Eddie Howe

[The College Dropout]

Arsenal's squad isn't the strongest in Europe like.

 

It's probably the best in the PL. But it lacks goalscorers in attack. Had they signed Etikite, they would sweep the league easily.

 

Funnily enough.. Gyokeres isn't it. But i actually think he would suit us better than Woltemade does currently. Same time he's not that good.

[Coffee_Johnny]

3 hours ago, Chicken Dancer said:

Definitely shouldn’t be sacked anytime soon. 
 

Looking forward to dropping £45m on James Garner in January though. 

Will we ante up that much? As maverick as Eddie is, you’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em after all. (One for the oldies). 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2025 by Coffee_Johnny

[Kid Icarus]

3 minutes ago, HaydnNUFC said:

We haven’t exactly played the most startling CL opposition this time around though yet still look regularly awful in the league. They haven’t blown sides away in the Europa League either, still winning the games yet still able to be on a run of 10 wins in 11 in the league. More inclined to say it’s an Emery style run than a Howe one given he’s now on 2 of them.  

 

Saying that they weren’t unlucky at all is like saying we weren’t unlucky at all to not progress from the CL in 23-24 and I imagine you don’t take that view of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks pretty even to me I think. 

 

It's relative isn't it. Villa spent in January, went on a mad run in the league and missed out at the last hurdle due to other teams also being on runs (including us) - there was nothing wrong with that decision against them imo. We missed out in the CL due to an incredibly dodgy decision, but that season had a real (relative) triumph over adversity feel about it that I'm not sure Villa fans would apply to their 24/25 season.

 

[SUPERTOON]

A lot of talk about incoming transfers, for me a major improvement is needed in selling players at the right time. We seem to hold on to players far too long imo.

[toon25]

2 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

A lot of talk about incoming transfers, for me a major improvement is needed in selling players at the right time. We seem to hold on to players far too long imo.

 

Joelinton, Willock, AG, Osula, Elanga (unlikely to leave) should all be moved on 

[SUPERTOON]

1 minute ago, toon25 said:

 

Joelinton, Willock, AG, Osula, Elanga (unlikely to leave) should all be moved on 

Pope, Wilson, Miggy should have all been sold earlier as well imo.

[Jesse Pinkman]

We have just had a newly promoted Sunderland side who managed to build their whole squad for the price of our 3 new signings bully us off the pitch and people are still talking about competing on all fronts. 

[The College Dropout]

35 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

 

 

 

Looks pretty even to me I think. 

 

It's relative isn't it. Villa spent in January, went on a mad run in the league and missed out at the last hurdle due to other teams also being on runs (including us) - there was nothing wrong with that decision against them imo. We missed out in the CL due to an incredibly dodgy decision, but that season had a real (relative) triumph over adversity feel about it that I'm not sure Villa fans would apply to their 24/25 season.

 

Edit: Misunderstood

 

 

Edited December 15, 2025 by The College Dropout

[J7]

28 minutes ago, toon25 said:

 

Joelinton, Willock, AG, Osula, Elanga (unlikely to leave) should all be moved on 

Could have done with Osula yesterday tbh.

[TRon]

1 hour ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

People’s fetishisation of villa is a bit weird IMO. 

 

 

It's not really though is it. They went deep into the CL last season and still would have qualified again if it wasn't for getting robbed on the last day by a terrible refereeing decision. They coped with multiple competitions far better than we have. 

 

I'm not saying the sun shines out of Emery's arse, but he's got enough honours under his belt to be given some recognition. 

[Maineblue]

1 hour ago, Dokko said:

 

Depends on the club.

 

Pep can only do it spending money. Howe seems to struggle when he has money to spend. Howe works best with average players playing out of their skin. I've not seen him manage technical players. Pep must have an army of technical players he coaches into robots. 

 

It's a hard job for a reason.

Your way off the mark with you’re comments regarding Pep, the spending money and robot quotes in particular make me chuckle.

[midds]

I think the most disappointing thing to watch this season is the complete disintegration of our mentality. Howe's had issues to deal with but to watch us lose all of our edge, spirit and positivity has been borderline heartbreaking. We used to be a team of lions who never knew when they were beaten, gave every single team a game and we matched them physically to the point we became a nightmare team to play against. All of that has totally disappeared now, the attitude has gone and that's not down to finances or PSR or anything other than a deliberate shift in the opposite direction. The team looks disorganised, lacking in any confidence and belief and unmotivated too. They're not enjoying it and the atmosphere in the squad has changed, they can upload all the daft little training ground content they like there's something massively wrong during games. It's happened gradually over the last couple of years but it's certainly accelerated since the Cup Final

[Cf]

4 minutes ago, midds said:

I think the most disappointing thing to watch this season is the complete disintegration of our mentality. Howe's had issues to deal with but to watch us lose all of our edge, spirit and positivity has been borderline heartbreaking. We used to be a team of lions who never knew when they were beaten, gave every single team a game and we matched them physically to the point we became a nightmare team to play against. All of that has totally disappeared now, the attitude has gone and that's not down to finances or PSR or anything other than a deliberate shift in the opposite direction. The team looks disorganised, lacking in any confidence and belief and unmotivated too. They're not enjoying it and the atmosphere in the squad has changed, they can upload all the daft little training ground content they like there's something massively wrong during games. It's happened gradually over the last couple of years but it's certainly accelerated since the Cup Final

 

I still put this down simply to we can't play like that every game with this increased fixture load. When we tried it two seasons ago we had one of the worst injury crises ever.

 

Maybe we've swung too far the other way. And we haven't got the players in we needed to. But I think a lot of this is simply we've moved away from playing like that every game as it would cripple our squad.

[Decky]

19 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

 

It's not really though is it. They went deep into the CL last season and still would have qualified again if it wasn't for getting robbed on the last day by a terrible refereeing decision. They coped with multiple competitions far better than we have. 

 

I'm not saying the sun shines out of Emery's arse, but he's got enough honours under his belt to be given some recognition. 

 

Crusing to qualification again and in the title race. They're were we should be given what we've spent tbh.

[Vinny Green Balls]

6 minutes ago, midds said:

I think the most disappointing thing to watch this season is the complete disintegration of our mentality. Howe's had issues to deal with but to watch us lose all of our edge, spirit and positivity has been borderline heartbreaking. We used to be a team of lions who never knew when they were beaten, gave every single team a game and we matched them physically to the point we became a nightmare team to play against. All of that has totally disappeared now, the attitude has gone and that's not down to finances or PSR or anything other than a deliberate shift in the opposite direction. The team looks disorganised, lacking in any confidence and belief and unmotivated too. They're not enjoying it and the atmosphere in the squad has changed, they can upload all the daft little training ground content they like there's something massively wrong during games. It's happened gradually over the last couple of years but it's certainly accelerated since the Cup Final

we won 4 in a row after the cup final, and apart from the Everton debacle had an ok finish. We went 6-1-3 to end the season. In 4 of those games we scored 3 or more goals.

[Cf]

I know quite a few people don't have much truck with xPts/XG but I keep saying fine margins. They're at least a useful barometer to show how variance comes into it.

 

Understat have us 8th in the table on xPts, and Villa 15th. (Sunderland 17th for the record)

 

Villa's actual GD is +8 which doesn't scream 3rd place after 16 games either.

 

There's obviously more to the game than stats but I actually though we started the season reasonably well in terms of performances. It's dipped lately but our not deep squad is contending with loads of games.

 

I really don't think things are as doom and gloom as people think.

[midds]

2 minutes ago, Cf said:

 

I still put this down simply to we can't play like that every game with this increased fixture load. When we tried it two seasons ago we had one of the worst injury crises ever.

 

Maybe we've swung too far the other way. And we haven't got the players in we needed to. But I think a lot of this is simply we've moved away from playing like that every game as it would cripple our squad.

I can accept that to some extent  Injuries did kill us 2 years ago obviously but I'd suggest we've got a much larger/better squad now and can rotate players a bit better as a result. That also doesn't explain why the team spirit and attitude is now completely gone. To fail to gain a single point after going behind in nearly half a season of League games is disgraceful - go behind = automatic loss is embarrassing. To decide that the very thing that got us a reputation and drove the club forward has been deliberately abandoned is a shocking decision from someone. Yesterday was an eye-opener for many, we went behind in a derby and there was no reaction whatsoever, not a wriggle of fight from them, just a pathetic acceptance that the game was done  

[midds]

7 minutes ago, Vinny Green Balls said:

we won 4 in a row after the cup final, and apart from the Everton debacle had an ok finish. We went 6-1-3 to end the season. In 4 of those games we scored 3 or more goals.

Those are results, I'm talking about the general attitude and mentality of how we now play. We've won games this season despite the mentality issues, I'm suggesting we look shit and scared and have zero belief, it's negative as fuck imo

[Andy]

17 minutes ago, Cf said:

 

I still put this down simply to we can't play like that every game with this increased fixture load. 

 

We don't need to play like it every game tbf, but if there was ever a time to show that we still have that edge and intensity to our game, yesterday was it. 

 

Not only was it a chance to put our recent league derby record right, it was a chance to put ourselves in a much stronger league position going into the Christmas fixtures. We just completely blew it. 

 

Sunderland were first to every ball and made up for their obvious limitations by battling like it was their cup final, as we all knew they would. We battled like it was our FA Cup third round, as unfortunately we all suspected we would. 

[Cf]

4 minutes ago, midds said:

I can accept that to some extent  Injuries did kill us 2 years ago obviously but I'd suggest we've got a much larger/better squad now and can rotate players a bit better as a result. That also doesn't explain why the team spirit and attitude is now completely gone. To fail to gain a single point after going behind in nearly half a season of League games is disgraceful - go behind = automatic loss is embarrassing. To decide that the very thing that got us a reputation and drove the club forward has been deliberately abandoned is a shocking decision from someone. Yesterday was an eye-opener for many, we went behind in a derby and there was no reaction whatsoever, not a wriggle of fight from them, just a pathetic acceptance that the game was done  

 

That stat of 0 points from losing is a little misleading imo, though it looks bad. 

 

Games we've lost:

 

Liverpool. 0-2 down with 10 men. Pulled back to 2-2 and lost to last minute goal. 

 

Barcelona. 0-2 down. Pulled back to 1-2. No shame in this one imo.

 

Arsenal. Went ahead. Conceded last minute goal to lose. 

 

Brighton. 0-1. 1-1. 1-2. Not great but we got back into it and the winning goal was late. 

 

West Ham. Went ahead then this was just a shit performance. 

 

Brentford. Carbon copy of above. 

 

Marseille. Went ahead then conceded two. Felt we played well enough we should have got something from this. 

 

And the latest one we all know. 

 

Not saying everything is sunshine and roses but the "0 points from losing positions" doesn't strike me as a huge deal when of all of those only West Ham/Brentford/mackems stand out as bad performances. It's hardly season defining stuff imo - just a stat quirk. 

 

[Cf]

6 minutes ago, Andy said:

 

We don't need to play like it every game tbf, but if there was ever a time to show that we still have that edge and intensity to our game, yesterday was it. 

 

Not only was it a chance to put our recent league derby record right, it was a chance to put ourselves in a much stronger league position going into the Christmas fixtures. We just completely blew it. 

 

Sunderland were first to every ball and made up for their obvious limitations by battling like it was their cup final, as we all knew they would. We battled like it was our FA Cup third round, as unfortunately we all suspected we would. 

 

We probably needed to do more than we did. 

 

But it was the first game of 8 we have coming up in 27 days. 

 

In fact that was our 7th game since the 22nd November. 

 

Sunderland would have been very well rested compared to us. 

 

I'm not trying to be contrarian with everyone just that I can see the argument for trying to manage the work levels. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

32 minutes ago, Decky said:

 

Crusing to qualification again and in the title race. They're were we should be given what we've spent tbh.

What are you on about

 

Jesus like, I don’t know about some of our fans. 
 

I’m off for the day, it’s too mental. 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2025 by AyeDubbleYoo

[Heron]

10 minutes ago, Andy said:

 

We don't need to play like it every game tbf, but if there was ever a time to show that we still have that edge and intensity to our game, yesterday was it. 

 

Not only was it a chance to put our recent league derby record right, it was a chance to put ourselves in a much stronger league position going into the Christmas fixtures. We just completely blew it. 

 

Sunderland were first to every ball and made up for their obvious limitations by battling like it was their cup final, as we all knew they would. We battled like it was our FA Cup third round, as unfortunately we all suspected we would. 

Except the Dan Burn tackle!

[James]

Howe will always be loved and a legend but the ownership are going to have to make a call in the next two years about whether he will take us to 2030. There are now three really fundamental things that are sticking out for me:

 

1) he has repeatedly ducked big decisions to sell players. Wilson should have been  sold and replaced during the Tonali window. Willock and Almiron too whilst their stock was at their highest. Gordon should have been shipped at the start of this window and used the money to reinvest further. Even a lesser extent Dummett and Lascelles not letting them go in favour of youth.

 

2) there seems to be clash between training focused on improving players and teams vs him not able to coach the players due to fixture pileup.

 

3) Form has been poor actually since he was ill. Has he lost that 5% of energy that made him truly great?

 

I do think he would benefit from a mentor, a really top level manager no longer in the game who he can discuss some of these challenges with in a private setting. The ideal would have been Fergie, Rafa might have been another choice had he not taken a job elsewhere.

 

with hindsight I also think we should have rested Howe post-illness until the summer and brought Rafa in for a few months.

 

[James]

Also there was an article in the Athletic it was about Matt Ritchie but it suggested if I read it right that Tindall and Purches are still commuting from Bournemouth.

 

if true these two need to move up here permanently or move on.

 

 

Edited December 15, 2025 by James