Eddie Howe

[The Prophet]

Tonali played in the right side of a double pivot for Milan, didn't he?

 

He wasn't exactly a number eight, but he wasn't a number six either.

[madras]

9 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

Be interesting to see what he does when Wissa is fit. The current system doesn’t allow them both to play together, unless you move one of them wide.

 

Not sure either will want to become the bench warmer and Woltemade’s start makes it very difficult to drop him now.

 

The ideal scenario is Woltemade as a 10 which we just don’t play. I suspect if Elanga’s form continues we’ll see quite a bit of Wissa on the right. 

Throw in Eddie's insistence that he wanted Ekitike to play alongside Isak.

 

Roles not positions I tells ya.

[r0cafella]

12 minutes ago, gbandit said:

@Curva Sud Milano hey Curva, what was Tonali’s role in the side at Milan?

Think he played in a double pivot Bennacer.

 

I wouldn't want to solely rely on Sandro for chance creation mind, but Bruno is our playmaker. I think the issue is actually Joelinton he just doesn't offer enough in the attacking sense imo but obviously makes up for that in other ways.

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[Guest]

I love Howe, but have concerns about a few things, but also some optimism.

 

- I find it strange how people almost take it for given that we will soon completely turn our form around. It’s not a given, and I can’t deny I worry if we don’t.

 

- Our main problem still seems to be getting wins against the middle teams. Not sure what is needed, maybe a mix of different things, but if Howe is as good as we all think he needs to resolve this soon.

 

- We want to transform our style to more possession instead of the high intensity, yet it seems we want to focus on wingers (maybe the key positions in this day and age) who seems more suited for high intensity, and producing little creatively.

 

- Finally, I am hopeful the new sporting director will help highlight some of this or help us in the right direction. Can’t help feeling Eddie just needs some support and valuable views/decisions from people above him.

[gbandit]

Has made up for it in other ways, more than made up for it in the past but I think he needs time out of the side to get back to his physical peak (Joelinton) and in the process we can work on becoming a better team with the ball (Ramsey or Miley)

[Whitley mag]

Isn’t many goals in that midfield 3 at the moment, which is why I found it surprising he didn’t bring Ramsey on for Joelinton.

 

Throw in wide forwards who don’t produce much end product and it’s no wonder where struggling to be honest.

[madras]

1 minute ago, Whitley mag said:

Isn’t many goals in that midfield 3 at the moment, which is why I found it surprising he didn’t bring Ramsey on for Joelinton.

 

Throw in wide forwards who don’t produce much end product and it’s no wonder where struggling to be honest.

Im hoping he started Joelinton, saving Ramsey for Tuesday not wanting him (Ramsey) playing two games in 4 days just back from injury.

[Dr Venkman]

37 minutes ago, madras said:

Do you not think Woltemade and Ramsey are a move away from that ?

I forgot about Ramsey . 
 

What else have the Romans ever done for us?

[Mikky]

41 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

Isn’t many goals in that midfield 3 at the moment, which is why I found it surprising he didn’t bring Ramsey on for Joelinton.

 

Throw in wide forwards who don’t produce much end product and it’s no wonder where struggling to be honest.

I think more alarming is the output from the wide men - is it 1 assist all season (nil goals) - in the league?

 

Between the 4 of them, my own target was 30 combined Gs/As for the league (roughy 7 per wideman) - seems way unrealistic now

[AyeDubbleYoo]

1 hour ago, The Prophet said:

Tonali played in the right side of a double pivot for Milan, didn't he?

 

He wasn't exactly a number eight, but he wasn't a number six either.

I think part of our problem was that Bruno in the 6 makes us very vulnerable to counterattacks. Which Tonali stops because he can cover so much ground. 
 

I don’t think Tonali is only a number 6. 

[Dr Venkman]

1 hour ago, TheBrownBottle said:

He wasn’t an 8 at Milan, and he looked poor there for us because he was out of position.  He’s a defensive holding midfielder.  

I think it’s a borderline on Sandro but Jacob Ramsey proved the original post hyperbolic IMO.

[The Prophet]

I've never really understood the longstanding criticism that we struggle to break teams down. You can probably count on one hand how many times we were successfully low blocked in the 23/24 and 24/25 seasons. When we were, it was often an issue of profligacy, rather than creativity.

 

In 23/24, we scored 85 (4th in the league), but our major problem was the shape of the midfield and how easy it was to play through. In 24/25, we scored 68 (4th in the league), but it was counter attacks that did for us, but in neither of those could you say we struggled for chance creation or breaking teams down.

 

I think we sometimes struggle to keep the ball and are careless in possession, but again that's not a creativity issue.

 

[TRon]

1 hour ago, Marxen the Mag said:

I love Howe, but have concerns about a few things, but also some optimism.

 

- I find it strange how people almost take it for given that we will soon completely turn our form around. It’s not a given, and I can’t deny I worry if we don’t.

 

- Our main problem still seems to be getting wins against the middle teams. Not sure what is needed, maybe a mix of different things, but if Howe is as good as we all think he needs to resolve this soon.

 

- We want to transform our style to more possession instead of the high intensity, yet it seems we want to focus on wingers (maybe the key positions in this day and age) who seems more suited for high intensity, and producing little creatively.

 

- Finally, I am hopeful the new sporting director will help highlight some of this or help us in the right direction. Can’t help feeling Eddie just needs some support and valuable views/decisions from people above him.

 

This for me as well. I get it that we have gone on long streaks of wins in the past, and probably will again. But until then, you can only comment on what you are seeing. 

[Casey]

The post match was fairly interesting (as far as they can be) yesterday. Eddie was very clear on disappointment from the result, specifically how loose (wasteful) we were with the ball, and the lack of output from everyone bar Wolte. 

 

When prompted on subs/Miley he was fairly complimentary saying he brought composure on-the-ball that we needed. I can't disagree and I wonder if this may be the beginning of a run of fixtures for wor Miley.

 

Personally I hope so. One of my biggest frustrations this season has been this lack of composure, we're so often just punting the ball for no good reason and it invites so much pressure alongside stifling our offense. This happened in the Forest game but we held on and then picked up in the 2nd half. I said as much at the time (spoilered below as this is already a long post).

 

Spoiler

 

I think we're currently trying to transition to a more possession-based team. Woltemade fits that style with his link-up and our famous intensity is basically nonexistent for the most part; I do wonder once Wissa is fit and firing if we'll try to play both styles to provide tactical depth. 

 

As it stands I think the players, especially midfield, wingers and to some extent fullbacks (although fair mitigation for Burn playing out-of-position) are struggling with the aforementioned change in setup and for form generally.

 

I don't really see how much blame can be levelled at Eddie. These are talented players and should be able to adjust, and I believe it's them letting down Eddie and not poor coaching. Obviously just my opinion. Here's hoping for a good midweek UCL performance as we need confidence and momentum. 

[The College Dropout]

We can blitz teams with the press and on the counter. 
But we struggle to get it down and play.  
 

Proper top teams tend to kill games off with the ball. Sideways stuff.  We can only attack or defend.  So we often run it up because we keep attacking.  
 

Playing that way with European football is a risk.  
 

To become a top side I felt we needed a little more football in midfield and on the wings.  Let’s see how Ramsey settles in but I was thinking more Tonali/Bruno levels.  

[Novocastrian]

Been said before but are we at the limits of what’s possible with this current, albeit exciting, style of play?

 

We've been desperate for more technical players and perhaps a move to a more possession based style will help away to the better teams and in Europe.

[The College Dropout]

6 minutes ago, Novocastrian said:

Been said before but are we at the limits of what’s possible with this current, albeit exciting, style of play?

 

We've been desperate for more technical players and perhaps a move to a more possession based style will help away to the better teams and in Europe.

It doesn’t even have to be possession-based but just better in settled possession. 
 

Pope, Joelinton, Elanga/Murphy, sometimes Tino in the side it’s hard to get the ball down and get it moving.  
 

Last season that triangle of Longstaff, Tino and Murphy was super bad at times. Couldn’t build or sustain attacks. 

[Kanj]

4 hours ago, The College Dropout said:

It doesn’t even have to be possession-based but just better in settled possession. 
 

Pope, Joelinton, Elanga/Murphy, sometimes Tino in the side it’s hard to get the ball down and get it moving.  
 

Last season that triangle of Longstaff, Tino and Murphy was super bad at times. Couldn’t build or sustain attacks. 

 

Burn/Livra, Joelinton, Gordon/Barnes left side often losing the ball for us as much as anytime it gets to Murphy/Elanga on the right. 

[The College Dropout]

1 hour ago, Kanj said:

 

Burn/Livra, Joelinton, Gordon/Barnes left side often losing the ball for us as much as anytime it gets to Murphy/Elanga on the right. 

Elanga can't control a football. Gordon keeps the ball a level better than Elanga/Murphy.

 

IMO Elanga/Murphy are unique in how their fundamentals (for their position) causes moves to break down. Pope too. Joelinton to a lesser extent,  he keeps it simple and can often use his strength or some quick feet to manoeuvre himself. I do think we need a better footballer for Big Joe though.

 

I give wingers less grace for this than CMs, I give CMs less grace than fullbacks etc. For their positions I think Burn and Tino are fine. Burn doesn't play through the lines like Botman but he keeps it ticking calmly enough.

 

 

Edited October 20, 2025 by The College Dropout

[SteV]

Benfica presser starting in a minute. Live on the club app.

[Ben]

This Magpie Media bloke on Twitter has spent most of the morning insulting Eddie Howe and most of the afternoon deleting his posts 

[El Prontonise]

Just now, Ben said:

This Magpie Media bloke on Twitter has spent most of the morning insulting Eddie Howe and most of the afternoon deleting his posts 

 

There's the problem.

[Curva Sud Milano]

On 19/10/2025 at 13:19, gbandit said:

@Curva Sud Milano hey Curva, what was Tonali’s role in the side at Milan?

 

We played 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 in those years... in 4-3-3 he was used in the position he plays for Newcastle now, in 4-2-3-1 he was a double pivot with Kessie first and then Bennacer. He can certainly be an excellent 6 but I have always preferred him as an 8.

Anyway he's not, as has been said, a hybrid between Gattuso and Pirlo, he's De Rossi with more quality and much less nastiness...but the Italian player who most resembles him was certainly Tardelli.

[dcmk]

On 19/10/2025 at 12:34, Marxen the Mag said:

I love Howe, but have concerns about a few things, but also some optimism.

 

- I find it strange how people almost take it for given that we will soon completely turn our form around. It’s not a given, and I can’t deny I worry if we don’t.

 

- Our main problem still seems to be getting wins against the middle teams. Not sure what is needed, maybe a mix of different things, but if Howe is as good as we all think he needs to resolve this soon.

 

- We want to transform our style to more possession instead of the high intensity, yet it seems we want to focus on wingers (maybe the key positions in this day and age) who seems more suited for high intensity, and producing little creatively.

 

- Finally, I am hopeful the new sporting director will help highlight some of this or help us in the right direction. Can’t help feeling Eddie just needs some support and valuable views/decisions from people above him.

 

Are there any top teams in the world right now that doesn't have high intensity when out of possession?  It's a prerequisite at this point imo.

[Mole]

49 minutes ago, Curva Sud Milano said:

 

We played 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 in those years... in 4-3-3 he was used in the position he plays for Newcastle now, in 4-2-3-1 he was a double pivot with Kessie first and then Bennacer. He can certainly be an excellent 6 but I have always preferred him as an 8.

Anyway he's not, as has been said, a hybrid between Gattuso and Pirlo, he's De Rossi with more quality and much less nastiness...but the Italian player who most resembles him was certainly Tardelli.

De Rossi was definitely who I thought of when I first saw him play. Tardelli was unfortunately before my time, I've seen highlights but not much more.