Eddie Howe

[Interpolic]

4 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

The ‘he didn’t get the players he wanted’ line is absolutely baffling to me.  I bet he’d want Mbappe if he could sign him as well - it doesn’t excuse spunking a massive sum on dross.  

 

We missed out on Trafford, Mbeumo, Joao Pedro, Cunha, Delap, Sesko, Ekitike (and probably more we're not aware of). 

 

We had no DOF. A competent transfer setup would have probably tied up at least 1 or 2 of those. Sounds like Trafford and JP would have happened with more urgency. 

 

Our star striker threw a hand grenade into our window. We needed bodies, compromises needed to be made. 

 

You love to take all nuance out of a situation to make the same laboured points over and over and it's an absolute bitch to read. 

 

Yeah put you on ignore, whatever. Shouldn't have to. Negative, tedious rubbish in every thread. 

[dcmk]

7 minutes ago, Interpolic said:

 

We missed out on Trafford, Mbeumo, Joao Pedro, Cunha, Delap, Sesko, Ekitike (and probably more we're not aware of). 

 

We had no DOF. A competent transfer setup would have probably tied up at least 1 or 2 of those. Sounds like Trafford and JP would have happened with more urgency. 

 

Our star striker threw a hand grenade into our window. We needed bodies, compromises needed to be made. 

 

You love to take all nuance out of a situation to make the same laboured points over and over and it's an absolute bitch to read. 

 

Yeah put you on ignore, whatever. Shouldn't have to. Negative, tedious rubbish in every thread. 

How many times does this need to be said.  I'm sure I've written this same post at least 8 times already.  Beyond tedious.

[Froggy]

Have to say I'm a bit frustrated. It looked for a moment there that Howe might be hounded out by the fickle part of your fanbase and we'd have a clear run at him in the summer.

 

Looks like he's turning it around.

[RUHRLYASLEEVESUP]

Few shrewd signings in positions were all aware need strengthening & one game a week will make us a nightmare for anyone to play against next season

[Yorkie]

14 minutes ago, RUHRLYASLEEVESUP said:

Few shrewd signings in positions were all aware need strengthening & one game a week will make us a nightmare for anyone to play against next season

 

Literally just a better goalie probably puts us in the top 7 even with all our issues up top.

[RUHRLYASLEEVESUP]

Just now, Yorkie said:

 

Literally just a better goalie probably puts us in the top 7 even with all our issues up top.

Goalie lol not heard that for yonks 

[500bhp]

35 minutes ago, Interpolic said:

 

We missed out on Trafford, Mbeumo, Joao Pedro, Cunha, Delap, Sesko, Ekitike (and probably more we're not aware of). 

 

We had no DOF. A competent transfer setup would have probably tied up at least 1 or 2 of those. Sounds like Trafford and JP would have happened with more urgency. 

 

Our star striker threw a hand grenade into our window. We needed bodies, compromises needed to be made. 

 

You love to take all nuance out of a situation to make the same laboured points over and over and it's an absolute bitch to read. 

 

Yeah put you on ignore, whatever. Shouldn't have to. Negative, tedious rubbish in every thread. 

That's probably all true and I bet we knew month's earlier that Isak wanted out. Wouldn't be surprised if we knew before the season ended. Also wouldn't be surprised if Howe wanted him sold in June and he was let down by the owners who publicly said he wasn't for sale, and that's what fucked up our window. If any of that's true, then Howe was let down by the way the owners mismanaged the Isak saga. 

[SUPERTOON]

Isak apparently told the club before the season ended, another cunt move from him.

[PauloGeordio]

16 minutes ago, RUHRLYASLEEVESUP said:

Goalie lol not heard that for yonks 

What do you call them?  

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Known as anti-bagsmen now IIRC. 

 

 

Edited March 12 by AyeDubbleYoo

[r0cafella]

2 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Isak apparently told the club before the season ended, another cunt move from him.

We know, he was phoning it since after the league cup final. 

[Gottlob]

The striker situation has surely been pivotal to our season and it was always going to be a hard market to navigate. At the start of last summer when we were still insisting that Isak was not for sale, I had not only resigned myself to but contented myself with the idea of bringing in Calvert-Lewin on the basis that he was at least experienced and would offer something a bit different and most importantly was out of contract, giving us the funds to improve the rest of the squad.

I think though that the club knowing Isak's position probably went into the summer expecting to sell him at some point. And that we would have liked perhaps one from Joao Pedro or Ekitike and one from Delap or Wissa. In that case could we have acted quicker or offered some of those players more assurances in order to secure them ahead of other clubs? I think most people presume that especially in the absence of a director of football, Howe was quite central to our transfer process therefore any lapses or any perceived lack of competence reflects back on him.

In the end he shares some of the responsibility for putting together a squad that hasn't quite thrived this season. I don't think any of those summer signings have been resounding successes at this point and while some should continue to grow into good squad players, the striker situation surely needs addressing again in the summer and we might have to take a loss in order to change things up and move players on.

[Interpolic]

We don't know the details but it does not seem Howe had adequate support with Isak, at all. He couldn't honour Staveley's contract promise himself. He couldn't commit to an agreement to sell him in a future window. He was let down badly by Mitchell and others. 

 

Players will have gripes at their clubs all the time but they don't usually go scorched earth at a club that has rejuvenated their career. So with that and the Sky 6 all wanting to flex, it was a perfect storm we had to make the best out of. 

 

I'd love to know which strikers we should have signed instead of Wissa and Wolte btw, after seeing us lose out on one player after another all summer. And you just know the same posters would be furious if we'd gone with just Gordon + Osula + one other instead. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Wissa was a very sound signing, he's just turned out to be useless. 

[Zero]

Just to brainstorm, if Osula is the type of striker we want to get (just like how we play against Barca), does anyone have good suggestion? Does Adeyemi qualify?

[magorific]

1 hour ago, Interpolic said:

 

We missed out on Trafford, Mbeumo, Joao Pedro, Cunha, Delap, Sesko, Ekitike (and probably more we're not aware of). 

 

We had no DOF. A competent transfer setup would have probably tied up at least 1 or 2 of those. Sounds like Trafford and JP would have happened with more urgency. 

 

Our star striker threw a hand grenade into our window. We needed bodies, compromises needed to be made. 

 

You love to take all nuance out of a situation to make the same laboured points over and over and it's an absolute bitch to read. 

 

Yeah put you on ignore, whatever. Shouldn't have to. Negative, tedious rubbish in every thread. 

Amen.

 

Only thing I would add is that the "his nephew was in charge of transfers" angle is similarly snide. 

[elbee909]

1 hour ago, TheBrownBottle said:

The ‘he didn’t get the players he wanted’ line is absolutely baffling to me.  I bet he’d want Mbappe if he could sign him as well - it doesn’t excuse spunking a massive sum on dross.  

 

We know now why the bottle is brown. 

[healthyaddiction]

40 minutes ago, PauloGeordio said:

What do you call them?  

Deep-lieing goal preventers.

[Yorkie]

22 minutes ago, Interpolic said:

I'd love to know which strikers we should have signed instead of Wissa and Wolte btw, after seeing us lose out on one player after another all summer. And you just know the same posters would be furious if we'd gone with just Gordon + Osula + one other instead. 

 

In all seriousness, trying to hang onto Wilson for another year probably wasn't the nutty decision it seemed, without knowing of Isak's imminent actions. Would've gone down like an almighty shit sandwich but he'd have offered more than Wissa has.

 

We got totally fucked as far as the strikers go and I've no beef at all with the Howes, Nickson, and whoever else was charged with getting deals done last summer. The only one you can give them stick for is Elanga, but even he has just been a case of massively underperforming as opposed to being an obviously bad choice. 

 

Other than that, Thiaw's been great; Ramsey hasn't pulled up trees yet but looks odds-on to be a long-term success; and even Ramsdale - for all he's nothing special - has been good value for a backup goalie.

[r0cafella]

3 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

In all seriousness, trying to hang onto Wilson for another year probably wasn't the nutty decision it seemed, without knowing of Isak's imminent actions. Would've gone down like an almighty shit sandwich but he'd have offered more than Wissa has.

 

We got totally fucked as far as the strikers go and I've no beef at all with the Howes, Nickson, and whoever else was charged with getting deals done last summer. The only one you can give them stick for is Elanga, but even he has just been a case of massively underperforming as opposed to being an obviously bad choice. 

 

Other than that, Thiaw's been great; Ramsey hasn't pulled up trees yet but looks odds-on to be a long-term success; and even Ramsdale - for all he's nothing special - has been good value for a backup goalie.

We hung on to Wilson for far too long is the real issue. The fact he left for free is apart of the same issue imo. Imagine a scenario we bought one striker and we got our usual 50% of the time for Wilson. Would have been even more if a disaster. 

[OverThere]

The truth is always somewhere in the middle. There is no doubt the Eales-Mitchell situation was shambolic. However, which group was actually heading up transfers? How involved was Howe and nephew....  a lot, a bit or not at all?

 

In any event the fallout for the general mismanagement ultimately has to lie with the owners who should never have allowed this situation to happen.

[Yorkie]

Just now, r0cafella said:

Imagine a scenario we bought one striker and we got our usual 50% of the time for Wilson. Would have been even more if a disaster

 

Woltemade + 50% of Wilson's time is still more than Woltemade + Wissa, with £55m saved.

 

@LFEE has made the suggestion (edgelord check still pending) that we shouldn't have signed any striker and kept our powder dry until the market settled down. Keeping Wilson would've at least enabled us to hold some money back. 

 

I think the underlying point is that, as far as the striker situation went, we were between a rock and a hard place, and then got an additional boulder to the knackers when Wissa did his knee. I don't think Howe etc really deserve any stick at all for how the striker situation has turned out 

[Gottlob]

I suspect that Isak expected to be sold then thought that we were putting his move in jeopardy. Howe seems like the type of manager who wants unswerving commitment from his players and I'm not sure we were willing to pay the type of salary that Isak could command as one of the league's top strikers over the past couple of seasons.

 

Wissa and Woltemade were understandable purchases given the circumstances. Wissa seemed like one of the closest things possible to an Isak replacement, someone who could stretch teams from the front and had scored plenty of goals the previous season from open play. Then after missing out on other targets and being confronted with rising fees, we turned to Woltemade as someone with a relatively high profile and plenty of upside. Neither had shown a wealth of quality at the highest level but theoretically they could have provided us with the right blend of skills.

It hasn't worked though and ultimately the transfer team and the manager to some extent are going to be judged on the results rather than their initial concept. It's fair enough in my opinion to question Wissa's age, motivation and career trajectory or to wonder how we expected to get the best out of Woltemade. There always seems to have been a mishmash there between his qualities and our reliance on a more pacy and direct style of play. I also don't think that we've been particularly proactive or imaginative in the transfer market over the past couple of seasons, which leaves us needing plenty of work in the summer to come.

[Froggy]

11 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

In all seriousness, trying to hang onto Wilson for another year probably wasn't the nutty decision it seemed, without knowing of Isak's imminent actions. Would've gone down like an almighty shit sandwich but he'd have offered more than Wissa has.

 

We got totally fucked as far as the strikers go and I've no beef at all with the Howes, Nickson, and whoever else was charged with getting deals done last summer. The only one you can give them stick for is Elanga, but even he has just been a case of massively underperforming as opposed to being an obviously bad choice. 

 

Other than that, Thiaw's been great; Ramsey hasn't pulled up trees yet but looks odds-on to be a long-term success; and even Ramsdale - for all he's nothing special - has been good value for a backup goalie.

 

Genuine question, but why is Elanga getting more patience than Wissa? Seems like there's a negative opinion of Wissa but a lot of people jumping to Elanga's defence and even praising him when he does the bare minimum.

 

Wissa has contributed more than Elanga from a stats viewpoint, and also had an injury to deal with. He have a bad attitude?

[r0cafella]

1 minute ago, Yorkie said:

 

Woltemade + 50% of Wilson's time is still more than Woltemade + Wissa, with £55m saved.

 

@LFEE has made the suggestion (edgelord check still pending) that we shouldn't have signed any striker and kept our powder dry until the market settled down. Keeping Wilson would've at least enabled us to hold some money back. 

 

I think the underlying point is that, as far as the striker situation went, we were between a rock and a hard place, and then got an additional boulder to the knackers when Wissa did his knee. I don't think Howe etc really deserve any stick at all for how the striker situation has turned out 

Yeah we obviously got unlucky/handled the Wissa situation poorly but it's one of those situations whereby we are trying to correct the previous issue (hanging on to Wilson too long) same mistake we are making with Pope. 

 

@LFEE obviously enjoyed our championship seasons a bit too much because following that mental suggestion would have ended up with us playing in it next season like.