Eddie Howe

[The College Dropout]

5 minutes ago, Vinny Green Balls said:

He's pretty much passed every test so far, so I wouldn't bet against him. Dude is still only pushing 48, and has shown that he has the capacity to learn and adapt, despite accusations against this. I've seen enough evidence to suggest that it's likely that pushing for trophies and fighting for honors at the top is where he belongs. I just hope we continue on that journey with him for awhile.

 

 

 

I think he needs to play more ball if he’s to challenge for titles. 

[Vinny Green Balls]

Just now, Wallsendmag said:

 

It's been pretty poor mind. 18th October today and it's the first time we've scored away from home.

 

And we still lost 🤣

on the other hand it's the first defeat away from home. Defense is doing ok considering. It's north of that that is the major problem.

[Vinny Green Balls]

Just now, The College Dropout said:

I think he needs to play more ball if he’s to challenge for titles. 

Sounds like he wants to, at least according to what he says. I'm fairly confident that he is planning to adapt our game.

[Vinny Green Balls]

As far as the evolutionary process of Howe as a manager, it's looking very promising.

[The College Dropout]

Just now, Vinny Green Balls said:

Sounds like he wants to, at least according to what he says. I'm fairly confident that he is planning to adapt our game.

Woltemade is a great step.  And Thiaw. Needs more football from his wingers mind. 

[Wallsendmag]

1 minute ago, Vinny Green Balls said:

on the other hand it's the first defeat away from home. Defense is doing ok considering. It's north of that that is the major problem.

 

We've been poor mate. No getting away from it. As things stand we're on course for a 42 point season so things need to pick up, and pretty quickly otherwise we'll give ourselves too much to do.

 

Our away games have been against a poor Villa team (who played a decent portion of the game with 10 men), newly promoted Leeds, Bournemouth and Brighton, so whilst not the easiest, it's hardly been Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea.

[Vinny Green Balls]

2 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Woltemade is a great step.  And Thiaw. Needs more football from his wingers mind. 

Agreed. I do think Ramsey will help Woltemade quite a bit if he can stay fit.

[Whitley mag]

Past history tells us he’ll turn it around but feels like a big week ahead for general mood around club.

 

Don’t think he spent wisely in the summer and always maintained any manager is only as good as their signings.

 

The lack of production from our wide forwards is a major concern. He doubled down on running power with Ramsey and Elanga this summer and at times we look incapable of stringing passes together.

 

We’ll finish top half but not sure where he’s taking us long term with his current style of football if I’m honest.

 

 

 

Edited October 18, 2025 by Whitley mag

[Vinny Green Balls]

Just now, Wallsendmag said:

 

We've been poor mate. No getting away from it. As things stand we're on course for a 42 point season so things need to pick up, and pretty quickly otherwise we'll give ourselves too much to do.

 

Our away games have been against a poor Villa team (who played a decent portion of the game with 10 men), newly promoted Leeds, Bournemouth and Brighton, so whilst not the easiest, it's hardly been Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea.

no argument. What gives me hope is that we aren't getting destroyed, and we aren't particularly far off the preceding seasons. There is almost no way in hell that we'll finish with 42 points though.

 

We were in a real bother twice last season, but he picked us up both times and we got the last CL spot. This could well be more like the 60 point season, but I can almost guarantee that we will go on a couple of winning runs again.

[Wallsendmag]

Just now, Vinny Green Balls said:

no argument. What gives me hope is that we aren't getting destroyed, and we aren't particularly far off the preceding seasons. There is almost no way in hell that we'll finish with 42 points though.

 

We were in a real bother twice last season, but he picked us up both times and we got the last CL spot. This could well be more like the 60 point season, but I can almost guarantee that we will go on a couple of winning runs again.

 

Agree. I don't think it'll take much to turn this around. Getting the wingers firing would be a big help. Need the midfield to take a grip of games as well.

[Kid Icarus]

12 minutes ago, Vinny Green Balls said:

on the other hand it's the first defeat away from home. Defense is doing ok considering. It's north of that that is the major problem.

It's also only the second away game where we've had a striker to play.

[Heron]

18 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

It's been pretty poor mind. 18th October today and it's the first time we've scored away from home.

 

And we still lost 🤣

 

So that makes it "awful"? Bit simplistic if you ask me like, tbh (no offence).

 

To my mind we've dropped 3 points away from home from what I'd expect. At home we've (arguably) dropped like 1.

 

4 points dropped doesn't constitute as "awful" when we've been strikerless and missing our wingbacks after an international break.

 

I guess it depends what our expectations are for the season - for me it's an okay run in the cups (including CL) and hopefully getting European football...

[nemtizz]

Piss poor start to the season performance and results wise which has been compounded by losing both first choice fullbacks within a week of each other. We’ve only bettered one reverse fixture from last season and actively thrown away 2 points against Arsenal and Liverpool. 
 

Full confidence in him turning in around like most on here.

 

Get this flat 3 midfield in the bin, though. Sick of seeing this gaping hole opened up by a simple threaded through ball against the slowest defence in the league. We’d win it all with a Caicedo in midfield. 
 

 

 

[Wallsendmag]

Just now, Heron said:

 

So that makes it "awful"? Bit simplistic if you ask me like, tbh (no offence).

 

To my mind we've dropped 3 points away from home from what I'd expect. At home we've (arguably) dropped like 1.

 

4 points dropped doesn't constitute as "awful" when we've been strikerless and missing our wingbacks after an international break.

 

I guess it depends what our expectations are for the season - for me it's an okay run in the cups (including CL) and hopefully getting European football...

 

No offence taken mate. I think it's awful that it took us until 18th October to score an away goal, and still lost, and our points total for a team chasing CL places (9 points in 8 games) is pretty awful as well. Equates to a 42 point season over 38 games. Which would be awful.

 

Have I said awful enough times? 🤣

[Heron]

17 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

Past history tells us he’ll turn it around but feels like a big week ahead for general mood around club.

 

Don’t think he spent wisely in the summer and always maintained any manager is only as good as their signings.

 

The lack of production from our wide forwards is a major concern. He doubled down on running power with Ramsey and Elanga this summer and at times we look incapable of stringing passes together.

 

We’ll finish top half but not sure where he’s taking us long term with his current style of football if I’m honest.

 

 

 

 

Sorry like but we sold Isak who is considered one of the top strikers in the world and got Woltemade who has scored what 5 in 7?

 

Ramsay was injured like straight away and so was Wissa. So that leaves Elanga.

 

How does that constitute as not spending wisely (at this stage)?

 

The rest is absolutely fair.

[Lucky]

Would Pep or Arteta be more successful with our squad? Hard to tell, certainly Pep has the pedigree.

 

On the flip side, would Howe make Man City or Arsenal better or worse if he was there?

 

City have spent comparable amounts to us recently on some players who just look better and more comfortable with the ball. Better scouting or better coaching?

[Wallsendmag]

Before the injury I thought £55m for a 29 year old with 10 months on his contract wasn't great business but Isak put us in a bad position so could sort of understand it.

 

I'd still have rather gone for some left field signing from abroad, a younger lad for less money and a sell on value but I suppose we were backed into a corner in lots of ways.

[Heron]

3 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

No offence taken mate. I think it's awful that it took us until 18th October to score an away goal, and still lost, and our points total for a team chasing CL places (9 points in 8 games) is pretty awful as well. Equates to a 42 point season over 38 games. Which would be awful.

 

Have I said awful enough times? 🤣

Yes. Once was enough

 

We have undertaken a number of difficult fixtures in our first 8 games and are reinventing ourselves. This season will likely be underwhelming compared to last as a result. I get it. I just think our expectancy is becoming heightened beyond our actual capability because of FFP tbh.

 

But going back to the 42 point thing...by the same token Sunderland would finish on 66 points...

[Wallsendmag]

2 minutes ago, Lucky said:

Would Pep or Arteta be more successful with our squad? Hard to tell, certainly Pep has the pedigree.

 

On the flip side, would Howe make Man City or Arsenal better or worse if he was there?

 

City have spent comparable amounts to us recently on some players who just look better and more comfortable with the ball. Better scouting or better coaching?

 

They had a far better starting position mind. We basically had to start from scratch after Ashley and Bruce.

[Heron]

3 minutes ago, Lucky said:

Would Pep or Arteta be more successful with our squad? Hard to tell, certainly Pep has the pedigree.

 

On the flip side, would Howe make Man City or Arsenal better or worse if he was there?

 

City have spent comparable amounts to us recently on some players who just look better and more comfortable with the ball. Better scouting or better coaching?

Or more pull?

[Vinny Green Balls]

2 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

They had a far better starting position mind. We basically had to start from scratch after Ashley and Bruce.

less than scratch as we were hamstrung by dead weight who had no real sell on value, and a revenue stream that was laughable in the PSR era.

[Wallsendmag]

1 minute ago, Heron said:

Yes. Once was enough

 

We have undertaken a number of difficult fixtures in our first 8 games and are reinventing ourselves. This season will likely be underwhelming compared to last as a result. I get it. I just think our expectancy is becoming heightened beyond our actual capability because of FFP tbh.

 

But going back to the 42 point thing...by the same token Sunderland would finish on 66 points...

 

I'd hope when things level out we'll end up on high 50s points this year they might get low 40s. Just going off what we've seen so far. Mix of games for us. Played 2 relegation candidates in Wolves and Forest.  Beat them both. Played 2 title contenders. Lost them both. The rest a mixture of likely mid table teams and drew and lost.

[Vinny Green Balls]

14 minutes ago, nemtizz said:

Piss poor start to the season performance and results wise which has been compounded by losing both first choice fullbacks within a week of each other. We’ve only bettered one reverse fixture from last season and actively thrown away 2 points against Arsenal and Liverpool. 
 

Full confidence in him turning in around like most on here.

 

Get this flat 3 midfield in the bin, though. Sick of seeing this gaping hole opened up by a simple threaded through ball against the slowest defence in the league. We’d win it all with a Caicedo in midfield. 
 

 

 

Gordon actively threw away points against Liverpool. We were brilliant with ten men.

[Vinny Green Balls]

2 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

I'd hope when things level out we'll end up on high 50s points this year they might get low 40s. Just going off what we've seen so far. Mix of games for us. Played 2 relegation candidates in Wolves and Forest.  Beat them both. Played 2 title contenders. Lost them both. The rest a mixture of likely mid table teams and drew and lost.

I'd still bet on us breaking 60.

[Whitley mag]

15 minutes ago, Heron said:

Sorry like but we sold Isak who is considered one of the top strikers in the world and got Woltemade who has scored what 5 in 7?

 

Ramsay was injured like straight away and so was Wissa. So that leaves Elanga.

 

How does that constitute as not spending wisely (at this stage)?

 

The rest is absolutely fair.

Over the moon with Woltemade and think Thiaw will be a good buy for the money. 

 

Never been a fan of Elanga and don’t see Ramsey as a game changer for us. That’s 100 million I think could have been spent a lot wiser, in terms of giving us some technical ability in keeping the ball and breaking down the opposition in final third.

 

Jury out on Wissa but I think unless we win a cup, or qualify for Europe it looks a disastrous deal financially for a player of his age.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 18, 2025 by Whitley mag