Eddie Howe

[mighty__mag]

Just felt today taking Barnes off was a weird decision. 

 

 

[andycap]

It's weird we can't seem to get our strikers involved in our setup. 

Isak is a superstar yet barely is in games or gets chances created for him this year I wonder what we've changed as it's basically the same team. 

[RobsonsWonderland]

4 minutes ago, andycap said:

It's weird we can't seem to get our strikers involved in our setup. 

Isak is a superstar yet barely is in games or gets chances created for him this year I wonder what we've changed as it's basically the same team. 

Personally i believe it's down to having wingers who look to shoot or don't play the ball to the forward at the earliest opportunity... same as mid week against Wimbledon.

 

Only Murphy is a natural crosser of the ball.

 

Barnes, cuts in shoots

Gordon, drives into the box before either shooting or cutting his angle off.

Miggy, defends his own attacks by either running the ball out or passing backwards.

 

Always remember Shearer saying he  grabbed Ginola after a game and told him to stop cutting back and cross the f'ing ball

[Lush Vlad]

Not sure Isak, or Gordon for that matter. Would be particularly effective if we started crossing it regularly, mind. They’re not good in the air against centre backs. Perhaps different for Wilson, but that’s a moot point as he’s never fit. 
 

We do need to do more to create and support whoever is playing up top, though. We can often look tidy and at times, dominant. Right up until we get near the box. 
 

All that said. Even without the penalty. We created more than enough to win yesterday. We were just wasteful along with some good fortune for them. 

[ExiledGeordie]

18 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:

Not sure Isak, or Gordon for that matter. Would be particularly effective if we started crossing it regularly, mind. They’re not good in the air against centre backs. Perhaps different for Wilson, but that’s a moot point as he’s never fit. 
 

We do need to do more to create and support whoever is playing up top, though. We can often look tidy and at times, dominant. Right up until we get near the box. 
 

All that said. Even without the penalty. We created more than enough to win yesterday. We were just wasteful along with some good fortune for them. 

Exactly this, we created chances just couldn’t stick them away. We’ve been crying out for some creativity and goal scoring threat on the RW for years though and it would make a huge difference to our overall play. 

[Whitley mag]

It’s pretty clear to me both Gordon and Barnes are one trick ponies and neither looks great on the right. None of the midfield 3 and I include Tonali in this are true attacking midfielders who can probe and create.

 

Yes we missed a striker yesterday and it might have made the difference, but it’s hard to ignore that Isak has played most of the season and been starved of service.

 

Where very predictable the only player currently on the books who changes the dynamic is Willock, even he struggles at home against the low block though and is probably best suited when where under the cosh away from home in transition.

[RobsonsWonderland]

2 hours ago, Lush Vlad said:

Not sure Isak, or Gordon for that matter. Would be particularly effective if we started crossing it regularly, mind. They’re not good in the air against centre backs. Perhaps different for Wilson, but that’s a moot point as he’s never fit. 
 

We do need to do more to create and support whoever is playing up top, though. We can often look tidy and at times, dominant. Right up until we get near the box. 
 

All that said. Even without the penalty. We created more than enough to win yesterday. We were just wasteful along with some good fortune for them. 

I was thinking more the quick breaks we used to do where the ball is played across the ground rather than in the air.

 

If we could isolate Isak or Gordon against one or two defenders for pace I'm confident we would have more success.

 

At the moment we condense the final third and struggle to find the killer ball

[Heron]

5 minutes ago, RobsonsWonderland said:

I was thinking more the quick breaks we used to do where the ball is played across the ground rather than in the air.

 

If we could isolate Isak or Gordon against one or two defenders for pace I'm confident we would have more success.

 

At the moment we condense the final third and struggle to find the killer ball

One thing I found noticeable yesterday was the lack of carrying the ball from midfield. Instead, we slowed play down a bit generally and made a controlled progression up the pitch. I think a part of this is that we aren't as good passing the ball out from defence at present - so the midfield drop to receive it and ultimately this allows the opposition to reset, defensively.

 

When we break at speed this is when we are most dangerous, playing direct and isolating defenders man for man with our pace, on the break. Yesterday felt like a Wilson game where a 'proper', old fashioned striker probably makes the difference, we didn't have that so instead we relied on that pace and quick transition. Irrespective, we did enough to win and just didn't show the composure - Gordon in particular.

 

 

[JigsawGoesToPieces]

We dont look like we know what we are meant to be doing.

 

We dont appear to have an identity, a particular style of play like we did a few years ago.

 

I wonder if we could benefit from a new coach joining Eddies staff, someone with fresh ideas, someone new to challenge things, we just feel a bit stale.

 

It feels like we have fallen behind Villa in the pecking order and 7th might be our ceiling at the moment

[Ikon]

We have an identity when games are more open and there’s more space to exploit and we can break and be direct, or press the opposition into mistakes/out of shape. When we are firing we’re VERY good at this. When it comes to possession and controlling games and breaking teams down and keeping the ball to conserve energy or to keep the ball out of reach for the opposition then we’re really poor overall and look extremely predictable. 
 

Teams like Everton allowing us tons of time and space and possession doesn’t change my opinion.  

 

 

Edited October 6 by Ikon

[Heron]

Personally, I feel we're one player doing better (yesterday) from folks' perceptions being entirely different.

 

We've had folk (myself included) saying previously we needed to demonstrate we could control a game without going hell for leather. Yesterday, we did that. We missed a pen, had a fortunate off the line clearance and missed a sitter of a one on one, along with a few other situations where on another day and a bit more composure or quality we'd have comfortably won.

 

Sitting in and looking for the counter, where we are currently most dangerous, (with space in behind the opposition to burst into) would have led to a bombardment of balls in the box from Everton where they'd have ultimately been stronger in the end and a plethora of long distance shots to deal with from the likes of McNeil. Instead they did virtually nowt, with only the "penalty" chance.

 

Had we have played with our "supposed" identity it would have stretched the game and been shit or bust. We didn't, we opted to control the game and that, we did. A safer approach to not being beat and potentially getting the win. Which was achieved, albeit not with the three points owing to said lack of individual composure and quality in the moments that mattered.

 

I think before the game a lot of folk would have taken that performance and that point, to be honest, but because we didn't win despite said dominance are now looking for folk to blame (again myself included). That lies predominantly with Gordon for me, who ironically had a really good game, but cost us on two key moments.

 

Otherwise we'd be hailing this is a solid, comfortable, tactical win on Howes behalf.

[Ikon]

I doubt anyone including me would have liked to see us sit back and then try to hit them on the break, no! What I’m saying is what I’ve said for ages, when it comes to controlling games and be fluid in possession we’ve never really been very good at this overall. Even against Everton where we “controlled” the game we wasted possession way too many times with sloppy decisions and passes. Also, I’ll say it again, Everton allowed us to have tons of possession and time and the ball and they chose to sit back and we’re perfectly happy for us to “control” the game. For all the possession we didn’t create enough clear cut chances. 

 

 

Edited October 6 by Ikon

[Heron]

2 minutes ago, Ikon said:

I doubt anyone including me would have liked to see us sit back and then try to hit them on the break, no! What I’m saying is what I’ve said for ages, when it comes to controlling games and be fluid in possession we’ve never really been very good at this overall. Even against Everton where we “controlled” the game we wasted possession way too many times with sloppy decisions and passes. Also, I’ll say it again, Everton allowed us to have tons of possession and time and the ball and they chose to sit back and we’re perfectly happy for us to “control” the game. For all the possession we didn’t create enough clear cut chances. 

 

 

 

That's fair. I too thought we were sloppy at times on the ball - particularly Trippier and Tonali but that is perhaps because I hold them in such high regard/expectation.

 

I was just trying to lay out the managerial options we supposedly had in a basic form and for me, as desribed, I don't feel we did all that much wrong with regards to tactics and strategy. It was more individual playing errors.

[Upthemags]

21 minutes ago, Ikon said:

We have an identity when games are more open and there’s more space to exploit and we can break and be direct, or press the opposition into mistakes/out of shape. When we are firing we’re VERY good at this. When it comes to possession and controlling games and breaking teams down and keeping the ball to conserve energy or to keep the ball out of reach for the opposition then we’re really poor overall and look extremely predictable. 
 

Teams like Everton allowing us tons of time and space and possession doesn’t change my opinion.  

 

 

 

The game yesterday was actually surprisingly open. A lot of countering opportunities from poor Everton play.

 

I think we've learned this team was and is much more about individual brilliance than any system.

 

We need a stroke of genius from a Gordon, Isak, Bruno, Barnes, Fabian, and if we don't get it, we will not win. You watch a Villa or Tottenham, and the system is immediately apparent - I think we're more the ManU category where you end up scratching your head at what it is we aim to do.

[Dr.Spaceman]

Didn't think there was much wrong with what we did yesterday other than failing to score. It looked a fairly comfortable draw, we were never in any real danger, certainly nowhere near the amount they were.

[Ikon]

1 minute ago, Heron said:

That's fair. I too thought we were sloppy at times on the ball - particularly Trippier and Tonali but that is perhaps because I hold them in such high regard/expectation.

 

I was just trying to lay out the managerial options we supposedly had in a basic form and for me, as desribed, I don't feel we did all that much wrong with regards to tactics and strategy. It was more individual playing errors.

I agree that we didn’t do too much wrong apart from that. I’m not sure what it is but we seem to struggle to keep possession a bit too often. I also feel that we are missing a couple of players, players with more different attributes and that makes us slightly predictable. If we aren’t at our intense best and with slightly more space and time then I think we look slightly clueless and predictable when we have the ball. I would like to see a better balance between between physicality and creativity/technical ability. Hopefully we will be getting some more creative players into the side to mix it up, but I’m not so sure that we will. I still think we should do better with the ball and with our current players. 

[Heron]

4 minutes ago, Ikon said:

I agree that we didn’t do too much wrong apart from that. I’m not sure what it is but we seem to struggle to keep possession a bit too often. I also feel that we are missing a couple of players, players with more different attributes and that makes us slightly predictable. If we aren’t at our intense best and with slightly more space and time then I think we look slightly clueless and predictable when we have the ball. I would like to see a better balance between between physicality and creativity/technical ability. Hopefully we will be getting some more creative players into the side to mix it up, but I’m not so sure that we will. I still think we should do better with the ball and with our current players. 

A wildcard would perhaps be good but probably wouldn't fit the Howe mould. Someone like Eze if I were to be idealistic.

[Ikon]

To evolve properly I think we need a mix of what we have now and some more creativity/technical ability. If we don’t get that I’m not so sure that Howe will get us to the next level. It doesn’t mean lazy players. Just players that offer something different.  Not just dynamic and direct players. Or too many of them. 

 

 

Edited October 6 by Ikon

[Ronson333]

My concern is we bid for Elanga , and he’s a decent player but not against a low block. 

[The College Dropout]

Everton were awful.  Im Not taking much solace from ‘controlling the game’. We looked laboured in possession.  Press was poor. 
 

We should’ve won it because we have better players than them. But we were not impressive. I’ve not been impressed with us in general. 
 

 

Teams that dominate the ball and are setup to be countered suit us.  We need to counter press those sides that will have less of the ball.  

[JigsawGoesToPieces]

I don't think we are great with the ball, yesterday we were quite sloppy at giving away possession, with Trippier and Tonali the main culprits.

[nufcnick]

Think Howe could be under a bit of pressure come the start of November, as there is now a distinct possibility that we could go 6 in the league without a win 

[nufcnick]

37 minutes ago, Ronson333 said:

My concern is we bid for Elanga , and he’s a decent player but not against a low block. 

I think we only bid for him because we were in a “oh shit we need to get a player in” mode 

[SUPERTOON]

2 minutes ago, nufcnick said:

Think Howe could be under a bit of pressure come the start of November, as there is now a distinct possibility that we could go 6 in the league without a win 

We are more than capable of beating Brighton at home. 

[Nine]

1 hour ago, Ikon said:

To evolve properly I think we need a mix of what we have now and some more creativity/technical ability. If we don’t get that I’m not so sure that Howe will get us to the next level. It doesn’t mean lazy players. Just players that offer something different.  Not just dynamic and direct players. Or too many of them. 

 

 

 

I used to make the argument that we were building a team specifically for the press, so players we targeted had to be physically able to do that. Our identity has since changed though, and I now agree with you. A creative midfielder ahead of Bruno could have unlocked Everton for us last night, our signings have all been made to press but we are not doing that by design now. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. 
 

We don’t have the technical or creative ability in the front of 2 of a 433 midfield to make the difference against stubborn low blocks. Teams like Everton can be relatively comfy playing us because the threat just isn’t there. If we are moving our style on to a more possession based system that is one thing, but we don’t have the personnel to evolve it yet. I think the injuries of last season pushed our evolution along to quickly, as Howe spoke of adapting and evolving and probably feels the intensity of the press we used before was becoming to much of a risk to our current squads fitness. 
 

We essentially built a squad for a style we don’t seem to want to implement now. 

 

 

Edited October 6 by Nine