Eddie Howe

[NEEJ]

1 minute ago, andycap said:

Mclaren vibes if we play like that all season we'll be alright. 

I mean, if we give Isak a couple of gilt-edged chances like that each game we should be. 

[mouldy_uk]

2 minutes ago, Danh1 said:

Anyone who has the misfortune of following me on Twitter will know I’m not a fan of Mr Hurst, but he’s spot on here

 

 

Agreed, we are pretty ‘meh’ this season.

 

Backed Eddie 100% last season as the injuries were freakish, however that excuse has gone now and I want to see a lot more. I want to at least give him the chance to get some quality reinforcements in January to see what he can do. 
 

I can’t remember the last time we tactically outclassed a team, our set pieces are just one dimensional and our best players (on paper), are underperforming. 

[Lush Vlad]

7 minutes ago, Danh1 said:

Anyone who has the misfortune of following me on Twitter will know I’m not a fan of Mr Hurst, but he’s spot on here

 

 

I’d argue, that based on the last 3 games, our possession and control of games is getting a lot better. The press has been very good for most of those games, too. 
 

The finishing and creativity is just miles off.  

[LiquidAK]

1 minute ago, Lush Vlad said:

I agree. But the lack of goals and ability to regularly create decent chances is a worry. Even last year, we seemed to score quite a few, as well as concede quite a few! 
 

I think Barnes needs to start. As we need more goalscorers on the pitch. 
 

1 goal, a penalty, in 3 games where we have had large spells where we have been dominant, is not good enough. It wasn’t like we were free scoring before that, either. 

Agree broadly - only bit I'd come back on is we did create chances today, if we get Isak 1 on 1 on the regular he's scoring a boatload, today that just didn't happen and we suffered for it 

[LiquidAK]

4 minutes ago, Nucasol said:

Agreed but I do think the time has come to freshen the squad up. Not a quadruple bypass level of surgery but more than Willy Osula and Lloyd Kelly. If that means sacrificing a purple to give FFP breathing room then I’m open to it.

I hope we'll be able to spend more without it coming to that after a quiet couple of windows. Definitely needs freshening up though so if that's the only way I think I could live with it 

[Lush Vlad]

7 minutes ago, LiquidAK said:

Agree broadly - only bit I'd come back on is we did create chances today, if we get Isak 1 on 1 on the regular he's scoring a boatload, today that just didn't happen and we suffered for it 

Yep. I do think today was a mixture of bad passes/decisions in the final third mixed in with some dreadful finishing. It just still feels like we are a bit unsure what to do in the final third. The 2/3 before that have been miles better the last few games. 

[Sibierski]

17 minutes ago, LiquidAK said:

I do think there's a need for a little perspective. It's a hugely disappointing result, but the last 3 games we've played reasonably well, including a point against the best team in the league/world. Things might start to look a little bleak given our next few games, but our good start to the season has given a good foundation to push on from after that, we won't be cut totally adrift even losing against both Chelsea and Arsenal (and you never know, those aren't guarantees). Still early in the season, seen an improvement performance wise. A sharp Isak, bit of confidence and we can get going again imo

Not cut adrift, but will be quickly. It’s been a favourable start to season, with 3 of the 7 teams we’ve faced who are above us, have been at home too. 
 

Only going to get tougher the games now and feels we’ve not taken advantage. Need to pluck some results that are unexpected to stay on top 6 contention going into new year IMO. 
 

Since Staveley left, things have been way off. PSR mess, no signings, new set up above, now new CEO needed, all with manager struggling the most in his time during this turmoil, with no-one really any wise to what the plan is long term. 

[The Butcher]

PSR mess went down on Amanda and Merhdad's watch.

 

It wouldn't surprise if that shitshow they put us in is part of the reason why they left.

 

 

 

 

Edited 2 hours ago by The Butcher

[Erikse]

Talking of injuries. I think I saw some talking about Isak and Gordon not being at perfect fitness today. Getting pretty tired of that stuff, no team has every player in perfect fitness. Interesting how we never look at the injuries and fitness of the team we're facing. They were missing Pedro, Webster, Adringa and Minteh, with March and Enciso having been out for a year. Mitoma was on the bench, presumably because he has travelled from Japan. I suppose Bruno has travelled far aswell, but the point is that we never talk about the problems of the opposition. As if we are allways worse of than everyone else on injuries and fitness. If we had the levels of injuries and fitness to key players as they had today, and we had lost in that condition, many would put the loss down to that factor alone as if we were completely crippled. But noone is saying that Brighton were crippled.

 

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Erikse

[The College Dropout]

I think european football this season was always going to be difficult given our ffp position.  
 

Keeping all of our purples but not adding to them always ran the risk of stagnation.  

[buzza]

Keeping all of our purples next summer is a more concerning matter. The project isnt going as per the sales pitch to most of our star players

[The College Dropout]

9 minutes ago, The Butcher said:

PSR mess went down on Amanda and Merhdad's watch.

 

It wouldn't surprise if that shitshow they put us in is part of the reason why they left.

 

 

 

 

 

Massive chance like. Likely even. 
 

Brighton have so much more depth than us. Our squad is so imbalanced.  £60m players in some positions and lads that would struggle to get another PL big deputising. 

[The College Dropout]

4 minutes ago, buzza said:

Keeping all of our purples next summer is a more concerning matter. The project isnt going as per the sales pitch to most of our star players

Unless something big change with PSR - that was always going to be the case though.  

[Erikse]

29 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Massive chance like. Likely even. 
 

Brighton have so much more depth than us. Our squad is so imbalanced.  £60m players in some positions and lads that would struggle to get another PL big deputising. 

 

Not sure what to think of our strategy so far. In one way it seems like we should have been more concerned about depth, but at the same time some of the top signings have been a great success for the price. It seems like our (allowed) spending power has gone down way before we were finished building the team that we were trying to build, but you could put that down lack of sales aswell. Feels like PSR is making it tighter and tighter for us in each passing window. If we go for a big money signing in the next 2 windows, and it doesn't hit the mark, it would be a disaster with PSR. I think the biggest worry for me is the aging squad, like we're going to have so many players to replace. We're still struggling to adapt to playing without Trippier alone, and we can't even get a fee for him. Getting a little bit off topic, but here we are.

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Erikse

[Monters]

43 minutes ago, buzza said:

Keeping all of our purples next summer is a more concerning matter. The project isnt going as per the sales pitch to most of our star players

Devil’s advocate but is there anywhere argument that if they play the majority of games and we finish outside Europe they don’t deserve to stay?

[Big Geordie]

Being able to shift deadwood from the Ashley area, has been a problem too. Said before, but the damage that was done to the club in those 14 years can't be overstated enough.

 

That said, it does feel a bit like the momentum that has been built over the last 3 years, is stalling a bit - on and off the field. Needs addressing.

[Elliottman]

11 minutes ago, Monters said:

Devil’s advocate but is there anywhere argument that if they play the majority of games and we finish outside Europe they don’t deserve to stay?

I don’t even think you’re playing devils advocate it’s just a very good point. A lot of them aren’t living up to the hype at the moment , in fact, the majority of them. Bruno, Gordon and Isak have been well off it so far. 

[huss9]

still has my support but should get him on radio newcastle and have an #askeddie phone in.

 

what's it with the tonali subs?

the fucking corners and setpieces?

not playing your top scorer?

at least £60m was still available to improve the squad in the summer and none of it spent.

 

 

[J7]

He ran out of ideas today and that’s worrying. It ended up a bit of a disjointed mess.

[jack j]

1 hour ago, buzza said:

Keeping all of our purples next summer is a more concerning matter. The project isnt going as per the sales pitch to most of our star players

Or maybe nor selling one of them in the summer is more of a concerning matter

Hindsight obviously but it probably would have been the right decision to let one of them go and rebuild in the positions we needed

Mind with all the palava over the summer with mitchell and howe I'm not sure we would have got what we needed anyway

[Weezertron]

Building a top team is harder than we thought I reckon. First we buy a bunch of decent players with obvious deficiencies to take us up to the top half of the table. Now we're there, we need again to replace a lot of those decent players with those without the deficiencies. It's fucked. 

[Shadow Puppets]

3 hours ago, Erikse said:

What could possibly be the reason for starting Murphy over Barnes today, considering how well Barnes has done this season? I'm just trying to understand that decision.

Barnes took a minor knock in training last week.

[hakka]

Our defence tries hard but is badly missing Botman.

 

Our midfield seems tactically getting adjusted for by the opposition. Bruno's passing is wasted deep. We haven't seen enough of him unlocking teams. Feel we should have had a proper athletic DM to protect defence and let Tonali and Bruno to be running things a bit higher up together. 

 

Right wing is glaring problem, as is no quality back up for Isak. Wilson is finished as a source goals as he can't be fit long enough to be taken seriously now.

 

I just hope we do enough to give our stars hope to stay on our invest last summers budget with new earned funds to fix our issues and properly get going again. Could be unpleasant if a lot suddenly want to leave because we have another off season.

[huss9]

yet we still created some decent chances today and at everton.

[Rod]

40 minutes ago, Monters said:

Devil’s advocate but is there anywhere argument that if they play the majority of games and we finish outside Europe they don’t deserve to stay?

Bruno?