Eddie Howe

[Zero]

End of season may be, but right now there is none in the market that is better than Howe. And to be fair - I know many won’t agree - the last game it’s the players that let Howe down.
 

As a manager he probably could do more, say giving Tonali more minutes, but to me,  I am impressed by what he did during half time - switching to 442 and giving Hall freedom to organise the attack. We have criticised his tactical flexibility last season and to my surprise I think he did show his willingness to change. Some good, some bad. The question probably should be why we always started the game in such a bad way, that we need to ride our luck with only 45 mins left. Pre match preparation? Our plan A (433) got found out? Bruno not up to his standard?

 

We don’t need to repeat how the window let Howe down. I just want to point out that our players should share more blame than Howe. Schar has been fucking ridiculous this season, except for that strike, what did he do? Lots of mistakes, red card, missed the sitter. And Bruno/ Joe? Again just one good game so far? Trippier and Kelly telling us why they should be substitutes? Livra and Barnes probably are the only players that kept their required standard. Hall and Burn got a pass from me. Even Isak has been fucking disappointing. You can’t just blame the tactics or the players quality for the poor display on the pitch.
 

 

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 08:38 by Zero

[Sufi]

13 hours ago, Upthemags said:

Age and quality

We don’t have a backup striker. Wilson can’t be relied on due to health. We would be crazy to loan him out. Not to mention he can play on the right and get a cameo in matches. Start in cup games to give Isak a break etc. 

[Ben]

Howe seems a bit like he's stuck in a rut, he seems to be overthinking things like changing fullbacks every game. We have so many players out of form, but that's up to Howe to sort however, he's had no help from Mitchell on this side. I mean what the fuck happened with our keeper situation in the summer.

 

I still have total faith in him and hopefully he'll get the team sorted for Wimbledon 

[ExiledGeordie]

The club is in a little bit of of a rut at the moment. Changes behind the scenes and clearly some clashes of personality and it feels like we’re suffering with a hangover from a car crash of a transfer window whosever fault it is. PSR has also definitively taken the win out of our sails too. Regarding Howe, he has worked wonders with the playing squad so far but as others have mentioned above he seems a bit stuck at the moment - unsure tactically and what his first 11 should be. We just look all at sea in far too many aspects of our game. There’s far too many players miles off form and lacking sharpness so who knows what’s going on.

 

its definitely not time to press the panic button yet and I’m sure they’ll sort it out in the coming weeks. They’re going to have to tho as with the fixtures coming up if we keep playing as we are it could properly unravel and then who knows what will happen.

[r0cafella]

I think we have no option but to go back to the high intensity high press, it does look like we’ve tried to be more possession oriented but we simple haven’t build a squad with that in mind so naturally it doesn’t really suit us. 
 

and to be fair @The College Dropout banged on relentless about our lack of technical quality since basically Eddie’s appointment. 

[STM]

5 hours ago, The College Dropout said:

I’m one of the least knee jerk people on here.  I don’t hero worship Eddie in the good times and he’s not a villain to me at the low times. 
 

 

There haven't been any low times. 

[Scoot]

23 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

I think we have no option but to go back to the high intensity high press, it does look like we’ve tried to be more possession oriented but we simple haven’t build a squad with that in mind so naturally it doesn’t really suit us. 
 

and to be fair @The College Dropout banged on relentless about our lack of technical quality since basically Eddie’s appointment. 

 

Something needs to change. Whether it br a formation change or like you say, a tactical change. One thing is for sure though, we cannot continue playing the way we are.

[Sibierski]

There’s little point talking about Howe going at this stage, and nor should there be. But if he doesn’t start addressing the issues we’ve been seeing since start of last season, and doesn’t evolve, people can’t be surprised if come new year there’s stronger chatter about him being replaced.

 

As the focus will be, for the next stage of club progression, is he the guy when he’s not shown a change himself?

 

I hope he does evolve, because I want him to succeed long term here. But he’s not helping himself with the persistence of this type of 4-3-3.

[Colos Short and Curlies]

4 minutes ago, Sibierski said:

There’s little point talking about Howe going at this stage, and nor should there be. But if he doesn’t start addressing the issues we’ve been seeing since start of last season, and doesn’t evolve, people can’t be surprised if come new year there’s stronger chatter about him being replaced.

 

As the focus will be, for the next stage of club progression, is he the guy when he’s not shown a change himself?

 

I hope he does evolve, because I want him to succeed long term here. But he’s not helping himself with the persistence of this type of 4-3-3.

Just on the first part, waiting until the new year would be the worst thing they powers that be can do.

 

its either he’s the man to take us forward or they have serious doubts. If the latter then why give Eddie another transfer window? 
 

For me it was either part ways at the end of last season or Howe has the full season with a full expectation of being in charge come August 25. Everyone involved is fighting a losing battle if the position is somewhere in between

[duo]

1 hour ago, Ben said:

Howe seems a bit like he's stuck in a rut, he seems to be overthinking things like changing fullbacks every game. We have so many players out of form, but that's up to Howe to sort however, he's had no help from Mitchell on this side. I mean what the fuck happened with our keeper situation in the summer.

 

I still have total faith in him and hopefully he'll get the team sorted for Wimbledon 

The squad was crying out for freshening up - even just to give Eddie more options tactically.  I mean the subs we have don't really give him may options to changes things.

[Cronky]

Eddie's big problem is that by taking the club to fourth place, he has created an expectation which is at complete variance with the standard of players that are at his disposal. He manages to get peak performances from ordinary players week on week and it's not his fault that they come up short in certain situations. 

 

Eddie is a brilliant manager and the idea of replacing him is complete lunacy. If pressure from the fan base leads to him going then we will deserve to fail. Fortunately, I sense that our owners know the value of who we have, and will continue to back him.

[duo]

3 minutes ago, Cronky said:

Eddie's big problem is that by taking the club to fourth place, he has created an expectation which is at complete variance with the standard of players that are at his disposal. He manages to get peak performances from ordinary players week on week and it's not his fault that they come up short in certain situations. 

 

Eddie is a brilliant manager and the idea of replacing him is complete lunacy. If pressure from the fan base leads to him going then we will deserve to fail. Fortunately, I sense that our owners know the value of who we have, and will continue to back him.

I don't think there is pressure from fans to finish fourth - I think it's more to how well we play.  The season we finished fourth we got accustomed to a high press, high intensity style of play that was great to watch.  And it's about getting back to something close to that - we seem a million miles off atm.

[Heron]

30 minutes ago, Sibierski said:

There’s little point talking about Howe going at this stage, and nor should there be. But if he doesn’t start addressing the issues we’ve been seeing since start of last season, and doesn’t evolve, people can’t be surprised if come new year there’s stronger chatter about him being replaced.

 

As the focus will be, for the next stage of club progression, is he the guy when he’s not shown a change himself?

 

I hope he does evolve, because I want him to succeed long term here. But he’s not helping himself with the persistence of this type of 4-3-3.

We payed 4 2 3 1 it seemed yesterday to me, first half anyways and it didn't work...

[Heron]

9 minutes ago, Cronky said:

Eddie's big problem is that by taking the club to fourth place, he has created an expectation which is at complete variance with the standard of players that are at his disposal. He manages to get peak performances from ordinary players week on week and it's not his fault that they come up short in certain situations. 

 

Eddie is a brilliant manager and the idea of replacing him is complete lunacy. If pressure from the fan base leads to him going then we will deserve to fail. Fortunately, I sense that our owners know the value of who we have, and will continue to back him.

[TheBrownBottle]

1 minute ago, Heron said:

We payed 4 2 3 1 it seemed yesterday to me, first half anyways and it didn't work...

4-2-3-1 is a bloody awful formation generally IMO.  We also don’t have the personnel for it.  

[TheBrownBottle]

11 minutes ago, Cronky said:

Eddie's big problem is that by taking the club to fourth place, he has created an expectation which is at complete variance with the standard of players that are at his disposal. He manages to get peak performances from ordinary players week on week and it's not his fault that they come up short in certain situations. 

 

Eddie is a brilliant manager and the idea of replacing him is complete lunacy. If pressure from the fan base leads to him going then we will deserve to fail. Fortunately, I sense that our owners know the value of who we have, and will continue to back him.

The club has spent over half a billion in transfer fees in two and a half years - given how broken Man Utd and Chelsea are, there should be serious questions asked if the manager spent that on ‘ordinary’ players.

 

Other than goalkeeper and one centre back, you could fill every position in the side with a player who cost £30m+, and some of them would have back ups for similar cost.

 

I don’t think miracles have been performed - Howe is a good manager and an excellent coach, but we’re roughly where I’d expect a competent manager to have us given the money spent tbh.

 

The PL - outside the top three - isn’t all that great atm. 

[SUPERTOON]

13 minutes ago, Cronky said:

Eddie's big problem is that by taking the club to fourth place, he has created an expectation which is at complete variance with the standard of players that are at his disposal. He manages to get peak performances from ordinary players week on week and it's not his fault that they come up short in certain situations. 

 

Eddie is a brilliant manager and the idea of replacing him is complete lunacy. If pressure from the fan base leads to him going then we will deserve to fail. Fortunately, I sense that our owners know the value of who we have, and will continue to back him.

I don’t think there is any pressure on him for top 4 this season after the transfer window. The pressure at the minute is the poor performances we are seeing week in week out. You mention ordinary players, but so far this season we have had very good lineups and have performed horribly in the majority of games. 
 

We don’t currently look to have a style of play, I’d argue we are one of the worst sides in the league in possession of the ball. We now also don’t press and the players don’t really look motivated. The whole club feels stale and it’s the same on the pitch.

[Coffee_Johnny]

 

 

Amidst all the noise, dissatisfaction and speculation, I thought it might be timely to look at Eddie's record with us split in different ways.

 

In terms of calendar years, that remarkable end to 2021-22 season and first half of 2022-23 is most impressive with an average points per game (PPG) of 2.00. Which has only been (slightly) bettered once in an actual season (you guessed it, that one, 1995-96) which was 2.05 PPG. As you can see, despite the team clearly not playing as well as we know they can, we are matching that 2.00 PPG at the moment.

 

His best season to date is 2022-23 with 1.87 PPG; which is our joint second best return ever (alongside Robson's 4th place in 2001-02). Even his worst season to date (1.58 PPG) is our 8th best in 31 seasons in PL. For comparison, Keegan bettered this four times (out of five), Robson twice (out of 4), and Pardew once (out of five). And Howe, twice (out of three... obvs!). 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 09:04 by Coffee_Johnny

[Cronky]

6 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

The club has spent over half a billion in transfer fees in two and a half years - given how broken Man Utd and Chelsea are, there should be serious questions asked if the manager spent that on ‘ordinary’ players.

 

Other than goalkeeper and one centre back, you could fill every position in the side with a player who cost £30m+, and some of them would have back ups for similar cost.

 

I don’t think miracles have been performed - Howe is a good manager and an excellent coach, but we’re roughly where I’d expect a competent manager to have us given the money spent tbh.

 

The PL - outside the top three - isn’t all that great atm. 

 

You're off your rocker, man.

[Lush Vlad]

5 minutes ago, duo said:

I don't think there is pressure from fans to finish fourth - I think it's more to how well we play.  The season we finished fourth we got accustomed to a high press, high intensity style of play that was great to watch.  And it's about getting back to something close to that - we seem a million miles off atm.

Howe has mentioned in the past evolving as a team, wanting to be more possession based and I’m sure other comments I’ve missed. 
 

Throw in the shitshow of last season with the injuries and what ended up being an unsustainable way of playing. Along with a review into said injuries and a new performance director being appointed. It makes you wonder if the whole process has been sped up? For whatever reason/reasons. It isn’t working at the minute. 
 

For the first time in a while. I feel like we have genuine options at a few positions. I alluded to it yesterday. But almost like a very watered down version of Chelsea. It almost seems like suddenly we are unsure on our best XI and system. A triple sub and double sub at half time the last two games when losing at half time sort of says it all. 

We don’t look like a Howe team, currently. If we’re trying to be more possession based. Then it isn’t working. If we’ve abandoned the high, intense press. Then I’m not sure what we’ve replaced it with?! As we look far from solid defensively and definitely don’t sit in deep. Without even looking. I would guess we are right down the bottom for shots faced on and off target. We still get played through in the middle with alarming ease. 
 

I was putting a lot of it down to certain players fitness levels, the fact Howe’s teams start slow and also how games have gone on the pitch, game state or whatever the stattos call it. As genuine reasons and excuses for performances. But it can’t carry on like this, that’s for sure. 

 

[Yorkie]

The squad is definitely capable of nibbling at the top 6 so I'm inclined to not be super forgiving on the basis of squad strength. It is definitely imperfect and has major holes though, so we can't reasonably expect to finish in the Champions League places. I maintain that PSR is to thank for that. 

[TheBrownBottle]

9 minutes ago, Cronky said:

 

You're off your rocker, man.

Nah, Howe’s done a cracking job, but the ‘average’ players excuse doesn’t wash.  How many squads in the PL would you swap with ours?  

[jackyboy]

I think it was a mistake making Bruno captain. He spends more time trying to be a leader than he does influencing the game. He used to pick out some great passes but now he's just like a workhorse.

[Jackie Broon]

 

5 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

The squad is definitely capable of nibbling at the top 6 so I'm inclined to not be super forgiving on the basis of squad strength. It is definitely imperfect though so we can't reasonably expect to finish in the Champions League places. I maintain that PSR is to thank for that. 

 

Our recruitment has left us set up to play one way, without any defensive midfielder in the squad and that is a gaping hole, particularly in the way we set up away from home. That is entirely by choice.

[Cronky]

1 minute ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Nah, Howe’s done a cracking job, but the ‘average’ players excuse doesn’t wash.  How many squads in the PL would you swap with ours?  

 

Firstly, I apologise for my initial response, which wasn't very constructive. 

 

Your comment  - 'The PL - outside the top three - isn’t all that great atm' did get me going, though I think I disagreed with pretty much all the points you were making. 

 

If you were to hypothetically measure the quality of all the Premiership squads, ours would be in the bottom half IMO.