Eddie Howe

[TheBrownBottle]

4 minutes ago, Ellis H said:

Considering we’ve only got 3 genuinely good finishers in the squad (2 of which barely play) and a real lack of creativity it’s amazing we score so many goals. I think we averaged about 2.5 a game last year in all competitions.
 

Really does keep coming back to Howe getting far more out of a lot of these players than we could expect and we should remember that when people are sticking the knife in after a poor performance.

I'm tiring of reading that the squad is shite and that it is a miracle that Howe gets a tune out of them.

 

There are six players in the squad who have been capped by England in the last year or so.  We've two Brazilian internationals and an Italian international in midfield.  Isak is probably the second-best centre forward in the country.  And there is plenty of talent besides that.

 

Howe is a good manager - but the current squad has not been as good as the sum of its parts this season.  The idea that no-one could have done better is laughable tbh.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Ironically those England players (and Joelinton) got their caps because Howe had them playing so well. 

[TheBrownBottle]

1 minute ago, DahnSahf said:

 

I've been wondering recently if PSR issues have had an effect on the squad morale.

There was a general belief in the football world that we would be on the rise after the takeover. Players joined with that in mind. The realisation that fair competition is simply not going to be allowed might have caused a degree of demoralisation.

I suspect you might be right, but they should look at their agents in that case.  There were plenty of us who knew what the rules would mean - they weren't hidden.  I was scratching my head in 2020 / 2021 with the talk of spending insane sums.

[TheBrownBottle]

Just now, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Ironically those England players (and Joelinton) got their caps because Howe had them playing so well. 

Joelinton definitely.  Pope, Wilson and Trippier were already internationals.  The irony is that I don't think Livramento has been worth his cap this season.

[nufcjmc]

1 minute ago, DahnSahf said:

 

I've been wondering recently if PSR issues have had an effect on the squad morale.

There was a general belief in the football world that we would be on the rise after the takeover. Players joined with that in mind. The realisation that fair competition is simply not going to be allowed might have caused a degree of demoralisation.

Craig no hope has suggested the dream sold is now further into thr future than those group sold a dream with training ground, stadium, European ambitious but didn't go as far to say it would cause an effect on the pitch. Howe having 1-2-1s with his players and his comment about if they feel they are champions league players play like one. 

 

The group dynamic does seem to have shifted from the together as one narrative. Players getting 1 year extensions, players still playing on last year on contract, older players coming to an end of their career. How we navigate this going forward may well have a baring on the medium and long term future of the clubs underlying performances. I hope it's seen as a positive and an opportunity. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Just now, TheBrownBottle said:

Joelinton definitely.  Pope, Wilson and Trippier were already internationals.  The irony is that I don't think Livramento has been worth his cap this season.

I was thinking of Tino, Hall and Gordon. 

[gdm]

He’s on today’s Simon Jordon up front Podcast. 

 

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/up-front/id1683837570?i=1000679306982

 

 

Edited December 5 by gdm

[DahnSahf]

6 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

I suspect you might be right, but they should look at their agents in that case.  There were plenty of us who knew what the rules would mean - they weren't hidden.  I was scratching my head in 2020 / 2021 with the talk of spending insane sums.

 

There were rules, yeah, but they started to tighten as soon as the takeover happened. I don't think it would have been so obvious to guys like Bruno that there would be a group of clubs that would go to any lengths to stop us.

[JEToon]

We have about the 7th/8th best squad in the league, we probably end the season in 7th/8th , taking the squad to 4th, was a fantastic achievement but we have a lot of work to do before we can expect that

[wyn davies]

Not convinced, has got a stay of execution 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

1 minute ago, JEToon said:

We have about the 7th/8th best squad in the league, we probably end the season in 7th/8th , taking the squad to 4th, was a fantastic achievement but we have a lot of work to do before we can expect that

I find it really hard to assess our squad, it has such extremes of good and poor. 
 

We can certainly put out a team that looks incredibly strong when everything is clicking. Especially with a player or two in Jan. 

[JEToon]

4 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

I find it really hard to assess our squad, it has such extremes of good and poor. 
 

We can certainly put out a team that looks incredibly strong when everything is clicking. Especially with a player or two in Jan. 

 

I think it’s a good squad, I just think some have a slight tendency to overlook how good other squads are.

 

It gets said we have international players like it is some exclusive to us thing, its not, loads of teams in the league have good international players. 

[The College Dropout]

It’s factually the 7th/8th most expensive. Everyone seems to think our transfers have been good if unbalanced. 7/8 is about right, a little lower considering a lack of transfers maybe is ok.  
 

For me anyway.  Don’t know about the owners. 

[wormy]

24 minutes ago, gdm said:

He’s on today’s Simon Jordon up front Podcast. 

 

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/up-front/id1683837570?i=1000679306982

 

 

 

 

 

Video version premiering on YouTube now too.

 

Simon Jordan's entire cadence pisses me off by default.

[Displayname]

41 minutes ago, JEToon said:

We have about the 7th/8th best squad in the league, we probably end the season in 7th/8th , taking the squad to 4th, was a fantastic achievement but we have a lot of work to do before we can expect that

Considering all the other teams above us have Europe to focus on I think we should hope for better.

[Ellis H]

36 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

I'm tiring of reading that the squad is shite and that it is a miracle that Howe gets a tune out of them.

 

There are six players in the squad who have been capped by England in the last year or so.  We've two Brazilian internationals and an Italian international in midfield.  Isak is probably the second-best centre forward in the country.  And there is plenty of talent besides that.

 

Howe is a good manager - but the current squad has not been as good as the sum of its parts this season.  The idea that no-one could have done better is laughable tbh.

It’s not the international players that are the problem. It’s the 10 players who are hangovers from the Bruce era that were in the squad yesterday. Yes, 10 (unless I’ve counted wrong). If those players were consistently top 4/6 challenging quality they’d have had far better offers than us when they signed. 
 

It’s what he also did at Bournemouth, bringing a load of lower league players into the PL and making them competitive year after year. 

[TheBrownBottle]

4 minutes ago, Ellis H said:

It’s not the international players that are the problem. It’s the 10 players who are hangovers from the Bruce era that were in the squad yesterday. Yes, 10 (unless I’ve counted wrong). If those players were consistently top 4/6 challenging quality they’d have had far better offers than us when they signed. 
 

It’s what he also did at Bournemouth, bringing a load of lower league players into the PL and making them competitive year after year. 

Steve Bruce's permanent signings who are still at the club:

 

Joelinton

Wilson

Krafth

Gillespie

Lewis

Willock

 

Gillespie was very much a back-up, and Lewis has been a disaster.  The others though - I think they're pretty decent.  Krafth is a decent back up for 5m; Wilson without his injuries is an excellent CF; Willock and Joelinton are arguably first choice when fit.

 

Bruce is a terrible manager, but I'm not convinced that his track record on signings was abysmal.  Benitez's were arguably worse - and in the squad yesterday, they were Schar (a quality CB), Murphy, Dubravka, and Almiron.  Doesn't sound like that much of a handicap - I think most PL sides would take our bench (Dubravka, Targett, Kelly, Longstaff, Willock, Barnes, Almiron, Wilson, Osula - I reckon most of those would comfortably get a game for a fair chunk of PL clubs).  

 

Which players has Howe signed from the lower leagues and turned into PL players for us?  Are there any?

[JEToon]

13 minutes ago, Displayname said:

Considering all the other teams above us have Europe to focus on I think we should hope for better.

 

Aye sure, we might move up a place or so, but then you get to sides who are paying rumored of about 20,50,70 million a year more in wages than us.

 

I also don’t think the new European schedule is as punishing as it used to be personally, evidenced by what Villa are coming up against v what we did 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Feels like the top 4 is locked in for this season, possible exception of Chelsea if something goes wrong there. Every other position up for grabs. 

[TheBrownBottle]

3 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Feels like the top 4 is locked in for this season, possible exception of Chelsea if something goes wrong there. Every other position up for grabs. 

5th might be enough for CL

[HaydnNUFC]

Was livid he didn't make changes and bring on fresh legs until after we went behind last night. Were crying out for them in the 10 minutes before they scored. 

[kingxlnc]

1 hour ago, TheBrownBottle said:

I'm tiring of reading that the squad is shite and that it is a miracle that Howe gets a tune out of them.

 

There are six players in the squad who have been capped by England in the last year or so.  We've two Brazilian internationals and an Italian international in midfield.  Isak is probably the second-best centre forward in the country.  And there is plenty of talent besides that.

 

Howe is a good manager - but the current squad has not been as good as the sum of its parts this season.  The idea that no-one could have done better is laughable tbh.

Agree with this. We have underperformed majorly, lost at least 4-6 points minimum unecessarily. 
Villa and Spurs are on the same points... but have had Europe to contend with. We haven't had anything nor injuries. So definitely underperformance. 
This L'pool game was the first time this season we played like last season. 

[UncleBingo]

27 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Steve Bruce's permanent signings who are still at the club:

 

Joelinton

Wilson

Krafth

Gillespie

Lewis

Willock

 

Gillespie was very much a back-up, and Lewis has been a disaster.  The others though - I think they're pretty decent.  Krafth is a decent back up for 5m; Wilson without his injuries is an excellent CF; Willock and Joelinton are arguably first choice when fit.

 

Bruce is a terrible manager, but I'm not convinced that his track record on signings was abysmal.  Benitez's were arguably worse - and in the squad yesterday, they were Schar (a quality CB), Murphy, Dubravka, and Almiron.  Doesn't sound like that much of a handicap - I think most PL sides would take our bench (Dubravka, Targett, Kelly, Longstaff, Willock, Barnes, Almiron, Wilson, Osula - I reckon most of those would comfortably get a game for a fair chunk of PL clubs).  

 

Which players has Howe signed from the lower leagues and turned into PL players for us?  Are there any?

I think the Bruce/Benitez signing argument is moot when you look at how much was spent by both. Benitez pretty much had a zero net spend and his average player price was circa £6M. Bruce spent £100M net and his players average player price was nearly three times that.

Obviously it's a lot easier to buy better players when you have more money to spend.

[Dr.Spaceman]

11 minutes ago, HaydnNUFC said:

Was livid he didn't make changes and bring on fresh legs until after we went behind last night. Were crying out for them in the 10 minutes before they scored. 

 

The lad next to me said exactly this last night. You could see we had nowt left in the tank and nobody was even warming up.

[Dr.Spaceman]

We were set up very well last night though, my only gripe was that our right didn't seem to be working, possibly due to Tino and Murphy not playing together regularly, I don't know but it felt like everything was going through Gordon on the other side. Loved that we managed some goals from play through the centre.