Eddie Howe

[Mattoon]

And for those saying what would be different and Eddie got the players he wanted last summer? No he didn't, he missed out on most of the players he wanted and ended up panic buying for the positions that needed filling, granted, one or two were probably his first choice, but with an experienced DOF in place whats not to say we couldn't entice at least one of his top targets? It's all conjecture either way but it's unfair to suggest this is the exact team he wanted.

[Fenham Mag]

Don't know if it has been mentioned but 5 of the 6 Champions league teams got beat at the weekend, it would be foolish to rule out fatigue. 

[Mattoon]

3 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

Middling teams would love him aye. 

 

Clubs with ambition to win at the highest level though? Not convinced. 

 

Plenty of Man Utd supporters I know would have him in an instant.

[r0cafella]

Just now, Mattoon said:

And for those saying what would be different and Eddie got the players he wanted last summer? No he didn't, he missed out on most of the players he wanted and ended up panic buying for the positions that needed filling, granted, one or two were probably his first choice, but with an experienced DOF in place whats not to say we couldn't entice at least one of his top targets? It's all conjecture either way but it's unfair to suggest this is the exact team he wanted.

We don't entice the players we missed out on. Look at who they joined we've appointed Ross Wilson  Eddie would be much better at selling the club than Wilson as he's actually achieved things. 

 

We didn't get our top targets because we were smoking crack when we came up with them, might as well have had Messi on the list for good measure. 

[r0cafella]

Just now, Mattoon said:

 

Plenty of Man Utd supporters I know would have him in an instant.

Maybe they would but he wouldn't get anywhere near the amount of control as he has here like. Brexit Jim would probably sack him for suggesting paying 55m for Wissa if we are being honest like. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I still don't get why Wilson is such a joke figure? Isn't he quite experienced and Forest recruited loads of players, a lot of whom were good?

 

 

Edited March 23 by AyeDubbleYoo

[TK-421]

23 minutes ago, Wilson said:

 

People can want change whenever they want, but personally I think now would be an idiotic time to change. 

 

I always find the 'spent a fortune on shit' complaint a bit strange, as if those saying it are blind to the fact that we were forced into overpaying for 2 strikers out of desperation, plus the fact we didn't have anyone in place to deal with negotiations but of course, it's all Howe's fault.  Granted Elanga has been a complete miss but how many of us can honestly say we seen that coming when we bought him?  I was excited about him coming in as were plenty of others... Hindsight and all that. 

 

I think we'll finish top 10 still, looking at the run in, the dramatic change in our match schedule, return of players, I think we'll pick up after the break.  This is why I think now would be an idiotic time to change, if we don't pick up after the break with a fit squad/more training time/less games... I'll start to question it myself. 

 

 

 

Said it last night, we/he pursued Wissa most of the summer. That wasn't desperation, that was a targeted choice. We/he could have walked away at any point once Brentford kept rejecting our offers, but we kept going back, all the way to deadline day.

If the range of strikers was so narrow that it was Wissa or no-one, then that's on the recruitment staff in place last summer, one of which was EH. But the financial rules didn't force us to overspend on Wissa.

[SUPERTOON]

3 minutes ago, Mattoon said:

And for those saying what would be different and Eddie got the players he wanted last summer? No he didn't, he missed out on most of the players he wanted and ended up panic buying for the positions that needed filling, granted, one or two were probably his first choice, but with an experienced DOF in place whats not to say we couldn't entice at least one of his top targets? It's all conjecture either way but it's unfair to suggest this is the exact team he wanted.

The biggest issue wasn't the players we missed out on imo, it was going from them to the ones we ended up with. So many players in between would have been better options. 

[Dr Venkman]

I understand the strength of feeling, that was an absolute horror show performance TBH and losing to them twice in a season is unacceptable.

 

For me the sensible decision is to support Eddie and see what next season brings, I don't want to join the carousel that so many other clubs are currently on: trying to find a coach who can cut it at the top in this league. Eddie has shown he has the potential to do that, anyone else other than proven elite e.g. Pep, Ancelotti would be a bigger risk, that's the way I look at it. 

 

There are many mitigating circumstances for this season, and yet, it's only really been a major disappointment in the league. I find statements that Eddie's teams 'can't compete on multiple fronts' hyperbolic. As the holders we got to the semi-finals in our defence of the league cup, the fifth round of the FA cup after drawing three successive premier league opponents and losing to Man City, and we progressed the furthest we ever have in the CL. We competed fairly well on multiple fronts, I'd suggest. The league form has been a big issue, though, that's undeniable. 

 

I can understand why some are impatient for change, but given the turmoil above him since Eddie took over: AS leaving, Eales's cancer, Ashworth fucking off immediately, the Mitchell disaster, Isak, etc, I'd like to see what Eddie can achieve with relative stability above him. If it doesn't work out and we're not making progress, then fair enough. But I'd like to see it before we move on to a phase we might very quickly be sickened by.

 

 

Edited March 23 by Dr Venkman

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I think the backroom changes were massive though, because they no doubt affect the deals we could actually do. 

 

Just like when Steve Bruce and Charnley only had the phone numbers of about 5 footballers. We obviously didn't have the capacity to do multiple smart deals. 

 

Whether or not we do now, we will see. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Just now, Dr Venkman said:

I understand the strength of feeling, that was an absolute horror show performance TBH and losing to them twice in a season is unacceptable.

 

For me the sensible decision is to support Eddie and see what next season brings, I don't want to join the carousel that so many other clubs are currently on, trying to find a coach who can cut it at the top in this league. Eddie has shown he has the potential to do that, anyone else other than proven elite e.g. Pep, Ancelotti would be a bigger risk, that's the way I look at it. 

 

There are many mitigating circumstances for this season, and yet, it's only really been a major disappointment in the league. I find statements that Eddie's teams 'can't compete on multiple fronts' hyperbolic. As the holders we got to the semi-finals in our defence of the league cup, the fifth round of the FA cup after drawing three successive premier league opponents and losing to Man City, and we progressed the furthest we ever have in the CL. We competed fairly well on multiple fronts, I'd suggest. The league form has been a big issue, though, that's undeniable. 

 

I can understand why some are impatient for change, but given the turmoil above him since Eddie took over: AS leaving, Eales's cancer, Ashworth fucking off immediately, the Mitchell disaster, Isak, etc, I'd like to see what Eddie can achieve with relative stability above him.

 

Top top post. 

[SUPERTOON]

1 minute ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

I still don't get why Wilson is such a joke figure? Isn't he quite experienced and Forest recruited loads of players, a lot of whom were good?

 

 

 

Hated at Rangers, quite well though of at Forest.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Just now, SUPERTOON said:

Hated at Rangers, quite well though of at Forest.

 

But we seem to have assumed he's shite?

[r0cafella]

Just now, SUPERTOON said:

Hated at Rangers, quite well though of at Forest.

Do you believe Marinakis just let him get on with it?  

[TK-421]

3 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

The biggest issue wasn't the players we missed out on imo, it was going from them to the ones we ended up with. So many players in between would have been better options. 

Look at the lad Brentford signed to replace Wissa and/or Mbuemo.... Thiago.

Where is our scouting for players like that?

 

[r0cafella]

Just now, TK-421 said:

Look at the lad Brentford signed to replace Wissa and/or Mbuemo.... Thiago.

Where is our scouting for players like that?

 

To be fair, given our expectations it's much more difficult for us to take such punts. 

[TheBrownBottle]

11 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

Middling teams would love him aye. 

 

Clubs with ambition to win at the highest level though? Not convinced. 

I’m struggling to picture telling the Liverpool board that results will pick up once he’s got time on the training ground by being out of European competitions being a winning argument.  Could be wrong, like. 

[r0cafella]

Just now, TheBrownBottle said:

I’m struggling to picture telling the Liverpool board that results will pick up once he’s got time on the training ground by being out of European competitions being a winning argument.  Could be wrong, like. 

Aye that's the thing right. It's an admission of not being up to playing in multiple competitions at the end of the day. 

 

Surprised it washes here honestly. 

[Wilson]

1 minute ago, TK-421 said:

Said it last night, we/he pursued Wissa most of the summer. That wasn't desperation, that was a targeted choice. We/he could have walked away at any point once Brentford kept rejecting our offers, but we kept going back, all the way to deadline day.

If the range of strikers was so narrow that it was Wissa or no-one, then that's on the recruitment staff in place last summer, one of which was EH. But the financial rules didn't force us to overspend on Wissa.

 

Agreed wissa was a miss also, but it's another one where hindsight comes into play.  After last season how many of us thought he would drop off like this?  I was OK with him coming in as back up (before the isak shit played out) as were many people, unfortunately he's been absolutely toss and it's all the more noticeable because we ended up having to rely on him and Nick. 

 

I still find it hard to be too critical of the recruitment team in the summer due to the fact it was an unprecedented shit show with Mitchell and Isak. 

[TheBrownBottle]

Just now, r0cafella said:

Aye that's the thing right. It's an admission of not being up to playing in multiple competitions at the end of the day. 

 

Surprised it washes here honestly. 

Yep.  It’s not even an argument in favour of squad size, but about coaching technique. 

[r0cafella]

Just now, TheBrownBottle said:

Yep.  It’s not even an argument in favour of squad size, but about coaching technique. 

It actually tells me we struggle with video analyst and our coaches are actually shit. 

[Froggy]

10 minutes ago, Mattoon said:

Plenty of Man Utd supporters I know would have him in an instant.

 

Absolutely. Feels like the amount of control Eddie has at you is part of the reason he's starting to fail, but he wouldn't have any of that at us. As a coach I don't think there is much better out there.

 

If we could manage to convince Luis Enrique to come he's the absolute #1 choice, after that I'd be very interested in Howe. Not sure if I'd take him over Nagelsmann, but it's a no brainer over Carrick/De Zerbi/Glasner in my opinion.

 

Iraola is a bit of a wild card. 

[mayubeproud]

23 minutes ago, Gallowgate Toon said:

Yup, we've gone from having a physical, mentally robust side that needed sprinklings of quality to push on... to a bunch of tummy ticklers. It looks like it all peaked last March but now the balance has gone.

 

Our first 18 months of windows, we signed some really good players but, crucially, exceptionally strong characters. Trippier, Bruno, Burn have been a really big part of the backbone of our success. Obviously having a class forward was part of that (along with a functioning 'keeper). Gordon was a continuation - a known little shit at the time. 

 

The subsequent windows - Hall, Tino, Barnes, Elanga, Woltemade, Ramsey etc. Nice lads, some good/really good footballers in there, but they don't feel anywhere as elite mentality-wise as those early signings - certainly not players who will help to keep up our fantastic off the ball game consistently. Tonali is the main outlier in this group but, in reality, he's given us 6 very good months in 3 years.

 

We were once one of the toughest sides to play filled with energy to moving across to a 'prettier' team who lack bite while also not really having enough players to execute a more possession-based approach. We're just stuck.

It wasn't. We clearly peaked in 2023, where we can almost always expect about 2 points per game on average for about a year.

 

Other than that, I do agree there seems to be some issues with the mentality of the players, as evident from this graph. Even in 24/25, without the distraction of European football and without a lot of injuries, we only had 2 short-term good runs. The players seemed only cared for about 1-2 months occasionally. It was a warning sign.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I don't think I would map points onto caring in that way like.

 

The good news is it looks like we're due a big upturn now

 

 

Edited March 23 by AyeDubbleYoo

[TheBrownBottle]

1 minute ago, r0cafella said:

It actually tells me we struggle with video analyst and our coaches are actually shit. 

In all honesty if Howe was serious about doing better he’d have sacked off a chunk of his coaching staff and his permatanned bestie and got fresh coaches with fresh ideas.  Every top manager I can think of in the modern era has done this.