Eddie Howe

[Casey]

He's a good manager but I fear we've grazed against the upper limits of what will be achieved at this stage of the 'project' with him at the helm. 

 

When you start to doubt the manager it's really hard to see them turning it around and achieving the things we all hope for. I think it would be foolish to think fans are solely experiencing that doubt too.

 

I do expect that next season will be an improvement, though that's not saying an awful lot. It's not only about results though, the playstyle and tactical setup leads to tedious viewing.

 

I'd like Howe to be offskis at the end of the season. Think it's a good time to do it. For him, his legacy, the club and a clean slate. The city will always love him for what he's given us.

[Mikky]

9 minutes ago, Casey said:

He's a good manager but I fear we've grazed against the upper limits of what will be achieved at this stage of the 'project' with him at the helm. 

 

When you start to doubt the manager it's really hard to see them turning it around and achieving the things we all hope for. I think it would be foolish to think fans are solely experiencing that doubt too.

 

I do expect that next season will be an improvement, though that's not saying an awful lot. It's not only about results though, the playstyle and tactical setup leads to tedious viewing.

 

I'd like Howe to be offskis at the end of the season. Think it's a good time to do it. For him, his legacy, the club and a clean slate. The city will always love him for what he's given us.

The issue I have with Howe is I don’t know what team we are - post the break nothing he does makes sense - how does he even change this? 
 

We can’t defend 

We can’t attack 

We can’t pass 

We can’t shoot 

He doesn’t know his best XI

Playing players out of position 

Harshly dropping players (Hall, Barnes, Ramsey)

 

Its an absolute mess we are in and I really can’t see anything out of this - there’s been nothing post break to even give us some slight hope - it’s tedious football week in week out and that’s on him and his coaching team - how many years has Bruno been here and he still hasn’t had his shooting technique changed - it’s basic things like this 

[Jesse Pinkman]

1 hour ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Technical players to me are about ball control and vision tbh - all our wingers are ‘head-down’ footballers.  They have neither the control nor the vision to be good technical footballers.  
 

Tackling is more often than not the consequence of poor positioning.  Shooting is a mechanical function. 

Yeah Murphy is not a technical player at all and neither is Barnes. Murphy for example is more quantity over quality and creativity. He basically never looks up and just whips the ball into the same area each time. The odd time it works and looks good but the vast majority of the time we just turn over possession and then get breaked on. 

 

 

Edited May 10 by Jesse Pinkman

[TheBrownBottle]

Just now, Jesse Pinkman said:

Yeah Murphy is not a technical player at all and neither is Barnes. Murphy for example is more quantity over quality and creativity. He basically never looks up and just whips the ball into the same ball into the area each time. The odd time it works and looks good but the vast majority of the time we just turn over possession and then get breaker on. 

Gordon and Elanga aren’t technical footballers either.  Elanga is just a runner; Gordon is a more effective runner.  That we’ve played more crosses into the box than any other side and have fuck all to show for it speaks of the footballing intelligence in our play, our wingers, and our coaching / coaches.  Just endless, aimless lobbing the ball into the box with little to no outcome.  It’s like watching Franz Carr all over again. 
 

Bruno and Hall are the only two really adept technical footballers in the side.  Woltemade is more like a technical footballer, but not a particularly good one.   That’s not close to being good enough given just how much money has been spent. 

[Mikky]

2 minutes ago, Jesse Pinkman said:

Yeah Murphy is not a technical player at all and neither is Barnes. Murphy for example is more quantity over quality and creativity. He basically never looks up and just whips the ball into the same area each time. The odd time it works and looks good but the vast majority of the time we just turn over possession and then get breaked on. 

 

 

 

Murphy and Elanga are basically the same - that’s hurt us massively - a £52m player should have been one of a creative technical level and not one that is the same as you already have - there’s no variation is style 

 

Our whole right side of you include the 2 full backs has been woeful this season 

[Mikky]

If we sign players in the summer - please god be the type who can pass a ball 

 

We are such a bad team in possession - struggle to make 5 yard passes 

[Terrymac1966]

For whatever reason he said in his interview about our inability to defend a lead smacks of someone who has no clue of what the problem is...not really inspiring is it?

[Mikky]

Just now, Terrymac1966 said:

For whatever reason he said in his interview about our inability to defend a lead smacks of someone who has no clue of what the problem is...not really inspiring is it?

Doesn’t help when the senior voices amongst his team are the same who have been with him for years - it can stagnate if you don’t refresh your set up - but he will never change it - all the best managers do it 

[Holmesy]

14 minutes ago, Mikky said:

Murphy and Elanga are basically the same - that’s hurt us massively - a £52m player should have been one of a creative technical level and not one that is the same as you already have - there’s no variation is style 

 

Our whole right side of you include the 2 full backs has been woeful this season 

I'm convinced we could've got someone fast and who can sort of cross a ball for £10-15m from somewhere in Europe but we seemed determined to spend big money. There is nothing outstanding about Elanga, and £52m should get you a proper gamechanger.
You could argue Gordon is that to a degree - at least he supplements his pace with some end product but again, he's hardly what you call gifted.

I think some of it is a product of modern football but it's also due to Eddie's preference for work rate and pace over technical qualities. 

[Mikky]

2 minutes ago, Holmesy said:

I'm convinced we could've got someone fast and who can sort of cross a ball for £10-15m from somewhere in Europe but we seemed determined to spend big money. There is nothing outstanding about Elanga, and £52m should get you a proper gamechanger.
You could argue Gordon is that to a degree - at least he supplements his pace with some end product but again, he's hardly what you call gifted.

I think some of it is a product of modern football but it's also due to Eddie's preference for work rate and pace over technical qualities. 

The left hand side was fine -2 completely different players - offer something different 

 

We all knew the requirement on the right was for a left footed player - why have 4 wingers who are all right footed?

 

Put his assists aside because Murphy was getting you these aswell - it just made no sense

[r0cafella]

I think Eddie is generally conservative in his Approach, so the mentality was I just need someone who does the same thing as Murphy. 

 

We would be much more dynamic with a left footer on the right who could create space for the fullback. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I think the Elanga signing is pretty simple really. He was meant to be a clear upgrade on Murphy who was a more varied threat and had a good PL season behind him. As well as being young enough to do it for longer. 

 

Of course it completely failed, I believe mainly due to him mentally not being up to the move. But there was really no way we could have foreseen that it would be such a bad signing. 

 

Said in one of the transfer threads, you could almost put the whole story of the season down to Elanga and Wissa. They should have delivered enough goals and assists to keep us comfortably in the European hunt. 

 

 

Edited May 10 by AyeDubbleYoo

[TheBrownBottle]

8 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

I think the Elanga signing is pretty simple really. He was meant to be a clear upgrade on Murphy who was a more varied threat and had a good PL season behind him. As well as being young enough to do it for longer. 

 

Of course it completely failed, I believe mainly due to him mentally not being up to the move. But there was really no way we could have foreseen that it would be such a bad signing. 

 

Said in one of the transfer threads, you could almost put the whole story of the season down to Elanga and Wissa. They should have delivered enough goals and assists to keep us comfortably in the European hunt. 

 

 

 

Plenty did predict that it wasn’t a good signing mind.  I can remember writing on here that I was relieved when Howe’s interest in 2024 didn’t end up amounting to anything.  It was completely foreseeable - it was an unimaginative signing carrying massive amounts of risk given the fee.  Howe and his nephew don’t get off the hook on it. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

6 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Plenty did predict that it wasn’t a good signing mind.  I can remember writing on here that I was relieved when Howe’s interest in 2024 didn’t end up amounting to anything.  It was completely foreseeable - it was an unimaginative signing carrying massive amounts of risk given the fee.  Howe and his nephew don’t get off the hook on it. 

I think plenty didn’t want him, I didn’t particularly want him myself. I’m just saying that there’s sound logic behind what he was expected to produce. 
 

If you saw it going this badly, then fair play.
 

Agree it was unimaginative, I feel like we were generally in a position where we didn’t have the full team in place to make more creative signings. 

 

 

Edited May 10 by AyeDubbleYoo

[Conjo]

Murphy had a great season. If you can get someone like him, only younger, quicker and better dribbler, who can also go inside and shoot with his left, that's a fairly low risk signing. 

 

Unlucky for us, it seems Elanga had the season of his life with Forest, in a team set up to play to his strengths, and he has been unable to adapt. Even low risk signings can fail. Sucks extra hard when we've paid a premium for him which will affect how much we can spend on new players at least in the short term unless we do well in the selling department. 

[Ben]

Im happy hes staying, my only concern is him saying he doesn't think wholesale changes are healthy, I could change half the squad.

[Newcastle Fan]

15 minutes ago, Ben said:

Im happy hes staying, my only concern is him saying he doesn't think wholesale changes are healthy, I could change half the squad.

 

I personally don't think there is much wrong with the squad itself، almost all of them international players capped by some of the best football countries.

 

Its the tactics and the way the team is set up that always seem to be the issue.

[Mikky]

14 minutes ago, Ben said:

Im happy hes staying, my only concern is him saying he doesn't think wholesale changes are healthy, I could change half the squad.

Honestly there is so much to do with this squad - it’s pretty scary - some signings should be easy wins like back up full backs - young CB etc 

 

We then need to rebuild our attacking unit - that’s where we need to be clever in the market and get technical good players in 

[r0cafella]

9 minutes ago, Newcastle Fan said:

 

I personally don't think there is much wrong with the squad itself، almost all of them international players capped by some of the best football countries.

 

Its the tactics and the way the team is set up that always seem to be the issue.

Plenty wrong with it honestly. 

 

Wingers who can't beat a man. 

Strikers who can't finish. 

Midfielders who can't pass or tackle. 

 

At a very basic level, squad needs a lot of work. 

[Holloway]

8 hours ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Technical players to me are about ball control and vision tbh - all our wingers are ‘head-down’ footballers.  They have neither the control nor the vision to be good technical footballers.  
 

Tackling is more often than not the consequence of poor positioning.  Shooting is a mechanical function. 

none of them have a degree of dribbling skills either

[mouldy_uk]

From the established players (that get minutes), I’d keep Hall, Thiaw, Bruno, Miley and then possibly Barnes, Osula and Ramsey as good squad options. 

 

The rest I’d actively try and move on or wouldn’t shed a tear if they left. 

 

 

Edited May 11 by mouldy_uk

[bobbydazzla]

49 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

Plenty wrong with it honestly. 

 

Wingers who can't beat a man. 

Strikers who can't finish. 

Midfielders who can't pass or tackle. 

 

At a very basic level, squad needs a lot of work. 

The biggest issue is defenders who can’t defend.

1 clean sheet in last 22 games.
 

20 goals conceded in the last 15 mins of games.

 

27 points thrown away from winning positions.

 

From the tightest defence in the league in 22/23 to an absolute fucking shambles in 25/26.

 

That takes some doing. 

 

 

Edited May 11 by bobbydazzla

[Zero]

I would say it’s the midfield that’s the problem. Tonali as the only 6 no longer work. We looked much more stable playing both Tonali and Bruno together as 6.

 

May be we couldn’t press that effectively by playing 4231, but ultimately you have to sort out the stability issue first. Thats the first priority. No point getting the goal first and destined to lose it back.

[r0cafella]

14 minutes ago, bobbydazzla said:

The biggest issue is defenders who can’t defend.

1 clean sheet in last 22 games.
 

20 goals conceded in the last 15 mins of games.

 

27 points thrown away from winning positions.

 

From the tightest defence in the league in 22/23 to an absolute fucking shambles in 25/26.

 

That takes some doing. 

 

 

 

I'm an expert Bobby, was leaving space for you to talk about the defense

[UncleBingo]

8 hours ago, TheBrownBottle said:

As someone who did exactly this more times than I can count (with my dad and my uncle as a kid in the late 80s / early 90s, then with mates through the 90s),  the football this season has been shite - expectations are geared around investment in the team.  We’ve spent the money and this is the net result.  It’s not good enough.  

So were you doing it to support the club, or to be entertained?