Eddie Howe

[80]

Really no need to be panicking. Some of the stuff in here is too boring to bother reading. -5 points on last season's equivalents, but I think it's crazy to start doomsaying given the fundamentals.

[The Butcher]

Played 4-3-3 until the triple sub and then we decided to go 5-4-1. Miley should've been on for Tino to give us a bit more control in the middle. 

 

Backs against the wall for the rest of the game and it ended as expected.

[RUHRLYASLEEVESUP]

1 hour ago, Ronaldo said:

Gordon doesn’t work away from the wing. I have to admit I think it’s madness to keep expecting otherwise.

He’s not very good 

[Jonas]

1 hour ago, Andy84 said:

He’s class and people never learn with him.  Things will look very different soon 

People were coming up with all kinds of (where are they now) options to replace him and criticising the job he'd done weeks before he won a cup because we lost some game or other like every c*nt else does. Was a slim chance they might learn from that even if some compunction was too much to ask, sadly not.

[Slim]

Win a few in a row and all is forgotten 

[Elliottman]

17 minutes ago, 500bhp said:

What was our formation today? I sit close to pitch side so can't see the patterns of play. I thought we went 5 at the back but my mate in L7 said it was 4-3-3 with Burn at LB. That can't be right.

 

Tino was in a lot of distress when he went off, looked bad. 

Definitely 4 at the back to start with Burn at left back which I found baffling against  Saka. 

[Yorkie]

9 minutes ago, The Butcher said:

Played 4-3-3 until the triple sub and then we decided to go 5-4-1. Miley should've been on for Tino to give us a bit more control in the middle. 

 

Backs against the wall for the rest of the game and it ended as expected.

 

My recollection is that Arsenal did absolutely nowt in the ten minutes after the triple sub.

 

Miley for Tino is a decent enough shout, we could've done that. But tbh I don't think anything is sticking at the top end of the pitch with Osula on up there. He can barely stay on his feet.

[huss9]

7 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

My recollection is that Arsenal did absolutely nowt in the ten minutes after the triple sub.

 

Miley for Tino is a decent enough shout, we could've done that. But tbh I don't think anything is sticking at the top end of the pitch with Osula on up there. He can barely stay on his feet.

cannit really have a go at osula for this result, mind.

he was chasing long balls and getting manhandled by cunts.

[Yorkie]

Just now, huss9 said:

cannit really have a go at osula for this result, mind.

he was chasing long balls and getting manhandled by cunts.

 

I wasn't; more defending the choice to go with five at the back and try and hold out, rather than try and take control of the game. I just don't think it was gonna happen, particularly not with Bruno off it and Tonali having his own flirt with concussion.

[huss9]

another midfielder rather than Jamaal would have helped.

really didnt get that one.

[Heron]

1 hour ago, Sibierski said:

This is where I disagree with many who share this viewpoint. Our performances have been poor all season bar Liverpool and first 30 against Barcelona. Defensively we’ve been good for vast majority bar today, but attacking we’ve been nothing but a disgrace.
 

Just lost all idea of how to construct attacks, and the attack is what made us a successful team as it then helped us defensively. We’ve seemingly gone more pragmatic to become defensive, and it’s costing us in attack. Maybe that’s because Howe feels/knows Woltdemade can’t play long so 1-0 wins is our best bet right now, but it goes against everything we’ve done under Howe up to this season.

That's not true though. We gained CL football through 1-0s and clean sheets the first time around. We lost our star striker in the summer and arguably one of the best strikers in the world and so we need a solid foundation to get results whilst we reinvent our attack. Especially after Wissa got injured.

 

People consider a performance bad if their team doesn't attack, that's somewhat true but not true in its entirety. You can win games 1-0 and play great and score from the one or two chances you create. Granted it doesn't feel as good, it doesn't ooze control, but it's not necessarily a bad performance. I don't think we were particularly bad today, we were just on the back foot and because of that, top, PL challenging sides will likely find a way to break you down.

 

 

Edited September 28, 2025 by Heron

[Conjo]

Thank fuck we have Ange coming up in our next league game. Best chance to build some confidence in our attacking play and turn our season around as we'll ever get. We need a classic Howe streak starting now.

 

Also, trying not to be too greedy here, hoping to see:

- Pope only gifting the ball away to the opposition for free a maximum of 10 times

- Gordon being able to receive a ball without it bouncing uncontrollably and unpredictably in front of him after his first touch a maximum of 5 times

- Our CBs being able to head the ball to a team mate after winning their duel following a long ball, free kick or goal kick at least 5 times

 

[Whitley mag]

Poor again from him today, don’t think he has any idea about his best line up, or formation at the minute.

 

Both these things can be sorted, but biggest red flag was him saying we looked fatigued afterwards. Simply no excuse for this early in the season and worrying for months ahead if he really believes that.

 

Opportunities also missed in summer to solve lack of technical ability in last 3rd.

 

Big couple of weeks ahead for him and he needs results quickly, or this season will just become one of transition at best.

[huss9]

1 minute ago, Whitley mag said:

Poor again from him today, don’t think he has any idea about his best line up, or formation at the minute.

 

Both these things can be sorted, but biggest red flag was him saying we looked fatigued afterwards. Simply no excuse for this early in the season and worrying for months ahead if he really believes that.

 

Opportunities also missed in summer to solve lack of technical ability in last 3rd.

 

Big couple of weeks ahead for him and he needs results quickly, or this season will just become one of transition at best.

thinks it was always gonna be this after the rat left and two of our attacking recruits got long term injuries.

[Erikse]

We allways start the season like this and have the same discussions. It's a shame that we allways drop lots of points in the beginning, but we usually turn it around at some point. Happy with the rotation, but a bit surprised about the (seemingly) overly defensive tactics this season, mind. I think we will see some changes to the approach soon, and Howe often gets it right when we really need to turn things around.

 

 

Edited September 28, 2025 by Erikse

[sparkzter]

Poor today from Howe imo. Looks to be struggling to find the best system for us. 
continually allowing teams to pile onto us and sit back is always going to bite us. 
Gordon’s form is alarming, no idea what’s happening there - unless this is actually it and he’s just not very good. 
Bruno been off it for a while too. Really hope we get a few results going for us and get some confidence and continuity going. Big game Saturday now. We really need the league points. 

[Joe1984]

2 minutes ago, sparkzter said:

Poor today from Howe imo. Looks to be struggling to find the best system for us. 
continually allowing teams to pile onto us and sit back is always going to bite us. 
Gordon’s form is alarming, no idea what’s happening there - unless this is actually it and he’s just not very good. 
Bruno been off it for a while too. Really hope we get a few results going for us and get some confidence and continuity going. Big game Saturday now. We really need the league points. 

Just one teeny tiny problem...

 

We play on Sunday, not Saturday. 😁

[sparkzter]

Just now, Joe1984 said:

Just one teeny tiny problem...

 

We play on Sunday, not Saturday. 😁

Ah, yeah, that too. 😂

[Solitude20]

To be fair, it’s a lot easier for Eddie to get results when Bruno, Joelinton, and Gordon play at their best. The three of them were far from that today.

[Mole]

Don't think there's much a manager can do when 4 of your 5 midfielders don't perform.

 

There's certain things he can clean up sure, but in general today was due to far too many players not performing to the level required.

[Erikse]

2 hours ago, Elliottman said:

Definitely 4 at the back to start with Burn at left back which I found baffling against  Saka. 

 

Was a strange one for sure. He even had one of his worst games ever for us at LB vs Arsenal in the 23/24 season. It really does seem like Eddie is struggling with the decision of Botman vs Burn, and tries to shoehorn a bit.

 

 

Edited September 28, 2025 by Erikse

[Danh1]

Think Burn’s inclusion was purely down to their set pieces. Can understand it. Would be playing Botman and Thiaw as our main starters, as harsh as that is on Burn. 

[TheBrownBottle]

4 hours ago, Heron said:

Howes substitutions were very much short term pain for long term gain I feel. If we'd have seen it out they'd have been fab. Nearly did as well tbf, Elanga running through before being rugby tackled and the responsible party not being reprimanded.

 

Woltemade needs protection and not running into the ground. Osula is not the desired replacement or intentioned but runs his socks off. Our defence was largely solid and Pope covered those that slipped through the ent excellently. 

 

If you sell your superstar striker and arguably best player on deadline day then it takes time to adjust. We've played Varcelona (and almost matched them) Arsenal (and almost matched them) and Liverpool with 10 men and almost matched them. Bournemouth away where a point isn't to be sniffed at and Leeds where yeah - I agree we should be winning. Performances are there where results aren't this season and last season was very much the opposite, but in time we will come good again. No doubt about it. Such is Eddie Howes capability.

I don’t think the performances have been there, and nor have the results.  We look absolutely toothless upfront, shaky at the back and the midfield disappears with frightening regularity.

 

But we’ve seen this before with Howe’s teams and it is early days yet - more than 90% of the season is still to go.  We should be a long way away from questioning Howe at this point. 

[NobertoSolano]

Howe would be the most coveted manager in the PL if he was available. He will sort it out. 

 

Sure some losses are hard to take but the truth is our squad simply cannot match the biggest in the league. Though we try. 

 

Hopefully get a good result against Forest before the break and our season can kick on. 

[Stottie]

9 hours ago, Yorkie said:

I find anyone saying that today is all on him absolutely risible tbh. Even Burn starting at LB did no harm. I think Saka got past him once; into any space at least.

 

It's so clear to me that the game pivoted on the Tino injury. The CBs and Pope were dealing with absolutely everything prior to then; reducing them to the odd half-chance here and there. Then when we got to the point in the game where we could go all-out-defence with the five, I felt extremely confident we could get it over the line because we're so hard to break down.

 

In the five minutes or so between the first subs that marked the switch to five at the back and the Tino injury, the signs were not good about us holding onto the ball. Maybe if the injury had happened a few minutes later, a decision to switch back to a four with Miley coming on to help keep the ball could have been taken.

 

In the game as a whole, many lads had off days (possibly formation/tactics driven) but it looked we'd get away with it. If the Alex Ferguson quote about needing eight out of eleven to play well to win a game is true, we were nowhere near that. But we were ahead so its a waste to have lost the game.

 

On paper, our three mids vs. Rice, Zubi and Eze should have achieved more. They should have enough to not be dominated by two and an AM. Losing two goals to corners in spite of knowing it is their threat is also extremely vexing.