Eddie Howe

[wormy]

Can't be arsed to wait for each page to load and read back to get a general feel for whether we're asking questions of Eddie tonight or not. But I can't be upset at him tonight. 

 

We weren't outplayed. It was an even game. We can laugh at Man U being a shit show all we want but even as a shit show we're playing catch up with them. They didn't roll over for Arsenal and weren't going to roll over for us. Another day that's a win for us with some top quality chances going begging for us. 

 

Same old story. We don't have the squad for this. We could've thrown all those players coming back from injury in to the XI from the off and then what? One of them breaks down again/he keeps them on and we run out of steam/he subs them and Man U capitalise on those lesser players coming on? It's all ifs and buts when you're relying on a squad of mostly solid pros but clear back ups with genuine quality smattered in between.

 

Howe isn't perfect but he's a damn sight closer to being so than the squad he's managed to keep in the hunt for Europe all the way down to the final day. 

[gbandit]

Howe’s class, how we’re where we are this season is a miracle, it’s so hard to field a different line up week after week or the alternative, playing the same 11 with no let up game after game. He’s not at fault for our squad still have major weaknesses. Can’t wait for him to strengthen the team in the summer 

[TheBrownBottle]

No shame on losing 3-2 at OT - even against this Man Utd team

 

Away form has been really poor this season, though, and would have been considered poor at any time in my lifetime.  There are mitigating circumstances, but hopefully Howe has the solution next season

[Ronaldo]

1 minute ago, gbandit said:

Howe’s class, how we’re where we are this season is a miracle, it’s so hard to field a different line up week after week or the alternative, playing the same 11 with no let up game after game. He’s not at fault for our squad still have major weaknesses. Can’t wait for him to strengthen the team in the summer 

Can’t absolve him completely. Maxi gone so we could spend nearly £40m on Harvey Barnes to sit on the bench behind Jacob Murphy? There’s time for it to change but that’s a shitshow.

[cubaricho]

6 minutes ago, wormy said:

Can't be arsed to wait for each page to load and read back to get a general feel for whether we're asking questions of Eddie tonight or not. But I can't be upset at him tonight. 

 

We weren't outplayed. It was an even game. We can laugh at Man U being a shit show all we want but even as a shit show we're playing catch up with them. They didn't roll over for Arsenal and weren't going to roll over for us. Another day that's a win for us with some top quality chances going begging for us. 

 

Same old story. We don't have the squad for this. We could've thrown all those players coming back from injury in to the XI from the off and then what? One of them breaks down again/he keeps them on and we run out of steam/he subs them and Man U capitalise on those lesser players coming on? It's all ifs and buts when you're relying on a squad of mostly solid pros but clear back ups with genuine quality smattered in between.

 

Howe isn't perfect but he's a damn sight closer to being so than the squad he's managed to keep in the hunt for Europe all the way down to the final day. 

 

Allllll of this.  

[TheBrownBottle]

Also, for all the talk of ruthlessness, it’s not the board who need to be ruthless with Howe, it’s Howe and his team who need to be ruthless with the playing staff.  I felt last summer we’d missed a big chance to cash in on average players who Howe had coached beyond their mean ability.  We have to be ruthless this summer and try and get some of the Ashley-era players out if we can. 

[gbandit]

Just now, Ronaldo said:

Can’t absolve him completely. Maxi gone so we could spend nearly £40m on Harvey Barnes to sit on the bench behind Jacob Murphy? There’s time for it to change but that’s a shitshow.

I’m not going to defend Murphy starting over Barnes. We’ll likely see a very different Barnes next season provided he stays fit and we’ll also likely see a lot less of Murphy next season 

[The Prophet]

I'd happily wager he isn't under any pressure at all.

 

In the Amazon documentary, they even record a board meeting where it's pointed out the average finishing position following a first time stint in Europe is 8th.

 

7th-8th is about par, 6th would have been an overachievement considering the circumstances.

[Danh1]

Deserves next season but I want to see a lot of the players who’ve featured a lot this season nowhere near the first team. Appreciate some of them have played due to injuries but they won’t ever be good enough. 

[TheBrownBottle]

2 minutes ago, Ronaldo said:

Can’t absolve him completely. Maxi gone so we could spend nearly £40m on Harvey Barnes to sit on the bench behind Jacob Murphy? There’s time for it to change but that’s a shitshow.

Barnes has the same number of goals as ASM this season despite missing most of it and not playing in a pub league

[wormy]

Just now, The Prophet said:

I'd happily wager he isn't under any pressure at all.

 

In the Amazon documentary, they even record a board meeting where it's pointed out the average finishing position following a first time stint in Europe is 8th.

 

7th-8th is about par, 6th would have been an overachievement considering the circumstances.

 

But we're owned by Saudis and they're ruthless and all our players will immediately want to leave etc etc

[KaKa]

3 minutes ago, Ronaldo said:

Can’t absolve him completely. Maxi gone so we could spend nearly £40m on Harvey Barnes to sit on the bench behind Jacob Murphy? There’s time for it to change but that’s a shitshow.

 

I can accept this gripe as well. That decision wasn't great. So many signings have been though, so hard to be too upset.

 

My thing is just play them both, especially when the alternatives are Almiron and Murphy, especially at this stage with a few huge games remaining.

 

Even bringing on Almiron well before Barnes wasn't great.

 

It's unfortunate really, but these issues will clear up as the squad improves. I really cannot wait to see what he can do with a more well rounded squad without having to use some of the players we've had to quite so often.

 

 

[Geordie Ahmed]

Love Howe and I'm almost never critical of him

 

Whilst those that slate him for picking Longstaff clearly aren't thinking straight, it's a forced situation due to injuries 

 

The goalkeeper situation I am critical of. If Pope is fit enough for the bench then he could easily be called upon a minute into the game so starting him was the sensible choice

 

I can understand being cautious if you have a competent number 2 but Dubravka isn't that, he's shite. 

 

Aside from that he's coached a game we should have won, at 1-1 we had a 3 v 1 but made a mess of it. 

 

Howe will be fine and next season assuming we don't get brutalised with injuries again will be better too.

[FLUMPO235]

The season of injuries/ban we have had, being 11 points off 4th is an unbelievable achievement. 
 

Finishing top 6 next season is going to be extremely competitive. 

[Mattoon]

Next season will be interesting, Howe does need to show his ruthless side though and bin off as much of the Ashley dregs as he can including some of the fringe players that have had a lot of game time this season.

 

Next season we'll have Man Utd in transition and a lot of how they adapt will be down to what manager they manage to get in.

 

Liverpool also in transition and I think we'll see some of their old guard leave along with their manager.

 

Aston Villa have got a tough season ahead of them with the extra pressure of the CL, the extra games and unless they make some changes to the way they play I think they'll have it tough in the league too.

 

Chelsea look to have found some form, although it doesn't look like it's going good with Poch, they'd be daft to let him leave or force him out, but something isn't right there.

 

There's a good opportunity to be in the mix for 3rd down, but we absolutely, categorically have to get the summer window spot on and that includes losing some deadweight and some of Howes favourites.

[Ronaldo]

41 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Barnes has the same number of goals as ASM this season despite missing most of it and not playing in a pub league

Why did we spent £40m on him to be behind Murphy and Almiron in the pecking order then? Jury is out but it looks like a lazy signing.

[The College Dropout]

Agree on Barnes. It didn’t make sense considering we didn’t sign a RW. It didn’t make sense when Barnes and Gordon didn’t start together while both were fit. And it doesn’t make sense now it looks like Barnes is Gordon’s backup. 
 

We need to address problem positions. I

[janpawel]

4 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Agree on Barnes. It didn’t make sense considering we didn’t sign a RW. It didn’t make sense when Barnes and Gordon didn’t start together while both were fit. And it doesn’t make sense now it looks like Barnes is Gordon’s backup. 
 

We need to address problem positions. I

Aye, it was odd at the time and hindsight has only proven that 

 

Gordon is so good on the left, deffo strange to buy a 40m back up for him. Just hope we get a quality RW this summer 

[Kid Icarus]

Barnes's goal record would suggest that providing we can get that out of him when he's fully up and running, he'll be worth every penny. 

[r0cafella]

5 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

Barnes's goal record would suggest that providing we can get that out of him when he's fully up and running, he'll be worth every penny. 

Can’t get the ball out to him when he’s warming the bench mind. 
 

I feel for Howe because us being cute in the last transfer window is one of the reasons why we’ve suffered this much. 

[Hank Marvin]

Sometimes it's hard to be a fan...

 

 

 

[Pata]

1 hour ago, The College Dropout said:

Agree on Barnes. It didn’t make sense considering we didn’t sign a RW. It didn’t make sense when Barnes and Gordon didn’t start together while both were fit. And it doesn’t make sense now it looks like Barnes is Gordon’s backup. 
 

We need to address problem positions. I

 

I think they saw Gordon as a 50/50 LW/RW in the summer. Problem is that he's been so good at left this season that moving him to the other side is simply out of question. I'm certain the hole at RW gets solved this summer, could even be a new purple and Minted in the squad while Almiron and Murphy both get moved on.

[Nobody]

2 hours ago, Ronaldo said:

Why did we spent £40m on him to be behind Murphy and Almiron in the pecking order then? Jury is out but it looks like a lazy signing.

We probably didn't expect him to be injured for most of the season like 

[r0cafella]

39 minutes ago, Nobody said:

We probably didn't expect him to be injured for most of the season like 

Absolutely, but he’s fit now and has been fit for a few weeks now. 

[Zero]

We don’t have funds. Stop the “we need to be ruthless” nonsense. We won’t spend much this summer and very likely we would have the same squad for next season. The only difference is we don’t have ECL and we can play our best 11 more frequently.