Eddie Howe

[Kid Icarus]

1 hour ago, La Parka said:

Look at the away form. 

 

Look at the state of the summer business. 

 

Look at the failing mentality late in gabes. 

 

I'm not saying he deserves the sack but have some perspective. It's not knee jerk. The whole season so far has been underwhelming. It's just theres discontent growing. 

One thing I find selective about these 'look at the bigger picture' posts is that in practice it essentially means look beyond whatever game we've just had but not beyond when our poor performances started, or beyond our run of poor away results, or beyond Howe being in charge of transfers in the summer.

 

 

Edited December 16, 2025 by Kid Icarus

[Elric]

52 minutes ago, arnonel said:

Don't worry lads, we are 1 win away from every player being the best in the world again 

 

*5 years

[et tu brute]

17 minutes ago, LiquidAK said:

I don't agree that "top clubs" make decisions that short-termist. It's not resting on sentiment, it's having an understanding that it can take time to find solutions. It's not giving Howe time because he deserves it, it's reflecting on his achievements and abilities and giving him a fair chance to right what's going wrong.

 

I know certain people can only get hard when they think about how ruthless Daddy Saudi is, but they've thankfully been much more level-headed when taking decisions so far, such as not panicking during our last dodgy patch (remind me again how the following season then went?)

They didn't have an 'announced' five year plan previously based on continuous top level European qualification each season. As for Howe I've mentioned a whole range of issues this season in other threads, it's not just Sunday's balls up. As for daddy Saudi (), they have already got rid of one manager at the club, because they thought their plans for that part of the club would not be achieved. We're not going to agree, but as I said before it's the owners decision either way. 

 

 

Edited December 16, 2025 by et tu brute

[Coffee_Johnny]

28 minutes ago, GEFAFWISP said:

Coward.

Et tu Gefafwisp?

[Holmesy]

20 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

 

Well you could always leave Eddie and his nephew to be in charge of the winter window again. 

Nope, don't want that either.

[TK-421]

12 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

Seems to be throwing some (a lot) of it on the players.

Whilst they do have to carry some of the blame once they cross the touchline, surely if the opposition have set up to counter our tactics, and the gameplan isn't working, its then on the head coach to have a plan B (or C), another formation to switch to, to try and overcome the opposition, and take the game back?

Worrying.

 

 

Edited December 16, 2025 by TK-421

[mayubeproud]

2 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

Like what I said a few minutes ago, the way we play now is very different from Eddie's first 24 months in charge.

 

I always wonder about the reason. Why did it happen? What could be done? There could be a few possibilities.

 

Theory 1: Eddie's tactics is flawed in the first place. Effective in the short term but players get injured frequently and the style cannot be sustained in the long run. That's the worst possible case.

 

Theory 2: Eddie's tactics is fine, but some of our players think that they have done enough after qualifying for CL in 2022/23, not willing to give their 100% in every game anymore, so we can't implement Eddie's philosophy consistently. In that case, get rid of those players and get somebody who are willing to implement Eddie's philosophy.

 

Theory 3: Eddie's tactics is fine initially, but other teams had found a way to counter his tactics now, and we have yet to find a consistent way to win games. Then try to do something to inject some new ideas?

 

As an outsider, I think I can observe the problem, but someone inside should do some careful investigation to find the root cause and solve the problem.

[Joe1984]

1 hour ago, The Prophet said:

 

He said that we can't do it every game due to the schedule and need to protect certain players.

An argument can be made this is good management though?

 

If we did intensity is our identity every game, that's 2-3 times a week, our squad would be fucked.

 

Then again if we, meaning Howe, actually used the squad players we have more, it could mitigate the fitness issue.

 

But do we really want more Elanga? 🤣

[Ellis H]

If Howe needs sacking then so does Slot, Amorim, Maresca, Frank and maybe more. They're all in essentially the same position as we are and they've spent loads in the summer on players who are either shite or playing shite. Even just the ones we were linked to are great examples. All the Veruca Salt's should remember progress isn't linear in the most competitive PL era ever and money guarantees nothing.

 

We're a few wins away from yet another cup final, a few wins away from qualifying in the Champions League and a few wins away from 4th in the league. What a shit season. Burn the witch.

[Skeletor]

All the eggs are kind of in the Wissa basket now. He needs to eat if this shit is gonna turn around. The most toothless Eddie team we've had.

[PauloGeordio]

 

[Joe1984]

3 minutes ago, mayubeproud said:

Like what I said a few minutes ago, the way we play now is very different from Eddie's first 24 months in charge.

 

I always wonder about the reason. Why did it happen? What could be done? There could be a few possibilities.

 

Theory 1: Eddie's tactics is flawed in the first place. Effective in the short term but players get injured frequently and the style cannot be sustained in the long run. That's the worst possible case.

 

Theory 2: Eddie's tactics is fine, but some of our players think that they have done enough after qualifying for CL in 2022/23, not willing to give their 100% in every game anymore, so we can't implement Eddie's philosophy consistently. In that case, get rid of those players and get somebody who are willing to implement Eddie's philosophy.

 

Theory 3: Eddie's tactics is fine initially, but other teams had found a way to counter his tactics now, and we have yet to find a consistent way to win games. Then try to do something to inject some new ideas?

 

As an outsider, I think I can observe the problem, but someone inside should do some careful investigation to find the root cause and solve the problem.

Regarding theory 2.

 

They won a trophy last season.

 

They gave 100% then.

 

Some short memories around here...

[nufcjmc]

Sorry to be negative, I wish I could see the end game/vision here it looks like a slower, less attacking, less progression version of our old 433 system that isn't change unless it comes with some up sides and cant see any right now.  

[mayubeproud]

1 minute ago, Joe1984 said:

Regarding theory 2.

 

They won a trophy last season.

 

They gave 100% then.

 

Some short memories around here...

A viable explanation if someone buys into that theory: some players are unwilling to give 100% for every game of the season, but they are okay about giving their best in a few selected crucial games.

 

Again I'm not an insider so that is just one of the many possibilities.

[Bellis80]

I’m more worried than I was at the weekend because I refused to believe he’d planned to play how they did on Sunday, thought the players just didn’t turn up, but if this is his evolution of the team we’re fucked. Still hard to believe it is given the recruitment in the summer other than Woltemade.

[Holmesy]

7 minutes ago, nufcjmc said:

Sorry to be negative, I wish I could see the end game/vision here it looks like a slower, less attacking, less progression version of our old 433 system that isn't change unless it comes with some up sides and cant see any right now.  

It would help if we could actually keep the ball but we turn it over more than any other side i've watched. If you're going to slow things down, surely one of the upsides should be ball retention?

[nufcjmc]

9 minutes ago, Holmesy said:

It would help if we could actually keep the ball but we turn it over more than any other side i've watched. If you're going to slow things down, surely one of the upsides should be ball retention?

Teams know to press us we struggle to get out of danger we give the ball away or just kick it away conceding possession again. Maybe a dedicated DM? I have no clue what the answer is if it has to come from the current crop of players and not the transfer window. 

 

Only thing I've liked when we have had good games are these no look passing triangles but they tend to come in our half when we are trying to get out. 

[andycap]

Our style has regressed massively we can't create from midfield at all. 

Our wingers are not helping our striker enough by getting close to him on build ups. 

That's why I like joelinton as he seems one of the few midfielders that tries to help woltemade by getting close to him. 

[Pablo123]

27 minutes ago, nufcjmc said:

Teams know to press us we struggle to get out of danger we give the ball away or just kick it away conceding possession again. Maybe a dedicated DM? I have no clue what the answer is if it has to come from the current crop of players and not the transfer window. 

 

Only thing I've liked when we have had good games are these no look passing triangles but they tend to come in our half when we are trying to get out. 

We can play excellent out of a press, the problem can be movement in front, or the opposition doing their jobs well

[huss9]

that goal against barca was great but plays like that have been few and far between.

[TRon]

1 hour ago, mayubeproud said:

Could be an unpopular opinion, but I think a huge part (certainly not all) of Eddie's credit is due to his brilliant first 24 months, where he saved us from relegation, guided us to CL and the first cup final in decades, won 4-1 against PSG, improved a number of players and transformed our playing style.

 

But that period of brilliance seem to be due to his tactics that worked initially but proved to be unsustainable in the long term. The way we play now is nowhere similar to that 24 months. Emotionally, that 24 months will always be remembered; but rationally, I think those 24 months is completely irrelevant if we evaluate Eddie's performance now.

 

Since Nov/Dec 2023, we've been very inconsistent. If someone asks me to describe our style of play today, or what are we good at, frankly, I don't have an answer. We don't press very effectively. We don't keep possession very effectively. We don't defend very effectively. It seems that everyone is a bit clueless about what could be done so that we could win games consistently.

 

Although we won our first trophy in decades and qualified for CL again last season, there's always a feeling that we're quite shaky for most of that season. To be fair, I have to give credit to Eddie because he did deliver the results in the most crucial games. But rationally, I'm always quite cautious about being optimistic because we never seem to have a formula that makes us winning games after games. The problem continues through this season.

 

Looking forward, I don't think I am smart enough to give any solutions to solve the problems though, otherwise I will be the one earning millions every year. But I think I can see there's a rather big problem that Eddie is struggling to solve for 24 months and point it out, and something needs to be transformed (I don't suggest sacking Eddie is the right answer, it could also be doing something that helps Eddie to solve the problems).

 

 

 

 

 

Actually I think this season we are playing more like we did in his first season in charge when defensively we were rock solid and we were playing mainly off Chris Wood and relying on winning quite a few 1-0's from what I remember.

 

The next couple of seasons we progressed to a more high pressing attacking style which has been very successful, but at the same time maybe led to a lot of injuries and maybe burnout. 

 

This season we seem to be sitting off a lot more as I said earlier. 

[Ilovetoon8788]

It's just unfortunate for Howe that the signing of elanga and Ramsey is proving to be disastrous and might have very well cost his job if it comes to that. 

 

I still think he deserves atleast this entire season. 

 

But the lack of formation changes, and sticking to under performing players is very worrying. He needs to address our away form ASAP as well. 

 

But still, the tactic of sitting back and counter in a DERBY match is unforgivable in my eyes. 

[timeEd32]

Quote

"I think we're changing and morphing into something else and hopefully that something else will be very positive in the future."

 

If this is what we're in the midst of I think it would be a lot easier for people to accept if we were playing a different formation. 

 

Not saying Eddie should do that to be clear, but as evidenced by many of the recent posts it's very hard to watch what looks like a worse version of the same thing.

[Weezertron]

18 minutes ago, timeEd32 said:

 

If this is what we're in the midst of I think it would be a lot easier for people to accept if we were playing a different formation. 

 

Not saying Eddie should do that to be clear, but as evidenced by many of the recent posts it's very hard to watch what looks like a worse version of the same thing.

Would also be nice to know what we're looking to evolve into, cause I don't have a clue. 

 

All I can see is a boring, poorly performing team whose issues are largely the result of horrible scouting. 

[nufcjb]

We have become too predictable and meek. There is no spark in how we play and this is why chances created has severely dropped. it's just passing and running with no real vision like we had previously. Sad and worrying at the same time.l