Eddie Howe

[Jordan]

1 minute ago, duo said:

My only real criticism is his decision to bring Pope back in - hasn't worked.  Todays lose felt more from a player mentality than anything tactical. 

Gordon through the middle made no sense at all and nullified what could have been a threat from us down the left. If you’re going to do that, at least play Barnes LW instead of Willock who yet again offered nothing and had had one good game this season against Leavue One opposition. 

[Yorkie]

Just now, Matt1892 said:

Let’s not advocate for cowardly football.

 

It's just being real. The priority at that point is to not let the game get away from you. We were actually doing a pretty good job of that for an hour, having lots of the ball, defending pretty strongly, and keeping them in their own half for short spells. They obviously didn't mind that either because, if you're them, you probably expect to get a chance. Maybe we could've gambled on a Barnes or Osula at that point, but being conservative - with a view to a possible late show - was a perfectly sensible approach too.

 

Then we gave the ball away and let them score and the heads dropped/meek surrender/disgrace [delete as applicable]. 

[Heron]

Howe out etc. Until we win again on Sunday

[Jordan]

1 minute ago, Heron said:

Howe out etc. Until we win again on Sunday

I’m not Howe out in the slightest but I don’t think he should just be absolved of all criticism. There’s errors all over the place this season from him and the players. 

[The Prophet]

8 minutes ago, Jordan said:

£40m on a backup who plays on the same side as a player we had spent £40m on 6 months beforehand. All the while we had a RW spot that hadn’t been invested in for 4 years. It was a crazy decision that made absolutely no sense at the time and is hurting us now as we’re playing Murphy there with no competition. 

 

It made perfect sense at the time like.

[Nine]

12 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

We've been through this hundreds of times, we didn't know that Gordon was going to be mint and only play left, and we needed goals in the front line. 

 

I actually think getting more out of Barnes would really help us, I just don't know how we do it. 

I think the issue with Barnes is he’s a great direct finish player, but you don’t get as much in terms of overall work rate from him. 
 

I wonder if Howe felt when signing him that the defensive side of the game could be coached into him more than it has been up to now.

 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by Nine

[Displayname]

15 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

We've been through this hundreds of times, we didn't know that Gordon was going to be mint and only play left, and we needed goals in the front line. 

 

I actually think getting more out of Barnes would really help us, I just don't know how we do it. 

We have? 

Gordon was a left wing player even back then, and we had just bought for £40m. We also had Joelinton/Isak/Willock who could play there. 

But sure, it was a reason i added "in hindsight atleast".

 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by Displayname

[Jordan]

1 minute ago, Nine said:

I think the issue with Barnes is he’s a great direct finish player, but you don’t get as much in terms of overall work rate from him. 
 

I wonder if Howe felt when signing him that the defensive side could be coached into him more than it has been up to now.

 

 

 

I don’t think you get anything from him if he’s not scoring or assisting which is obviously a big thing but they’ve seemed to have dried up now.  He’s had so many games this season where he’s just anonymous to the point you forget he’s on the pitch like tonight. It could even be that his heads dropped as Gordon was ahead of him no matter what he did earlier on this season despite him playing much better at the time. 

[Heron]

Aside from being facetious...

 

I think a fit Isak would have made a huge difference tonight with us perhaps grabbing two goals.

 

Osula should probably have started before Wilson. Dubravka for Pope.

 

Think our midfield was left a bit threadbare. Willock doesn't start alongside Tonali and Bruno for me, certianly against top sides. He is effective when stretching teams but not tactically aware enough otherwise. I think our goals conceded came from a stretched and perhaps unfocused midfield from what I saw but then I did have my Mam waffling on about windows or some shit.

 

Gordon too inconsistent this season and same goes for Willock, which is frustrating, but the same can be said for multiple players. Howe needs to take some accountability for that, but thoroughly expeft us to be back at the races in the coming games.

 

If our fans go into games with defeatist attitudes I'm not sure we can blame anyone else for the same...that's very much what tonight felt like to me. Isak was out so everyone thought it was a done deal.

[Nobody]

3 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

It made perfect sense at the time like.

Aye, especially as Gordon hadn't established himself as the obvious left winger at that point. Gordon, back then, was still seen as someone who would operate all over the front three, and was seen amongst the fans as a bit of a dud signing. 

Obviously Barnes hasn't worked out as well as hoped (and I'll admit I was gutted to see him replace ASM), but it was still a canny signing at the time. 

[Heron]

6 minutes ago, Jordan said:

I’m not Howe out in the slightest but I don’t think he should just be absolved of all criticism. There’s errors all over the place this season from him and the players. 

 

I was just being facetious tbh. He shouldn't be absolved of criticism so long as its measured and justified as (lazily - I assume) you are being.

[HaydnNUFC]

4 minutes ago, Heron said:

If our fans go into games with defeatist attitudes I'm not sure we can blame anyone else for the same...that's very much what tonight felt like to me. Isak was out so everyone thought it was a done deal.

 

Been a bit of a (huge) buried thought for me in the back of my mind but this absolutely. Not that it's the fans to blame or owt like that, but that kind of culture kinda seeps throughout imo. Fixtures like this, its the same, every year. How people look at them and how we perform in them; as if we're still battling relegation and trying to preserve the goal difference. We'll never be a truly big or elite club if it perpetuates.

 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by HaydnNUFC

[The Prophet]

4 minutes ago, Displayname said:

We have? 

Gordon was a left wing player even back then. We also had Joelinton/Isak/Willock who could play there. 

But sure, it was a reason i mentioned "in hindsight atleast".

 

He played as much football on the right as he did on the left for Everton. We bought him as a "versatile forward" iiirc.

[Heron]

Just now, HaydnNUFC said:

 

Been a bit of a (huge) buried thought for me in the back of my mind but this absolutely. Not that it's solely the fans to blame or owt like that, but that kind of culture kinda seeps throughout imo. Fixtures like this, its the same, every year. How people look at them and how we perform in them; as if we're still battling relegation and trying to preserve the goal difference. We'll never be a truly big or elite club if it perpetuates.

Yep. Think defeated, be defeated.

 

It's really weird actually. I think it's some sort of Post-Ashleyism mentality. This is an actual era of history by the way.

 

I'm sure we just used to think - fuck these big wigs, let's show them who we are.

[J7]

The Barnes signing did seem fine at the time, in our position. But in the position of Staveley, Ashworth and co, it probably shouldn’t have given what ended up happening. There seems to have been a lack of medium/long term thinking.

[The Prophet]

Poor Eddie looks like he's aged a bit over the last year.

[Kid Icarus]

2 hours ago, wyn davies said:

Have stated previously not the manager to take us forward, if we are after top players to replace what we have, same has to be management wise.

4th best team in the league since he arrived with the 7th highest paid squad and half the squad still from when we were relegation candidates.

[Zero]

To be fair he shouldn’t be blamed for todays game if he has something he want to try. We all know these 3 points are the most difficult to take. I would rather he used this match to prepare for the final. 

[Pata]

3 hours ago, Newcastle Fan said:

Shits himself every time we play Liverpool, from the very start we seemed that we have no belief that we will get anything out of it. 

 

Just like our fans, they just keep going even after FT.

[Menace]

Been very hit and miss for me this season. Wouldn't be surprised if we ended up 5th. Equally wouldn't be surprised if we had some shocking results from now till end of season.

 

 

[TheBrownBottle]

4 hours ago, Kid Icarus said:

4th best team in the league since he arrived with the 7th highest paid squad and half the squad still from when we were relegation candidates.

Another stat re form - we have now played as many games in the PL this season as we did under Howe in 21/22 - when he saved us from relegation.  Results as follows:

 

21/22 - P27 W13 D5 L9

24/25 - P27 W13 D5 L9

 

He was doing equally well (as in exactly the same results) when the squad was made up almost entirely of relegation candidates - and we’ve spent a bob or two in the meantime.