Eddie Howe

[Lush Vlad]

Do you think we're due for a bit of a rebuild this summer?  

 

At least one new goalkeeper and Ramsdale back to Southampton.

Quite a few ageing defenders who are going to be out of contract and more than likely moved on.  Lascelles, Schar, Trippier and Krafth.  As great as Burn has been, should he be a guaranteed starter still, or more of a rotational player? 

The rumours around Tonali and in particular, Tino, aren't going away.  Could they be on their way for decent coin?

It might just be projection from me.  But I don't feel like Gordon is particularly happy here, nor is he playing anywhere near his levels of two seasons ago.  Maybe he could be off at some point?

 

I might just be overthinking it.  But the squad needs a bit more than a refresh.  So I just hope that Howe can turn around the unacceptable away performances and results and get us into the Europa or even the CL (seems unlikely).  So that he gets the money and the chance to manage the next version of this team. 

 

With how inconsistent and open the league has been from 4th downwards.  I think if we were to finish outside the Europa League spots, it would be a failure and Howe might come under pressure from those above.  Even if the expectation was say top 8 and decent progression in the cups.  It has been wide open for us to push into the top 4 and time and again we have fucked it up.  Which I know can be said for a lot of other clubs, but not all of them would have the same expectation level as us, nor would they have spent as much on fees and wages. 

[kingxlnc]

Yes it needs a major refresh
 

id keep 

 

must keep

thiaw 

hall
tino if he wants to stay 
Bruno 

wolte 

miley 

 

Ok to stay but don’t mind if they go 

barnes

murphy

botman
tonali

burn

schar

joelinton

ramsey

wissa
elanga

get rid

willock

krafth

ramsdale

vlad

pope

gordon

lascelles

trippier

targett

 

tons of work to do

[Wilson]

15 minutes ago, Robster said:

Just today ? 

 

Fair

 

Just seems particularly depressing today.  

[Mattoon]

4 hours ago, Mountain said:

 

 

I don't neccessarily disagree.

 

But Isak is injury prone and may never be the same after the latest one.

 

I think we dodged a bullet and I'm glad he's gone.

 

Oh yeah in hindsight it's probably best we sold him when we did, but we definitely miss what he brought to us, very, very difficult to replace.

[Cf]

1 hour ago, Geordie Magpie said:

Can guarantee once we out of all cups and back to one game a week our performances will improve, we might get some sort of Europe this season then the cycle will continue of being shite when playing twice a week and much better when playing once a week.

 

Eddie is a one game a week manager and really struggles when we are in all comps, doesn't help we had a shocker of a transfer window and even though we have better depth on paper, the depth we have isn't good enough.

 

Will take a big summer overhaul to be able to be competitive on all 4 fronts if we do make Europe, gonna be a big overhaul anyways if we don't make Europe as a few of our players will want to leave to play champions league

 

Give Guardiola this squad and he's a one game a week manager.

 

Give Arteta this squad and he's a one game a week manager.

 

I really don't get this. We have about the 7th most expensive squad/highest wage bill in the PL and that's the position we are about in whilst also in the semi finals of the league cup, still in the FA cup, in a good spot to go to knockouts of the CL.

 

That looks like Eddie is managing things probably as well as he could be doing to me. I don't see why anyone thinks anyone else would be doing any better.

 

[Gallowgate Toon]

22 minutes ago, gbandit said:

My gloom is less about us as a club, and more about the state of the game. That’s what’s instilled more negativity in me that I can’t shake. Think it’s probably coloured by my general perception of the direction the world is taking on multiple fronts 

The sheer volume of games is minging; it just makes the whole thing a war of attrition needing to be managed within an inch of its life. Barely anybody in England is playing great football even with mega squads. Arsenal will likely win something this season but it's fucking dire to watch. City have some lovely players, like, but Pep's psychotic approach to positional play still hampers them a fair bit imo. 

 

I loved the CL last time around, it's been pretty meh so far for me and, in all honesty, not worth the impact on the rest of our season. I'll probably say completely different if we go deep in the comp 

 

I have sympathy for Howe. Some of his decisions and tactical approaches have annoyed me but I feel like what we've seen this season is more of an impact of the state of the game at this level more than any other factor. I think our squad is better than some think but not quite good enough to properly compete on this many fronts.

[r0cafella]

Just now, Gallowgate Toon said:

The sheer volume of games is minging; it just makes the whole thing a war of attrition needing to be managed within an inch of its life. Barely anybody in England is playing great football even with mega squads. Arsenal will likely win something this season but it's fucking dire to watch. City have some lovely players, like, but Pep's psychotic approach to positional play still hampers them a fair bit imo. 

 

I loved the CL last time around, it's been pretty meh so far for me and, in all honesty, not worth the impact on the rest of our season. I'll probably say completely different if we go deep in the comp 

 

I have sympathy for Howe. Some of his decisions and tactical approaches have annoyed me but I feel like what we've seen this season is more of an impact of the state of the game at this level more than any other factor. I think our squad is better than some think but not quite good enough to properly compete on this many fronts.

I think Arsenal and city are dire to watch because of manager preference. The amount of games is obviously an issue though but it makes sense. Financial restrictions+ inflated transfer markets makes it canny easy for cartel clubs. 

[Marquee Moon]

Im coming round to the idea that football is just a bit shit right now.

 

I get extra frustated about our games as a fan. But most neutral games I watch are absolute dross as well. Arsenal are gonna cruise the league & you couldn't pay me to watch them aginst anyone except us.

[Wilson]

37 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:

The rumours around Tonali and in particular

Enlighten me please

[Dokko]

1 minute ago, Marquee Moon said:

Im coming round to the idea that football is just a bit shit right now.

 

I get extra frustated about our games as a fan. But most neutral games I watch are absolute dross as well. Arsenal are gonna cruise the league & you couldn't pay me to watch them aginst anyone except us.

 

There very little genuine excitement in the game now. For me, Darts is miles ahead of it for fan engagement and excitement. 

[JP]

My gripe with Eddie is he seems way too pre occupied with the other teams' strengths while not playing to ours.

We're more bothered about not getting beat away from home than taking the game to other teams - see Villa, Bournemouth, Leeds and Wolves this season.

 

And i guarantee tomorrow's presser Eddie will talk up PSV as such a dangerous side. I'll be back here with the quote this time tomorrow 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I think every manager says every game is going to be a difficult game like. 

[Lush Vlad]

42 minutes ago, Wilson said:

Enlighten me please

Seems like there is media speculation around him leaving all the while. Often back to Italy. I think his agent has even referenced it this season? 
 

 

[Marquee Moon]

1 minute ago, Dokko said:

 

There very little genuine excitement in the game now. For me, Darts is miles ahead of it for fan engagement and excitement. 

 

Aye same, the other sport I follow is the NHL & it's having a full on golden age at the min, it's so much more exciting than the football. Shame about the timezones like.

[Kimbo]

46 minutes ago, Marquee Moon said:

Im coming round to the idea that football is just a bit shit right now.

 

I get extra frustated about our games as a fan. But most neutral games I watch are absolute dross as well. Arsenal are gonna cruise the league & you couldn't pay me to watch them aginst anyone except us.

It’s absolute garbage. Watching how shit the rest of the league is actually makes me feel better about how poor we are, there’s clearly bigger issues that are having an effect.

[Holloway]

It sounds like we're out of the cup competitions already,there might be a pleasant surprise or 2 awaiting,we do have s habit of running the big sides very close 

 

 

Edited January 19 by Holloway

[Ashley17]

The Carabao is gone but Villa showed yesterday they are far from infallible and missing a few too. 

[Holloway]

1 hour ago, Lush Vlad said:

Do you think we're due for a bit of a rebuild this summer?  

 

At least one new goalkeeper and Ramsdale back to Southampton.

Quite a few ageing defenders who are going to be out of contract and more than likely moved on.  Lascelles, Schar, Trippier and Krafth.  As great as Burn has been, should he be a guaranteed starter still, or more of a rotational player? 

The rumours around Tonali and in particular, Tino, aren't going away.  Could they be on their way for decent coin?

It might just be projection from me.  But I don't feel like Gordon is particularly happy here, nor is he playing anywhere near his levels of two seasons ago.  Maybe he could be off at some point?

 

I might just be overthinking it.  But the squad needs a bit more than a refresh.  So I just hope that Howe can turn around the unacceptable away performances and results and get us into the Europa or even the CL (seems unlikely).  So that he gets the money and the chance to manage the next version of this team. 

 

With how inconsistent and open the league has been from 4th downwards.  I think if we were to finish outside the Europa League spots, it would be a failure and Howe might come under pressure from those above.  Even if the expectation was say top 8 and decent progression in the cups.  It has been wide open for us to push into the top 4 and time and again we have fucked it up.  Which I know can be said for a lot of other clubs, but not all of them would have the same expectation level as us, nor would they have spent as much on fees and wages. 

There's only 3 players I'd refuse to sell at this point,Hall,Miley and Bruno 

[Wallsendmag]

5 hours ago, Mountain said:

 

You are correct as per. He was working miracles and has been fantastic, but he's had a lot of money to spend the past year.

 

Hopefully it's a lesson learned and he can find a solution, still a bright future.

 

Yep pretty much this. He worked a miracle in keeping us up when he arrived as the situation looked desperate. He worked a miracle the following season when we finished 4th and got to a Cup Final for the first time in 25 years.

 

He did an incredible job last year in securing a 5th placed finish and delivering us our first domestic trophy in 70 years but I wouldn't necessarily say that was more impressive than what he achieved in 21/22 and 22/23, even though it does on paper as we ended with a nice shiny pot.

 

This season is the first that I can say where criticism is valid. I'm very much still in the "Howe In" camp but his summer signings have generally been poor and our style of play has regressed massively. He has looked out of ideas at times, no getting away from it. 

 

In saying that we've made it to another Cup Semi Final, still in the FA Cup, fairly well positioned in the CL and 8th in the league. Annoyingly if we'd beaten them by 2 goals yesterday we'd have been 5th.

 

This coming summer is massive for him. The mistakes made last summer can not be repeated. As a football club we simply can't absorb the financial issues it would cause us like a Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea etc can. Recruitment needs to be spot on and he also needs to move the right players on as well. Players like Gordon should be allowed to move on to help finance the rebuild that I think the squad will need.

[SUPERTOON]

2 hours ago, Lush Vlad said:

Do you think we're due for a bit of a rebuild this summer?  

 

At least one new goalkeeper and Ramsdale back to Southampton.

Quite a few ageing defenders who are going to be out of contract and more than likely moved on.  Lascelles, Schar, Trippier and Krafth.  As great as Burn has been, should he be a guaranteed starter still, or more of a rotational player? 

The rumours around Tonali and in particular, Tino, aren't going away.  Could they be on their way for decent coin?

It might just be projection from me.  But I don't feel like Gordon is particularly happy here, nor is he playing anywhere near his levels of two seasons ago.  Maybe he could be off at some point?

 

I might just be overthinking it.  But the squad needs a bit more than a refresh.  So I just hope that Howe can turn around the unacceptable away performances and results and get us into the Europa or even the CL (seems unlikely).  So that he gets the money and the chance to manage the next version of this team. 

 

With how inconsistent and open the league has been from 4th downwards.  I think if we were to finish outside the Europa League spots, it would be a failure and Howe might come under pressure from those above.  Even if the expectation was say top 8 and decent progression in the cups.  It has been wide open for us to push into the top 4 and time and again we have fucked it up.  Which I know can be said for a lot of other clubs, but not all of them would have the same expectation level as us, nor would they have spent as much on fees and wages. 

We probably have been due one for a few windows tbf. 

[Ben]

13 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

Yep pretty much this. He worked a miracle in keeping us up when he arrived as the situation looked desperate. He worked a miracle the following season when we finished 4th and got to a Cup Final for the first time in 25 years.

 

He did an incredible job last year in securing a 5th placed finish and delivering us our first domestic trophy in 70 years but I wouldn't necessarily say that was more impressive than what he achieved in 21/22 and 22/23, even though it does on paper as we ended with a nice shiny pot.

 

This season is the first that I can say where criticism is valid. I'm very much still in the "Howe In" camp but his summer signings have generally been poor and our style of play has regressed massively. He has looked out of ideas at times, no getting away from it. 

 

In saying that we've made it to another Cup Semi Final, still in the FA Cup, fairly well positioned in the CL and 8th in the league. Annoyingly if we'd beaten them by 2 goals yesterday we'd have been 5th.

 

This coming summer is massive for him. The mistakes made last summer can not be repeated. As a football club we simply can't absorb the financial issues it would cause us like a Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea etc can. Recruitment needs to be spot on and he also needs to move the right players on as well. Players like Gordon should be allowed to move on to help finance the rebuild that I think the squad will need.

 

Will the changes to PSR benefit us this summer ?

[SUPERTOON]

7 minutes ago, Ben said:

 

Will the changes to PSR benefit us this summer ?

Make it worse won’t it ?

[r0cafella]

1 minute ago, SUPERTOON said:

Make it worse won’t it ?

Imo worst. But I haven't read the small print. 

[SUPERTOON]

Just now, r0cafella said:

Imo worst. But I haven't read the small print. 

Aye, from what I understand about it (very little tbf), I don’t see us being better off.

[Ben]

Probably not worth asking for a change of manager then cos nobody can do a better job with their hands tied behind their backs.