Eddie Howe

[HawK]

Can imagine the training ground routines where Wolte has been stuck in LCM and is just wondering wtf he's done to deserve it and now getting called out publically by his manager.

 

You just know if any other manager comes in, the very next game Wolte's starting up top. 

[Weezertron]

I remember Eddie playing a poor Gordon no matter what in an attempt to ‘play him into form’. Not sure why Gordon gets a special allowance and not someone like Nick. 

[Kid Icarus]

Just now, Weezertron said:

I remember Eddie playing a poor Gordon no matter what in an attempt to ‘play him into form’. Not sure why Gordon gets a special allowance and not someone like Nick. 

This is one thing I definitely agree with mind. It was particularly annoying because it was happening even when Barnes was in form. 

[The College Dropout]

Good managers do sometimes get players wrong.

 

Rafa never liked Mitro. He continued with Sissoko RW, Wijnaldum AM when both would've formed a good midfield 3 with Shelvey imo.

 

But i'll trust Eddie on Wissa and Woltemade

[TheEntertainer]

As has been said now is the perfect time to try and fit Wolte into the team though, probably with a bit of a change of formation or style. He's clearly a good player and clearly not right for the current way of playing. We're playing terribly at the minute and more or less have nothing to play for now so now would seem the perfect time. Though I guess Eddie is probably worried about potentially losing his job if we lose all of our remaining games so in Eddies mind there is a lot at stake still so he probably doesn't want to take anything that he sees as a risk. 

[healthyaddiction]

52 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

4 out of the 21 he played in midfield. That whole Woltemade in midfield thing is really overstated like. 

After the Chelsea match where he scored two, he started two matches at centre forward in the league.

[KaKa]

1 hour ago, vexred said:

I hate these quotes. There is no accountability for his inability to give them a role and minutes in this team. It isn't as though they're being kept out by players in form. 

 

Having watched the press conference and listened to Howe answer questions on both Wissa and Woltemade, I get the impression that they're both going to be here next season and he's still backing them considerably going forward.

 

Makes me wonder if they've already decided that Osula will be moving on, and he is currently being played to put him in the shop window and be able to command a bigger fee for him.

 

Maybe that all changes if Osula keeps going from strength to strength, but didn't sound at all like Howe has given up on Wissa or Woltemade.

[TRon]

24 minutes ago, HawK said:

Can imagine the training ground routines where Wolte has been stuck in LCM and is just wondering wtf he's done to deserve it and now getting called out publically by his manager.

 

You just know if any other manager comes in, the very next game Wolte's starting up top. 

 

 

Tbf I've never really seen how Wolt will fire in the PL. It would certainly need a different type of football. I guess we'll never really find out unless we get a new manager at some point and Wolt is still here. 

[Mikky]

1 minute ago, TRon said:

 

 

Tbf I've never really seen how Wolt will fire in the PL. It would certainly need a different type of football. I guess we'll never really find out unless we get a new manager at some point and Wolt is still here. 

But that’s the whole thing with Big Nick - he’s not going to do what Isak did - he’s a different type of 9 meaning you have to adopt your philosophy accordingly - surely your scouting and analysis done before buying him told you this - I bet they didn’t do either 

 

That’s why we’ve struggled as an attacking unit because teams now know they just need to block the wide areas and we have nothing 

[Kid Icarus]

6 minutes ago, healthyaddiction said:

After the Chelsea match where he scored two, he started two matches at centre forward in the league.

 

If we're focusing on starts instead of appearances (where he's come on as a sub at CF) then since Chelsea he's started at all 7 times in the league and 4 of those were at AM. 

 

As I say though, that also ignores the times he's come on and played 15, 20, 30, 45 minutes coming off the bench and playing at CF. 

[healthyaddiction]

Just now, Kid Icarus said:

 

If we're focusing on starts instead of appearances (where he's come on as a sub at CF) then since Chelsea he's started at all 7 times in the league and 4 of those were at AM. 

 

As I say though, that also ignores the times he's come on and played 15, 20, 30, 45 minutes coming off the bench and playing at CF. 

None were in AM. Howe stated he was playing as an 8. Since that Chelsea match in all competitions he's played 497 minutes upfront. He's played 590 minutes in midfield.

[janpawel]

9 minutes ago, Mikky said:

But that’s the whole thing with Big Nick - he’s not going to do what Isak did - he’s a different type of 9 meaning you have to adopt your philosophy accordingly - surely your scouting and analysis done before buying him told you this - I bet they didn’t do either 

 

That’s why we’ve struggled as an attacking unit because teams now know they just need to block the wide areas and we have nothing 

 

I don't want us to adapt to Big Nick, he's too slow and weak to truly be a long term 9 at a top end PL team.. Imo

 

Deffo a panic buy who we didn't scout enough 

[Kid Icarus]

5 minutes ago, healthyaddiction said:

None were in AM. Howe stated he was playing as an 8. Since that Chelsea match in all competitions he's played 497 minutes upfront. He's played 590 minutes in midfield.

So you've gone from all of those matches listed, to starts since Chelsea, to minutes since Chelsea and it all amounts to one extra match. I rest my case about it being overstated.

[healthyaddiction]

7 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

So you've gone from all of those matches listed, to starts since Chelsea, to minutes since Chelsea and it all amounts to one extra match. I rest my case about it being overstated.

How's it being overstated? It's the majority of his minutes. And most of the minutes up front are in bits and pieces, coming on in system set up for a completely different type of forward. I am very much Howe In, but I think you've formulated your opinion on this and are just seeing what you want to see.

 

In total, he has started three games up front since that Chelsea match, in all competitions, and has started 9 in midfield.

 

 

Edited April 24 by healthyaddiction

[The College Dropout]

37 minutes ago, TheEntertainer said:

As has been said now is the perfect time to try and fit Wolte into the team though, probably with a bit of a change of formation or style. He's clearly a good player and clearly not right for the current way of playing. We're playing terribly at the minute and more or less have nothing to play for now so now would seem the perfect time. Though I guess Eddie is probably worried about potentially losing his job if we lose all of our remaining games so in Eddies mind there is a lot at stake still so he probably doesn't want to take anything that he sees as a risk. 

I think Howe is done with Woltemade. He doesn't have the disposition to play for Howe.*

 

Kind of like how Rafa needed a striker to run a lot and be mobile..... Howe pretty much needs the same thing. If he can't/won't make runs in behind and press defenders - he's a non starter.

 

*Unless he tries a 10

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Nick probably needs to play some games behind a pressing forward so he can receive the ball in the middle of the opposition half, drive forward, create openings while not being expected to lead the line. Osula would be fine for me for the rest of the season. But you'd have to give up a CM which I'm not sure I can see Howe doing right now. Not against Arsenal anyway. 

[The College Dropout]

11 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Nick probably needs to play some games behind a pressing forward so he can receive the ball in the middle of the opposition half, drive forward, create openings while not being expected to lead the line. Osula would be fine for me for the rest of the season. But you'd have to give up a CM which I'm not sure I can see Howe doing right now. Not against Arsenal anyway. 

You think Howe wants any outfield player that can't press? And that player being Nick Woltemade?

 

Osula is way more a Howe player than Nick. A summer won't change that.

 

 

Edited April 24 by The College Dropout

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Just now, The College Dropout said:

You think Howe wants any outfield player that can't press? And that player being Nick Woltemade?

 

It's a fair point. I think Nick can press to some extent, maybe more effectively if he's not leading the line and being expected to sprint between CBs and FBs. 

 

We'll see, but I don't think we have a good enough squad to have someone that talented that we aren't using. 

[Kid Icarus]

14 minutes ago, healthyaddiction said:

How's it being overstated? It's the majority of his minutes. And most of the minutes up front are in bits and pieces, coming on in system set up for a completely different type of forward. I am very much Howe In, but I think you've formulated your opinion on this and are just seeing what you want to see.

 

In total, he has started three games up front since that Chelsea match, in all competitions, and has started 9 in midfield.

 

 

 

Because it's talked about like he's been playing in midfield for most of the season, when the reality is that even when you count from that Chelsea match you've picked (when really it should be from when Bruno got injured because that's when it started), it amounts to one more match in minutes played in midfield than upfront. 

 

It has nothing to do with Howe tbh, it's more this thing where there's a hyper fixation on Woltemade being in the team at CF, or us not playing 433 as being a silver bullet. It's understandable I just think people forget what he was like when he played there.

[Wallsendmag]

1 hour ago, Myleftboot said:

I couldn’t imagine Asprilla being arsed in training.

 

Ginola would rather have had a tab than do 5 laps of the pitch.

[Mikky]

6 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

It's a fair point. I think Nick can press to some extent, maybe more effectively if he's not leading the line and being expected to sprint between CBs and FBs. 

 

We'll see, but I don't think we have a good enough squad to have someone that talented that we aren't using. 

He is and never will be a pressing CF - he’s very talented at what he does and is a totally different profile to Isak - the team adopts to him - not the other way because he isn’t that type of player 

 

Blows my fkn mind if they thought he could be anything else 

 

Honestly summer 2025 is unforgivable - a catastrophic failure and those who presided over it and are still here must go imo 

[TK-421]

1 minute ago, Mikky said:

He is and never will be a pressing CF - he’s very talented at what he does and is a totally different profile to Isak - the team adopts to him - not the other way because he isn’t that type of player 

 

Blows my fkn mind if they thought he could be anything else 

 

Honestly summer 2025 is unforgivable - a catastrophic failure and those who presided over it and are still here must go imo 

 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

For me the most likely explanation is that we initially thought we would be able to integrate Nick more gradually as Wissa carried the load of being the main CF and goalscorer (lol). Then later in the season Howe has felt unable to move away from the pressing CF because we got increasingly desperate for results and failed to transition to higher possession.

 

If the true answer is we didn't know Woltemade's attributes before we bought him for mega money, that is obviously very worrying. But I don't think it's the only possible explanation for how the season has gone. 

 

 

Edited April 24 by AyeDubbleYoo

[Dokko]

Howe's been burned badly by Gordon, and it's something he needs to remember and learn from. Problem is, I don't believe he will. 

[huss9]

let Nick play a couple games at centre forward ffs man.

stick Osula wide.

gotta use the carrot as much as the stick, Eddie.