Eddie Howe

[TRC]

8 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

As depressed as I am we’ve really only had 2 really bad games against Ham and Brentford. They are the most recent but Brentford away was highly likely to be very difficult and not necessarily one we were likely to bounce back in. 
 

At the same time we obviously aren’t playing well in general. That needs to improve.  
 

TBH I could make a case for us losing any or all of the next 4 unless we find a better performance. That’s not because I think it’s a crisis, it’s just because we’re playing badly and they’re all challenging games. 

Its frustrating the we see Brentford as a difficult game despite them selling their two best players, also being held hostage by a 20 goal a season striker and they lost their manager.

[Fak]

2 minutes ago, TRC said:

Its frustrating the we see Brentford as a difficult game despite them selling their two best players, also being held hostage by a 20 goal a season striker and they lost their manager.

 

I think most teams see Brentford away as a difficult game. Only Man City have won there in the league this season.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

2 minutes ago, TRC said:

Its frustrating the we see Brentford as a difficult game despite them selling their two best players, also being held hostage by a 20 goal a season striker and they lost their manager.

I agree but that’s the reality. We aren’t a team that monopolises the ball so we can’t really grind them down or nullify their strengths. 
 

FWIW I’ve said in other threads that we might easily have won if Hall had started or come on earlier. 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2025 by AyeDubbleYoo

[Erikse]

15 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

As depressed as I am we’ve really only had 2 really bad games against Ham and Brentford. They are the most recent but Brentford away was highly likely to be very difficult and not necessarily one we were likely to bounce back in. 
 

At the same time we obviously aren’t playing well in general. That needs to improve.  
 

TBH I could make a case for us losing any or all of the next 4 unless we find a better performance. That’s not because I think it’s a crisis, it’s just because we’re playing badly and they’re all challenging games. 

 

As mentioned in my post above, in the first half of the season there are only like 5 fixtures that can be considered as "should win" if we count all the away games as tough games. The context being that some will go as far as claiming that Leeds away was also a tough one that we couldn't expect to win. I guess the ambition is to stay up at this point. Because then the home games against any "big six" aren't really "should win" games either.

 

 

Edited November 10, 2025 by Erikse

[AyeDubbleYoo]

1 minute ago, Erikse said:

 

As mentioned in my post above, in the first half of the season there are only like 5 fixtures that can be considered as "should win" if we count all the away games as tough games. The context being that some will go as far as claiming that Leeds away was also a tough one that we couldn't expect to win. I guess the ambition is to stay up at this point.

I’m with you but I don’t understand the last sentence

 

You can have ambition and still acknowledge when games are hard. 

[Ronaldo]

14 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

As depressed as I am we’ve really only had 2 really bad games against Ham and Brentford. They are the most recent but Brentford away was highly likely to be very difficult and not necessarily one we were likely to bounce back in. 
 

At the same time we obviously aren’t playing well in general. That needs to improve.  
 

TBH I could make a case for us losing any or all of the next 4 unless we find a better performance. That’s not because I think it’s a crisis, it’s just because we’re playing badly and they’re all challenging games. 

Have we had a genuinely good performance in the league against decent opposition since March? We were really good in the second half against Liverpool. After that I’m struggling.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

5 minutes ago, Ronaldo said:

Have we had a genuinely good performance in the league against decent opposition since March? We were really good in the second half against Liverpool. After that I’m struggling.

My memory for this stuff isn’t good, anyway I wasn’t arguing we’d played well. In fact I said we hadn’t. 
 

But I’d say only the two I mentioned were really poor. 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2025 by AyeDubbleYoo

[Alberto2005]

3 minutes ago, Ronaldo said:

Have we had a genuinely good performance in the league against decent opposition since March? We were really good in the second half against Liverpool. After that I’m struggling.

We were good against Villa, we just had no firepower.

[Doctor Zaius]

16 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Aye we've still the worst squad of all the clubs in the CL from PL

 

We don't utilise our squad anyway. Three of the back four and the same 3 in midfield started West Ham, Bilbao and Brentford. 

 

Two summer signings costing 95m starting none of them. 

 

We can't complain about workload, but refuse to rotate. 

[sixx]

Eddie has figured that relentless high pressure football is not sustainable with CL so we’re taking a slower approach to games. This has resulted in relatively few injuries this season but the opposition easily senses weakness in us by pressing us high up in the pitch. Burn doesn’t cope very well, Trippier is slowing down, Botman isn’t great under pressure and Pope is plain bad with his feet. We’re just not able to play through it. This in turn leaves Woltemade isolated on the halfway line and he’s been found out as well. Defenders go really physical against him and he has neither the strength to hold defenders off nor the nous to draw a foul. 
 

Introduce Hall, Ramsdale and Tino and this could change drastically. Howe has hitherto come up with solutions during tough spells and I wouldn’t bet against him. All we know is that he isn’t a one dimensional philosophy-obsessed manager and that gives me hope.

 

I really hope we can do something special for him and the team against City. They need our support and we really could slip into gear, I can feel it.

[Erikse]

1 minute ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

I’m with you but I don’t understand the last sentence

 

You can have ambition and still acknowledge when games are hard. 

 

Right now like 80% of the league games we play seems to be hard for us, yes.

[The College Dropout]

4 minutes ago, Doctor Zaius said:

 

We don't utilise our squad anyway. Three of the back four and the same 3 in midfield started West Ham, Bilbao and Brentford. 

 

Two summer signings costing 95m starting none of them. 

 

We can't complain about workload, but refuse to rotate. 

You want us to start Krafth?

[TRC]

18 minutes ago, Fak said:

 

I think most teams see Brentford away as a difficult game. Only Man City have won there in the league this season.

I know, I just mean they transitioned a turbulent summer so well compared to us.

[Doctor Zaius]

5 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

You want us to start Krafth?

 

Sorry, forgot that he's the only player available in the entire squad to be rotated in. My mistake. 

[The College Dropout]

Just now, TRC said:

I know, I just mean they transitioned a turbulent summer so well compared to us.

Have functional leadership.

[The College Dropout]

Just now, Doctor Zaius said:

 

Sorry, forgot that he's the only player available in the entire squad to be rotated in. My mistake. 

You mentioned the defence. Hall is coming back from injury. The only other player is Krafth.

 

Most teams in the CL don't rotate CBs much.

[Doctor Zaius]

Just now, The College Dropout said:

You mentioned the defence. Hall is coming back from injury. The only other player is Krafth.

 

Most teams in the CL don't rotate CBs much.

 

Quite irrelevant given Botman looked slow, cumbersome and fucked by the end. He could have been rotated for Schar. Theres one. 

 

I also mentioned the midfield too, which cant keep a hold of the ball. Could Miley and/or Ramsay not have been rotated keeping Bruno or Tonali fresh for Sunday. Both certainly werent at their best. 

 

My point being that we dont seem particularly keen on utilising our squad. Probably because Howe doesnt feel like the other players can execute his gameplan as well, but thats not really sustainable is it. 

[HaydnNUFC]

29 minutes ago, Ronaldo said:

Have we had a genuinely good performance in the league against decent opposition since March? We were really good in the second half against Liverpool. After that I’m struggling.

You could go one step further and say the whole of 2025 tbh. I can only think of the first half against Forest last season but the second half display was vile in that we contrived to blow a 4-1 half time lead at home.

 

EDIT: Liverpool this season which we lost regardless and Palace last season were the last good league displays against half decent or better opposition. Villa away this season maybe as we had no striker though we did show an inability to create anything against 10 men for 25 minutes.

 

 

Edited November 10, 2025 by HaydnNUFC

[TRC]

Just head on a podcast we haven’t beat a team away not in the bottom 8 since January 2024.

 

i don’t know how true that is.

 

 

Edited November 10, 2025 by TRC

[Erikse]

Since march West Ham went 9 home league games in a row without a win, losing 6 of them, until they met us. Struggled against Burnley at home this weekend, a closer game than the one against us. That's one that you should expect to win, unless you're a team fighting relegation. I'm not into the notion that you can never expect to win any away game, that's just an excuse to me. If mid table teams can get their fair share of away wins, it shouldn't be that hard to win some.

 

 

Edited November 10, 2025 by Erikse

[HaydnNUFC]

1 minute ago, TRC said:

Just head on a podcast we haven’t beat a team away not in the bottom 8 since January 2024.

 

i don’t know how true that is.

 

 

 

I assume you mean since January 2025 as that is absolutely not true. 

 

We beat Forest who were in the top 7 at least in February. Unsure where Palace and Brentford were in April but I doubt it was the bottom 8.

[TRC]

Just now, HaydnNUFC said:

I assume you mean since January 2025 as that is absolutely not true. 

 

We beat Forest who were in the top 7 at least in February. Unsure where Palace and Brentford were in April but I doubt it was the bottom 8.

On the pod they said Villa Jan 2024.

[El Prontonise]

Just now, TRC said:

On the pod they said Villa Jan 2024.

 

They've clearly forgotten about that forest win last season.

[HaydnNUFC]

2 minutes ago, TRC said:

On the pod they said Villa Jan 2024.

Misread your post as I didn’t realise you said away games.

 

It’s not true as our win at Forest in November was when they were in the top 4 iirc. It’s still a honking record. We didn’t win away at any of the top 12 last season other than them.

 

 

Edited November 10, 2025 by HaydnNUFC

[TRC]

So just forest in nearly 2 years?