Eddie Howe

[mondonewc]

I don't understand what people expect, we've been battered all season with the amount of players missing, that's not an excuse, it's a fact! 

People say about us having a stronger squad, nobody could compete to their normal level with this amount of missing players. Man City has 22 players currently (excluding loaned-out players), and 3 of them are goalkeepers, now take 10 of them out for basically the whole season and see how they do, that's what we've faced, and I can assure you if Man City had the same difficulties we've faced this season they aren't winning the league, and likely win nothing.

 

So then it comes down to expectations, anyone with an ounce of sense knows we punched above our weight last season, and knows the main reason we managed to do so was keeping everyone fit which is much easier to do when you play once a week.  Anyone who thinks with everything we've had to deal with that we should be expecting to finish higher than maximum 6th or 7th this season then you've lost your mind, or you're just clueless!

 

We're 7th in the league, still in the FA Cup, we were 1 minute and a Trippier basic error from reaching the League Cup semi and very likely would have a final to look forward to next week, and we were blatantly robbed in the Champions League or would've been playing KO Champions League football right now. That in itself it's somewhat remarkable given all the issues we've had.

We don't look solid at the back and concede too many goals? No fucking shit, what do people expect with a patched-up team and no rotation given how limited our options are right now, and have been since September. 

There are things Eddie can improve on, he knows that better than anyone I'm sure, and he will do better, the idea he should be under even 1% pressure is nonsense! 

 

 

Edited February 18 by mondonewc

[Geogaddi]

5 minutes ago, mondonewc said:

I don't understand what people expect, we've been battered all season with the amount of players missing, that's not an excuse, it's a fact! 

People say about us having a stronger squad, nobody could compete to their normal level with this amount of missing players. Man City has 22 players currently (excluding loaned-out players), and 3 of them are goalkeepers, now take 10 of them out for basically the whole season and see how they do, that's what we've faced, and I can assure you if Man City had the same difficulties we've faced this season they aren't winning the league, and likely win nothing.

 

So then it comes down to expectations, anyone with an ounce of sense knows we punched above our weight last season, and knows the main reason we managed to do so was keeping everyone fit which is much easier to do when you play once a week.  Anyone who thinks with everything we've had to deal with that we should be expecting to finish higher than maximum 6th or 7th this season then you've lost your mind, or you're just clueless!

 

We're 7th in the league, still in the FA Cup, we were 1 minute and a Trippier basic error from reaching the League Cup semi and very likely would have a final to look forward to next week, and we were blatantly robbed in the Champions League or would've been playing KO Champions League football right now. That in itself it's somewhat remarkable given all the issues we've had.

We don't look solid at the back and concede too many goals? No fucking shit, what do people expect with a patched-up team and no rotation given how limited our options are right now, and have been since September. 

There are things Eddie can improve on, he knows that better than anyone I'm sure, and he will do better, the idea he should be under even 1% pressure is nonsense! 

 

 

 

Spot on this , the only criticism I would aim at Eddie is persisting with Burn when we have a better left back on the bench , feels like he is just doing it to be stubborn now .

[Paullow]

3 hours ago, Hanshithispantz said:

We're 7th 

 

Last season people were stating a top 7 finish would be a dream. Maybe we're being a bit melodramatic here?

 

 

 

But on the other hand, we're also only 2 points away from the bottom half. We have Arsenal away on Saturday, Brighton (game in hand) have Sheff U (a) and Everton (h) in the coming days, Wolves have Sheff Utd (h) on Sunday, West Ham have Brentford (h) on Monday, so a very good chance we'll be 10th in 8 days time, and that's probably the worst position anyone would have expected at the start of this season. You have your big 6, Villa have ambition and a good manager, West Ham's wage bill is pretty high, and Brighton have built a good side, and have a good structure in place, but we shouldn't be finishing below any other side, and while someone obviously has to, to potentially finish bottom of that mini league would be extremely disappointing, injuries / fixture congestion or not.

[Displayname]

5 minutes ago, mondonewc said:

I don't understand what people expect, we've been battered all season with the amount of players missing, that's not an excuse, it's a fact! 

People say about us having a stronger squad, nobody could compete to their normal level with this amount of missing players. Man City has 22 players currently (excluding loaned-out players), and 3 of them are goalkeepers, now take 10 of them out for basically the whole season and see how they do, that's what we've faced, and I can assure you if Man City had the same difficulties we've faced this season they aren't winning the league, and likely win nothing.

 

So then it comes down to expectations, anyone with an ounce of sense knows we punched above our weight last season, and knows the main reason we managed to do so was keeping everyone fit which is much easier to do when you play once a week.  Anyone who thinks with everything we've had to deal with that we should be expecting to finish higher than maximum 6th or 7th this season then you've lost your mind, or you're just clueless!

 

We're 7th in the league, still in the FA Cup, we were 1 minute and a Trippier basic error from reaching the League Cup semi and very likely would have a final to look forward to next week, and we were blatantly robbed in the Champions League or would've been playing KO Champions League football right now. That in itself it's somewhat remarkable given all the issues we've had.

We don't look solid at the back and concede too many goals? No fucking shit, what do people expect with a patched-up team and no rotation given how limited our options are right now, and have been since September. 

There are things Eddie can do better, he knows that better than anyone I'm sure, and he will do better, the idea he should be under even 1% pressure is nonsense! 

I dont think for a second that the amount of injuries we have had is just unlucky though. The chances of that is miniscule.

Think Eddie is alteast partly to blame with his management of the squad during the season.

Something he easily should be able to learn from though.

[Gallowgate Toon]

Chunky injury lists have been pretty consistent across the leagues this season, no? 

 

Iirc; ourselves, Bournemouth, Spurs, Brighton, Chelsea have all at points had more than 10 players out for at least decent amounts of the year. Liverpool & Villa creeping up now.

 

Man U too.

 

 

Edited February 18 by Gallowgate Toon

[Scoot]

27 minutes ago, mondonewc said:

I don't understand what people expect, we've been battered all season with the amount of players missing, that's not an excuse, it's a fact! 

People say about us having a stronger squad, nobody could compete to their normal level with this amount of missing players. Man City has 22 players currently (excluding loaned-out players), and 3 of them are goalkeepers, now take 10 of them out for basically the whole season and see how they do, that's what we've faced, and I can assure you if Man City had the same difficulties we've faced this season they aren't winning the league, and likely win nothing.

 

So then it comes down to expectations, anyone with an ounce of sense knows we punched above our weight last season, and knows the main reason we managed to do so was keeping everyone fit which is much easier to do when you play once a week.  Anyone who thinks with everything we've had to deal with that we should be expecting to finish higher than maximum 6th or 7th this season then you've lost your mind, or you're just clueless!

 

We're 7th in the league, still in the FA Cup, we were 1 minute and a Trippier basic error from reaching the League Cup semi and very likely would have a final to look forward to next week, and we were blatantly robbed in the Champions League or would've been playing KO Champions League football right now. That in itself it's somewhat remarkable given all the issues we've had.

We don't look solid at the back and concede too many goals? No fucking shit, what do people expect with a patched-up team and no rotation given how limited our options are right now, and have been since September. 

There are things Eddie can improve on, he knows that better than anyone I'm sure, and he will do better, the idea he should be under even 1% pressure is nonsense! 

 

 

 

 

Cracking post. Nail on the head!

[The College Dropout]

6 minutes ago, Displayname said:

I dont think for a second that the amount of injuries we have had is just unlucky though. The chances of that is miniscule.

Think Eddie is alteast partly to blame with his management of the squad during the season.

Something he easily should be able to learn from though.

Agreed. He is partly responsible. 
 

The big worry is the performances.  Being 7th is good. We won’t stay 7th if we play like we have recently. 

[Kid Icarus]

11 minutes ago, Gallowgate Toon said:

Chunky injury lists have been pretty consistent across the leagues this season, no? 

 

Iirc; ourselves, Bournemouth, Spurs, Brighton, Chelsea have all at points had more than 10 players out for at least decent amounts of the year. Liverpool & Villa creeping up now.

 

Man U too.

 

 

 

Quality/importance of the players, the length of time out, and the relentlessness of it is fairly unique to us I think. 

 

Bruno, Schär, Gordon, Trippier and Almiron are basically the only players who haven't been out either for a considerable amount of time or off and on this season. 

 

 

Edited February 18 by Kid Icarus

[Optimistic Nut]

It's very unlikely we're going to be playing next season with Dubravka playing half a season and Burn first choice left back.

 

Or Tonali being out for 3/4s of it, Barnes missing half of half of it, etc.

 

We're still battling for Europe as it is, I think next season will be even more fun.

[The Prophet]

The initial injury loss was partially due to bad luck and injuries lingering from last season. As fatigue has set in we've picked up more soft tissue injuries, peppered with further bad luck such as the Pope, Wilson and Schar injuries.

 

I doubt we'll see anything like it again.

[Elliottman]

13 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said:

It's very unlikely we're going to be playing next season with Dubravka playing half a season and Burn first choice left back.

 

Or Tonali being out for 3/4s of it, Barnes missing half of half of it, etc.

 

We're still battling for Europe as it is, I think next season will be even more fun.

We’ll be class next season, certain of it. 

[Cronky]

I've quoted this before, but I feel impelled to do so again - 'Past success is only briefly a glad memory. It quickly becomes an accusing finger'.

 

That's taken from 'The Football Man' by Arthur Hopcraft, in his section on Managers. I was 13 when I first read the book and that leapt out at me as a truism even at that young age. Nothing's changed and it applies now to Eddie. His past achievements have created a yardstick which can quickly become an unwelcome burden.

 

[PauloGeordio]

 

[astraguy]

3 hours ago, Geogaddi said:

Spot on this , the only criticism I would aim at Eddie is persisting with Burn when we have a better left back on the bench , feels like he is just doing it to be stubborn now .

yea i wouldn't sack Eddie Howe he hasn't had two of his signings all season let alone the previous ones ,But i knew once 60-70 mins came burn would come off for Tino its plain daft 

 

 

Edited February 18 by astraguy

[andycap]

His handling of returning injured players has been terrible. Willock comes back and he plays him two games back to back for a full 90 then he breaks down. Isak comes back half fit and he had him running on fumes against PSG even though he couldn't walk then he eventually breaks down, burn does his back in then brings him back way to early and he's been a starter ever since when there was no need to as tino was doing fine. Joelinton early in the season he was fucked yet he kept getting played till he broke down. 

[Sibierski]

Top 7 was the aim before the season, and despite the mess we've endured, it's still a viable chance (with an outside shot of domestic success). Europe disappointing with how it ended, but on face of it the group we had and first experience, it's produced some great memories and our level wasn't far off sides that will go into QFs.

 

Just main concern, despite still being close to 7th place finish, our performances have not indicated that we look like finishing there. After Arsenal, we go on a run of 6 games where there's no reason we can't be going into games fancying a win. Need to get the fear back, as sides at the moment enjoy playing us because they know they'll have a fair amount of chances and back themselves to get a result as a result. Last season, it was barely a sniff and sides had to be clinical to get a result.

 

Mood will flicker game by game, but don't think a true feeling will be known till the March Internationals. Could be FA Cup SFs and 7th going into that break (or just within 1-2 points of 7th), or out of FA Cup and bottom half. 

[LiquidAK]

5 minutes ago, andycap said:

His handling of returning injured players has been terrible. Willock comes back and he plays him two games back to back for a full 90 then he breaks down. Isak comes back half fit and he had him running on fumes against PSG even though he couldn't walk then he eventually breaks down, burn does his back in then brings him back way to early and he's been a starter ever since when there was no need to as tino was doing fine. Joelinton early in the season he was fucked yet he kept getting played till he broke down. 

In all of those bar Burn (the one element I think the majority agree he's questionable on) he basically didn't have a choice due to the others missing. These players had to play because we had no-one else, and no chucking some kids on was never a serious option if we expected to compete and win games. Playing those players early back from injury was a gamble, but one Howe realistically had very little choice but to take.

[LiquidAK]

Hell even on Burn, there's an argument that Tino is a young lad only back from a very serious ACL injury. If he played every game from Burn's injury onward this season and broke down with a reoccurrence, I've no doubt some of you would add that to the list of "mistakes" Howe is making.

 

Personally I'd like to see Tino start, but with many things this season there's an element of Howe being damned either way with sections of the fanbase 

 

 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

3 hours ago, Paullow said:

But on the other hand, we're also only 2 points away from the bottom half. We have Arsenal away on Saturday, Brighton (game in hand) have Sheff U (a) and Everton (h) in the coming days, Wolves have Sheff Utd (h) on Sunday, West Ham have Brentford (h) on Monday, so a very good chance we'll be 10th in 8 days time, and that's probably the worst position anyone would have expected at the start of this season. You have your big 6, Villa have ambition and a good manager, West Ham's wage bill is pretty high, and Brighton have built a good side, and have a good structure in place, but we shouldn't be finishing below any other side, and while someone obviously has to, to potentially finish bottom of that mini league would be extremely disappointing, injuries / fixture congestion or not.

Did people set their goals for the season based on having everyone injured? 

[TRon]

3 minutes ago, LiquidAK said:

In all of those bar Burn (the one element I think the majority agree he's questionable on) he basically didn't have a choice due to the others missing. These players had to play because we had no-one else, and no chucking some kids on was never a serious option if we expected to compete and win games. Playing those players early back from injury was a gamble, but one Howe realistically had very little choice but to take.

 

 

Put it this way, if there's a chance of Isak being fit to start next week against Arsenal, I'd rather give him an extra week off, or put him on the bench at a push if there's any chance an extra week would allow him to recover fully rather than rush him back in a game we will probably lose anyway.

[LiquidAK]

Just now, TRon said:

 

 

Put it this way, if there's a chance of Isak being fit to start next week against Arsenal, I'd rather give him an extra week off, or put him on the bench at a push if there's any chance an extra week would allow him to recover fully rather than rush him back in a game we will probably lose anyway.

Agree now, sure. Not as easy a calculation when we were still fighting in the CL, in both domestic cups and early on in the league.

[Paullow]

12 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Did people set their goals for the season based on having everyone injured? 

The post was more in response to 'we're 7th' and the painting that we're in a decent position generally, whereas I was pointing out that we'll soon very likely be far lower than that, and in what would be considered a poor position, and yeah, injuries or not, I'd still expect more than 2 points from Bournemouth, Forest, Luton at home in recent weeks.

 

The season has kind of felt like a write off to me for a couple of months now, and I'm not that bothered when we're dropping points as it doesn't really feel like there's much jeopardy to the matches, (not apathy of the Ashley era, just more of a get this season out of the way and regroup), but if we were to finish 10/11/12 (and not make the FA Cup final / semi final) then it will absolutely be a poor and disappointing season, regardless of unfortunate circumstances.

 

 

 

Edited February 18 by Paullow

[SUPERTOON]

Didn’t we finish 11th the season Howe took over ? I’d say finishing in and around that would be classed as a poor season, despite the issues faced.

[Ronaldo]

12 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Didn’t we finish 11th the season Howe took over ? I’d say finishing in and around that would be classed as a poor season, despite the issues faced.

Finish 11th and we’ll see players leave and the club interviewing new management. 
 

Fortunately I don’t think we will.

[andycap]

41 minutes ago, LiquidAK said:

In all of those bar Burn (the one element I think the majority agree he's questionable on) he basically didn't have a choice due to the others missing. These players had to play because we had no-one else, and no chucking some kids on was never a serious option if we expected to compete and win games. Playing those players early back from injury was a gamble, but one Howe realistically had very little choice but to take.

We still lost majority of them so kids would of done.