Eddie Howe

[TRon]

2 minutes ago, Hanshithispantz said:

Because Chelsea and Man Utd are meme clubs. Like I said, if Villa finish above them, we should too.

 

Not sure if you are being sarcastic, but personally always was more concerned about Chelsea finishing strong last season, and they did. Man U look poor, that's true, would be disappointing if we don't finish above them, but should still not be expected as a given.

 

Villa are a threat now that's true, but they sold a lot of players to fund it. I don't think Howe would take kindly to that since he seems very committed to his squad in general.

[KaKa]

7 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Villa having Emery gives them a big advantage over us (and many teams). He is only behind Pep imo, he’s a world class manager.

 

I think this season may end up being an eye opener.

 

My gut instinct is that this season will show that Villa have already left us behind.

 

Their style of play is more consistent, and they've done a much better job of building up their squad by having a more varied and balanced recruitment approach.

[SUPERTOON]

2 minutes ago, KaKa said:

 

I think this season may end up being an eye opener.

 

My gut instinct is that this season will show that Villa have already left us behind.

 

Their style of play is more consistent, and they've done a much better job of building up their squad by having a more varied and balanced recruitment approach.

Completely agree, they look miles ahead of us in most departments tbh.

[kingxlnc]

this season for sure has been full of issues

 

But last season for me was at a similar level to the CL season. We genuinely dominated games, we were exciting and pressed and blew teams away with goals. 
 

Last season was just that period decimated by injuries in the middle that wrecked things otherwise it was excellent. We were just extremely extremely unlucky, even to the point where Man U denied us Europe in the very end. 
 

this season has not even got going, there’s not been one good performance as yet. So it might be part of the slow start Eddie tends to have but with better points total or the stuff behind the scenes really is taking a toll

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Hey, don’t be taking a big picture view there young man. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

It’s mad to be talking about teams ‘leaving us behind’ when we’ve gone from battling relegation to battling for Europe.
 

Very strange perspective IMO. 

[gbandit]

I couldn’t be more behind Howe but I’m desperate for a performance that gives the following -

 

Control

 

A sense of our footballing identity as a side

 

Fluency when in possession

 

We have had basically none of the first one this season so far and none of the second. We’ve had some very brief spells of the third. If we’re going to have a top six season we need all three of the above to start happening with some consistency. I’m really struggling to understand what’s going on at the moment and while it’s Howe’s responsibility to get it right I can’t figure out what are the barriers to it happening as I’m sure he wants all of the above and he’s coaching the team to those ends 

[Kid Icarus]

10 hours ago, Ronaldo said:

And to be fair brother they sunk like a stone after him, even with Rafa. If Ancelotti is a mid table manager without the right players that goes for every manager in history.

We're making the same point basically. Another way to phrase it would be even with someone like Ancelotti, their talent only gets you so far.

[Heron]

7 hours ago, TheBrownBottle said:

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

That became evident yesterday for me, unless Bruno and Tonali are the deep lyers but generally think that's a waste of their respective abilities. 

 

Even despite that error, 3 (4?) Big moments came through player error, Schar once defensively- for the first goal, once for the potential equaliser and then Bruno's ridiculous pass for the third and Pope's clanger for the second.

 

 

Edited Sunday at 16:10 by Heron

[Hanshithispantz]

18 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

If Villa finish 3rd or 4th that’s because they’ve had an incredible season. Expecting us to match that would be silly. 
 

If Villa finish 7th, we can talk. 

Why?

[Choppy Chop Chop]

You're, in the most, an ungrateful bunch of entitled know it all's. perhaps the Makums have a point 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Just now, Hanshithispantz said:

Why?

Because we’re not good enough to finish in the top 2 or 3. 

[Jackie Broon]

55 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

If our spending wasn't arbitrarily limited - or if the restrictions were even just slightly more relaxed - then we'd probably have more options imo. 

 

I don't think Howe sees a defensive midfield player as something he wants or that fits into his philosophy. Maybe if we had the money to go out and get a Rodri it wouldn't matter, but we have to work within the constraints we have and we could have got a defensively minded midfield player in to plug that gaping hole.

 

 

Edited Sunday at 10:35 by Jackie Broon

[Hanshithispantz]

2 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Because we’re not good enough to finish in the top 2 or 3. 

It would be 3rd or 4th.

 

Villa have been consistently great since Emery arrived, they've had top 4 form throughout. No reason we cannot expect the same.

 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

One midfielder can’t protect the back 4 anyway if the rest of the team is pressing or can’t keep the ball. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Just now, Hanshithispantz said:

It would be 3rd or 4th.

 

Villa have been consistently great since Emery arrived, they've had top 4 form throughout. No reason we cannot expect the same.

 

We can expect whatever we want, although I wouldn’t use the word expect. I’m just saying if Villa have the best season in several generations, it’s not like it’s a disaster if they finish above us.  

[gbandit]

Villa’s consistency is worrying. They have a very clear identity and all their players have improved under Emery. It’s annoying as fuck how good they are, hopefully we’ll see the brakes come on as Europe stifles them 

[KaKa]

7 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

It’s mad to be talking about teams ‘leaving us behind’ when we’ve gone from battling relegation to battling for Europe.
 

Very strange perspective IMO. 

 

Once we got top 4 we really had to do a better job of capitalising on that last summer. Especially while Chelsea, Spurs and Man Utd were such a mess.

 

We spent £140 million on 3 players. Tonali, Barnes and Tino. Three positions that didn't need filling necessarily in the first team at the time.

 

Also with a better approach could that money have been spread out more evenly across the squad? I think it could and should have been.

 

We ended up with no European football and instead of nailing the summer recruitment to ensure we capitalized on less games this season, we blew it completely.

 

We spent the first part of the window bidding for Olise, and then no one else in that position after, and then doing the same with Guehi later on.

 

We currently have no right winger, no backup striker, no holding midfielder that protects the defence, no clarity at left back and a number of squad players that are below par.

 

We look uninspired, stale and tired. I think the season is going to be a struggle.

 

[Hanshithispantz]

10 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

We can expect whatever we want, although I wouldn’t use the word expect. I’m just saying if Villa have the best season in several generations, it’s not like it’s a disaster if they finish above us.  

They would have finished above us 2 seasons is a row though, and the 6-months or so before that their form was better iirc.

 

The point is I think they're a far better measure of where we should be than Chelsea and Man Utd.

 

I love Howe because I believe he's a top manager, and up there with Emery. If that's not the case (or outside factors limit it), then I think we need to accept it and move on.

[KaKa]

14 minutes ago, Jackie Broon said:

 

I don't think Howe sees a defensive midfield player as something he wants or that fits into his philosophy. Maybe if we had the money to go out and get a Rodri it wouldn't matter, but we have to work within the constraints we have and we could have got a defensively minded midfield player in to plug that gaping hole.

 

 

 

 

We keep hearing from Howe that there is a very small pool of players to pick from that can improve us.

 

And then you watch some of our players and performances and you really have to wonder about that.

 

I think we're in trouble. Things move very quickly.

 

Nice start to the season due to a favourable schedule and thankfully we got a nice number of points.

 

Now the games are going to start getting tougher. Let's see how we manage it.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

14 minutes ago, KaKa said:

 

Once we got top 4 we really had to do a better job of capitalising on that last summer. Especially while Chelsea, Spurs and Man Utd were such a mess.

 

We spent £140 million on 3 players. Tonali, Barnes and Tino. Three positions that didn't need filling necessarily in the first team at the time.

 

Also with a better approach could that money have been spread out more evenly across the squad? I think it could and should have been.

 

We ended up with no European football and instead of nailing the summer recruitment to ensure we capitalized on less games this season, we blew it completely.

 

We spent the first part of the window bidding for Olise, and then no one else in that position after, and then doing the same with Guehi later on.

 

We currently have no right winger, no backup striker, no holding midfielder that protects the defence, no clarity at left back and a number of squad players that are below par.

 

We look uninspired, stale and tired. I think the season is going to be a struggle.

 

We can’t debate those same signings forever man, come on. If we didn’t have Tonali now we would be saying we’re desperate for a midfielder, and same with Barnes and someone who can score us a goal. They were great signings. 

[nufc123]

9 minutes ago, KaKa said:

 

We keep hearing from Howe that there is a very small pool of players to pick from that can improve us.

And then we go in for Elanga on DD. This pool talk needs to stop.

 

 

Edited Sunday at 11:05 by nufc123

[Erikse]

42 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

It’s mad to be talking about teams ‘leaving us behind’ when we’ve gone from battling relegation to battling for Europe.
 

Very strange perspective IMO. 

 

Villa was also "battling relegation" when Emery took over. We were a more attractive project for other players with the new owners. Hence why we could sign Trippier and Bruno in the first window, signings that Villa wouldn't have been able to do when they were down there. The main players for this transformation.

 

 

Edited Sunday at 11:06 by Erikse

[AyeDubbleYoo]

1 minute ago, Erikse said:

 

Villa was also "battling relegation" when Emery took over. We were a more attractive project for other players with the new owners. Hence why we could sign Trippier in the first window, a signing that Villa wouldn't have been able to do at that point.

 

 

 

Right, but we’ve made massive progress? Why do we have to torture ourselves with any other club that has also made progress? When will ever be able to enjoy having a proper club again, only when were the best team in the world? 
 

I’m exaggerating but you know what I mean.  

 

 

Edited Sunday at 11:07 by AyeDubbleYoo

[Erikse]

2 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Right, but we’ve made massive progress? Why do we have to torture ourselves with any other club that has also made progress? When will ever be able to enjoy having a proper club again,

only when were the best team in the world? 

 

It makes sense to comapre us to Villa and not clubs like Palace. You would expect us to make a lot of progress with the money that we have spent. I know the first couple of season were miracle stuff, but looking at the first and second season in isolation is not that productive for the present.

 

 

Edited Sunday at 11:09 by Erikse