Eddie Howe

[Holmesy]

2 minutes ago, Thumbheed said:

 

Klopp had similar injury struggles when he first implemented his style of play and stuck with it.

 

 

And yet Pep, the best manager in world football has continually tweaked, adapted, evolved and has won 5 PLs out of 6 and a treble last season. Pep's approach largely stays the same - front foot, possession-based, lots of technical players but look at peak tika-taka Barca - they don't look the same as current Man City. And when was the last time City had a bad season? They are an anomaly of course, but central to their success is constant evolution around a theme. 

Don't get me wrong, I would love us to have Klopp-levels of success but i'd rather we were a bit wiser during this transitional phase so it's not feast or famine.

[Isaksbigrightfoot]

Bizarrely a lot of the goals we concede are when the other team is on the counter attack. We pump players forward. Fail to score and get caught fast.

 

This makes it a positioning problem and still leads me to think we need a DM.

[Erikse]

4 minutes ago, Isaksbigrightfoot said:

Bizarrely a lot of the goals we concede are when the other team is on the counter attack. We pump players forward. Fail to score and get caught fast.

 

This makes it a positioning problem and still leads me to think we need a DM.

 

We do lack a little bit of pace overall. I think Almiron is actually one of our better players for stopping counters.

 

 

Edited January 15 by Erikse

[Holmesy]

10 minutes ago, Erikse said:

 

We do lack a little bit of pace overall. I think Almiron is actually one of our better players for stopping counters.

 

 

 

He might actually be a bit less frustrating playing as a DM. Maybe Eddie can turn him into the new Claude Makelele

 

 

Edited January 15 by Holmesy

[Cf]

6 hours ago, ExiledGeordie said:

While I do think we’ve been unfortunate with injuries I’m sure the medical team and management will probably look back at certain decisions and think “did we do the right thing”. I’d imagine the severity of the situation probably made them roll the dice or take a risk more than they would’ve liked.

 

Given the ridiculous level of injuries we had and the amount of games we had in December if we only played fully fit players we'd have been putting the reserves out.

[TRon]

3 hours ago, Optimistic Nut said:

Longstaff's lack of pace, inability to wriggle away from tackles and shite diving when under pressure would give me kittens sitting deep.

 

Not to mention lack of composure when being pressed by the opposition. That's the opposite of what you want from a deep sitting midfielder.

[The College Dropout]

2 hours ago, Erikse said:

 

We do lack a little bit of pace overall. I think Almiron is actually one of our better players for stopping counters.

 

 

 

Willock & Joelinton huge for this as well. Much more dynamic with both of them in.

 

Tonali is meant to have good running power too.

[Thumbheed]

3 hours ago, Holmesy said:

And yet Pep, the best manager in world football has continually tweaked, adapted, evolved and has won 5 PLs out of 6 and a treble last season. Pep's approach largely stays the same - front foot, possession-based, lots of technical players but look at peak tika-taka Barca - they don't look the same as current Man City. And when was the last time City had a bad season? They are an anomaly of course, but central to their success is constant evolution around a theme. 

Don't get me wrong, I would love us to have Klopp-levels of success but i'd rather we were a bit wiser during this transitional phase so it's not feast or famine.

 

I'd say the fact they have a world class 2nd team is central to their success.

 

I rate Pep as a managerial freak who as you say is able to constantly innovative and implement, but give him a bench that drops in quality to the degree it does for us then I don't think any plan B, C or D he has gives him the same success he's already had.

[Optimistic Nut]

1 hour ago, TRon said:

 

Not to mention lack of composure when being pressed by the opposition. That's the opposite of what you want from a deep sitting midfielder.

 

I'd prefer the shite patter of Schar playing there tbh. One of the things Longstaff brings is he's a decent system player in that RCM slot. Would be suicide putting him in front of the back 4.

[Optimistic Nut]

I think the only viable option we have is Bruno, telling him to stay put, but you're taking away any ounce of creativity we have in their half of the pitch. 

 

I'd still look at the 3-4-3 Rafa system personally. We might still have the same issue positionally in the middle but we'd at least have 3 centre-backs for them to contend with. One could step out when we're being hit on the break. Try something different possibly.

[Sean]

2 hours ago, Cf said:

 

Given the ridiculous level of injuries we had and the amount of games we had in December if we only played fully fit players we'd have been putting the reserves out.

We might well be in a better position if we had though. We couldn't have done any worse over the winter period.

[The College Dropout]

19 minutes ago, Sean said:

We might well be in a better position if we had though. We couldn't have done any worse over the winter period.

Rafa pretty much put out suboptimal teams early in the season often with the plan to have a fit squad by crunch time.

 

Pep has been doing the same the last couple of seasons too.

[Cf]

2 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Rafa pretty much put out suboptimal teams early in the season often with the plan to have a fit squad by crunch time.

 

Pep has been doing the same the last couple of seasons too.

 

There's a difference between suboptimal and what we had available. 

 

Also worth bearing in mind how badly our seasons started with Rafa. 

[The College Dropout]

9 minutes ago, Cf said:

 

There's a difference between suboptimal and what we had available. 

 

Also worth bearing in mind how badly our seasons started with Rafa. 

I mean this from August, not when we started picking up injuries and suspensions. Rafa would do this without European football from the start of the season. He has a proactive approach to managing players fitness. That’s not Howe’s style. 
 

Second point is true.  We trusted him that he had a plan for the season that would work. I don’t have that trust with Howe in terms of navigating a CL or European campaign and fighting for domestic titles.  If anything his inexperience makes me doubt his approach (which hasn’t worked for whatever reason) more. 

 

 

Edited January 15 by The College Dropout

[TheBrownBottle]

We have actually been playing a player at DM all season - he just lacks the discipline to play in his favoured position, and leaves gaping holes between DF and MF

 

It’s probably safer to just say something negative about Longstaff mind. 

[TheBrownBottle]

6 hours ago, Turnbull2000 said:

Forum favourite Louise Taylor somewhat scathing of Howe on the Guardian website today

Link?

[The College Dropout]

Out of possession - he hasn’t been instructed to play DM. We are purposely flat. 
 

IIRC Shelvey was instructed to sit behind a midfield 4 and infront of the defence when he played that role. The tactics have evolved away from that. 

[TheBrownBottle]

1 minute ago, The College Dropout said:

Out of possession - he hasn’t been instructed to play DM. We are purposely flat. 
 

IIRC Shelvey was instructed to sit behind a midfield 4 and infront of the defence when he played that role. The tactics have evolved away from that. 

Glad someone’s had a chat to Eddie.  Otherwise this is just a guess

[The College Dropout]

2 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Glad someone’s had a chat to Eddie.  Otherwise this is just a guess

?? We do the same things game in game out. It's clearly by instruction or at least not forbidden. Bruno's press is hyper-aggressive and advanced. And when defending for large periods without the ball, it's a flat midfield. That must be by design.

 

From memory, we didn't defend like that when Shelvey was here.

[80]

We'd definitely have heard something if Bruno was merrily abandoning his DM tactical instructions every match for the past year. Eddie's public criticisms of the team always revolve around the team not pushing forward enough, not being aggressive enough in the press - never that we've overcommitted in attack and left ourselves vulnerable.

[TheBrownBottle]

5 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

?? We do the same things game in game out. It's clearly by instruction or at least not forbidden. Bruno's press is hyper-aggressive and advanced. And when defending for large periods without the ball, it's a flat midfield. That must be by design.

 

From memory, we didn't defend like that when Shelvey was here.

Sorry, was only kidding.  The MF is incredibly flat without the ball - but I don’t know if that is by design or a lack of discipline.

 

Villa first really exploited it late last season - the back four’s lack of pace and lack of cover in front of them.  Willock/Joelinton and Longstaff/Almiron(or Murphy) offered a lot of cover, but if a combination of those players didn’t start then we looked incredibly exposed.

 

The gaps between DF and MF are often huge, and we’re being caught game after game now.  The loss of Pope to play ‘sweeper keeper’ has pushed the back four even further back, opening up even more space. 

[Jagten]

Our midfield is definitely flat by design, and our out-of-possession game looks like it might have been "figured out", in combination with an absence of intensity in the press. 

 

 

Edited January 15 by Jagten

[GideonShandy]

2 hours ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Link?

Howe’s tactical decisions should be questioned.

 

Kevin de Bruyne made it 2-2 by scoring a fine goal before creating Manchester City’s stoppage time winner for his fellow substitute Oscar Bobb against Newcastle. That contribution marked the playmaker’s return to Premier League combat after five hamstrung months but it was significant that Pep Guardiola bided his time before introducing De Bruyne, subsequently explaining he is not yet ready to play 90 minutes. Does Eddie Howe regret playing Joe Willock in the autumn after a lengthy injury induced absence? Willock swiftly broke down with the key midfielder now sidelined indefinitely. Admittedly their squad is considerably slimmer than City’s but Howe’s deployment of a single late substitute in Lewis Hall perhaps explains why a tiring side lost. An imbalanced bench was stocked with defenders so why not have introduced Paul Dummett or Jamaal Lascelles, switched to a back five and secured a point?

 

Louise Taylor

[Optimistic Nut]

11 minutes ago, GideonShandy said:

Howe’s tactical decisions should be questioned.

 

Kevin de Bruyne made it 2-2 by scoring a fine goal before creating Manchester City’s stoppage time winner for his fellow substitute Oscar Bobb against Newcastle. That contribution marked the playmaker’s return to Premier League combat after five hamstrung months but it was significant that Pep Guardiola bided his time before introducing De Bruyne, subsequently explaining he is not yet ready to play 90 minutes. Does Eddie Howe regret playing Joe Willock in the autumn after a lengthy injury induced absence? Willock swiftly broke down with the key midfielder now sidelined indefinitely. Admittedly their squad is considerably slimmer than City’s but Howe’s deployment of a single late substitute in Lewis Hall perhaps explains why a tiring side lost. An imbalanced bench was stocked with defenders so why not have introduced Paul Dummett or Jamaal Lascelles, switched to a back five and secured a point?

 

Louise Taylor

 

A lot of the issues are nothing to do with the back line as such, though. It's about having no options in the front 6 positions to freshen things up when we're trying to keep the ball, chase the ball, hold the ball up front. Dummett and Lascelles don't change that. 

[Erikse]

Just saw the interview Howe did on talksport. He said:

 

"I allways believe in time you'll get the results that you crave if you keep being consistent with what you do."

 

What we are doing works really well when we have the energy levels to do it, plus a bench. What if we are back in Europe and/or get another injury crisis? Our players will go through fatigue (and injury problems) again in future seasons.

 

 

Edited January 15 by Erikse