Eddie Howe

[BonesJones]

1 hour ago, Kanji said:

 

Chiesa (can play both sides), but perhaps its Raphina, Xavi Simons, Michael Olise? Could probably say Simons and Olise are various stages of development. 

 

I'd have to take Raphinha for another Brazilian in the team and he's done it in the prem.

 

For development though, give me Xavi Simons. Botman needs a Dutch pal.

 

[MrRaspberryJam]

Just now, BonesJones said:

 

I'd have to take Raphinha for another Brazilian in the team and he's done it in the prem.

 

For development though, give me Xavi Simons. Botman needs a Dutch pal.

 

BUT WHAT ABOUT BAKAYAKO MAN

[PauloGeordio]

 

[NEEJ]

That doesn't even make any sense, we're seventh.

 

It does highlight how well we've done over the last 8 games though, which is mint. 

[Kanji]

Aye, we’ve played 2 truly awful matches that resulted in 0 points; 1 that we were fine for 70+ odd mins that went from 3 to 0 points and then 20 or so combined minutes away from having 6 points turn to 2 points. All with the congested fixtures and toughest domestic league + cup, and European fixtures in any of the top leagues ++ the injuries/suspension to about a dozen of our first team players of which a handful of them are legit starting players and of that group 3-4 those are foundational pieces of our team.  

 

I’d say we’re doing fucking mint all things considered. With better luck in the injury front we’d be doing better. 

[Joe1984]

Planet Sport say the odds on Howe being sacked have plummeted from 66/1 to now 6/1.

 

Sure go ahead sack him. God help his replacement coz it won't bring the injured/banned players back any quicker!

 

Idiots.

 

To clarify I don't want Eddie sacked. He's doing a great job.

 

 

Edited November 15, 2023 by Joe1984

[The Prophet]

7 minutes ago, Joe1984 said:

Planet Sport say the odds on Howe being sacked have plummeted from 66/1 to now 6/1.

 

Sure go ahead sack him. God help his replacement coz it won't bring the injured/banned players back any quicker!

 

Idiots.

 

 

[OCK]

I honestly hope (but doubt) fans keep some perspective and reality. We're little more than 2 seasons free from 14+ years of Mike Ashley and little-to-no ambition beyond stay in the Premier League, don't even go on a cup run as it doesn't generate income. An era where we had some amazingly talented players who were paired up with the wrong managers, who quickly became disenchanted by the false promises and malaise. 

 

I still get pissed off at the fanbase that moaned about the poor start to the season Bobby Robson had which led to him being sacked. 

[The College Dropout]

33 minutes ago, OCK said:

I honestly hope (but doubt) fans keep some perspective and reality. We're little more than 2 seasons free from 14+ years of Mike Ashley and little-to-no ambition beyond stay in the Premier League, don't even go on a cup run as it doesn't generate income. An era where we had some amazingly talented players who were paired up with the wrong managers, who quickly became disenchanted by the false promises and malaise. 

 

I still get pissed off at the fanbase that moaned about the poor start to the season Bobby Robson had which led to him being sacked. 

I don't agree with this like. We had decent teams but a lot of people hyped up some dross - Anita, Mbemba, Yanga-Mbiwa, Santon

[madras]

36 minutes ago, OCK said:

I honestly hope (but doubt) fans keep some perspective and reality. We're little more than 2 seasons free from 14+ years of Mike Ashley and little-to-no ambition beyond stay in the Premier League, don't even go on a cup run as it doesn't generate income. An era where we had some amazingly talented players who were paired up with the wrong managers, who quickly became disenchanted by the false promises and malaise. 

 

I still get pissed off at the fanbase that moaned about the poor start to the season Bobby Robson had which led to him being sacked. 

It wasn't the poor start that done for Robson, it was the continuation of the season before and the massive drop off (although we finished in the same position) from the season before that. 

[OCK]

20 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

I don't agree with this like. We had decent teams but a lot of people hyped up some dross - Anita, Mbemba, Yanga-Mbiwa, Santon

  

18 minutes ago, madras said:

It wasn't the poor start that done for Robson, it was the continuation of the season before and the massive drop off (although we finished in the same position) from the season before that. 

 

Maybe purple haze with it all, although doesn't bode well that as a fanbase we were ready to dump on them so quick. Hopefully we've learned lessons. 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2023 by OCK

[The College Dropout]

29 minutes ago, madras said:

It wasn't the poor start that done for Robson, it was the continuation of the season before and the massive drop off (although we finished in the same position) from the season before that. 

We went from 4th (71 points) 3rd (69 points) to 5th (56 points). So there was a fairly big drop off in results and performances.

 

But - wrongly IMO - there was this feeling that we should be doing much better. Klopp went from 92 points or something to 68 points or something. But the Liverpool fans and board believe in Klopp and he would've been afforded a fairly slow start to this season. Some of the fans and Shephard did not have faith in Bobby. And that was us done as a top PL club.

 

That night at home against Partizan Belgrade was a real sliding doors moment for the club. The defeat shifted the mood in the club and meant resources were pulled back.

 

 

Fundamentally, we were overly reliant on SBR (& Shearer). And they were ageing giants who were not at the top of their games. Shephard didn't know what he was doing. He was not half as competent as he thought, and he was overly involved, considering his limitations as the club leader/owner/ceo.

 

In that same era - Levy came into power at Spurs. Levy isn't perfect. He has made a lot of mistakes at Spurs - particularly early on. But he does know how to run a football club and Spurs were always going to have success with him. It took him 3-4 years to overtake us and they haven't looked back until PIF.

 

This is what makes me happy about our situation. The Saudi money is excellent and needed. But Staveley and co. are competent business people who know how to run a football club. We could lose Bruno, we could lose Eddie and hire a dud - they will get it right eventually and get it right more times than they get it wrong. We are on the up and up.

 

 

Edited November 15, 2023 by The College Dropout

[madras]

There were many that thought he should have gone in the summer (me amongst them) and it wasn't due to points or positions but performances over a long stretch that a good few couldn't see him pulling round.

 

Quite similar actually to what happened at Sunderland with Peter Reid.

 

 

Edited November 15, 2023 by madras

[madras]

20 minutes ago, OCK said:

  

 

Maybe purple haze with it all, although doesn't bode well that as a fanbase we were ready to dump on them so quick. Hopefully we've learned lessons. 

 

 

 

So quick ? It was about a year.

[OCK]

I guess my tolerence levels are higher.  Honestly would hate to have that situation happen again. 

[Optimistic Nut]

55 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

We went from 4th (71 points) 3rd (69 points) to 5th (56 points). So there was a fairly big drop off in results and performances.

But - wrongly IMO - there was this feeling that we should be doing much better.

 

 

 

 

Not sure on the last bit mind. We should have been loads better than 2 away wins all season like. 4 wins would have been poor but enough for the CL. 

 

The depth in quality at the top was nowhere near what it was now either. We seemed to be fighting it out for ages with teams like Villa who were average and Charlton for most of the season. Man U and Arsenal were the heavyweights joined by the new Chelsea money, Liverpool had a poor season from the previous 2-3 years but we blew it. 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2023 by Optimistic Nut

[The College Dropout]

9 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said:

 

Not sure on the last bit mind. We should have been loads better than 2 away wins all season like. 4 wins would have been poor but enough for the CL. 

Sorry I wasn't clear. There was a feeling that we could do better than SBR. Shephard was never going to hire a better manager than SBR. Never. He tried to replace him with Steve Bruce I think. Then eventually went with Souness, Roeder and Allardyce. Many of us on this board wanted SBR gone but wanted the likes of Hitzfeld - who was basically retired at that point anyway.

 

Hindsight is 20/20.

[Paully]

19 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Sorry I wasn't clear. There was a feeling that we could do better than SBR. Shephard was never going to hire a better manager than SBR. Never. He tried to replace him with Steve Bruce I think. Then eventually went with Souness, Roeder and Allardyce. Many of us on this board wanted SBR gone but wanted the likes of Hitzfeld - who was basically retired at that point anyway.

 

Hindsight is 20/20.

 

Yep, Liverpool finished above us in 2003-04 and replaced Houliler with Rafa that summer

[wormy]

Hitzfield.  There's a blast from the past.

 

Nothing groundbreaking but when you look at Shepherd's managerial hirings it truly is shocking.

 

I can at least understand Dalglish with his recent pedigree, even if it didn't work out. Sir Bobby was an open goal that he thankfully managed to put away. Everyone else was purely reactionary, going the opposite direction in personality of the previous incumbant. Just desperate every time.

[The College Dropout]

1 hour ago, wormy said:

Hitzfield.  There's a blast from the past.

 

Nothing groundbreaking but when you look at Shepherd's managerial hirings it truly is shocking.

 

I can at least understand Dalglish with his recent pedigree, even if it didn't work out. Sir Bobby was an open goal that he thankfully managed to put away. Everyone else was purely reactionary, going the opposite direction in personality of the previous incumbant. Just desperate every time.

As you say, SBR was an open goal. We would've fallen faster if he wasn't around.

 

We were rarely even linked to promising managers, either. I'm confident Steve Bruce knocked us back twice. And when we sacked a manager, there was never another manager lined up.

 

Even the Bobby thing was done poorly. It was confirmed he was leaving at the end of that season, I believe - did we have a succession plan? Did we fuck.

 

RIP Shephard. At least he tried. I don't want to be overly critical of a dead man who I think tried his best. We had good training facilities. He tried to appease the fans. 

[Optimistic Nut]

2 hours ago, The College Dropout said:

Sorry I wasn't clear. There was a feeling that we could do better than SBR. Shephard was never going to hire a better manager than SBR. Never. He tried to replace him with Steve Bruce I think. Then eventually went with Souness, Roeder and Allardyce. Many of us on this board wanted SBR gone but wanted the likes of Hitzfeld - who was basically retired at that point anyway.

 

Hindsight is 20/20.

 

Apologies l, thought you meant that season.

 

Yeah the names linked around the time weren't inspiring. O'Neill, O'Leary, Bruce, McClaren, Allardyce...mad that 3 still ended up here. 

[Kanji]

Didn’t Liverpool go and hire Rafa and we hired Souness? We were a season too late on Mourinho too who went to Chelsea earlier right?

[wormy]

10 minutes ago, Kanji said:

Didn’t Liverpool go and hire Rafa and we hired Souness? We were a season too late on Mourinho too who went to Chelsea earlier right?

 

Yeah I remember those hirings were seen as a big turning point in each club's fortunes.

 

They parted with Houllier in the summer with a clear succession plan in place of Rafa and won the Champions League.

 

We kept SBR but told the world he was leaving at the end of the season anyway, sacked him a few games in before saving Blackburn, one of the few clubs below us in the table, from needing to pay Souness off for what looked to be an inevitable sacking itself.

[Abacus]

Well, Howe has a job on now for sure. But he's defied expectations before.

 

What annoys me is the suggestion that he may be under pressure, mainly from a couple of know-nothing journalists. E.g. Alyson Rudd in the Times (a Liverpool fan who writes some of the most biased anti-NUFC match reports I've read) gleefully suggesting on Monday that this might be the case on the basis of nothing at all.

 

I can't see any groundswell of opinion from actual fans that anyone seriously thinks someone else could do any better, or that he doesn't deserve anything less than our full support not least for his character, attitude and what he's already achieved.

 

Can think of a few fans of other clubs who look at him enviously. He's one of those rare managers where I just think "let him get on with it" and don't worry too much.

[The Prophet]

The person putting him under the most pressure will be himself. It's madness if there's any external pressure on him at the moment.