Eddie Howe

[Heron]

3 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

Suggests to me that some players don't have the confidence and belief to be getting into the right positions, or we lose the ball too quickly for them to really get forward. 

 

Course, these are average positions (I think?) so it could mean that the wingers track back as much as they attack, so their average is around the middle. 

Personally, I'd expect the wingers about 10 yards further up as an average position and the midfield to be more triangular or flat rather than a narrow line that exceeds the striker. I can understand a midfielder perhaps going beyond Woltemade if the rest was as stated.

 

Thiaw is too left too.

 

 

Edited December 15, 2025 by Heron

[r0cafella]

1 minute ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

FWIW I've always agreed that Howe shouldn't be too powerful when it comes to signings, no one person should. 

 

Ideally it should be a collaborative effort with data and targets identified based on the manager's needs and what the experts in the recruitment department can spot.

 

But I have no idea if we're getting closer to a proper recruitment setup or not. 

How can we? If the manager wants to control it how can we possibly get to a sustainable set up? When has a manager ever given away power? It just doesn't happen in the real world. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Just now, r0cafella said:

How can we? If the manager wants to control it how can we possibly get to a sustainable set up? When has a manager ever given away power? It just doesn't happen in the real world. 

 

Yeah I guess, I was more thinking about developing the overall recruitment team so that it supports Howe and provides us with more targets. 

[DevonGeordie]

12 minutes ago, nufc4eva said:

I think if it doesn't improve in next 3 or 4 games he has to go. Right now we look like a lower mid table team after spending a lot of money with no clear style, unable to attack teams, no intent to do anything and that lies with him as well as the players. He has the players he wanted and apart from Thiaw haven't been great or don't suit our style.

Tough games ahead as well mate.
This is the other end of the spectrum where managers walk after having players forced on them. It’s so frustrating as we should have built on the success on the pitch from Eddie’s first two seasons.

[Heron]

We're all laughing about Isak but I personally think there's a reality that, that debacle has really dampened our squad tbh.

 

How many of our fans though Isak was one of the top 3 strikers in the world? He probably was tbf. He was on like a goal a game consistently for a while. The players would have thought that too. Then he hoys his toys out the pram and us being the side we aspire to be goes somewhat out the window.

 

It is purely speculative on my behalf but I reckon Woltemade wasn't the desired replacement and instead we've got a super talented kid in a system that, without top wingers won't work. We don't have top wingers. Murphy who has been the most consistent form wise for the last 18months or so and then Gordon and Barnes who occasionally have odd, good games. Elangas confidence is shot to bits.

 

I also reckon players like Botman and Gordon aspire to be like Isak and get their big moves to bigger clubs and they'll feel that NUFC is holding them back rather than their own lack of fitness or performances.

 

Again, it is purely speculative, it's just the vibe I get and I think this is a very transitional season as a result, next season will be more of the same as your Burns and Schars inevitably slide away and there's a real desire for the likes of City to buy Tino and/or Hall.

 

PSR stuff and Isaks cuntery have really put a spanner in our works for me and whilst we all laugh at Isak, myself included, perhaps we're just being somewhat delusional about the positives and negatives of that whole scenario and how it panned out.

 

 

Edited December 15, 2025 by Heron

[TheBrownBottle]

1 minute ago, Heron said:

We're all laughing about Isak but I personally think there's a reality that, that debacle has really dampened our squad tbh.

 

It is purely speculative on my behalf but I reckon Woltemade wasn't the desired replacement and instead we've got a super talented kid in a system that, without top wingers won't work. We don't have top wingers. Murphy who has been the most consistent form wise for the last 18months or so and then Gordon and Barnes who occasionally have odd games. Elangas confidence is shot to bits.

 

I also reckon players like Botman and Gordon aspire to be like Isak and get their big moves to bigger clubs and they'll feel that NUFC is holding them back rather than their own lack of fitness or performances.

 

Again, it is purely speculative, it's just the vibe I get and I think this is a very transitional season as a result, next season will be more of the same as your Burns and Schars inevitably slide away and there's a real desire for the likes of City to buy Tino and/or Hall.

 

PSR stuff and Isaks cuntery have really put a spanner in our works for me and whilst we all laugh at Isak, myself included, perhaps we're just being somewhat delusional about the positives and negatives of that whole scenario and how it panned out.

I’m not even convinced that wing play is what Woltemade will thrive on, despite his height.  I reckon he’d thrive playing in a front four with a poacher just off him and two technical attacking midfielders supporting the forwards with pacy interchanging passing, looking to slice teams open.  Exactly what we don’t do.  

[toon25]

There's no doubt that the Isak saga severely damaged the 'project' - for a multitude of reasons.

 

What stuck is the reality that the Sky 6 and their media pals can translate their narrative into reality. You'd like to think it wouldn't have an impact on professional players, but who knows...

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I think the reason to sign Woltemade and Wissa was also that we could rely on Wissa to score some goals and take the pressure off while we integrated Woltemade more gradually. 

[TheBrownBottle]

Just now, toon25 said:

There's no doubt that the Isak saga severely damaged the 'project' - for a multitude of reasons.

 

What stuck is the reality that the Sky 6 and their media pals can translate their narrative into reality. You'd like to think it wouldn't have an impact on professional players, but who knows...

I think it damaged the club’s image with players and agents, even if we don’t like to think like that.  It seems likely that we reneged on a contract deal and then refused to allow a player to join a bigger club for more money and a record fee.  I also think that players and agents are now fully alert to the fact that this isn’t Man City Mk II and will be less inclined to push their clients our way than they were in the first 18 months. 

[Heron]

4 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

I’m not even convinced that wing play is what Woltemade will thrive on, despite his height.  I reckon he’d thrive playing in a front four with a poacher just off him and two technical attacking midfielders supporting the forwards with pacy interchanging passing, looking to slice teams open.  Exactly what we don’t do.  

I don't necessarily believe it is "old fashioned" wing play but just competent inverted wingers who beat a man and are somewhat fluid and interchangeable with Woltemade and whom actually have end product. I think that would work. Just Gordon slows the play down every time he cuts inside and our other options are no good cutting in from the right.

 

 

Edited December 15, 2025 by Heron

[JP]

The Isak saga can damage the season but as fans we can't accept it resulting in a huge lack of interest/effort from our team yesterday - Bruno, Thiaw and Hall aside.

 

[TheBrownBottle]

Just now, Heron said:

I don't necessarily believe it is "old fashioned" wing play but just competent inverted wingers who beat a man and are somewhat fluid and interchangeable with Woltemade and whom actually have end product. I think that would work. Just Gordon slows the play down every time he cuts inside and our other options are no good cutting in from the left.

Yes; to me he’d thrive playing with what used to be called inside-forwards.  Like you said, wingers who prefer to cut inside and attack the goal instead of looking to cross. 

[r0cafella]

Reckon nick Shines in a posession based team personally. 

[Heron]

Just now, TheBrownBottle said:

Yes; to me he’d thrive playing with what used to be called inside-forwards.  Like you said, wingers who prefer to cut inside and attack the goal instead of looking to cross. 

The problem is Gordon is better taking his man on down the outside and by doing so, it is the opposite of what we generally require. Mileys goal aside (vs Leverkusen).

[AyeDubbleYoo]

1 minute ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Yes; to me he’d thrive playing with what used to be called inside-forwards.  Like you said, wingers who prefer to cut inside and attack the goal instead of looking to cross. 

 

To me this is Gordon and Barnes though. 

 

I feel like Gordon is only going outside so much because he's been told to, his natural game is cutting in at least 50-60% of the time. 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2025 by AyeDubbleYoo

[Heron]

Just now, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

To me this is Gordon and Barnes though. 

Barnes has a good shot, Gordon doesn't is my personal feeling on that. I'd probably play Barnes LW and Murphy RW as things stand.

[TheBrownBottle]

Just now, Heron said:

The problem is Gordon is better taking his man on down the outside and by doing so, it is the opposite of what we generally require. Mileys goal aside (vs Leverkusen).

He does, and he’s not particularly good at it.  I got angry watching him yesterday when he was sauntering up the left wing; the camera was on him, and you can see that he’s just looking at the ball the whole team.  His head never is never up; while I don’t doubt he thinks he’s Cruyff and Matthews rolled into one, that’s fucking terrible for a professional footballer who plays as a winger.  

[madras]

9 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

I’m not even convinced that wing play is what Woltemade will thrive on, despite his height.  I reckon he’d thrive playing in a front four with a poacher just off him and two technical attacking midfielders supporting the forwards with pacy interchanging passing, looking to slice teams open.  Exactly what we don’t do.  

He's shown no sign of being an instinctive fox in the box type striker and too often seems to be on his heels when balls do come in.

 

Very much needs support around him rather than an issue with supply which was OK with Isak...... or do Murphy and Gordon et al just not like him so do t give him the ball ?

 

 

Edited December 15, 2025 by madras

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Just now, TheBrownBottle said:

He does, and he’s not particularly good at it.  I got angry watching him yesterday when he was sauntering up the left wing; the camera was on him, and you can see that he’s just looking at the ball the whole team.  His head never is never up; while I don’t doubt he thinks he’s Cruyff and Matthews rolled into one, that’s fucking terrible for a professional footballer who plays as a winger.  

 

Gordon's natural game isn't constantly going outside on his weaker foot though. It's not even really getting to the byline. 

[TheBrownBottle]

2 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

To me this is Gordon and Barnes though. 

 

I feel like Gordon is only going outside so much because he's been told to, his natural game is cutting in at least 50-60% of the time. 

 

 

 

I’m thinking more of what Foden and Silva do at Man City.  Excellent technical players who play one-twos and fast interchanges on the ball.  Barnes is just always looking to shoot, and Gordon isn’t a particularly technical player. 

[Tiresias]

1 minute ago, r0cafella said:

Reckon nick Shines in a posession based team personally. 

 

Yes, and we're so technically inept at times got to be frustrating. The ball goes out wide to the wingers and then they immediately lose the ball running into traffic. The number of times Gordon just runs into traffic in the middle of the pitch is infuriating, I dont mind if you're running at them into their box, but at the half way line dribbing into the midfield scrum happens too often. I don't demand a posession based team, they can be quite boring, a Howe team operating at it's best is brilliant, but a Howe team at 80% intensity has no penetration and is exposed a lot more

[TheBrownBottle]

1 minute ago, madras said:

He's shown no sign of being an instinctive fox in the box type striker and too often seems to be on his heels when balls do come in.

 

Very much needs support around him rather than an issue with supply which was OK with Isak...... or do Murphy and Gordon et al just not like him so do t give him the ball ?

 

 

 

Exactly - which is why players coming in from behind him would be perfect.  He’s got a deft touch and a football brain - he’d set players who can do that up with goalscoring opportunities regularly. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

1 minute ago, TheBrownBottle said:

I’m thinking more of what Foden and Silva do at Man City.  Excellent technical players who play one-twos and fast interchanges on the ball.  Barnes is just always looking to shoot, and Gordon isn’t a particularly technical player. 

 

Ah yeah, well they're another level again. Not sure there are any other examples of players that good outside of the top few teams in the world. 

 

I just think Barnes and Gordon are both more wide forwards than wingers and in theory they should be able to play OK off Woltemade. 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2025 by AyeDubbleYoo

[Displayname]

18 minutes ago, lovejoy said:

 

he was also 'unsupervised' in the first window, which was one of the best we've had.

 

I get the Elanga frustration, but there's not many more incoming transfer sticks to beat Howe with imo. The overwhelming majority have panned out very well.

He was, but you also have to take into consideration that he had a lot more free time to scout for those players. 

 

I'm thinking we are maybe seeing the results of Eddie taking too much upon himself, stretching himself thin and falling flat.

Might have to learn to take on a reduced role and be part of a system if he is ever going to be counted among the "elites". 

[Heron]

2 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

He does, and he’s not particularly good at it.  I got angry watching him yesterday when he was sauntering up the left wing; the camera was on him, and you can see that he’s just looking at the ball the whole team.  His head never is never up; while I don’t doubt he thinks he’s Cruyff and Matthews rolled into one, that’s fucking terrible for a professional footballer who plays as a winger.  

I remember this moment and said the exact same. "Get your head up." He also went ballistic with Woltemade, probably rightly so, but he clearly didn't see him when he went free, but I just thought "If I were your team mate I'd be unimpressed with the theatrics" like. He was having a go at the midfield the other day too versus Leverkusen for not supporting him. Beat your fucking man mate and get your head up then you can start berating other people when you're doing your own job.