Eddie Howe

[The Prophet]

3 minutes ago, Thumbheed said:

 

"2 QF's and 6 points off 6th with 10 games to go"

 

"No thanks"

 

I'm struggling to comprehend how the difference between taking the above and something I assume you'd have taken (6th/7th) is just 2 extra wins this season?

 

6th - 7th is probably about par for the season and would be a decent finish, especially given how it's panned out. But given the position the club was in coming into the season I wouldn't have taken it.

[Keegans Export]

2 minutes ago, Thumbheed said:

So the difference is just 2 extra wins? That's it, that's the key and significant difference, right?

 

Madness.

Yeah but how far do you go? Two wins the other way and we're 14th?

 

You must see how "two wins off sixth" and "you said you'd be happy with seventh" are not the same thing? 

[et tu brute]

9 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Agreed, I was talking more generally in all aspects of running the club. Have they made one ruthless move ? Even in terms of FFP etc, we have seemingly accepted everything.

I think we maybe in for an interesting summer. I'll assess everything after then as I think we should have a much clearer picture 

[Dr.Spaceman]

30 minutes ago, Keggy_Keagal said:

City have gamed the system to get where they are , they're at least 5 years ahead of us. Understanding defeats is not the same as accepting them. I've said many times we have to learn the lessons. That's us as a fanbase, the manager and the entire club. I firmly believe we'll get there and based on his previous season and a half with us I believe (and hope) Eddie can take us there. 

 

 

 

 

They're much further ahead than just 5 years, there is no way we're that good in 2029.

[nemtizz]

7 minutes ago, Miercoles said:

 

4-1 PSG has to be one of the legendary results for the club too, seeing that was pretty fucking magical.

 

Sad to say that was the best night of my life supporting this club.

[SUPERTOON]

1 minute ago, et tu brute said:

I think we maybe in for an interesting summer. I'll assess everything after then as I think we should have a much clearer picture 

Aye, I’d hope for an influx of sponsorships.

[Gallowgate Toon]

I thought he had the right idea tonight and liked the approach to have Gordon and Isak closer together for breaks. I thought their first was canny spawny but it's the main moment of the game - changes the complexion completely early on. Similar to Chelsea.

 

For all the talk of a 6, you need your entire midfield to have the appetite to defend, or at least the majority of them.

 

Longstaff and Willock are pretty passive defenders. They're players who get into shape but they aren't the types to often display proper defensive instincts consistently. Obviously, Willock has so many other strengths but he was helped last season by a stay-at-home LB and Joelinton rotating in from LW.

 

Miley is improving but is like this as well, and Anderson is an AM learning his trade.

 

 

Edited March 16 by Gallowgate Toon

[Thumbheed]

Quote

 

13 minutes ago, Keegans Export said:

Yeah but how far do you go? Two wins the other way and we're 14th?

 

You must see how "two wins off sixth" and "you said you'd be happy with seventh" are not the same thing? 

 

I think it's pretty clear you go with how far away we are from what you'd have taken (6th/7th) vs where we actually are, no? Unless I've misread your post?

 

So the difference between what you'd have taken and where we actually are is literally 2 wins.  

 

 

[Thumbheed]

15 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

6th - 7th is probably about par for the season and would be a decent finish, especially given how it's panned out. But given the position the club was in coming into the season I wouldn't have taken it.

 

What position was the club coming into the season? And what realistically would you have taken out of interest?

[Keegans Export]

1 minute ago, Thumbheed said:

 

I think it's pretty clear you go with how far away we are from what you'd have taken (6th/7th) vs where we actually are, no? Unless I've misread your post?

 

So the difference between what you'd have taken and where we actually are is literally 2 wins.  

 

 

Right. But "7th" and "not 7th" are not the same thing though are they?

 

Regardless of how close you are, if your position was "I'd be happy with 7th" and what's on offer is "not finishing 7th" then its fair to say you aren't happy with how things have gone?

[Wolfcastle]

Ange, hammered 3-0 at Fulham and Gary O'Neill, outplayed and beaten at home by a lower league side today must be horrifically shite if Howe cant lose at Man City.

They're all good managers if you're reasonable about it.

[KaKa]

Just now, Wolfcastle said:

Ange, hammered 3-0 at Fulham and Gary O'Neill, outplayed and beaten at home by a lower league side today must be horrifically shite if Howe cant lose at Man City.

They're all good managers if you're reasonable about it.

 

Ange destroyed Emery just the other week too.

[Erikse]

  

25 minutes ago, Thumbheed said:

So the difference is just 2 extra wins? That's it, that's the key and significant difference, right?

 

Madness.

 

7 points off, quite a lot.. Remember last season when Liverpool was chasing us by winning every game, while we had a bit of a dodgy form towards the end? We still kept ourselves ahead by 2 points, although I think the lead started out with 9 points. Anyways "just" 7 points off with 10 games to go means that our chances for 6th are very slim, unless we go on an insane run. 7 points is a huge gap.

 

 

Edited March 16 by Erikse

[The Prophet]

12 hours ago, Thumbheed said:

 

What position was the club coming into the season? And what realistically would you have taken out of interest?

 

I'd have said a good season would have been 6th. 7th-8th would have been about par.

 

I wouldn't have "taken" anything though because I think Howe and his team are capable of great things.

 

 

Edited March 17 by The Prophet

[Displayname]

17 minutes ago, Thumbheed said:

 

Crikey. I thought Newcastle fans were realistic. 

 

There's literally never been a team outside the established top 6 to requalify for the CL and we haven't had 1 QF for nearly a decade. 

 

What we're people expecting?! I swear everyone said they'd be happy with a top 7?

I mean you are asking if we would have taken that at the start of the season. Thats a whole different question then whether it is a good achievement or not.

 

We came last in our CL group. Not something i would bitten your hands off for exactly.

QF in the cups doesnt mean anything to me. Only thing i would have taken in regards to the domestic cups is a trophy(Fa cup final maybe). 

In regards to the PL i wouldnt have taken anything other than top 4(not that i expected it).

[TheBrownBottle]

We could also be two defeats from 13th, which on current form is as plausible as two wins from 7th (not referring to the Man City game)

 

Plenty to play for still and we should aim as high as possible, but I wouldn’t be confident of winning lots of games at the moment. 

[Shak]

Think the biggest issue is the idea of just accepting that we weren't going to win any of the cups and then saying being 10th with ten games to go is a good season.

 

Want to make the arguement that given all the injuries we've had it's not that bad a year? That's more than fair.

 

But out of all the cups and 10th at this stage of the year is about as bad as the season could reasonably have been expected to go IMO.

[Paullow]

50 minutes ago, Thumbheed said:

- 2 wins off 6th with 10 games to go and a favourable fixture list

 

- 2 cup competition QF's with the cuntiest fixture run I've ever seen To get there. (1 minute away from a semi)

 

-10 minutes away from knockout stages of the CL in the group of death

 

Who's brave enough to admit that they wouldnt have taken that at the beginning of the season and why? 

 

 

 

 

It's actually 7 points, so 3 wins off 6th place, and we're only one defeat from 12th, or 2 defeats from 13th. We've made a right pigs ear of some of our most 'favourable' fixtures in recent weeks, so there's literally not one match you look at and think 'we'll definitely win that one', or even 'we should win that one', especially with the amount of goals we are conceding. We're probably on course to finish 8th or 9th, which I would consider below par at the start of the season, and I certainly wouldn't have taken 8th or 9th if offered.

 

Nice to have a cup run, but still no silverware, or Wembley appearance, and even Bruce managed a couple of QFs.

 

We were second favourites to win the CL group, but ended up out of Europe completely, even if a tough group. I think most would have been expecting some form of European football to continue into February, especially when sitting on 4 points from the first 2 games. 1 point from the final 4 games was very poor.

 

At the start of the season I would have taken 6th, stay in Europe beyond the group stage, and really reach the business end of one of the cups, like a SF and feel within touching distance of a final / trophy, and we're extremely unlikely to do all 3, so no, while I'm still Howe in, even if we lost the last 10 games, it's been a very underwhelming season, particularly from early December onwards, and I don't particularly look forward to matches at the moment, as I know it's likely to be underwhelming and there's just a massive lack of jeopardy on any of the games.

[Lush Vlad]

This place is full of reactionary, manic depressive, negative cunts after a loss. 
 

But we’re the best team around when we manage a win and all of our players are top (apart from Burn and Longstaff, of course). 

The media had it about right when they said our fans expect too much and have delusions of grandeur. 

 

Didn’t take long after years of shite. For fans to become impatient, entitled arseholes.
 

Bunch of absolute strokers. 

[Playmaker]

I am still behind him & I still think we will get a uefa spot come the end of the season. Man City as we all know are an amazing team, no football team in the world would enjoy playing them. We were very unlucky today with the goals but that’s football. 

roll on West Spam 

 

Eddie Howe’s black and white army! 

[Paullow]

Just looking on another forum (boxing one) and the thread was expectations for the start of next season, and this was mine on June 29th, which you can barely read:

 

 

Should know far more by the end of the window, but something like 5th or 6th, stay in some form of European football beyond the CL group stages, and a reasonable run in one of the domestic cups would be a decent follow up season, especially if it was 5th and that got a bonus CL spot this year.

 

 

In terms of pre season odds Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Man Utd were all expected to finish above us, and we were kind of in and around the Chelsea odds, some shorter some longer to win the league, top 6, top 4 etc. then Spurs. So 5th to 7th would be par and if we were to finish 7th, and be 'best of the rest', I think most would have been fine with that, not delighted, and it would have been nice to to finish above one of those, but no complaints if those teams squads, budgets etc. lack of Europe in some cases, proved too much, but I don't even see us finishing 7th this season as we are just not consistent enough.

[Stifler]

We are not at the stage yet where losing a game against Man City away in the FA Cup quarter final is grounds to sack him.

 

Right now we are in the final stages of the season with a chance of a European place, maybe an outside chance, but still a chance.

If they are being honest with themselves, the owners will know that this is about where they thought we would be 2 full seasons into their ownership.

 

Considering last season, we are all massively frustrated this season. I do have my reservations about him being naive and willing to risk losing a game heavily in attempts to win one, as well as the selection of some players when others are available. However right now, he is doing what he’s required to do, he’s on track, or not far off it with allowances to be given to him.

[Paullow]

6 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:

This place is full of reactionary, manic depressive, negative cunts after a loss. 
 

But we’re the best team around when we manage a win and all of our players are top (apart from Burn and Longstaff, of course). 

The media had it about right when they said our fans expect too much and have delusions of grandeur. 

 

Didn’t take long after years of shite. For fans to become impatient, entitled arseholes.
 

Bunch of absolute strokers. 

 

Fuckin hell 

[nufc123]

7 minutes ago, Lush Vlad said:

This place is full of reactionary, manic depressive, negative cunts after a loss. 
 

But we’re the best team around when we manage a win and all of our players are top (apart from Burn and Longstaff, of course). 

The media had it about right when they said our fans expect too much and have delusions of grandeur. 

 

Didn’t take long after years of shite. For fans to become impatient, entitled arseholes.
 

Bunch of absolute strokers. 

Whats wrong now in this thread?

[Danh1]

One thing we need back is our shithousery and street wiseness.

 

Been lacking all season, since we started to get shit in the press from the likes of Klopp. Who gives a fuck about him?