Eddie Howe

[Groundhog63]

1 hour ago, The Prophet said:

Ironically, earlier in the season, it felt like building from the back was one of the things we'd improved at most. 

We have, he's talking shit

[TheBrownBottle]

I’m not willing to put everything down to bad luck, and I’m also not willing to pin everything on Howe’s methods.  I don’t like it all being pinned on ‘bad luck’, because that’s unlikely to fix owt. 

 

I do think the truth will be somewhere between the two - Howe’s version of gegenpressing must require unbelievable fitness levels and have high demands of the body even of professional athletes.  But some of the injuries we’ve had have also just been rotten luck.

[Erikse]

2 hours ago, Groundhog63 said:

 

What's next week's lottery numbers, Mystic? 

 

I will save it for next season, you will see.

[80]

6 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

I’m not willing to put everything down to bad luck, and I’m also not willing to pin everything on Howe’s methods.  I don’t like it all being pinned on ‘bad luck’, because that’s unlikely to fix owt. 

 

I do think the truth will be somewhere between the two - Howe’s version of gegenpressing must require unbelievable fitness levels and have high demands of the body even of professional athletes.  But some of the injuries we’ve had have also just been rotten luck.

Plus medical guidance he's received, nutrition, the training pitch itself, the natural constitutions of the players he inherited... There are a lot of factors to take into account.

[Lush Vlad]

5 minutes ago, Groundhog63 said:

We have, he's talking shit

 

At least respond with some sort of argument against if you think that.  Most of the season, I think our build up play from the back has been poor and we don't have enough players with quality on the ball when it matters, to help us control possession and methodically progress the ball up the pitch.

 

I have referenced injuries.  Not having Tonali and Botman available has hardly helped.  But I do think teams have figured out to press Bruno all the while and we struggle.  I do also think that the technical quality of the players we have in the squad is lacking.  Hence why I'd like to see us go after players with more ability on the ball. 

[TheBrownBottle]

10 minutes ago, 80 said:

Plus medical guidance he's received, nutrition, the training pitch itself, the natural constitutions of the players he inherited... There are a lot of factors to take into account.

100%.  The manager is a decision-maker, but he’s not a medical professional.

 

I still find it incredible the performances and fitness levels he’s got out of some of this squad.  Most of us would’ve sacked off pretty much the entirety of Bruce’s squad.  We went from the least fittest to the fittest team in the PL under Howe.

 

The summer window is going to be really interesting - whether or not Howe doubles-down or attempts to move to a slightly different style.  Who we sign will tell us I reckon.  

[Zero]

30 minutes ago, Groundhog63 said:

We have, he's talking shit

 

We haven’t, seriously. At least we haven’t show it since October, after injuries started to pile up

[Geogaddi]

I also hate using bad luck and injuries as an excuse but I cant think of any other team that has suffered with as much bad luck and injuries as we have this season.

 

it started with that Liverpool home game which we somehow lost to ten men, we then got the group of death in the champions league and the robbery in Paris, Drawing Man City, Man United and Chelsea in the league cup, Tripper last minute error against Chelsea costing us another likely trip to Wembley.  Our local rivals away from home in the FA cup then of course drawing Man City away in the same competition.  You get all that then mix it with an injury crisis that I have never seen from any team before and its a recipe for disaster. 

 

Its summed up last night by Paul Dummett having to play for us because of how bad our injuries are, he wasn't good enough ten years ago when we were rubbish and he's certainly not good enough now but we had no choice but to bring him on. Literally everything possible that could have gone wrong this season has and that's not down to Eddie.

[mighty__mag]

 

 

[ryanegg]

Just now, mighty__mag said:

 

 

Scary to think where we’d be if we didn’t have these injuries. 

[mondonewc]

7 minutes ago, mighty__mag said:

 

 

Great news given all the bs flying about yesterday of another serious injury. 

[Sima]

Being out until the end of April is more-or-less season-ending anyway.

 

Just hope Hall isn't out or we're playing Dummett more.

[Ginola14]

end of April is basically season ending 

 

so many fucking season enders this season 

 

we have 3 games in May but 'a month out' according to Howe is usually much longer in real time 

 

[KingArthur]

I think some of the blame goes to Howe, but mostly it is because the sheer number of bad injuries. I mean losing a player for a week or 2 is one thing, but our players are out for a month as a default. Paul Dummett should be nowhere near PL game in 2024, same goes for Ritchie, who was likely the other choice to play left back. I mean Howe's options have been ridiculously limited for months. And yes, his playing style is a factor, but knee injuries or ankle injuries have nothing to do with that, or Pope's shoulder.

[TRon]

3 hours ago, Lush Vlad said:

This is going to sound like it's reactionary based on last night.  But I think I've mentioned it a few times on here and others have.  But we are really bad at building from the back in possession.  I'd love to see that as the next step in our development and evolution under Howe next season.  

 

Teams have worked out to stop the pass into Bruno.  Meaning we struggle to move the ball up the pitch along the deck.  As he's the only real technician in the midfield capable of retaining  possession under pressure and progressing it upfield.  We then often rely on Schar spotting a diagonal or when Trippier is playing, managing to break the lines with a sharp pass into feet.  But all too often, we just slowly pass the ball along between the CB's, Dubs sometimes getting involved and sometimes we go out to the full backs, who never seem to have a decent option ahead of them.  It never looks like we're close to working an opening or setting something up.  It's all really ponderous and laboured.   

 

Again, injuries, fatigue and then more recently, constant, enforced shuffling of players hasn't helped at all.  There were actually some flashes last night with Murphy coming off the wing, Bruno when he found space, Anderson, Hall and Barnes all linked up well down the left at times, too.  So that is promising.  But I would like to see us go after players in the transfer market who are more technically sound and not just a team full of athletes who keep breaking down for whatever reason.  Whether that is because they're bodies aren't up to playing in the system, the system isn't fit for purpose for a long season, training methods, the medical team, bad luck or all of the above.  

 

I often look at players we are linked with and think 'wouldn't suit our system.  Not a Howe player.'  But I'm now starting to lean the other way.  Howe has spoken about wanting more control over games and more possession this season.  So for example, a player like Smith-Rowe, injuries aside.  Would be a much better use of finances than someone like Onana, who I thought was atrocious last night and is terrible on the ball. 

 

I don't specifically mean those two players BTW.  Just using a couple of examples that sprung to mind as we have been linked with them multiple times. 

 

The slow passing out from the back infuriates me as well, but I just put that down to lack of ability on the ball in some cases, and lack of options in front of them. Bruno comes looking for the ball, I think the only other way to get it upfield is via the full backs and wide men in front of them. Then it just comes down to how much quality they have to do it. Trippier and Livramento obviously make a huge difference when they are on the pitch.

 

At the moment it still feels like we have too many players who get flustered when they are pressed so might just need better recruitment.

[Menace]

Despite everything if he actually finishes top 6/7 its an incredible achievement - all this talk of him getting sacked or being "under pressure" is nonsense. There's been plenty of times this season I've been pissed off with some of his decisions/stubbornness but even still.

 

The owners did their research in wanting someone who is good for the long haul (Emery + him), they could've easily gone for a big name who would've lasted 2-3 years and it would've been back to square one after their tenure would be approaching towards the end. I look at managers like Conte, Mourinho etc, I genuinely don't think they would've achieved what Howe has done in his tenure so far. These constant Mourinho links are so nauseating as they don't even make sense with what the owners are aiming for.

[Lush Vlad]

1 minute ago, Menace said:

Despite everything if he actually finishes top 6/7 its an incredible achievement - all this talk of him getting sacked or being "under pressure" is nonsense. There's been plenty of times this season I've been pissed off with some of his decisions/stubbornness but even still.

 

The owners did their research in wanting someone who is good for the long haul (Emery + him), they could've easily gone for a big name who would've lasted 2-3 years and it would've been back to square one after their tenure would be approaching towards the end. I look at managers like Conte, Mourinho etc, I genuinely don't think they would've achieved what Howe has done in his tenure so far. These constant Mourinho links are so nauseating as they don't even make sense with what the owners are aiming for.

 

Agree with this.  My worry is just that with the latest lot of injuries.  6th-7th seems like it might be a bit beyond the players we have available.  It's actually really tight from 7th all the way down to Fulham in 13th.  It might end up only being a few points either way.  But 6th-8th would feel like an ok to decent season even without factoring everything in.  A brilliant one when you consider all of the injuries and the Tonali situation.  

 

But say we finish 12th.  Regardless of how close we are points wise to the top 7 or 8.  It will be seen as a failure and rightly or wrongly, the pressure on him will start to increase.  

[Kanji]

As I’ve said before, if we simply had Nick in goal we’d be comfortably 6th place, looking at 5th. 

[Dr Jinx]

The only other team you can compare in terms of high intensity is Liverpool and if you look over the years.. they have a season where they push like mad and a “cooler” season where they seem to ease up a bit. They have far less injuries than us but still probably more injuries than the average club.

 

Someone mentioned before that the alleged asthma inhalers that most of their squad use can’t be used in a way for sports gains in the long term.. you have to ease off or the body won’t see any benefit.

 

Now I reckon Howe is asking the players who am guessing don’t all have asthma to produce the same kind of output as Liverpool but season after season with a smaller squad.. I’m not in any way surprised we have so many injury issues.

 

I just don’t think he knows how to perfect that recipe, he doesn’t have a plan B. So next season he’ll do the same thing.

 

Assuming the fatigue is an accumulative thing, if we sign a couple of first team players they’ll probably be able to cope with the intensity… for 1 season.. into season two and the wheels will fall off which has happened to most of our squad this year.

[Dr.Spaceman]

Honestly cannot wait for next season. Just hope we manage to make it into Europe, whether it's the Europa or the Conference I'm really not fussed, anything is better than nowt in terms of the club's standing in the game.

 

In theory how many players will we have back for the start of the season (assuming no transfers), all bar Botman and Lascelles?

 

And Tonali, of course 

 

 

Edited April 3 by Dr.Spaceman

[Jack27]

Be sad when Howe is sacked before a state of the art training ground is built that will help the players recover from his intense style 

[ShootShoot]

27 minutes ago, Jack27 said:

Be sad when Howe is sacked before a state of the art training ground is built that will help the players recover from his intense style 

Can but hope that he progresses to a less intense style of play and that injuries overall lessen as a result . Theres more than one way to win a football match 

[TwoForJoy]

15 minutes ago, ShootShoot said:

Can but hope that he progresses to a less intense style of play and that injuries overall lessen as a result . Theres more than one way to win a football match 

Agreed. I long for the day we keep the ball to see out a game rather than retreat to 11 behind the ball and concede late.

[OCK]

The Champions League game showed that there needed to be some change to how we play, it was absolutely killing the players playing two/three times a week at high-intensity. All the seasoned managers usually have a grind it out plan for games in the league after a European game, where they'll play a less intense pressing football. Lessons to be learned. 

[ShootShoot]

28 minutes ago, OCK said:

The Champions League game showed that there needed to be some change to how we play, it was absolutely killing the players playing two/three times a week at high-intensity. All the seasoned managers usually have a grind it out plan for games in the league after a European game, where they'll play a less intense pressing football. Lessons to be learned. 

This . Somehow people have come to accept that 4 3 3 and high intensity ( sings " High Anxiety " in a Mel Brooks stylee ) is the Holy Grail of football - its not its just one way of playing . Systems become fashionable then overtime get discarded . Its not sustainable in the long term as was said above