Eddie Howe

[The College Dropout]

I said Villa did well to get 66 points and go as far as they did in the cups. 
 

But their squad was much stronger than ours now.  
 

Ultimately we don’t have enough quality and quality in depth.  Summer was a nightmare. Probably a weaker first XI than last season when we needed to add 2 more Tonali level players. 
 

This season for me is whatever.  Bigger problem is carrying the wages and squad cost of a number of middling talents. 

[The Prophet]

I also disagree about the first half performance.

 

Whether it was tactical or otherwise, we ceded possession and were camped in for large spells of the first half, reducing us to disjointed looking counter attacks.

 

I'd think less of it if it hadn't become a reoccurring theme when we take the lead.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Can’t remember how many minutes but there was a significant period where I thought we were going to steamroll Marseille. And we played well for a period towards the end when chasing the equaliser. 

[El Prontonise]

Just now, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Can’t remember how many minutes but there was a significant period where I thought we were going to steamroll Marseille. And we played well for a period towards the end when chasing the equaliser. 

 

We hardly tested their GK 2nd half despite having pressure for the last 20 of it.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

9 minutes ago, El Prontonise said:

 

We hardly tested their GK 2nd half despite having pressure for the last 20 of it.

I know, we messed up a lot of final balls throughout the game. But we did play well for significant periods IMO. 

[El Prontonise]

6 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

I know, we messed up a lot of final balls throughout the game. But we did play well for significant periods IMO. 

 

I think this is where different people view playing well differently.  I think you've got to test the GK.

[Lucky]

We’re still ok in the CL, bad performance but the position is still leaving options to progress.

 

Far more concerned about the league. Everton actually looked solid this week against Man Utd, even with 10.

[andycap]

I think our transfer business was good it's how there utilised that's the problem, if they're not getting games fans will complain. 

[huss9]

back to feeling the way i did after brentford.

fucking bollocks away form.

rotten.

we'll put it right, there were some positives, etc etc.

its an absolute disgrace to quote legohead.

[Sibierski]

7 hours ago, Kid Icarus said:

What's your opinion on Lewis Hall now vs not long after we signed him? Ramsey's been here 3 months.

 

 

 

People need to stop using likes of Hall as examples of players giving time. One, he should’ve been playing a lot more earlier, we had to endure Burn being torn plenty at LB before it happened. Two, he was a young player signed for the future. 
 

Ramsey etc are not the same. They’re signed for now, otherwise what was the fucking point? If Howe wants those players in future, he needs to be told no. Better off getting more of likes of Hall instead, where if they’re not played, they’re 19 and not so bad. Not someone at 24+ and on first team wages.

[The College Dropout]

I said it at the time - I didn’t expect Hall to come in that season and automatically take the first team slot. He was 19 with 12 first team games under his belt. He was less experienced than Lewis Miley is now.  It wasn’t a surprise that he wasn’t ready right off the bat.  
 

We’ve signed Elanga and Ramsey in part so they can make an immediate impact.  Both have played over 120 first team games I believe. 
 

Both are much more experienced than Woltemade. While not much younger than them, Woltemade has played far fewer top level minutes in his career. In a weaker league to boot. 
 

One thing I do agree is that all the signings will get better. As they understand what’s expected from them.  But I have my doubts either player will make the impact they need too over time. A proper step up from Joelinton and Murphy. Elanga in particular could simplify his game more and focus on. Whipping quality balls. That will give him co fidnce 

[Kid Icarus]

58 minutes ago, Sibierski said:

People need to stop using likes of Hall as examples of players giving time. One, he should’ve been playing a lot more earlier, we had to endure Burn being torn plenty at LB before it happened. Two, he was a young player signed for the future. 
 

Ramsey etc are not the same. They’re signed for now, otherwise what was the fucking point? If Howe wants those players in future, he needs to be told no. Better off getting more of likes of Hall instead, where if they’re not played, they’re 19 and not so bad. Not someone at 24+ and on first team wages.

 

Might just be me, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that I reckon people can use examples of things happening over and over again to make a point like. Hardly controversial or irrelevant.

 

Hall is just one example among many that show why players not immediately playing or performing well under Howe doesn't mean a great deal. Some will fit right in, others won't and as plenty of the examples show, age is irrelevant.

 

Or, keep judging them early, watch as they keep eventually coming good and never learn anything. 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2025 by Kid Icarus

[Displayname]

Also don't get why people bring up Hall.

His problem wasn't not playing well, but not playing.

The moment he got a starting spot after we didn't have any choice he was great right away.

 

Tonali would be a better example.

 

 

Edited November 27, 2025 by Displayname

[Shays Given Tim Flowers]

He looked pretty poor in the CL against Dortmund from memory. 

[Kid Icarus]

24 minutes ago, Shays Given Tim Flowers said:

He looked pretty poor in the CL against Dortmund from memory. 

He was defensively suspect for ages while he was developing. Even then he's not the only example. Before Hall it was Gordon that was brought up as the player everyone was too quick to judge and there was bits of it with Barnes too. 

 

There's just no point coming to any conclusions about players that aren't performing after a few months under Howe.

 

 

Edited November 26, 2025 by Kid Icarus

[Erikse]

Howe showed willingness to start both Ramsey and Elanga very early on. For me it seemed pretty clear that we intended to use them a lot early on, especially with the fixture congestion. Elanga started the first few games, and then was dropped when it clearly wasn't working. I think this was kind of obvious with how it all happened, rather than a case of easing him in allways being the plan. You don't ease someone in by starting them the first few games and then drop them for a long time after that. As such I don't see why the plan would be to ease Ramsey in, if we didn't plan to do that with Elanga. Ramsey started his second game in the league and got injured in that game. In the cases of Gordon, Hall and Livramento it seemed more like the plan was to ease them in, as they were all younger players, althought Gordon didn't really perform when used.

[Erikse]

6 hours ago, Yorkie said:

I'd maintain as I always have that I think it's still too early to judge the transfer window, but I really do think - in particular - that the jibes about our business after every defeat is tiresome and devoid of nuance. A, because it ignores PSR's parasitic influence on what we could actually do in the summer; B, because it ignores the fact our Isak replacement got injured through no fault of our own; and C, because our problems aren't as straightforward as "we should've signed X not Y." Spending £40million on Ramsey has got absolutely fuck all to do with our insanely weak mentality on the road, for instance.

 

I literally don't know why we're so Jekyll and Hyde this season. If I was to put it down to one thing above all, it would be the Wissa, Tino and Hall sharing the physioroom all at the same time, leading to us falling on the wrong side of incredibly fine-margin games thereby obstructing momentum and damaging morale. You can't blame our transfer window for that.

 

"We should've signed cover for Hall!" Sorry, no. That's just an incredibly harsh stick to beat us with given the summer conditions. Who could we even have got who was any good and happy to play second fiddle to a 21-year-old? Not to mention the plethora of full-backs we were already paying for.

 

I think signing a right back would have made sense, as Livra can cover left. A bit naive to think that a 35 year old Trippier would be good enough as the main fullback cover in the case of just 1 injury to any of the 2 fullbacks. On top of that he was allways going to start a good chunk of games as we weren't going to start Livra and Hall 2 times a week for the entire season. However we only signed Elanga early on, and later in the window we had to solve a number of issues all at once, so it became difficult to prioritize signing a fullback. Not that we were ever linked with any fullback anyways (I believe), but who knows what players we were after.

 

 

Edited November 26, 2025 by Erikse

[Whitley mag]

10 hours ago, andycap said:

You seem to put the price up on every post lad. 😂 It'll be the 100mil villa reserve next. 

I beg your pardon 43 million on Ramsey.

[Whitley mag]

Absolutely nails it in regard to the transfer window.

 

 

[Kanj]

15 hours ago, The College Dropout said:

I said Villa did well to get 66 points and go as far as they did in the cups. 
 

But their squad was much stronger than ours now.  
 

Ultimately we don’t have enough quality and quality in depth.  Summer was a nightmare. Probably a weaker first XI than last season when we needed to add 2 more Tonali level players. 
 

This season for me is whatever.  Bigger problem is carrying the wages and squad cost of a number of middling talents. 

As bad as this sounds - fun cup runs, maybe another cup final if we’re lucky and finishing 7-9th place would be fine with me. Trusting we now have proper executives in place to continue on the right path.

 

 

Edited November 27, 2025 by Kanj

[The College Dropout]

5 hours ago, Kanj said:

As bad as this sounds - fun cup runs, maybe another cup final if we’re lucky and finishing 7-9th place would be fine with me. Trusting we now have proper executives in place to continue on the right path.

 

 

 

Agreed. Maybe even 10th.  The big challenge is I expect to lose Tonali in the summer too. 

[r0cafella]

I imagine a lot of questions will be getting asked if we aren't competing for European qualification. 

[PauloGeordio]

 

[OoOGazOoO]

I get the feeling from listening to his press conference, that he will stick with Pope in goal today.

[duo]

15 minutes ago, OoOGazOoO said:

I get the feeling from listening to his press conference, that he will stick with Pope in goal today.

100% he will