Eddie Howe

[Deuce]

I’m in the “happy, but w/ gripes” camp.

 

There are enough extenuating circumstances (CEO/DoF turnover, Isak ratfuckery, etc.) that he deserves a flyer on this season and a chance to have a fully-functioning front office in place over the summer to manage transfers. And I think we’d have to be in dire fucking straits to even entertain the thought of sacking him next season.

 

My gripes are mostly limited to tactics and game management. While he’s shown that he’s capable of making tactical changes on occasion (e.g. PSG away), I do think he’s entirely wedded to hard-pressing, direct football, with a flat midfield three and athletic, speedy wingers. Which has its obvious limitations (difficulty in breaking through a low block, acres of space between midfield and defense). Maybe at full strength and with a refreshed squad, we’ll be back to our old ways. But there’s a lingering doubt in the back of my mind that he can evolve us to not only progress, but even to sustain our current  level of success.

 

I really don’t know why our away form has taken a nosedive this season, or why we’ve generally looked better in the cup competitions than in the league. It’s a strange season overall.

[Erikse]

1 hour ago, timeEd32 said:

 

Not as if they haven't spent a penny in the time since. Onana, Maatsen, Malen, Guessand, Abraham, and all the loans. The volume of their business is dizzying honestly. And that's where I'd start with any comparison of the two clubs -- since the 2023/24 summer window closed we've had a revolving cast of people in charge of both the club and its transfer business. We have not been run very well.

 

In the last 2 seasons they are at a net positive in transfer fees. Here are the 24/25 outgoings:

 

 

Total amortization cost doesn't include fees gained from sales. Only the amortization that they were paying for the player will be subtracted. Villa has earned so much through sales.

 

 

Edited February 2 by Erikse

[timeEd32]

Just now, Erikse said:

 

In 24/25 they ended up at net positive in transfer fees. Here are the outgoings:

 

 

Total amortization cost doesn't include fees gained from sales. Only the amortization that they were paying for the player will be subtracted. Villa has earned so much through sales.

 

I'm not arguing anything against them other than the fact they are spending just like we are. They've done a better job of playing the system than we have, particularly in the last two years. There's likely some blame in there for Eddie, but I put that far more on the club's owners and directors (or lack thereof).

 

 

[dcmk]

2 minutes ago, timeEd32 said:

 

I'm not arguing anything against them other than the fact they are spending just like we are. They've done a better job of playing the system than we have, particularly in the last two years. There's likely some blame in there for Eddie, but I put that far more on the club's owners and directors (or lack thereof).

 

 

Their summer signings were worse than ours, believe it or not.

 

They have been slightly fortunate this year, if made up the league table based solely on xG this year they would be 12th. So having a Nottingham Forrest-esque season.

 

Incidentally we would be 6th on that same table.  We aren't converting chances.

 

 

 

 

 

[Wolfcastle]

Unhappy but willing to give him more time:

reason being though I expected us to go backwards were below where I thought we'd be, and performances throughout the season have averaged worse than anticipated (there were some excellent performances in the PL when last we were in the CL for example but no signs of that this season) so I've logically got to unhappy if I'm to stick to those expectations.

That can change of course but performances don't suggest it will this season.

Bigger picture, its pointless to look elsewhere as I consider us stuck were we are now and thus have provenly the best person for that scenario. Someone that can edge us occasionally into the CL and challenge in the cups. No more could be asked of any replacement so its not really worth doing.

[Nucasol]

8 hours ago, Decky said:

 

If Alonso had any sense he'd sit tight until Slott gets sacked. 

Linked with City in the papers with those Guardiola rumours about him going at the end of the season picking up.

[Optimistic Nut]

I'd love to see Alonso at either of those clubs. Not fully sold on him. 

[Jewel]

8 hours ago, Erikse said:

 

In the last 2 seasons they are at a net positive in transfer fees. Here are the 24/25 outgoings:

 

 

Total amortization cost doesn't include fees gained from sales. Only the amortization that they were paying for the player will be subtracted. Villa has earned so much through sales.

 

 

 

 Most of that net positive is thanks to our owners buying their unwanted shite. I know it's been talked about to death, but I will never not find that annoying tbh.

[Nucasol]

5 minutes ago, Jewel said:

 Most of that net positive is thanks to our owners buying their unwanted shite. I know it's been talked about to death, but I will never not find that annoying tbh.

You can see there being a reckoning for the Saudi Pro League. Such dross at such overinflated prices means it’ll end in tears, particularly with the scale back of culling of other vanity projects like The Line.

Once the sex offender retires they’ll waste a similar amount on Salah and I think that’ll be game-set-and-match for it.

[Curva Sud Milano]

9 hours ago, SUPERTOON said:

Might be in the minority, but I wouldn’t swap Howe for Alonso or Ancelotti.

 

I agree...both aren't right for you. Ancelotti is a great coach, but It's not the best solution for rebuilding a team.

In my opinion, the best options are:

 

1) Fabregas: What he's doing in Como is miraculous...it's true they have Nico Paz who is an incredible talent but the rest of the team is only decent, yet they play very well and cause problems for anyone who plays against them.

 

2) Gasperini: He left Atalanta and in Bergamo they miss him...Atalanta has gone back to being a normal team. The attacking and pressing team, with its players chasing you even at the end of the game, has disappeared. You might not win with him, but you'll certainly have fun at the stadium...especially away from home, you'll have a team that attacks for 90 minutes.

 

3) Conte: I hated Conte as a player and I hate him even more as a coach, but there's no doubt he can be a decisive factor for a team like yours. Conte is a very risky option... he controls the transfer market, not the club, so he needs carte blanche. No one wanted Lukaku at Inter or McTominay at Napoli but in the end they arrived and were decisive. With Conte you could win the league in his first year or finish 15th, depending on the players' relationship with him.

[Curva Sud Milano]

Fourth option....

 

 

 

[Keegans Export]

It's hard to separate the respective jobs Howe and Emery have done. Emery clearly had more to work with in terms of both squad and sellable assets but his experience at the top level vs Howe has shown at times. Obviously Howe has the League Cup to his name. Both look like having two CL qualifications in four years. In either case, expectation-wise they're both largely in the same boat - 7th/8th is par, anything above or below is over/under achieving, depending on how they get on in the various other competitions.

[The College Dropout]

29 minutes ago, Keegans Export said:

It's hard to separate the respective jobs Howe and Emery have done. Emery clearly had more to work with in terms of both squad and sellable assets but his experience at the top level vs Howe has shown at times. Obviously Howe has the League Cup to his name. Both look like having two CL qualifications in four years. In either case, expectation-wise they're both largely in the same boat - 7th/8th is par, anything above or below is over/under achieving, depending on how they get on in the various other competitions.

Villa look likely to have 4 or 5 seasons in Europe in a row. I would say their transfer flexibility is a big reason for this consistency.

 

We are not going to match their 1 CL campaign in terms of PL performance. 66 points was great work from them.

[Tisd09]

Happy but have some gripes. 

 

Whilst I am sure that PSR is the main driver behind the transfer circus that always seems to follow us, Eddie does also give the impression he is not very flexible when it comes to targets. 

 

Whilst I think the majority of us agree that long term, that loan options are not the best, however, I think January time is a good opportunity to try one or two. I know it is getting boring citing Villa, however, they gambled last January and it very nearly paid off, they got to a FA Cup semi final (Ok they never showed up) and probably a dodgy/controversial referee decision away from getting CL football two seasons in a row.

 

It is a massive risk not getting cover for Hall, yes BDB is back but he maybe needed for CB. 

 

What is the biggest driver for not getting in any back ups? Is it the board over cautious on PSR or is it Eddie over cautious over personnel, or a bit of both?

 

[TRon]

I would say Emery seems to be a bit more fluid with his tactical set ups in that his in-game management seems more flexible. Howe tends to swap like for like and usually around the hour mark when things aren't going well. Just going off the game against us, Emery seemed to be able to tweak things more effectively in that game anyway.

 

[Slim]

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRD9xQaG/

[duo]

From 5min on - Stefan just re-iterated what Kieran said.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 3 by duo

[Ben]

46 minutes ago, duo said:

From 5min on - Stefan just re-iterated what Kieran said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure how much of that is true but the consensus seems to be that money was available, has PIF lost interest and have no real ambition to challenge the top 6 ?

[The College Dropout]

57 minutes ago, duo said:

From 5min on - Stefan just re-iterated what Kieran said.

 

 

 

 

 

He's saying what most of us have been saying for at least a year now.

 

Very conservative. Not leveraging some low-hanging fruit to increase revenues "for whatever reason". Squad needs investment to hit targets.

 

Beard asked the right question - are they as driven without Amanda Staveley? The limited and inconclusiv evidence that we have would still suggest "no".

 

Said everything i've been saying for awhile. The conservatism doesn't align with the stated ambition or the needs of the squad. Villa are in a more precarious position with UEFA but have a higher risk appetite which is giving them a decent shot at achieving their goals. If Emery doesn't get CL, it's a failure on him. 

 

[duo]

21 minutes ago, Ben said:

 

 

I'm not sure how much of that is true but the consensus seems to be that money was available, has PIF lost interest and have no real ambition to challenge the top 6 ?

Or don't want to let Eddie spend it

[The College Dropout]

Just now, duo said:

Or don't want to let Eddie spend it

Eddie doesn't have to choose the players we sign.

[Yorkie]

1 hour ago, duo said:

From 5min on - Stefan just re-iterated what Kieran said.

 

 

All very interesting. Guess it's nothing to do with the incredibly logical and uncontroversial reasons given by the manager in this morning's press conference, then. 

 

Whatever you feel about the summer signings and the judgements made on who we bought: the strategy is to A, improve on what we have and B, invest with as much certainty as possible that they will get a return. 

 

No one ticked both of the boxes this month so they, collectively, put their faith in who's already here and will attack the summer window from a position of maximum strength. 

 

It's really not that deep.

[The College Dropout]

7 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

All very interesting. Guess it's nothing to do with the incredibly logical and uncontroversial reasons given by the manager in this morning's press conference, then. 

 

Whatever you feel about the summer signings and the judgements made on who we bought: the strategy is to A, improve on what we have and B, invest with as much certainty as possible that they will get a return. 

 

No one ticked both of the boxes this month so they, collectively, put their faith in who's already here and will attack the summer window from a position of maximum strength. 

 

It's really not that deep.

This isn't even true.

[Yorkie]

Explain.

[Sir Joel Inton]

Those two reasons are given nearly every transfer window.

 

I find it staggering beyond belief that there isn’t a player in the world who would be an improvement on the real potential of one injury, rest or suspension meaning we are playing Dan Burn at LB.

 

If we can’t find that player, or group of players, our scouting system needs a complete overhaul to say the least.

 

The reality is that Howe thinks Burn can fulfil that position, which is despite repeated evidence to the contrary.