Eddie Howe

[AyeDubbleYoo]

1 minute ago, Zero said:

 

Strange quote. If home and away is not an issue then why we always played like begging for a draw for those away games?

I think he just means playing well consistently is the problem, which I totally agree with. Home or away, we need to settle into a better rhythm. 
 

Home you sometimes do better because the crowd gives you the extra 10% you need to get it done. But overall the problem is you need to play better. 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2025 by AyeDubbleYoo

[Sibierski]

58 minutes ago, stozo said:

We all know that Howe has the potential to work wonders on players but that tends to take 6-18 months. Our new signings were always going to take time to bed in to Howe's system, especially when we continue to not be able to shop for truly elite players - Elanga, Ramsey, Thiaw and Woltemade all fit into the 'rough diamonds we are trying to polish up into elite players' category.

Elanga / Ramsey being rough diamonds is utter tripe. You don’t spend £40m+ on players that have been in prem for 4+ seasons as rough diamonds  They’re nothing like transfers such as Gordon who essentially had 18 months of prem football before joining. 
 

Like take Isak joining for big money. We didn’t pay big bucks for him to eventually come good. We paid big money for him to come in straight away and deliver, and he did and it increased over time. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I’m sure Elanga and Ramsey were meant to be good straight away, unfortunately they haven’t been.
 

Although Ramsey has been fine. 

[astraguy]

 

[Andy]

12 minutes ago, Zero said:

 

Strange quote. If home and away is not an issue then why we always played like begging for a draw for those away games?

 

Also find the comment about last night's performance strange to be honest. It's a bit of a massive stretch to say we played as well as the Chelsea first half, given that Man Utd camped in their own half and restricted us to very few major chances.

 

We didn't control the game as a result of our own play, they finished the match with a team filled with defensive players and just allowed us to have the ball. 

[500bhp]

32 minutes ago, PauloGeordio said:

Steve Bruce c2020! Only joking 🙃 

[Whitley mag]

From 20 minutes pretty much nails the situation for me and Howe doesn’t believe there is a lack of creativity in team, which doesn’t bode well at all.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SAnhxQQSQM

 

 

Edited December 27, 2025 by Whitley mag

[Lucky]

The issue is the system we play, it’s changed slightly in that the intensity is gone. But it’s a system that doesn’t work anymore.

 

We have new players and some existing who are essentially square pegs in a round hole within this system. Most are good players in their own right and would flourish if utilised better.

 

We seem to be continually not playing our best players at the same time because of this rigidity in the system we play.

 

Our 4-3-3 is actually mostly a 4-5-1

 

Why can’t we use a variant of a 4-4-2 system and play Wissa and Wolt together. Just play Gordon or Barnes as a typical winger and Murphy or Elanga same on the right. Either of our strikers could drop a little deeper to link play or pull out wide to make space.

 

Just wish he’d be a little braver tactically and with personnel.

[stozo]

25 minutes ago, TRC said:

When have we had any great performances?

 

Other teams who we have lost too have been in the same boat or worse. Brentford lost their 2 best players and manager, West Ham had a new manager and our cast off striker up top. Leeds we settled for a draw and they were missing key players, Man U missing their best players then even parked the bus with kids and we couldn’t break them down.

 

Sunderland we didn’t even show up.

 

Villa they had 10 men were shocking at the start of the season, lost key players and we couldn’t put them away.

 

Games we won, Burnley, Wolves, Fulham, we scraped by.

 

Spurs missing half their team and we couldn’t put them away.

 

We have consistently underperformed this season

City and Benfica at home, and Everton and USG away have been pretty much complete performances. We’ve also shown in phases (e.g Chelsea at home) that we are capable of playing well. 
 

In virtually all of the games you’ve highlighted, the other team set up in a low or mid block with a view to playing defensively and forcing us to break them down. It’s just the reality, and not really on the manager, that the focal point of our attack is not as strong as last season. We’re having to find new ways to attack and win, and that’s having mixed results in the short term. 
 

Ultimately, the bar against you think we are underperforming is when our attack was led by one of the best strikers in world. It isn’t now and there was always going to be an adjustment. 

[TRC]

1 minute ago, stozo said:

City and Benfica at home, and Everton and USG away have been pretty much complete performances. We’ve also shown in phases (e.g Chelsea at home) that we are capable of playing well. 
 

In virtually all of the games you’ve highlighted, the other team set up in a low or mid block with a view to playing defensively and forcing us to break them down. It’s just the reality, and not really on the manager, that the focal point of our attack is not as strong as last season. We’re having to find new ways to attack and win, and that’s having mixed results in the short term. 
 

Ultimately, the bar against you think we are underperforming is when our attack was led by one of the best strikers in world. It isn’t now and there was always going to be an adjustment. 

USG and Benfica were barely PL level competition. City was a solid performance. 
 

Out next 4 we need to win them all, the 7 after that are tough.

[andycap]

4 hours ago, Cf said:

 

Did I imagine the bit where we had Man Utd pinned back in their own half for the majority of the game at Old Trafford. 

 

Granted we lacked the finishing touch but I'd say in terms of overall performance/game flow that was very different to other away games this year. 

Come on man they defended like that out of choice, not because we had them hemmed in of amazing passing and possession football. 

[stozo]

4 minutes ago, Lucky said:

The issue is the system we play, it’s changed slightly in that the intensity is gone. But it’s a system that doesn’t work anymore.

 

We have new players and some existing who are essentially square pegs in a round hole within this system. Most are good players in their own right and would flourish if utilised better.

 

We seem to be continually not playing our best players at the same time because of this rigidity in the system we play.

 

Our 4-3-3 is actually mostly a 4-5-1

 

Why can’t we use a variant of a 4-4-2 system and play Wissa and Wolt together. Just play Gordon or Barnes as a typical winger and Murphy or Elanga same on the right. Either of our strikers could drop a little deeper to link play or pull out wide to make space.

 

Just wish he’d be a little braver tactically and with personnel.

The proposed 4-4-2 is a bit like when people suggested dropping Pope for Ramsdale - sounds great on paper but less good when it actually happens. There is a reason nobody plays 4-4-2 anymore, which is that managers realised 3 central midfielders deployed well generally allows you to overrun the 2 central midfielders in the middle of the pitch, which is the most important area for control of the game. The exact same thing would happen to us. 

[TRC]

3 minutes ago, stozo said:

The proposed 4-4-2 is a bit like when people suggested dropping Pope for Ramsdale - sounds great on paper but less good when it actually happens. There is a reason nobody plays 4-4-2 anymore, which is that managers realised 3 central midfielders deployed well generally allows you to overrun the 2 central midfielders in the middle of the pitch, which is the most important area for control of the game. The exact same thing would happen to us. 

Lots of teams plays 4231 though which is what I think most are asking for

[andycap]

Something different is what we all want to be honest if not when starting games then atleast when we need a goal. 

[Lucky]

3 minutes ago, stozo said:

The proposed 4-4-2 is a bit like when people suggested dropping Pope for Ramsdale - sounds great on paper but less good when it actually happens. There is a reason nobody plays 4-4-2 anymore, which is that managers realised 3 central midfielders deployed well generally allows you to overrun the 2 central midfielders in the middle of the pitch, which is the most important area for control of the game. The exact same thing would happen to us. 

 

Exceot our perceived control in midfield is just teams happy to sit back and let us do pretty much fuck all.

 

I know the typical 4-4-2 is outdated but surely there has to be a braver system than packing the midfield with 5, isolating out striker and then trying to quickly transition to 4-3-3 when we have the ball further into an opponents half.

 

It just doesn’t work.

[AngelofTheFourth]

45 minutes ago, Sibierski said:

Elanga / Ramsey being rough diamonds is utter tripe. You don’t spend £40m+ on players that have been in prem for 4+ seasons as rough diamonds  They’re nothing like transfers such as Gordon who essentially had 18 months of prem football before joining. 
 

Like take Isak joining for big money. We didn’t pay big bucks for him to eventually come good. We paid big money for him to come in straight away and deliver, and he did and it increased over time. 

 

This is exactly what I've been thinking. A player you need to wait to settle in should be costing £25m max. £40m is what you pay for a player who is up and ready to go.

[LionOfGosforth]

Maybe i'm in a minority here but the thought of losing this man mid-season, or even in the summer, fills me with dread, not confidence. Dread at how long we'd take to appoint someone, who it might end up being and the squad overhaul that would be required, potentially leading to another season of up and down performances and results anyway.

 

This doesn't mean EH gets a free pass for a poor season, which it isn't yet anyway, simply that I think he has earned some leeway from all the mitigating factors which include losing our star striker after the fucking season was underway, plus his replacement for months, no DoF, executive structure in flux and constant floods of games with many new players trying to gel, interspersed with injuries to key players and international football taking away important prep time.

 

I'm no more pleased than anyone else about some of the summer signings (so far, it's early), the general standard of the away performances and the man has frustrated me throughout his tenure with his reactive subs and stubborn loyalty to players and rigidity with systems at times but I love him to bits, he gets the area, has delivered success and deserves time and understanding to improve things. I'd like to think we're not one of those clubs who wants to dump a manager after his first truly bad spell, a bloke who has brought his family to the city and integrated them fully. Do we really want to go down that road? That's the road to uncertainty and transitional periods for me. Doesn't mean the end will never come though, one day it will. I honestly think he's more likely to walk if he feels he can't get things where he wants them anyway. Think he has far too much integrity to hang around for a payoff if the situation gets to that.

 

Perhaps a strong look at the coaching staff is needed to move forward. An overall review into the season can wait until the summer. There's just been too much upheaval to judge it properly until it's fully over anyway. We're going well in the cups even if the league season appears to be heading for disappointment.

[Gawalls]

55 minutes ago, 500bhp said:

Steve Bruce c2020! Only joking 🙃 

Genuine question - if you look at every game in isolation rather than stepping back and looking at them collectively, do you ever conclude a change in tactics could be worth trying or spot occuring patterns?

[Wolfcastle]

There's just no manager out there that could do any better and a lot that would do a lot worse. 

Freshening things up is what's needed but that's all I could see us ever getting out of it,  an intangible fresh feeling and honeymoon period before wanting that manager out for having either done a worse job or no better in an endless cycle before finding another Eddie.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2025 by Wolfcastle

[PauloGeordio]

Hopefully a few new faces in January and that may give us a clue as to what the game plan is. LB/CM/ST for me, all with technical ability.

[gbandit]

If anything, it’s Howe that needs to freshen up. Feel like he needs a break mentally from it all so he can see the team with fresh eyes. Must get so difficult to appraise a team after a while, especially one in transition. There’s just no way to do that, the summer really fucked us in so many ways. He had to do too much to try and hold everything together. The knock on impact of the summer has been enormous -

 

* Losing Isak, especially with it being drawn out all summer

* Our shite director of football leaving at the start of the window under a cloud 

* Losing out on all our targets to our rivals

* The team being hugely disrupted by the Isak situation

* New signings coming in extremely late and barely a pre-season 

* Howe having to be integral to all business including transfers

* Starting the season with no rotation options in the majority of positions 

 

Just a complete mess and the failings were partly on PIF, partly on misfortune and to a much smaller degree partly on Howe (incomings, ie Elanga)

[LionOfGosforth]

5 minutes ago, gbandit said:

If anything, it’s Howe that needs to freshen up. Feel like he needs a break mentally from it all so he can see the team with fresh eyes. Must get so difficult to appraise a team after a while, especially one in transition. There’s just no way to do that, the summer really fucked us in so many ways. He had to do too much to try and hold everything together. The knock on impact of the summer has been enormous -

 

* Losing Isak, especially with it being drawn out all summer

* Our shite director of football leaving at the start of the window under a cloud 

* Losing out on all our targets to our rivals

* The team being hugely disrupted by the Isak situation

* New signings coming in extremely late and barely a pre-season 

* Howe having to be integral to all business including transfers

* Starting the season with no rotation options in the majority of positions 

 

Just a complete mess and the failings were partly on PIF, partly on misfortune and to a much smaller degree partly on Howe (incomings, ie Elanga)

 

Maybe you're right. Perhaps the overhaul of his coaching staff is unlikely as he's just too loyal and that kind of augments one of the points in my post that I think he would rather walk than sully what has been a fantastic journey.

[stozo]

1 hour ago, Sibierski said:

Elanga / Ramsey being rough diamonds is utter tripe. You don’t spend £40m+ on players that have been in prem for 4+ seasons as rough diamonds  They’re nothing like transfers such as Gordon who essentially had 18 months of prem football before joining. 
 

Like take Isak joining for big money. We didn’t pay big bucks for him to eventually come good. We paid big money for him to come in straight away and deliver, and he did and it increased over time. 

I think this is where people have lost a sense of where the market is at. You don’t get the finished product at Elanga and Ramsey’s prices anymore. And by prices I mean fee and wages. What we offer players financially is significantly below Arsenal/City/Man U/Chelsea/Liverpool. That’s why Mbuemo is not playing on our right wing. We have bought a bunch of players who fit into the category of ‘had a couple of good seasons in Big Five leagues but haven’t shown consistent elite form yet’. 
 

I also think the Isak example is massively cherry picking. You are never going to have every player bed in seamlessly. Thiaw has, Elanga hasn’t. Isak did, Hall didn’t. We’ll get a mix and that’s exactly what we’ve had this year. 

[stozo]

46 minutes ago, Lucky said:

 

Exceot our perceived control in midfield is just teams happy to sit back and let us do pretty much fuck all.

 

I know the typical 4-4-2 is outdated but surely there has to be a braver system than packing the midfield with 5, isolating out striker and then trying to quickly transition to 4-3-3 when we have the ball further into an opponents half.

 

It just doesn’t work.

I think he'll try Woltemade and Wissa at some point together, probably by playing Wissa on the left, but equally I think a bunch of our struggles is inconsistent individual performances mixed with us just having less quality at the top of the pitch than last year. I think calls for 'change the system' is sometimes just frustration that we are, very simply, less good on the personnel front than last year. Strikers are the most expensive position for a reason and we significantly downgraded over the summer. I think any manager struggles to counteract that. 

 

[bobbydazzla]

1 hour ago, Sibierski said:

Elanga / Ramsey being rough diamonds is utter tripe. You don’t spend £40m+ on players that have been in prem for 4+ seasons as rough diamonds  They’re nothing like transfers such as Gordon who essentially had 18 months of prem football before joining. 
 

Like take Isak joining for big money. We didn’t pay big bucks for him to eventually come good. We paid big money for him to come in straight away and deliver, and he did and it increased over time. 

 

You’re right that based on their level of experience, Elanga and Ramsey aren’t rough diamonds and shouldn’t have taken this long to get up to speed. Ramsey gets some slack as he was disrupted by injury though.
 

The interpretation of big bucks has changed a lot due to the insane inflation in transfer fees.

We had Minteh leaving for £35m summer 2024 and he’d not kicked a ball in the top flight.

 

Hall came in as an unproven player with a handful of starts for £35m. At £30m Tino was more proven than Hall, but just had a major injury. Gordon for £40m 3 seasons ago with some experience, but not finished article. So buying players with potential from within the Premier League means a £30-40m bracket. 

Hence why £40-60m isn’t big bucks for an established Premier League player in 2025, which is disgusting and represents capitalism and greed at its worst, but it is what it is unfortunately. 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2025 by bobbydazzla