Eddie Howe

[Mountain]

1 minute ago, BonesJones said:

 

The egg. 

 

Sorry. 

 

This is true.

[Holmesy]

6 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

Transitional season just applies to any season that bridges one era to another (and is a bit of a write-off) when there's a big change, most commonly when there's a squad overhaul and/or a key player leaves. Nothing automatically to do with a style change and yes, it does have a lot to do with being shite, they tend to go hand in hand.

 

 

 

If Eddie came out and said 'we're transitioning to a new style of play that's easier on the players and it's going to take a while to bed in' that's the kind of transition that I think everyone would accept, despite our form, because there would be a better outcome at the end of it. And i think we'd have confidence that he could make it work. But we're not transitioning to anything, we're just shit and planning on doing the same thing until something clicks. And then we'll probably continue to do that same thing all next season.

Transitions are by design. 

[Wallsendmag]

6 minutes ago, Scottish Mag said:

That’s still not really addressing the point though.  I’m not saying Villa dipped a bit or a lot, I’m saying Champions League football is a different level of intensity to Europa League.
 

Just comparing league position or saying they’ve played two fewer games doesn’t really account for that.

 

Tbf a lot of our CL matches weren't exactly intense energy sapping games. I'm thinking USG, Benfica, PSV, Bilbao, Qarabag. All pretty routine. Also for whatever reason it always feels preferable to play on Tuesdays/Wednesdays as opposed to Thursdays.

[gbandit]

1 minute ago, Whitley mag said:

People are angry and emotional. Who the fuck is feeling smug after yesterday.

 

We’re bottom half of the table, our local rivals have done the double and are above us in the league table.

Folk have a right to be pissed off with the manager and team, it was fucking gutless and embarrassing yesterday.

 

Take a look round the forum, there’s a shitload of smug “I told you so” shite that’s even “I told you so’s”. Just a bunch of angry entitlement largely devoid of context, logic and even handedness

[Kid Icarus]

Just now, Holmesy said:

If Eddie came out and said 'we're transitioning to a new style of play that's easier on the players and it's going to take a while to bed in' that's the kind of transition that I think everyone would accept, despite our form, because there would be a better outcome at the end of it. And i think we'd have confidence that he could make it work. But we're not transitioning to anything, we're just shit and planning on doing the same thing until something clicks. And then we'll probably continue to do that same thing all next season.

Transitions are by design. 

Howe has said it  he's mentioned countless times that the new players need patience, love, that other players have needed time to get up to speed, and that the lack of training time has effected us massively.

 

'Doing the same thing over and over again until it clicks' is training in a sense.

[Yorkie]

1 minute ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

Tbf a lot of our CL matches weren't exactly intense energy sapping games. I'm thinking USG, Benfica, PSV, Bilbao, Qarabag. All pretty routine. Also for whatever reason it always feels preferable to play on Tuesdays/Wednesdays as opposed to Thursdays.

 

Well that's definitely not true. They were routine wins because we played our high intensity game, and our opponents couldn't handle it. The CL schedule has clearly had a massive impact on the season.

[Ellis H]

1 hour ago, TheBrownBottle said:

If the implication is Robson shouldn’t have been sacked when he was - you’re right; he should’ve been sacked earlier. 

 

It's got nothing to do with that. It's about a decent, respectable man who walked into a joke of a club that was fighting relegation who then dragged us up the league and had numerous great league finishes and European cup runs only to find himself being booed and hounded out when we didn't keep progressing at the unsustainable rate we had been. Sound familiar?

[Jesse Pinkman]

21 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

You're being very kind to Woltemade there like. Right now he's a so-so PL striker; he got on the end of a few chances early on but doesn't have the strength, pace or the instincts to make a meaningful contribution up front. That said, I remain really excited about what he might become - he was clearly never meant to be the main man this year.

 

I liked the Wissa signing; it made lots of sense and I was relieved when we got him. Sadly it's been a total disaster and he's been the opposite of everything that Brentford fans adored him for: impeccable fitness record, high work rate, dependable goalscorer. For us he was injured until December, doesn't work very hard, and doesn't score. 

 

We haven't had a good striker all season and it's absolutely a legitimate defence of Howe imo. (In fact it's a minor miracle that his faith in Gordon has paid off, not that he's getting any praise for that decision). And, going back to the original point I quoted, the Isak saga/sale has a lot of responsibility for that situation. 

But can’t you see that it may be Howe not getting the most out of the strikers in squad? Gordon is not a striker and his conversion rate from open play leaves a lot to be desired. He stat pads with pens most of the time.
 

It’s been obvious for a while now that Howe can’t change his style and only has one plan. High press and push for the opposition to turn over position in a dangerous area. But this is not sustainable for a team playing in several completions and with a small squad. He needs to adapt instead of doubling down but he won’t. Hence why he now even refuses to play Woltemade up top. 
 

Even the journalists have pushed him on this and his response is not what is plan B but we should’ve executing plan A better. 
 

His style won’t work if we want to compete long term in the CL 

 

 

Edited March 23 by Jesse Pinkman

[SUPERTOON]

3 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

Tbf a lot of our CL matches weren't exactly intense energy sapping games. I'm thinking USG, Benfica, PSV, Bilbao, Qarabag. All pretty routine. Also for whatever reason it always feels preferable to play on Tuesdays/Wednesdays as opposed to Thursdays.

Still more difficult than Villa’s Europa fixtures. 

[Wallsendmag]

1 minute ago, Yorkie said:

 

Well that's definitely not true. They were routine wins because we played our high intensity game, and our opponents couldn't handle it. The CL schedule has clearly had a massive impact on the season.

 

Disagree. They were all comfortable, routine wins helped by poor opposition.

[Sir Joel Inton]

2 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Still more difficult than Villa’s Europa fixtures. 

 

Think I’d favour a trip to USG rather than Fenerbahce tbf  

 

But as a collective our fixtures have obviously been much tougher, of course.

 

 

Edited March 23 by Sir Joel Inton

[Holmesy]

Just now, Kid Icarus said:

Howe has said it  he's mentioned countless times that the new players need patience, love, that other players have needed time to get up to speed, and that the lack of training time has effected us massively.

 

'Doing the same thing over and over again until it clicks' is training in a sense.

I'm talking about the games, not the training....that we can't do anyway because we're in Europe.....again. It's more of a fucking hindrance than a reward - might as well forfeit our place next time.
We do the same things IN GAMES, that isn't working. And the response is to do the same things in games, and it continues to not work. And then we do it again.

[The Prophet]

The next three weeks are going to be class.

[Wolfcastle]

1 minute ago, Ellis H said:

 

It's got nothing to do with that. It's about a decent, respectable man who walked into a joke of a club that was fighting relegation who then dragged us up the league and had numerous great league finishes and European cup runs only to find himself being booed and hounded out when we didn't keep progressing at the unsustainable rate we had been. Sound familiar?

 

He wasn't hounded out ffs.  Half the crowd going home after a terrible game against Wolves isn't hounding a manager out. 

There weren't any protests, chants, banners or anything. He was sacked because he was retiring at the end of the season anyway and the players had downed tools causing a bad start. 

[Whitley mag]

Just now, gbandit said:

Take a look round the forum, there’s a shitload of smug “I told you so” shite that’s even “I told you so’s”. Just a bunch of angry entitlement largely devoid of context, logic and even handedness

The clubs moved on and spent 3 quarters of a billion in Howe’s time here. I’ve seen the shit times in 40 years, this doesn’t compare, but there has to be a realism that it’s a results business and this season is now unacceptable in terms of results and performances.

 

I think a change is needed due to various factors but also accept the view of those who think he’ll turn it around.

 

Time will tell but I find it hard to believe anyone is revelling in it at the moment, yesterday was a sickener for everyone.

[Kid Icarus]

1 hour ago, TheBrownBottle said:

If the implication is Robson shouldn’t have been sacked when he was - you’re right; he should’ve been sacked earlier. 

Presumably when the 'who would you replace him with?' question was being asked to the Robson out lot on here, the answer was that it's not their job, it's the club's - the club who then swiftly approached Steve Bruce and Graeme Sounness. 

[Kid Icarus]

3 minutes ago, Holmesy said:

I'm talking about the games, not the training....that we can't do anyway because we're in Europe.....again. It's more of a fucking hindrance than a reward - might as well forfeit our place next time.
We do the same things IN GAMES, that isn't working. And the response is to do the same things in games, and it continues to not work. And then we do it again.

 

Howe's training philosophy is to treat games and training as one and the same, and that games are an extension of training, we know this.

 

Repetition is also how you improve like, it's not simply a case of the whole definition of insanity thing.

[Wolfcastle]

Hitzfeld was strongly linked at the time and Mourinho was being lined up to come in as assistant to Sir Bobby for a year before taking over.  Either would have been ideal but Abramovich happened and Jose won the CL and that was that. 

[Wallsendmag]

6 minutes ago, Wolfcastle said:

 

He wasn't hounded out ffs.  Half the crowd going home after a terrible game against Wolves isn't hounding a manager out. 

There weren't any protests, chants, banners or anything. He was sacked because he was retiring at the end of the season anyway and the players had downed tools causing a bad start. 

 

Aye the Brat pack as they were known back then. Dyer, Jenas, Bramble, Bellamy all taking the piss.

[Deuce]

Do think a lot of folks need to take a breather…would be a far less vitriolic reaction had we lost to just some other mid-table club (which, setting aside the rivalry, is all Sunderland are, really.)

 

 

Edited March 23 by Deuce

[Holmesy]

5 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

Howe's training philosophy is to treat games and training as one and the same, and that games are an extension of training, we know this.

 

Repetition is also how you improve like, it's not simply a case of the whole definition of insanity thing.

And have you ever heard of another Premier League team having to essentially stop training because they're in a European campaign? I haven't, we're the only one. And our aspirations are to be in the CL every season. 
So, as has been said before, Eddie's current style of management is not suited to a team competing on two fronts. We can't go through this debacle every time.

 

 

Edited March 23 by Holmesy

[Chicken Dancer]

Villa also got to the R16 in the CL last season , the FA Cup semi finals and missed out on qualifying for the CL again due to a dodgy refereeing decision. They’ve shown competing on numerous fronts and having a successful league campaign can be done. 
 

I think with the benefit of hindsight Howe would have rested a couple more in the home leg vs Qarabag. 

[SUPERTOON]

Just now, Chicken Dancer said:

Villa also got to the R16 in the CL last season , the FA Cup semi finals and missed out on qualifying for the CL again due to a dodgy refereeing decision. They’ve shown competing on numerous fronts and having a successful league campaign can be done. 
 

I think with the benefit of hindsight Howe would have rested a couple more in the home leg vs Qarabag. 

They did, but only after strengthening massively in the January window with loans.

[SUPERTOON]

2 minutes ago, Holmesy said:

And have you ever heard of another Premier League team having to essentially stop training because they're in a European campaign? I haven't, we're the only one. And our aspirations are to be in the CL every season. 
So, as has been said before, Eddie's current style of management is not suited to a team competing on two fronts. We can't go through this debacle every time.

 

 

 

Chelsea this season tbf, Slot has also alluded to it. I do agree Howe could and should have rotated more though.

[Danh1]

1 minute ago, Holmesy said:

And have you ever heard of another Premier League team having to essentially stop training because they're in a European campaign? I haven't, we're the only on. And our aspirations are to be in the CL every season. 
So, as has been said before, Eddie's current style of management is not suited to a team competing on two fronts. We can't go through this debacle every time.

I’d also add to this that last season, when we were playing once a week, it wasn’t exactly a case of us playing well and dominating games. There were some very sketchy performances and we fell over the line due to Villa more than a case of us being decent.

 

I hope that doesn’t come across that I’m trying to diminish what we achieved, but the above is true.

 

I don’t have any faith that next season is going to be much of an improvement on this one tactically, Europe or not.