali, give your head a shake. 

 

They played France in the first game, and Nations League matters. Obviously he picked the strongest possible team for the occasion. Italy won 3-1 against a France team full of star players, and some would say that Tonali was their best player that game.

 

 

Edited September 16 by Erikse

[Yorkie]

I agree that we're not playing terribly, and we're not undeserving of the vast majority of our points on the board, I just hoped to see an improvement after the break. We were better against Spurs. @The Prophet I think you've summed-up the issues pretty well. It's all fixable and there's nothing like good results to build momentum and buy time to iron-out issues. 

[The College Dropout]

34 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

TBF to yesterday the plan could easily have worked. We looked like we were cruising through to half time with the only question being why hadn’t we scored. Then you get hit with a counter goal and the whole complexion changed. 
 

We do tend to forget the other possible worlds when something like a conceded goal happens. 

 

 

 

I missed the first 15-20.  Wolves looked the better side from what I saw. We were sloppy. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

1 minute ago, The College Dropout said:

I missed the first 15-20.  Wolves looked the better side from what I saw. We were sloppy. 

 

Well the bit you didn't see was the best bit

 

After the goal was when we looked poor IMO, before we were absolutely fine.

 

 

Edited September 16 by AyeDubbleYoo

[The Prophet]

We dominated the first 25. Wolves scored and we fell to bits, we were all over the place.

 

Thought the second half was pretty even, but we lacked control for sure.

 

Overall though it was pretty even and could have gone either way.

[Dan Gleebals]

I wonder if our less agressive press is based on some advice from Bunce.  Based on feedback from Howe, he is clearly providing a lot of data and perhaps that suggests the players are not in the right condition (yet) to push as much, or we are limiting our output a little to get some of the players back to full fitness first.  Would make a lot of sense.

[Sibierski]

1 hour ago, The Prophet said:

 

I know it's subjective, but I don't think Wolves did enough to win the game. Fair enough, we didn't either, but we were well worth a point. I think a robbery does us a bit of an injustice.

 

If we're talking about making the keeper work, we did that once from Murphy. Then it was three individual brilliances that got two goals/woodwork.

 

Wolves, scored that goal, quickly followed by Lemina scuffed shot in side area. Then there was Cunha shot at Pope near post which should've been a better chance for Wolves, Larsen header at Pope, Larsen hitting the post, and an amazing save from Pope. We were worth a point because we score 2 goals, but overall play from us was by large bad. Wolves game plan was working till couple of fuck yous to the xG stats.

[TRon]

1 minute ago, Sibierski said:

 

If we're talking about making the keeper work, we did that once from Murphy. Then it was three individual brilliances that got two goals/woodwork.

 

Wolves, scored that goal, quickly followed by Lemina scuffed shot in side area. Then there was Cunha shot at Pope near post which should've been a better chance for Wolves, Larsen header at Pope, Larsen hitting the post, and an amazing save from Pope. We were worth a point because we score 2 goals, but overall play from us was by large bad. Wolves game plan was working till couple of fuck yous to the xG stats.

 

Agreed. Truthfully, could not have complained if they'd won instead of us.

[huss9]

15 hours ago, CPL said:

Cast your minds back to Euro 2024 this year. I think the comments against Howe are more than justified. 

southgate didnt make triple substitutions at half time when it wasnt working.

ffs.