Eddie Howe

[Kid Icarus]

5 minutes ago, Pilko said:

 

He was, I've said it before but him getting virtually 1-in-2 in that stinking Bruce side doesn't get the credit it deserves. 

 

However, his final 12-15 appearances for us were someone who was completely and utterly off the pace and just not cut out for it anymore; a sad shadow of what he was. The loyalty Howe showed by wanting to retain that version of Wilson is as admirable as it is downright alarming.

Yeah, I don't dispute that at all, it was time for him to go. I was more just disputing the idea that our attack being great over the last few years was down to Isak. There's basically no evidence for it from during the time everyone else was playing well and we had a striker of comparable suitability to our setup.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2025 by Kid Icarus

[TheBrownBottle]

2 hours ago, black_n_white said:

Rather this than finishing bottom half most seasons and never competitive, remember those days?

 

 

 

Under Ashley?  Yep.  But I thought we were all unhappy, thought that the Ashley years were an errant failure and that they shouldn’t ever be seen as a benchmark for NUFC. 

 

NB I was there in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s too - and trust me the Ashley years knocked them into a cocked hat in terms of performance on the pitch.  

[HaydnNUFC]

14 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

Worth remembering that Isak started 17 times in our highest league position under Howe. Wilson was a brilliant striker for us.

 

 

 

He was, though when Isak came into the side for him after his performances either side of the cup final it was after some pretty dreadful showings from him. He was however exceptional in the run in. The first 1-4 at Everton for me is peak NUFC Callum Wilson.
 

In his final 2 seasons, he contributed next to nowt bar a handful of goals against poor sides in 23-24. Last season it was astounding how poor he was when he got on the pitch. That Howe wanted to keep him is unbelievable.

Though likewise with Almiron and it’s looking like Joelinton, maybe Pope despite how poor Ramsdale has been we’ve been so poor at selling at the right time. Wilson, Almiron and Joelinton were all rewarded with contracts at the time when they should’ve been sold. We’ve lost the former two and will likely lose the latter for nothing. 

[The College Dropout]

15 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

Worth remembering that Isak started 17 times in our highest league position under Howe. Wilson was a brilliant striker for us.

 

 

 

Wilson is the default profile of an optimal Howe striker. Isak is the deluxe. I think Wissa is workable variant. 
 

Ramsey and Elanga look to be poor signings. Elanga in particular I Dont think is signed by any competent transfer committee.  I don’t blame Howe for that.  There was a power vacuum. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Problem is when you're rebuilding a whole squad it's pretty bold/brave/unwise to sell every player that's in good form. Very hard to judge the top of the curve. That logic implies that you're always looking to sell your best-performing players. 

[timeEd32]

38 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

We’ve become a weak team defensively.  A soft touch.  Spursey.  

We had issues before but no Pope and no Burn makes us very soft.

[The College Dropout]

14 minutes ago, timeEd32 said:

We had issues before but no Pope and no Burn makes us very soft.

Yep.  Joelinton too. 
 

Heavily criticised players. But I think we get 4 points at least from the last 2 with them all fully fit.  

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Always feel better when I watch the man himself.

 

 

[Kanj]

After last season and what we achieved and the memories we made it just really rips at my heart and soul where this club and team are today. Properly upsetting. 

[Geordie Ahmed]

6 minutes ago, Kanj said:

After last season and what we achieved and the memories we made it just really rips at my heart and soul where this club and team are today. Properly upsetting. 

 

I'm actually gutted for Howe, the amount of stick he's getting I find difficult

 

Before anyone kicks off I'm not talking about those that rightly question our away form, lack of tactical changes, predictable subs, poor signings etc etc, those are valid questions

 

It's the ones where people are saying he's done and calling him all sorts (admittedly a lot of this is on social media and in whatsapp groups) but for me, even if I ever get to that stage (he starts next season for me as a minimum) then I'd like to think I'd show a lot more respect to the guy that gave us all our greatest moment following this football club, that was not that long ago 

[Lucky]

Didn’t think we were all that bad for much of the game, just that final pass was lacking.. then of course when they scored and especially second half, they used the drop deep tactics which any manager worth their salt knows works against us.

 

We’re so poor with the ball now that we could have played another hour and not scored.

 

The Burnley game is massive.

 

 

[Optimistic Nut]

5 hours ago, Heron said:

You're clearly missing my point.

 

I have said I can understand legitimate concerns but shite like "we were only good because of Isak" is nonsense. We were good because of having a top quality footballer who suited our style of play/we suited our style of play to. It was having the complete team and a cohesive team.

 

 

 

 

We weren't all about Isak, but he made us excellent when we played well, and got us good results when we played average. He was world class for 2 years here. 

[RS]

He’s successfully transitioning the team away from the high press, high octane approach that made us so effective into a submissive set up that invites pressure onto the defence whilst offering nothing in midfield and limited attacking threat. All to supposedly minimise injuries. 
 

Id rather we revert to our original M.O and take the injury risk than suffer a full season of turgid, ineffectual football. 
 

[Optimistic Nut]

We've not been great, but I think performances have been better than the 5 points from 5 games that we've picked up. 11 would have been a fairer reflection (draws at Sunderland & Man Utd and wins v Spurs & Chelsea).

 

We just don't have that Isak-level player anymore that can secure the results. Woltemade & Wissa are good, probably very good, but I think their performances will align with how the rest of the team plays. Isak was capable of elevating that. 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2025 by Optimistic Nut

[oldtype]

5 hours ago, enthusiast said:

i'm not saying eddie out or owt like that, but what mountain are we at the top of right now?

 

i enjoyed the league cup as much as any fucker, but in all the decades we've been an embarrassment cunts have been winning that cup practically by mistake. whatever about credit in the bank, is time going forwards or backwards? are we getting better or worse?

Trophies matter, even the shit ones. Clubs like Villa and Everton, who I would consider our peers, haven’t won one for thirty years despite being much better run than us on average over that time period. There were people (including me) on here during the Ashley era unironically saying that they’d be willing to accept relegation to League 2 the next season if it meant seeing us win a trophy before they die. 

 

It’s not the sort of thing where you turn around nine months later and be like “that was nice, but what have you done for me lately.” That frankly smacks of the sort of “spoiled rotten Man City fan” attitude that I desperately wanted us not to fall into when we were taken over.

[Stottie]

I'd have liked Murphy to stay on when Wissa came on. Best crosser plus likely best player at attacking them. As it happened, we ended up with no width and sending in weak crosses from deep positions.

 

Overall it was like the Mackems game, and even Leeds and Villa away if you go back far enough. Just no attacking penetration away from home.

[Yorkie]

With hindsight I don't even think the idea of a one-year extension for Wilson was that mental. Not going to pretend he didn't look finished last season but those rumours were before we knew anything about Isak. Clearly we knew the prospect of him going was a real one and there were also potential suitors for Osula. Retaining Wilson was clearly just a contingency plan in the event things went south, rather than a demonstration of ludicrous amounts of loyalty imo.

[El Prontonise]

1 hour ago, oldtype said:

Trophies matter, even the shit ones. Clubs like Villa and Everton, who I would consider our peers, haven’t won one for thirty years despite being much better run than us on average over that time period. There were people (including me) on here during the Ashley era unironically saying that they’d be willing to accept relegation to League 2 the next season if it meant seeing us win a trophy before they die. 

 

It’s not the sort of thing where you turn around nine months later and be like “that was nice, but what have you done for me lately.” That frankly smacks of the sort of “spoiled rotten Man City fan” attitude that I desperately wanted us not to fall into when we were taken over.

 

I'm sorry but once you win a trophy, you don't go well nothing in front of us matters now though, proper clubs build on it.  The sack talk is ridiculous but Howe and a lot of the squad have big questions to answer about their form.

 

Howe gets the rest of the season as most are saying but the club needs to review things in the summer massively if things continue as they are.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2025 by El Prontonise

[TheBrownBottle]

9 minutes ago, El Prontonise said:

 

I'm sorry but once you win a trophy, you don't go well nothing in front of us matters now though, proper clubs build on it.  The sack talk is ridiculous but Howe and a lot of the squad have big questions to answer about of their form.

 

Howe gets the rest of the season as most are saying but the club needs to review things in the summer massively if things continue as they are.

Yep.  I find the ‘we’ve always been shit, let’s shoot down ambition’ patter to be head-scratching.  The point was always that NUFC was a historically successful club which found itself in the doldrums - we shouldn’t have been going decades without winning things.  

[TheBrownBottle]

20 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

With hindsight I don't even think the idea of a one-year extension for Wilson was that mental. Not going to pretend he didn't look finished last season but those rumours were before we knew anything about Isak. Clearly we knew the prospect of him going was a real one and there were also potential suitors for Osula. Retaining Wilson was clearly just a contingency plan in the event things went south, rather than a demonstration of ludicrous amounts of loyalty imo.

Wilson possibly should’ve been sold a year or so earlier to capitalise on remaining value, but I also get it from Howe - and Wilson is probably my favourite post-Shearer no.9 in B&W.  He was definitely, provably finished by the end of last season, though.  

[El Prontonise]

Just now, TheBrownBottle said:

Yep.  I find the ‘we’ve always been shit, let’s shoot down ambition’ patter to be head-scratching.  The point was always that NUFC was a historically successful club which found itself in the doldrums - we shouldn’t have been going decades without winning things.  

 

Exactly, it's quite small time IMO.  We should be expecting trophies now on a semi regular basis.  While we aren't competing for the league anytime soon, cup runs should be a regular occurrence.

[Menace]

Sods law he's managed to stay fit for West Ham. Had we given him an extension he'd probably still be in the physio room.

[Lush Vlad]

5 hours ago, Geordie Ahmed said:

 

I'm actually gutted for Howe, the amount of stick he's getting I find difficult

 

Before anyone kicks off I'm not talking about those that rightly question our away form, lack of tactical changes, predictable subs, poor signings etc etc, those are valid questions

 

It's the ones where people are saying he's done and calling him all sorts (admittedly a lot of this is on social media and in whatsapp groups) but for me, even if I ever get to that stage (he starts next season for me as a minimum) then I'd like to think I'd show a lot more respect to the guy that gave us all our greatest moment following this football club, that was not that long ago 

Agree with this. Although I’m not sure he gets to start next season if we carry on like we are. Nor should he, IMO. It is a results business at the end of the day. We’ll end up bottom half without an upturn in performances and results. As much as I love the bloke. I don’t see why he’d get more money and more time in that scenario

 

The away form can’t be ignored and our play overall has been below par for a lot of this season. It all feels like it has gone a bit stale and predictable. 
 

More sad about it all than angry. As I don’t see where the changes are coming from for him to turn it around. Keeps playing the same system and the same underperforming players keep underperforming. 
 

Lost Isak, granted. But we’ve then spent a lot of money now to get worse as a side. We have spent a lot of money full stop since he got here. Yet we haven’t improved our control of games, meaning we are now incapable of seeing out wins and our chance creation seems the worst it has been since he’s been here. 
 

I do feel like he has been a victim of his own success for a lot of his time here. But this season has been poor whatever way you look at it. Performances and results haven’t been good enough and the away form spans all of 2025 now. 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2025 by Lush Vlad

[bobbydazzla]

This is like when you’ve been going out with a lass for a few years and it’s gone a bit stale. The moves you took pride in at the start of the relationship just aren’t delivering the goods any more.  

 

Do you keep plugging away with missionary, doggy, reverse cowgirl and hope things improve ?

 

Or do you take decisive action and suggest cosplay and mild S&M with a pre-agreed safeword ?

 

Because something needs to change, otherwise she’ll definitely be signing up for 1 on 1 high intensity classes with her gym instructor. 

 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2025 by bobbydazzla

[Nucasol]

3 minutes ago, bobbydazzla said:

This is like when you’ve been going out with a lass for a few years and it’s gone a bit stale. The moves you took pride in at the start of the relationship just aren’t delivering the goods any more.  

 

Do you keep plugging away with missionary, doggy, reverse cowgirl and hope things improve ?

 

Or do you take decisive action and suggest cosplay and mild S&M with a pre-agreed safeword ?

 

Because something needs to change, otherwise she’ll definitely be signing up for 1 on 1 high intensity classes with her gym instructor. 

 

 

 

 

Asparagus?