Eddie Howe

[KaKa]

1 minute ago, TheBrownBottle said:

We don’t know if we have unrealistic owners mate.  Seriously we don’t know. 

 

The kind of expectations being spoken of are only typical of clubs that spend vast amounts as was possible when Roman was at Chelsea or when Man City were pulling their funny business, both prior to ffp.

 

 

[TheBrownBottle]

3 minutes ago, KaKa said:

 

The kind of expectations being spoken of are only typical of clubs that spend vast amounts as was possible when Roman was at Chelsea or when Man City were pulling their funny business, both prior to ffp.

 

 

£450m in two years isn’t pennies, either.  

[Tsunami]

It’s getting ridiculous now. We lose possession in the oppo half and they just look to get in behind Burn who has no support. You can actually see his face saying oh shit not again.

 

Tino is better on the ball, is a better footballer and far quicker. He may not be as quick as some wingers but he’s quick enough to make a difference.

 

We are hugely impacted by the lack of recovery pace in midfield to help when we lose the ball. That only increases the need to put Tino in. 

[Conjo]

18 minutes ago, midds said:

Howe's staunch loyalty to some players has definitely shifted from 'admirable' to 'dangerous'. To back your players and not give in to pressure from fans and neutrals can't really continue if those said players are getting exposed again and again and again in every match and they're still starting each week. To continue to watch Burn get rinsed continually and start him each week regardless is definitely one of those. Teams are targeting him and he's being battered and the boss isn't doing anything until the damage is done.

 

Man-management is one admirable skill but not when it comes at the expense of the team and results. Especially when you've got a player like Tino on the bench waiting until we're chasing the game. The other player I'm thinking of is Almiron who continues to work hard but miss chance after chance of bollocks up the move nearly every time he gets into good positions. The other is Dubravka, at best he's now just adequate but we've shipped nearly 3 a game on average for the last couple of months and he's been largely poor from what I've seen. 

 

Howe needs to do something to mix it up and ask teams different questions to the ones we're currently posing as we're being ripped open way too often, we're a predictable dream to play against, you know exactly who's playing, where they're playing and the weak spots are left untouched. He'll need to get his shit in a pile asap or he could be in a bit of bother watching it happen and not doing anything to stop it at source. 

 

Murphy just came back from a calf injury. Before his shoulder injury Murphy started against Palace ahead of Almiron who was benched.

 

The only sign staunch loyalty I can see is with Burn. Tino is fairly big and strong for a full back, so I struggle to see the argument that Burn at LB is critical for the way we play.

[Jagten]

20 minutes ago, KaKa said:

 

Only unrealistic fans deem things to be 'going badly'.  It is far from the case in reality.

I did not say it was going badly. 

[KaKa]

3 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

£450m in two years isn’t pennies, either.  

 

Yeah, I see this get mentioned a lot, but we've pretty much spent this just to play catch up due to under spending for years under Mike Ashley.

 

If Howe doesn't turn things around for the likes of Longstaff, Willock, Joelinton, Almiron, Schar, Lascelles and Murphy, we never even come close to looking as good as we have the past couple of seasons, because there would have still been so many gaps. His improvement of these players is what has been the real bedrock of his success here.

 

Can't think of which other manager would have made use of those players in the same manner to then achieve a top 4 finish within one season.

[midds]

10 minutes ago, Conjo said:

 

Murphy just came back from a calf injury. Before his shoulder injury Murphy started against Palace ahead of Almiron who was benched.

 

The only sign staunch loyalty I can see is with Burn. Tino is fairly big and strong for a full back, so I struggle to see the argument that Burn at LB is critical for the way we play.

My overarching point is that Howe's loyalty will eventually turn from a positive into a negative. Burn is the obvious example as we've got someone who could be slotted straight in so it's 100% a Howe decision to continue to start Burn. Almiron situation has mitigation as Murphy has been in and out but I'm baffled as to how he has made so many starts despite contributing little other than hard work. He's still a forward at the end of the day but his meaningful contributions are pitiful over the course of a season. 

 

Also I've no idea why Karius hasn't at least been tried out whilst Dubravka is shipping about 3 a game recently. They're all Howe's decisions but I'm not sure he's getting it even close to correct at the minute. We look a shadow of the side we did a year ago

[Sean]

Burn over Tino at this point seems insanely stubborn. Or stupid, which Howe isn't.

 

Burn and Miggy becoming the scapegoats is no surprise at all - I mean, 90% of us wanted and expected better quality players to be prioritised in those positions last summer. 

 

This season has been a disaster from start to (probably) finish.

[midds]

44 minutes ago, Hanshithispantz said:

All the best managers give into the fan backlash like. It's how Fergie won his titles.

 

 

 

 

How many more games would you give Burn at LB before you gave him a rest? If it's happening each week he has to do something. He can't keep starting him, watching him get run past all game before subbing him after the damage is done, that's just not sustainable. His stubbornness/loyalty has a finite length surely? 

[James]

Forget Howe, Burn, Miggy - there is only one person to blame for this mediocre season and that is that rancid liability Italian twat who I won’t even give the honour of naming.

[gbandit]

1 minute ago, James said:

Forget Howe, Burn, Miggy - there is only one person to blame for this mediocre season and that is that rancid liability Italian twat who I won’t even give the honour of naming.

Where will your head be at if the rancid Italian twat ends up being amazing for us?

[Vinny Green Balls]

My question for a few is a simple one. Would they rather the owners change the manager after every couple of seasons? The very few who even entertained the thought of Mourinho coming here would have to accept that strategy and hope for a cup final before an inevitbale rebuild happens?

 

Or...

 

Give a manager with clear potential and likeability (and who seems to really inspire those who play for him) a bit of time into next season to iron out his clear flaws, and promote general stability and likely more long term sustainable growth?

 

I know the vast majority of you, including the likes of Ronaldo, likely prefer the latter. I some of the critiques,  like those about Dan Burn are largely fair before anyone decides that I don't believe that Howe deserves any criticism.  It just seems that a couple of people (and I truly mean a couple) on here have TikTok attention spans and want to change everything when there is any stretch of trouble. I am dealing with this behavior in the legal dispute over our film, so may be more sensitive to this. But I found that not responding to them at all has massively strengthened our position while the UK producers get more and more desperate. They are frantic about changing the status quo of the stalemate, whereas I am totally relaxed about it. Not saying that this should be done all the time, but changing the status quo for just the sake of taking action is rarely a good strategy.

[James]

3 minutes ago, gbandit said:

Where will your head be at if the rancid Italian twat ends up being amazing for us?

perhaps one day I’ll forgive but he has a very long way to go.

 

noting he hasn’t even apologised yet

[Hanshithispantz]

11 minutes ago, midds said:

How many more games would you give Burn at LB before you gave him a rest? If it's happening each week he has to do something. He can't keep starting him, watching him get run past all game before subbing him after the damage is done, that's just not sustainable. His stubbornness/loyalty has a finite length surely? 

I thought Burn was fine today, he should have been closer for the 2nd but it was hardly a massive error.

 

Botman got roasted again for pace today, Trippier went about 5 games where he was just gifting teams goals etc.

 

We're going to be shite regardless of what we do as managers have fitter squads, we're seeing thst with how teams can step onto us at SJP, Livramento won't stop that.

 

 

Edited February 17 by Hanshithispantz

[Sean]

3 minutes ago, Hanshithispantz said:

I thought Burn was fine today, he should have been closer for the 2nd but it was hardly a massive error.

 

Botman got roasted again for pace today, Trippier went about 5 games where he was just gifting teams goals etc.

 

We're going to be shite regardless of what we do as managers have fitter squads, we're seeing thst with how teams can step onto us at SJP, Livramento won't stop that.

 

 

 

So your point seems to be we will be shit no matter what, so no point trying to change or improve anything. I mean, there's no point even trying if that is the case, surely 

[midds]

3 minutes ago, Hanshithispantz said:

I thought Burn was fine today, he should have been closer for the 2nd but it was hardly a massive error.

 

Botman got roasted again for pace today, Trippier went about 5 games where he was just gifting teams goals etc.

 

We're going to be shite regardless of what we do as managers have fitter squads, we're seeing thst with how teams can step onto us at SJP, Livramento won't stop that.

 

 

 

Respectfully disagree, I didn't think he was fine today, second goal wasn't totally his fault but he's under pressure in all games now due to how he's been exposed in the last few months. Managers know they'll get joy if they get the ball down his side of the park and run at him, it's happened continually and we've shipped goals as a result. 

 

It's not a great situation but Howe's actually got the option there sitting 5 yards away and he doesn't usually take it until we've shipped 2 or 3. Would you start Burn against Saka next weekend? 

[Conjo]

21 minutes ago, midds said:

My overarching point is that Howe's loyalty will eventually turn from a positive into a negative. Burn is the obvious example as we've got someone who could be slotted straight in so it's 100% a Howe decision to continue to start Burn. Almiron situation has mitigation as Murphy has been in and out but I'm baffled as to how he has made so many starts despite contributing little other than hard work. He's still a forward at the end of the day but his meaningful contributions are pitiful over the course of a season. 

 

Also I've no idea why Karius hasn't at least been tried out whilst Dubravka is shipping about 3 a game recently. They're all Howe's decisions but I'm not sure he's getting it even close to correct at the minute. We look a shadow of the side we did a year ago

 

I don't mind him persisting with Dubs personally, and don't view him as a big factor in most of the goals conceeded. There's been maybe 3 goals I've thought Pope would definitely have avoided them, which wouldn't make a huge difference to our points total.

Almiron starting a lot of games beginning of the season makes sense to me considering how good he was last season. Murphy got injured at the absolute worst time just as it seemed Howe was going to try him from the start more. With Barnes long injury as well there's nothing weird about how many games Almiron has started imo.

 

I understand how you feel Howe is being loyal to more players than just Burn if you think otherwise on the above though. 

[jack j]

 

22 minutes ago, Sean said:

Burn over Tino at this point seems insanely stubborn. Or stupid, which Howe isn't.

 

Burn and Miggy becoming the scapegoats is no surprise at all - I mean, 90% of us wanted and expected better quality players to be prioritised in those positions last summer. 

 

This season has been a disaster from start to (probably) finish.

Disaster

We've had about 3 top 10 finishes in 15 years. We are 7th and still in the cup. The injuries have been a disaster but I've had more highs than 95% of other seasons I've had a season ticket there

 

[Vinny Green Balls]

Calling this season a disaster is quite over the top, Sean. 

[Hanshithispantz]

3 minutes ago, midds said:

Respectfully disagree, I didn't think he was fine today, second goal wasn't totally his fault but he's under pressure in all games now due to how he's been exposed in the last few months. Managers know they'll get joy if they get the ball down his side of the park and run at him, it's happened continually and we've shipped goals as a result. 

 

It's not a great situation but Howe's actually got the option there sitting 5 yards away and he doesn't usually take it until we've shipped 2 or 3. Would you start Burn against Saka next weekend? 

But their most dangerous player when Burn went off was that lad who replaced Semenyo down the same side. Livramento was bombing on and leaving gaps, he got in a couple of times - same happened against Luton.

 

I wouldn't look forward to any of our defenders against Saka with how we are at the minute tbh 

[Heron]

Feels important for Howe to evolve at this stage, and I am sure he will. This is his time of 'test' he'll come through it. Stick with him, as he has stuck with us.

[madras]

2 minutes ago, Hanshithispantz said:

But their most dangerous player when Burn went off was that lad who replaced Semenyo down the same side. Livramento was bombing on and leaving gaps, he got in a couple of times - same happened against Luton.

 

I wouldn't look forward to any of our defenders against Saka with how we are at the minute tbh 

Because we'll play the same way against Arsenal as we did today ? 

 

I'm not looking forward to next week, think we'll take a humping, but we've showed a few times especially this season we can change how we play, even if it's with the same players.

[Jagten]

It's not been a disaster, but this level of move in expected goals against is basically unprecedented. (Since the start of December, we have also conceded the most goals in the league.) Something has broken, and these sorts of results will probably continue for a while. 

 

[The Prophet]

Individual defenders are too easy to isolate and pull out of position because they're so exposed.

 

It takes one pass to cut through our entire midfield and expose the back line. 

 

Howe has tried tinkering, swapping Longstaff and Miley, pulling them deeper, pushing Bruno forward, etc, but the lack of athleticism and tactical awareness in the middle of the park is blatent. Without a wholesale system change I'm not sure what else we have left in the locker.

 

It's also very telling how little confidence the back line have in Dubravka. Schar, Botman and Burn have all looked frustrated in recent games.

[midds]

1 minute ago, Hanshithispantz said:

But their most dangerous player when Burn went off was that lad who replaced Semenyo down the same side. Livramento was bombing on and leaving gaps, he got in a couple of times - same happened against Luton.

 

I wouldn't look forward to any of our defenders against Saka with how we are at the minute tbh 

I'd argue that's because we were chasing the game as a result of being behind...which was also an indirect result of Burn being exposed and conceding goals down his side. Tino starts and it's a totally different game with 20 mins to go imo but that's all hypothetical. 

 

Personally I'd love Howe to got with a Rafa-esq 5-3-2 next weekend. It's Arsenal away so let's mix it up completely and have 3 CBs, 2 wingbacks with a solid, compact CM 3. Then have 2 (quick) wasps just buzzing about for 90 mins. If we scrape a draw it's a brilliant result but let's just dig the fuck in and make them work for it. Sit in, stay close and flood the CM, force them wide and try and frustrate them. Let's give Arsenal a different puzzle to solve than the one they're fully expecting