Eddie Howe

[Scotty66]

1st season - dragged us away from relegation when we looked doomed and eventually finished comfortably safe.

 

2nd season - Champions League and a cup final

 

3rd season - STILL fighting for Europe in April after a season with an injury crisis like no other.

 

What a man. Imagine him with a squad full of Brunos and Isaks in every position.

[toontownman]

3 minutes ago, Scotty66 said:

What a man. Imagine him with a squad full of Brunos and Isaks in every position.

Can only hope he is still here when we can be that competitive. We will invest in the summer but I think next year will be the most scrutinized he has had. Lots of pressure on. I think top 6 will be important otherwise, cup win aside, he could find himself in trouble with PIF looking around.

[andycap]

We are defending better as a result of playing burn and schar and they're actually fit and not carrying knocks. We look solid centrally and the goals have stopped. Just need our midfield to actually help bruno and the back four then we will be dandy. 

[PauloGeordio]

 

[The College Dropout]

We’re fighting. 

[LFEE]

Matty Longstaff:

"The gaffer was massive,". 

"He let me stay around the place. My contract ran out and he was unbelievable. 

He rang me when I was away and said, 'I still want you to come in. 

You have got to remember what you did here. You helped build this place to what it is. I want you to feel part of it. Never feel like you're not.'

"The gaffer and his staff spoke to me every day. Whether it was for five minutes or 10 minutes, it was such a big thing when you're going through a big injury. 

The smallest conversations from the people at the top of the club mean so much - even if you're not in their plans. 

It can refresh you a little bit so I was really lucky in that sense."

[TBG]

Assuming the players are in at least 5 days a week, that's 50 minutes that could've spent on the training pitch with employed players.

 

Given how ruthless (this is based on how often they're pointed out as being ruthless on here) our owners are, can you really see them being happy with that wasted 50 mins?

[Pilko]

18 minutes ago, LFEE said:

Matty Longstaff:

"The gaffer was massive"

 

[The Prophet]

Good to see the underlying numbers heading back to normality. 

[Yorkie]

Christ I'll never get sick of that Schar PSG goal.  I love the look on his face... it's got the "I'm fucking class," that you'd expect from him but there's a little glimmer of "as if this is happening" in there. 

 

What a night. 

[Lush Vlad]

10 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

Christ I'll never get sick of that Schar PSG goal.  I love the look on his face... it's got the "I'm fucking class," that you'd expect from him but there's a little glimmer of "as if this is happening" in there. 

 

What a night. 

Said it in another thread regarding the Barnes winner against West Ham. But the Fletch commentary was good that night and I do like how he gets caught up in the moment and the emotion. 
 

He is an annoying wafflebag. But he has become synonymous with CL games because of BT/TNT. So it was nice hearing him get all excited as every goal went in. 

[The Prophet]

 

Some interesting bits in this, in summary:

 

Tonali's ban us viewed internally having "absolutely fucked us".

 

In the Premier Leaague, we are 10th in terms of soft tissue injuries suffered and are below the league average for hamstring injuries.

 

This is a big improvement on Howe's Bournemouth days.

 

We've had an league high average of 6.2 absentees a game, but our injuries per 1,000 minutes played is actually down on last season.

 

Longstaff has been playing with an ankle injury since November.

 

The pre-seaaon tour of the US was too hectic with too much travelling and putting players under physical pressure too early.

 

We are investigating the training pitches.

 

Overall, it's a very long article, covering the conflicts Howe faced and lessons he may have taken from this season. It's decent reading if you have a spare weekend.

 

 

Edited April 11 by The Prophet

[KaKa]

Good to know that about Longstaff, because his drop off has been significant, and it's been frustrating to see.

 

Fair play to him if he's been playing through injuries that are making his mobility more difficult. Can't be upset with him at all really, knowing that's the case.

 

 

 

 

[SUPERTOON]

20 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

Some interesting bits in this, in summary:

 

Tonali's ban us viewed interanla6aa having "absolutely fucked us".

 

In the Premier Leaague, we are 10th in terms of soft tissue injuries suffered and are below the league average for hamstring injuries.

 

This is a big improvement on Howe's Bournemouth days.

 

We've had an league high average of 6.2 absentees a game, but our injuries per 1,000 minutes played is actually down on last season.

 

Longstaff has been playing with an ankle injury since November.

 

The pre-seaaon tour of the US was too hectic with too much travelling and putting players under physical pressure too early.

 

We ate investigating the training pitches.

 

Overall, it's a very long article, covering the conflicts Howe faced and lessons he may have taken from this season. It's decent reading if you have a spare weekend.

Not that they wouldn’t have been, but it’s good to know they are aware of issues. Guess that rules out a US tour this pre season.

[54]

7 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Not that they wouldn’t have been, but it’s good to know they are aware of issues. Guess that rules out a US tour this pre season.

You'd say that, but we are taking a squad to Australia for two friendlies in two days, half a week after the season ends  

[Yorkie]

There's no way we won't do another international tour if it's commercially attractive. There's no doubting that such trips do little to help actual preparation for the season but we'll just have to adapt as best we can. 

 

Without reading the article I'm not sure how related it can even be to the injury crisis. The pre-season tour didn't break two backs, dislocate two shoulders, snap two ACLs or give Harvey Barnes turf toe.

[Coffee_Johnny]

At least we’re getting this long haul trip done early. I guess it is what happens between then and preseason training which is most important in terms of sensible prep for next year. 

[KaKa]

1 hour ago, 54 said:

You'd say that, but we are taking a squad to Australia for two friendlies in two days, half a week after the season ends  

 

Yeah, and that makes more sense.

 

Attach it to the end of the season, and then let everyone go off on their holidays and then come back for a more standard pre season that doesn't take too much out of them right from the start of next season.

[Sibierski]

Nothing wrong with going on tours, just don’t need to play so many games.

 

Feel in modern football, Pep/Man City have the right idea. They rarely more than 2/3 pre season games, and it’s mostly just spent on training ground. What most top sides should do IMO.

 

We played 2 games, then flew to USA where 5 after days after last we were playing again and 3 in quick succession, travelling across vast distances. Must be little spent actual training and it spent playing, recovery, travel, playing. 
 

We end this season playing in Australia 3 days after season end which is pure jokes  . Going to be bare squad going out there as I’d want all senior players rested. Like Bruno/Isak etc better not play. Get an injury in those games and miss 2 months and as a result pre season, would be so detrimental.

[Gallowgate Toon]

3 hours ago, Yorkie said:

There's no way we won't do another international tour if it's commercially attractive. There's no doubting that such trips do little to help actual preparation for the season but we'll just have to adapt as best we can. 

 

Without reading the article I'm not sure how related it can even be to the injury crisis. The pre-season tour didn't break two backs, dislocate two shoulders, snap two ACLs or give Harvey Barnes turf toe.

Feels like anything and everything gets blamed in these circumstances. 

 

There's absolutely no way anybody at NUFC was thinking 'that bloody preseason tour!' in October, I'm sure. 

[Coffee_Johnny]

1 hour ago, Gallowgate Toon said:

Feels like anything and everything gets blamed in these circumstances. 

 

There's absolutely no way anybody at NUFC was thinking 'that bloody preseason tour!' in October, I'm sure. 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Starting the season fully match fit because of such a tournament (if everyone had the constitution of Gordon…) and it was a great decision. Have your ‘potential’ season wrecked by injuries and suddenly it, training pitches, medical team, the unrealistic expectations of our playing style, etc etc all get put under the microscope. 

[timeEd32]

I'm struggling with the blame on the US tour. I imagine it was a hectic week+, but we basically approached it like this:

 

Villa - A team first half / B team second half

Chelsea - A team

Brighton - B team

 

There were some outliers, like Trippier played almost two full 90s in a span of three days. Probably not ideal when ramping up and I can also accept that the PL opposition may have upped the intensity a bit. But we stayed in a single time zone, though we could have helped ourselves by being based between NYC/Philly and not Atlanta (logistics and PL decisions from the PL may have forced our hand ... or Eales), and it was a couple weeks before the season started. A week on the east coast with first class/charter travel shouldn't be too much of a burden.

 

One mistake was probably playing four other preseason games on top of those three. 7 games seems like a lot.

[huss9]

6 hours ago, Sibierski said:

Nothing wrong with going on tours, just don’t need to play so many games.

 

Feel in modern football, Pep/Man City have the right idea. They rarely more than 2/3 pre season games, and it’s mostly just spent on training ground. What most top sides should do IMO.

 

We played 2 games, then flew to USA where 5 after days after last we were playing again and 3 in quick succession, travelling across vast distances. Must be little spent actual training and it spent playing, recovery, travel, playing. 
 

We end this season playing in Australia 3 days after season end which is pure jokes  . Going to be bare squad going out there as I’d want all senior players rested. Like Bruno/Isak etc better not play. Get an injury in those games and miss 2 months and as a result pre season, would be so detrimental.

course they fucking do. FFP doesnt apply to them. no reaching down the back of the sofa looking for spare change at their house.

 

[Sibierski]

19 minutes ago, huss9 said:

course they fucking do. FFP doesnt apply to them. no reaching down the back of the sofa looking for spare change at their house.

 

Huh? They still do the commercial tours, just not packed with countless pointless games.

 

23/24: 3 Games;  22-23: 2 Games (with a random one after season started) ; 21-22: 3 Games; 20/21 0 Games; 19/20 4 Games; 18/19 3 Games.

 

Most of them come with community shield which is essentially a higher pace pre season game, but it’s so few compared to average.

[huss9]

51 minutes ago, Sibierski said:

Huh? They still do the commercial tours, just not packed with countless pointless games. you said they

 

23/24: 3 Games;  22-23: 2 Games (with a random one after season started) ; 21-22: 3 Games; 20/21 0 Games; 19/20 4 Games; 18/19 3 Games.

 

Most of them come with community shield which is essentially a higher pace pre season game, but it’s so few compared to average.

i think you misunderstood me. you said city and pep have the right idea to limit preseason  friendlies.

i was being sarcastic... of course they have the right idea - its because they not desperate for money in the way we are.

we wou;dnt be going to australia if we weren't desperate to incease income.

fuck knows why spurs are going.