Eddie Howe

[Yorkie]

5 minutes ago, jack j said:

 

The faintest praise possible this like

Every tom dan and harry can do what Eddie howe does man. Nee bother

 

He's the best manager we've had since Keegan and the gobshites won't realise it til he's gone.

 

This is my argument re the Tonali situation. (@Shak) Flaws aside, I still want to give him the benefit of the doubt; he's probably always recognised that Tonali might be worth playing. 

 

I wouldnt bet against him just having waited for the right moment to unleash him in his favoured - but sensitive - position. He'd looked pretty rusty for me up until two or three weeks ago and the role of the number 6 in our set up is too crucial to fuck about with, unless he was absolutely sure. Seems plausible that he was just waiting for him to be firing on all cylinders before putting him in there.

[wormy]

23 minutes ago, Danh1 said:

Aye, I am seeing a lot of people being smug about “where r da Howe h8az” when in reality, he has done what those who aired concerns wanted him to do and change things. 
 

Taking nothing away from him with that btw. He has made a change and we look class for it, we will obviously lose games and have bad days but to see progression in how we play and a clear game plan makes me very happy. If we can sign a top right winger in January it could have the impact that the Cisse signing had and see us stroll through to the end of the season.

 

I think it's the fact that's it's never just people putting their thoughts forward on what he could do better though, is it?

 

Not everyone that questions his decisions is immediately a hater. I personally will continue to defend the argument that I think Hall deserved his chance sooner last season and Tonali should've been given the run he's now had at the start of the season.

 

But that's different to a certain corner of this forum constantly thinking up their latest fan fic about how ruthlessly impatient the board are going to be because he can't take us any further and simply isn't elite, whilst ignoring every mitigating factor as if we're supposed to be a shoo-in for Europe.

 

As an aside, it's also funny that some people (not saying you) still spout the 'he just doesn't learn' argument despite the amount of times people over the past few years have given him credit for doing something they'd previously been calling for.

[Dr Venkman]

25 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

This is my argument re the Tonali situation. (@Shak) Flaws aside, I still want to give him the benefit of the doubt; he's probably always recognised that Tonali might be worth playing. 

 

I wouldnt bet against him just having waited for the right moment to unleash him in his favoured - but sensitive - position. He'd looked pretty rusty for me up until two or three weeks ago and the role of the number 6 in our set up is too crucial to fuck about with, unless he was absolutely sure. Seems plausible that he was just waiting for him to be firing on all cylinders before putting him in there.

Still reckon this was more about Bruno than it was Sandro. Moving Bruno out of CM was a big issue for Eddie because of the emphasis he places on team/squad harmony.

[andyc35i]

9 minutes ago, Dr Venkman said:

Still reckon this was more about Bruno than it was Sandro. Moving Bruno out of CM was a big issue for Eddie because of the emphasis he places on team/squad harmony.

Agreed. Although I always believed moving Bruno further forward would improve our quality in the final third. The man sees and does things that no other player in our team can 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I don’t think it was always obvious that Tonali would play deepest. From what I understand of his career so far he’s been very much box-to-box.
 

And even though people constantly complain about it, Bruno is also very good as the central player.  

 

It’s possible that some experimentation was needed to get it right.

[Dr Venkman]

2 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

I don’t think it was always obvious that Tonali would play deepest. From what I understand of his career so far he’s been very much box-to-box.
 

And even though people constantly complain about it, Bruno is also very good as the central player.  

 

It’s possible that some experimentation was needed to get it right.

I think it became the way forward after the Chelsea home game, and everything between that and Leicester was EH moving Bruno.

[Shak]

17 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

This is my argument re the Tonali situation. (@Shak) Flaws aside, I still want to give him the benefit of the doubt; he's probably always recognised that Tonali might be worth playing. 

 

I wouldnt bet against him just having waited for the right moment to unleash him in his favoured - but sensitive - position. He'd looked pretty rusty for me up until two or three weeks ago and the role of the number 6 in our set up is too crucial to fuck about with, unless he was absolutely sure. Seems plausible that he was just waiting for him to be firing on all cylinders before putting him in there.

 

It's possible, but it seems a bit fanciful to me tbh.

 

If we switched him and Bruno back I'd not be surprised if Tonali looked mostly like he did a month ago, a quality player in a side that isn't set up effectively.

 

Fully agree that a lot of people overlook all the top qualities that Eddie brings to the role and just assume that a replacement will have all of those things too while maybe being better at some of the things which aren't necessarily Eddie's greatest strengths, when in reality we'd lose a lot of them.

 

That doesn't mean we have to act like everything Eddie does that doesn't work out is part of some master plan, though. Most likely he had no real intention of moving Bruno out of the deep role permanently and Sandro only played there against Chelsea in the cup because Bruno needed a rest.

 

It doesn't matter though. What matters is that he's tried something, it's worked and he's taken that and run with it and we look excellent.

[Kanj]

Both arguments have some truth to them, now shut the fuck up and enjoy it you lovely fuckers! 

[Checko]

1 hour ago, Lush Vlad said:

Keep proving me wrong, Eddie. 
 

My football opinions are usually totally wide of the mark and my rare goes at football betting back that up  

 

Love being wrong here yet again. 

Any chance you could start posting your picks so I can bet against them? I'll give you a quarter of all profits.

[Lush Vlad]

On 21/12/2024 at 19:54, Lush Vlad said:

16 in 5. 
 

Long may Howe keep proving me wrong. Never been happier to get it so wide of the mark. 
 

 

19 in 6 

[80]

5 hours ago, Shak said:

 

I think that's probably a bit generous.

 

The main reason Tonali has been so well recently is largely that he's playing a different role. I don't think it's outrageous to suggest that Eddie struggled to properly use Tonali the early part of this season.

 

I really feel we've turned a corner. We've just absolutely played our opponents off the park for four games in a row. How often had we done that in the last year? Feels like everything has been a bit of a slog for so long but now we're fucking humming.

 

Don't mind admitting that I was wavering a bit not that long ago. We've been trying to evolve our playing style this season and it didn't seem to be working or even be showing signs of starting to click. Performances were mostly poor and the football was largely dull to watch.

 

The swapping of Bruno and Tonali though has impacted the team in so many ways. We look really good and it looks very sustainable.

 

Bruno playing more advanced gives us a bit of craft in the final third, he sees passes nobody else in our team does and has the ability to pull them off. Additionally, his weakness of occasionally getting caught in possession isn't really an issue when he's got Sandro behind him covering, whereas before he was losing it in a way that could badly expose the defense. He has more license to try things where he is now.

 

Sandro at the #6 position is a revelation. He just does everything at such a lovely speed, gets the ball and moves it out quickly and effectively to a teammate. The tempo is contagious, when attacks break down and we go back to Sandro he inevitably pings it back forward to a player in a good spot and we can try again. So rarely caught in possession.

 

He's also a fucking animal defensively. First goal today came from that, he came powering forward and dispossessed the Villa player and started the counter. He's rapid and strong, wins the ball so well. He'll protect the back four so much better than Bruno did, while also having the legs to get forward from deep when the opportunity arises.

 

You could criticise Howe for maybe not swapping them sooner and that would be fair enough. But fuck, being a manager at this level is so hard. We've found something and it's working and looks like the way forward. He brings so much to the table as a manager, I'll not quibble that it's taken maybe a bit longer than it could have for him to find the best way to evolve our style.

 

Fucking delighted for him too, you could see in his interview that he's buzzing.

 

Can't fucking wait for Monday now.

 

Your posts have done a good job of summing up my thoughts on it all. I don't believe we live in the best of all possible worlds, but that doesn't mean Eddie is a terrible manager who is easily improved upon either.

 

Plenty of the greatest managers have stumbled upon things have changed careers, but they've been in the position to stumble because they've kept trying and had enough about them for their players to keep trying too.

 

Anyway, looks like we've built up a real head of steam. There's a serious chance of us picking up 6 wins on the bounce - you have you have to go back to Sept-Nov last year to see anything like that kind of form.

[Kanj]

I’d be surprised if any successful human being didn’t just stumble upon something after tinkering or not tinkering over and over. The argument in itself is fine, and it’s been done to death here. 

 

Simple way to put this, Eddie is fucking MINT son. 

[Displayname]

Eddie is awesome, stop bringing up "Howe ha8ers" and lets focus on the positives going forward. 

[Erikse]

We have a very exciting team atm with Hall and Tonali in the side, and Bruno being played further forward. Really glad it has worked out so far, and creds to Howe for making it work in the end. Can't wait to see more.

[Menace]

We still have Miley learning from one of the best midfields in the Prem too, for once in a very long time our midfield is stacked with ridiculous talent.

 

A RW, new GK, a CB and a backup striker for Isak and we're pretty much there.

[Erikse]

3 minutes ago, Menace said:

We still have Miley learning from one of the best midfields in the Prem too, for once in a very long time our midfield is stacked with ridiculous talent.

 

A RW, new GK, a CB and a backup striker for Isak and we're pretty much there.

 

Was having some doubts about big Joe in midfield, but he is also looking good in his current role atm.

[buzza]

2 hours ago, Menace said:

We still have Miley learning from one of the best midfields in the Prem too, for once in a very long time our midfield is stacked with ridiculous talent.

 

A RW, new GK, a CB and a backup striker for Isak and we're pretty much there.

This, with a right back/striker as our no1 priority:

Step forward Mr Muebembo (brentford)

Would cure two of our "problems"; real dangerous fwet on the wing & amd if isak gets tired or injured we have a bona fide striker...

Two birds...

[Groundhog63]

Creased at the usual suspects who, absolutely, think they were seeing something Howe couldn't and the only credit they give Eddie Howe is his finally coming around to their way of thinking 😂😂😂😂

[Izakaya]

Happy to eat my words and say he's turned it around and then some. 

 

Cant help but wonder why he didn't do the Tonali / Bruno thing earlier but still...

 

Bakayoko and Tomori in January and we'll be back in the CL no bother. 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2024 by Izakaya

[Erikse]

1 hour ago, Groundhog63 said:

Creased at the usual suspects who, absolutely, think they were seeing something Howe couldn't and the only credit they give Eddie Howe is his finally coming around to their way of thinking 😂😂😂😂

 

Allways puzzled by the expectation some have that if you criticize Howe it means you're anti Howe and if you ever give him creds it's all fake. The idea of someone just trying to be honest and somewhat balanced instead of polarizing and having clear agendas is apparently unheard of. It's interesting because if I'd instead somehow be critizicing Howe for something right now, you'd ridicule that aswell.

 

I'm giving Howe credits now because he made things work. Things didn't work earlier in the season. I judge based on recent performances. It's not that deep.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2024 by Erikse

[Sibierski]

When we play like we did yesterday, I swing back towards all in on Eddie and give him his players  Because when it clicks it’s bloody good fun. 

[Lush Vlad]

Only mild criticism of the last 6-7 games or whatever it is since Liverpool (ignoring the Brentford second half). Is how we often take a long while to make subs. Then when we do, we tend to get noticeably worse. 
 

Had two games that were done and dusted at 4 nil. Plus yesterday against 10. Cup game was comfortable, too. So we may well just be cruising by that point.
 

But it seems like we finally have a bit of depth. But regularly rely on the same 12-13 players and rotation from the off or earlier in games doesn’t seem like an option. As the drop off is a lot bigger than you’d expect. 
 

This is me looking for negatives, mind. I suppose the worry will be when we have injuries and suspensions. We are more than likely going to struggle. But that’s true for most teams up to a point. 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2024 by Lush Vlad

[STM]

I just think he waited too long to try Tonali 6, in the same way he probably could have used Hall sooner but for me, that's barely a criticism of Howe because most managers struggle to even identify the problem, let alone fix it.

 

I'd rather a manager that slowly tinkered in order to find the solution, rather than one that threw the puzzle pieces in the air and hoped that they would land in the right pattern.

 

The one great thing is that now Howe has found the solution, you can bet he won't fuck about with the side unless he absolutely has to.

[Hanshithispantz]

14 minutes ago, STM said:

I just think he waited too long to try Tonali 6

Aye Tonali's pace across the pitch and speed in which he releases the ball sorts a lot of our issues out in defence and in build-up.

 

As good as Bruno is he's far slower, both at getting about and releasing the ball.

 

It's about Man City but this video is a decent watch for the importance of getting the 6 right.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2024 by Hanshithispantz

[Lotus]

Re: Tonali, I think it’s much more likely the issue was with Tonali than EH just not realising he could play him there.