Eddie Howe

[Groundhog63]

11 minutes ago, Nucasol said:

Definitely no boos, just give us a fucking week’s breather!

 

At the end of the game she asked "why they booing"

"the ref, I think" says I

 

 

[Nucasol]

Just now, Groundhog63 said:

 

At the end of the game she asked "why they booing"

"the ref, I think" says I

[PauloGeordio]

6 hours ago, KaKa said:

 

Never felt more confident he'll figure things out now.

 

This is the point he needed to reach. Rethinking things completely.

Let’s hope it’s his rock bottom foundation. Onwards and upwards. Win tonight please. Keep the faith.

[KennyUtd]

8 hours ago, Rod said:

We are or we're, you thick twat!

 

 

 

Oh Rod...🤦

[TheEntertainer]

3 hours ago, ffs said:

Yep I was totally wrong on the Emery thing and that was a nice crisp clarification from TRon 🙏

 

Wrt the other stuff, a lot of these bits of conventional wisdom ("most managers have a shelf life", "managers who are successful for extended periods of time are the exception") are self-perpetuating. Yes, almost every club fires a manager if the results and performances are bad enough. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the manager could never have turned things around. It feels like more of a truth about how it feels to be a club owner or director when things aren't going well and you feel tons of pressure and that you have to do *something*. 

 

It's definitely super hard to manage people at the top level for an extended period of time. I couldn't even begin to do it. But there are lots of examples, in football and elsewhere, of great managers being given time to work their way through mistakes, problems, stress, fatigue, and coming out the other side as good or better than they were before. From Alex Ferguson's first three seasons (I know the man u board came very close to the end of their rope) to e.g. Sundar Pichai at Alphabet getting badly blindsided on AI and being given time, space and support to correct that mistake. 

 

Your point that "it currently doesn't feel like he's going to [turn it around]" is exactly right. And it feels fucking *terrible* to watch the team (who in some way are an extension of each of us and part of our own identity and self-worth) not fight, seem clueless, seem tactically naïve, seem tired. It feels awful and that feeling persists. When we're winning and playing well, or even just outshithousing other teams, my whole life is intangibly better in every aspect. When we're limp and losing, and particularly when we lack resilience, can't hold a lead, are jittery and nervous in the late stages of most games, I feel in some way personally diminished by that.

 

But those powerful feelings are sometimes a bad basis for making decisions. Because we just want those feelings to stop, and it almost doesn't matter what happens to make them stop, we just *need* them to stop. And that can push anyone into prioritising that short-term pain relief at the expense of longer-term cool head thinking. Maybe particularly football club directors who are often vain and brittle.

 

So I guess I'm saying that if none of us thinks Howe is, or has become, a shite manager, then we should behave like that and grudgingly accept that this season has felt generally bad (although far from catastrophic, really - and for me a lot of the bad feeling has just been that we've seemed so *weak*, nervy, not up for it) but that we've got lucky with Eddie and given that he's not a shite manager, with time and space he'll figure it out.

 

(Don't worry about the micropenis stuff that's a dogwhistle for the Howe Out Now crowd. If you didn't hear it you're safe 😎)

This bit is a great point and is absolutely why people are frustrated which is why I don't understand some of the push back to the frustration, I do also agree it creates over the top, knee jerk reactions, but this stuff is so important to everyone here:

 

"Your point that "it currently doesn't feel like he's going to [turn it around]" is exactly right. And it feels fucking *terrible* to watch the team (who in some way are an extension of each of us and part of our own identity and self-worth) not fight, seem clueless, seem tactically naïve, seem tired. It feels awful and that feeling persists. When we're winning and playing well, or even just outshithousing other teams, my whole life is intangibly better in every aspect. When we're limp and losing, and particularly when we lack resilience, can't hold a lead, are jittery and nervous in the late stages of most games, I feel in some way personally diminished by that.

 

But those powerful feelings are sometimes a bad basis for making decisions. Because we just want those feelings to stop, and it almost doesn't matter what happens to make them stop, we just *need* them to stop. And that can push anyone into prioritising that short-term pain relief at the expense of longer-term cool head thinking. Maybe particularly football club directors who are often vain and brittle."

 

I've been thinking about it over-night and the more I think about it and despite how disillusioned I personally am currently and how much it feels like Eddie isn't the answer (given how poor this entire season has been) the alternative is probably worse. The way the club has been managed behind the scenes since Stavely and Ghodoussi left has been a shambles so I reckon if we did get rid, we'd have no plan for a successor, would end up mucking that up even more and end up not with an elite manager who could turn the ship around but someone much worse than Howe who would instead make things even worse and things could spiral. So despite my reservations, I'm still Eddie in, I'm just very very unhappy about how this season has gone so far. 

[St1pe]

 

[Sid]

Something I read on a PSV forum before we played them, a fan of theirs saying " too big to be a serviette, too small to be a table cloth". Using Google translate, I don't speak Dutch. I assume it's a common Dutch saying.

 

We qualify for Europe and do ok in the league and FA cups and we have way too many games for our squad strength which is dictated by our finances. We might do ok but it's a gamble on injuries. 

 

Right now, assuming we go out at Villa on Saturday but make the last 16 champions league I would consider it a decent season, provided we end up with a place in Europe. Half way through February and still in with a chance of winning the C.L. Even if we don't make Europe, that's no reason to gamble on some random manager.

 

This is how far we have come, under Eddie Howe.  We were the down and outs man, nailed on for relegation.

 

It's only about 5% but some of our fans are whiny fickle short memories knackers.  Probably about the same as other clubs. Just getting a lot of focus after our recent mild success. Plus, I am 65 and I finally got to see us lift a trophy.

 

 

[Dr Venkman]

1 hour ago, TheEntertainer said:

This bit is a great point and is absolutely why people are frustrated which is why I don't understand some of the push back to the frustration, I do also agree it creates over the top, knee jerk reactions, but this stuff is so important to everyone here:

 

"Your point that "it currently doesn't feel like he's going to [turn it around]" is exactly right. And it feels fucking *terrible* to watch the team (who in some way are an extension of each of us and part of our own identity and self-worth) not fight, seem clueless, seem tactically naïve, seem tired. It feels awful and that feeling persists. When we're winning and playing well, or even just outshithousing other teams, my whole life is intangibly better in every aspect. When we're limp and losing, and particularly when we lack resilience, can't hold a lead, are jittery and nervous in the late stages of most games, I feel in some way personally diminished by that.

 

But those powerful feelings are sometimes a bad basis for making decisions. Because we just want those feelings to stop, and it almost doesn't matter what happens to make them stop, we just *need* them to stop. And that can push anyone into prioritising that short-term pain relief at the expense of longer-term cool head thinking. Maybe particularly football club directors who are often vain and brittle."

 

I've been thinking about it over-night and the more I think about it and despite how disillusioned I personally am currently and how much it feels like Eddie isn't the answer (given how poor this entire season has been) the alternative is probably worse. The way the club has been managed behind the scenes since Stavely and Ghodoussi left has been a shambles so I reckon if we did get rid, we'd have no plan for a successor, would end up mucking that up even more and end up not with an elite manager who could turn the ship around but someone much worse than Howe who would instead make things even worse and things could spiral. So despite my reservations, I'm still Eddie in, I'm just very very unhappy about how this season has gone so far. 

 

It’s nice to see the more balanced posters have their say en masse after the reactionaries have had their say. 
 

Another thing I’ve already said that I think bears repeating. It can take a long, long time to find a manager who looks like they have what it takes to help a club achieve its potential. Just look at Man U, Spurs, etc. We’d be mad to throw away what Eddie’s building because of one disappointing season.

 

 

Edited February 10 by Dr Venkman

[clintdempsey]

He's a magnificient human being. A superb ambassador for the club. And a hell of a football manager.
He's given me some of the happiest times since starting supporting the club back in '92.

 

Is he faultless? No.

Has this season in particular been a joy? Fuck no.

Do we look terrible at the moment? Yes.
Given time, will he get us going again, a version 2.0 of an Eddie Howe team? Most likely yes, especially if we can get the recruitment team functioning again.

This season is a write off so far (except for the CL). But hopefully that will help focus and align ideas and minds at boardroom level. God knows we need it.

[Coffee_Johnny]

Thought I would have a look at how this season compares to our best season, worst season, average and average under Howe up to end of last season, using points gathered per month. So you are looking at cumulative points total this season and what it 'would have been' if we had the same number of games per month in the other seasons. 

 

 

It struck me that after a tough Aug-Sep, a decent Oct-Nov meant we only really fell away from the 'Howe average' in December and January, during which we had an astonishing 17 games (11 PL, 3 CL, 2 LC, 1 FAC) falling to what looks like a bang average NUFC PL season on 33 points by the end of January. Risk is we fall further behind the Howe average (the new normal? at least expectation wise...) by the end of February. We really need a positive result tonight, win and lose at Etihad or draw and draw there (I know...) and either way a win against Everton at the end of the month, to ensure we creep back towards respectability in terms of normal Howe era points return. 

 

 

Edited February 10 by Coffee_Johnny

[ChrisMcQuillan]

12 hours ago, timeEd32 said:

We're in the middle of playing 7 away games (8 total) in 24 days. Games in bold are against clubs top 15 globally in revenue. 

 

Nov 22: Man City (h)
Nov 25: Marseille (a) - 2 days rest
Nov 29: Everton (a) - 3 days rest

Dec 2: Tottenham (h) - 2 days rest
Dec 6: Burnley (h) - 3 days rest
Dec 10: Leverkusen (a) - 3 days rest
Dec 14: Sunderland (a) - 3 days rest
Dec 17: Fulham (h) - 2 days rest
Dec 20: Chelsea (h) - 2 days rest
Dec 26: Man Utd (a) - 5 days rest
Dec 30: Burnley (a) - 3 days rest

Jan 3: Crystal Palace (h) - 3 days rest
Jan 7: Man City (h) - 3 days rest
Jan 10: Bournemouth (h) - 2 days rest
Jan 13: Leeds (h) - 2 days rest
Jan 18: Wolves (a) - 4 days rest
Jan 21: PSV (h) - 2 days rest
Jan 25: Aston Villa (h) - 3 days rest
Jan 28: PSG (a) - 2 days rest
Jan 31: Liverpool (a) - 2 days rest

Feb 4: Man City (a) - 3 days rest
Feb 7: Brentford (h) - 2 days rest
Feb 10: Tottenham (a) - 2 days rest
Feb 14: Aston Villa (a) - 3 days rest
Feb 18: Qarabag (a) - 3 days rest
Feb 21: Man City (a) - 2 days rest

Feb 24: Qarabag (h) - 2 days rest
Feb 28: Everton (h) - 3 days rest
Mar 4: Man Utd (h) - 3 days rest

 

 

 

When you look at that, you do realise that the fixture congestion is absolutely totally unacceptable.

 

Then you have those bloody international breaks for friendlies at the start of the season.

 

It's an absolute dereliction of duty on the wellbeing of footballers. Superpaid athletes or not, you can't perform at the top level with that number of games.

 

I appreciate this only applies to European clubs, but with that comprising about 8/20 teams in the Premier League, I'd have thought there'd surely be an argument to expanding the squad limits.

 

Obviously we don't maximise our squad because of historic underinvestment in our academy leading to a lack of homegrown players, but I'd have thought bumping PL/CL squads up to 28 should be seriously considered.

[Bimpy474]

Not sure if this has been posted, and it's not often i agree with Chris Sutton, but i think he's spot on with his take on Eddie. I know it's not a large section, but it's certainly a loud lot out for Eddie.

 

Former Premier League striker Chris Sutton says he doesn't know what is happening to football when Newcastle manager Eddie Howe is coming under pressure from supporters.

On Monday, Howe answered questions about his future in the aftermath of some fans opting to boo the Magpies after the 3-2 home defeat by Brentford on Saturday.

"I can't stand what football is becoming," Sutton told BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club.

"Look at the job he has done. They are 12th now and it's a disaster, some Newcastle fans are saying. What about having a bit of faith in a manager who needs a bit of support and help now?

"Football has got so short term. It's all about instant success and if you can't change it we'll change.

"Newcastle fans need to have patience. They need to understand the squad is stretched this season and cut him a bit of slack."

In making his case, Sutton pointed to Newcastle's Carabao Cup win last season, a first trophy since winning the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1968-69.

"That's amazing in itself," he said.

"I don't know what the world is coming to with how managers are viewed now. The first sign of trouble and it's: 'Get him out and someone else in.'

"What's a new manager going to come in and change now? January is gone."

[Bimpy474]

9 minutes ago, ChrisMcQuillan said:

When you look at that, you do realise that the fixture congestion is absolutely totally unacceptable.

 

Then you have those bloody international breaks for friendlies at the start of the season.

 

It's an absolute dereliction of duty on the wellbeing of footballers. Superpaid athletes or not, you can't perform at the top level with that number of games.

 

I appreciate this only applies to European clubs, but with that comprising about 8/20 teams in the Premier League, I'd have thought there'd surely be an argument to expanding the squad limits.

 

Obviously we don't maximise our squad because of historic underinvestment in our academy leading to a lack of homegrown players, but I'd have thought bumping PL/CL squads up to 28 should be seriously considered.

 

Aye, agree with that.  You know what though ? With PSR that will give us 3 more players, but it will give the Scummy Six more room to stockpile the best players, it's a catch 22 situation like.

[Kimbo]

9 minutes ago, Bimpy474 said:

Not sure if this has been posted, and it's not often i agree with Chris Sutton, but i think he's spot on with his take on Eddie. I know it's not a large section, but it's certainly a loud lot out for Eddie.

 

Former Premier League striker Chris Sutton says he doesn't know what is happening to football when Newcastle manager Eddie Howe is coming under pressure from supporters.

On Monday, Howe answered questions about his future in the aftermath of some fans opting to boo the Magpies after the 3-2 home defeat by Brentford on Saturday.

"I can't stand what football is becoming," Sutton told BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club.

"Look at the job he has done. They are 12th now and it's a disaster, some Newcastle fans are saying. What about having a bit of faith in a manager who needs a bit of support and help now?

"Football has got so short term. It's all about instant success and if you can't change it we'll change.

"Newcastle fans need to have patience. They need to understand the squad is stretched this season and cut him a bit of slack."

In making his case, Sutton pointed to Newcastle's Carabao Cup win last season, a first trophy since winning the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1968-69.

"That's amazing in itself," he said.

"I don't know what the world is coming to with how managers are viewed now. The first sign of trouble and it's: 'Get him out and someone else in.'

"What's a new manager going to come in and change now? January is gone."

There’s no insight there tbf, it’s just a man that’s looked at the league table..

[ChrisMcQuillan]

9 minutes ago, Bimpy474 said:

 

Aye, agree with that.  You know what though ? With PSR that will give us 3 more players, but it will give the Scummy Six more room to stockpile the best players, it's a catch 22 situation like.

It is catch 22, but you look at what Chelsea etc. do with their sister clubs and loan market and they already have about 150 players.

 

I'd let them have everyone have few players for the sake of other clubs not having to run their few players into the ground with a schedule like that.

[ChrisMcQuillan]

12 minutes ago, Bimpy474 said:

Not sure if this has been posted, and it's not often i agree with Chris Sutton, but i think he's spot on with his take on Eddie. I know it's not a large section, but it's certainly a loud lot out for Eddie.

 

Former Premier League striker Chris Sutton says he doesn't know what is happening to football when Newcastle manager Eddie Howe is coming under pressure from supporters.

On Monday, Howe answered questions about his future in the aftermath of some fans opting to boo the Magpies after the 3-2 home defeat by Brentford on Saturday.

"I can't stand what football is becoming," Sutton told BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club.

"Look at the job he has done. They are 12th now and it's a disaster, some Newcastle fans are saying. What about having a bit of faith in a manager who needs a bit of support and help now?

"Football has got so short term. It's all about instant success and if you can't change it we'll change.

"Newcastle fans need to have patience. They need to understand the squad is stretched this season and cut him a bit of slack."

In making his case, Sutton pointed to Newcastle's Carabao Cup win last season, a first trophy since winning the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1968-69.

"That's amazing in itself," he said.

"I don't know what the world is coming to with how managers are viewed now. The first sign of trouble and it's: 'Get him out and someone else in.'

"What's a new manager going to come in and change now? January is gone."

 

That's his opinion, that's fair enough.

 

It's another example of the attitude that Newcastle should be happy with where they are and shut up.

 

There's never any issues with constant hounding of Amorim or Frank or Postecoglu when the "Big Six" aren't sat in the top 6 spaces.

 

If we were in the Top 6, it would be a case of "Should Spurs move for Howe?" it just never ends.  

[TRon]

As far as the club are concerned, they are giving full backing to Howe and see him as their long term manager. That's great, and I think he should get another season to put things right, every manager can have a bad season. But I do wonder if it will affect recruitment and whether Howe will still have a major say in it. 

 

Because we are probably going to have to churn some of last summer's signings, and we really can't afford another bad transfer window. 

[wong989]

When Howe was appointed I watched that interview he gave high performance. Gave me very high hopes and I always remember this when we’re going badly. I do think she needs to acknowledge we need to appoint some world class coaches. We need more variety in how we play. If teams don’t play from the back and allow us possession, it’s absolutely brutal, and I don’t know how it hasn’t been addressed. Occasionally you see the midfield trio link up in quick movements cutting open space, but it’s never built on. We don’t continue it. Possibly we don’t have the squad, need a proper 6? I don’t know but hopefully Eddie sees the need for big changes. From academy, scouting, recruitment and team play. Of course Howe gets too much blame, what are the board doing except experimenting with seat pricing.

 

[Whitley mag]

Article from Jason Burt on Howe -

 

Newcastle still go out like underdogs

 

There first needs to be context. The fact is when Howe was appointed in November 2021, Newcastle were 18th, five points from safety, and staring at the prospect of relegation.

 

They had the January transfer window – the first opportunity to spend money following the Saudi Arabian-led takeover – and used it well. In came Kieran Trippier, Bruno Guimarães, Dan Burn and Chris Wood, with Matt Targett on loan. Wood did not work out, but his signing damaged Burnley, who went down instead as Newcastle hauled themselves up to 11th.

 

The rest, as they say, is history: Champions League football, winning a first trophy since 1969 and consistently improving the squad. Good times. But one thing did not, really, change. And that was Howe’s approach to the way the team played.

 

Psychologically, it can be argued, Newcastle still go out like underdogs. They press high, they run hard, they get in and amongst the opposition, they try to get the crowd going. They rely on out-of-possession intensity, man-for-man aggression and running. A lot of running.

To execute this, a manager needs a big squad, to avoid running out of steam. To have two players for every position. Newcastle argue they have that, but whether they are all good enough is a moot point while they have had to navigate the difficulties of profitability and sustainability rules. Injuries have also hit hard in key areas such as defence.

 

Opposition managers have identified it. In the Champions League last September, there was one of the most visible examples as Hansi Flick, Barcelona’s head coach, stood in his technical area and urged his players to just keep the ball so Newcastle would burn themselves out. They did and Barcelona won 2-1. It was no disgrace for Newcastle and one of those goals was an outstanding strike from Marcus Rashford (who scored both). But it was still a loss.

‘If you keep trying to play like that then you have to recruit properly’

 

In a sense, Howe turned Newcastle into a Geordie Atlético Madrid – even if he is a far different character than Diego Simeone, the ultimate big-dog underdog. At times it almost feels like a throwback style of play, although even Simeone would struggle with it in the Premier League, where the football is more physical and more athletic than La Liga.

 

But even Simeone resorts to defending deeper at times while managers like Oliver Glasner and Antonio Conte sit back and counter-attack, which requires less energy and a lot less physical capacity.

 

Howe? It is, as one manager put it, “all guns blazing and if you keep trying to play like that then you have to recruit properly and make sure you are ready for injuries”.

 

No one doubts that Howe has done a brilliant job. But is it sustainable to play the way he has asked Newcastle to play if you are in charge of a team who want to compete on all fronts and have as many matches as they do?

 

So maybe there has to be an adaptation. Newcastle’s first-choice midfield is Bruno, Sandro Tonali and, probably, Lewis Miley, moving on from the running power of Joelinton. That is a very good trio, among the best in the Premier League, who are all comfortable in possession and want to play the ball through the “thirds”, as the coaches say. They are capable of gaining that level of control through ball possession as well as running power.

 

The test for Howe is can he adapt as a coach, having helped take Newcastle such a long way already? The level of determination he shows, and his work ethic, suggests so. And it will be fascinating to see if there are tactical differences in the way Newcastle play in the coming weeks – maybe even against Tottenham – and whether what has happened actually emboldens Howe.

When, as a manager, a certain way of doing things has brought success, it is not easy to come away from that. But it is almost as if Howe needed this bad run to be braver and make changes, which it looks like he will do.

It is hardly a crisis and the fan noise, although not ignored, is certainly not shrill. It does not help that the new players – Anthony Elanga, Jacob Ramsey and Yoane Wissa in particular – have struggled to find their feet. But, again, that is not unusual with Howe. It takes time to adapt working for him and Anthony Gordon, not enjoying his best season now but in the England squad, and Lewis Hall, who may follow him, are examples of that.

 

If Newcastle had beaten Aston Villa in late January they would have gone fourth in the league, they were in the semi-finals of the League Cup, fourth round of the FA Cup and doing well in the Champions League. That was only two weeks ago. The big dip in form has come at the wrong time, but football can be fickle. It can quickly change. The question is: can Howe?

[r0cafella]

3 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

Article from Jason Burt on Howe -

 

Newcastle still go out like underdogs

 

There first needs to be context. The fact is when Howe was appointed in November 2021, Newcastle were 18th, five points from safety, and staring at the prospect of relegation.

 

They had the January transfer window – the first opportunity to spend money following the Saudi Arabian-led takeover – and used it well. In came Kieran Trippier, Bruno Guimarães, Dan Burn and Chris Wood, with Matt Targett on loan. Wood did not work out, but his signing damaged Burnley, who went down instead as Newcastle hauled themselves up to 11th.

 

The rest, as they say, is history: Champions League football, winning a first trophy since 1969 and consistently improving the squad. Good times. But one thing did not, really, change. And that was Howe’s approach to the way the team played.

 

Psychologically, it can be argued, Newcastle still go out like underdogs. They press high, they run hard, they get in and amongst the opposition, they try to get the crowd going. They rely on out-of-possession intensity, man-for-man aggression and running. A lot of running.

To execute this, a manager needs a big squad, to avoid running out of steam. To have two players for every position. Newcastle argue they have that, but whether they are all good enough is a moot point while they have had to navigate the difficulties of profitability and sustainability rules. Injuries have also hit hard in key areas such as defence.

 

Opposition managers have identified it. In the Champions League last September, there was one of the most visible examples as Hansi Flick, Barcelona’s head coach, stood in his technical area and urged his players to just keep the ball so Newcastle would burn themselves out. They did and Barcelona won 2-1. It was no disgrace for Newcastle and one of those goals was an outstanding strike from Marcus Rashford (who scored both). But it was still a loss.

‘If you keep trying to play like that then you have to recruit properly’

 

In a sense, Howe turned Newcastle into a Geordie Atlético Madrid – even if he is a far different character than Diego Simeone, the ultimate big-dog underdog. At times it almost feels like a throwback style of play, although even Simeone would struggle with it in the Premier League, where the football is more physical and more athletic than La Liga.

 

But even Simeone resorts to defending deeper at times while managers like Oliver Glasner and Antonio Conte sit back and counter-attack, which requires less energy and a lot less physical capacity.

 

Howe? It is, as one manager put it, “all guns blazing and if you keep trying to play like that then you have to recruit properly and make sure you are ready for injuries”.

 

No one doubts that Howe has done a brilliant job. But is it sustainable to play the way he has asked Newcastle to play if you are in charge of a team who want to compete on all fronts and have as many matches as they do?

 

So maybe there has to be an adaptation. Newcastle’s first-choice midfield is Bruno, Sandro Tonali and, probably, Lewis Miley, moving on from the running power of Joelinton. That is a very good trio, among the best in the Premier League, who are all comfortable in possession and want to play the ball through the “thirds”, as the coaches say. They are capable of gaining that level of control through ball possession as well as running power.

 

The test for Howe is can he adapt as a coach, having helped take Newcastle such a long way already? The level of determination he shows, and his work ethic, suggests so. And it will be fascinating to see if there are tactical differences in the way Newcastle play in the coming weeks – maybe even against Tottenham – and whether what has happened actually emboldens Howe.

When, as a manager, a certain way of doing things has brought success, it is not easy to come away from that. But it is almost as if Howe needed this bad run to be braver and make changes, which it looks like he will do.

It is hardly a crisis and the fan noise, although not ignored, is certainly not shrill. It does not help that the new players – Anthony Elanga, Jacob Ramsey and Yoane Wissa in particular – have struggled to find their feet. But, again, that is not unusual with Howe. It takes time to adapt working for him and Anthony Gordon, not enjoying his best season now but in the England squad, and Lewis Hall, who may follow him, are examples of that.

 

If Newcastle had beaten Aston Villa in late January they would have gone fourth in the league, they were in the semi-finals of the League Cup, fourth round of the FA Cup and doing well in the Champions League. That was only two weeks ago. The big dip in form has come at the wrong time, but football can be fickle. It can quickly change. The question is: can Howe?

A lot of this is inaccurate to say the least. We don't high press every game these days, we definitely don't show up all guns blazing recently (even before the fixture pill up). I imagine Burt doesn't watch us very often. 

[Mattoon]

Its not so much about squad size or Eddie's aleged inability to navigate a 2 game a week season but more pertinently about the haves and the have nots. The PSR rules are there to protect the few so when a club such as ours does enjoy some success it is ensured that it is short lived. We don't have the means that the usual 6 do, to have little to no drop off in quality when we have to rotate or deal with injuries, its just another pathway to protect the PL true masters, the red tops.

[Chicken Dancer]

11 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

Article from Jason Burt on Howe -

 

Newcastle still go out like underdogs

 

There first needs to be context. The fact is when Howe was appointed in November 2021, Newcastle were 18th, five points from safety, and staring at the prospect of relegation.

 

They had the January transfer window – the first opportunity to spend money following the Saudi Arabian-led takeover – and used it well. In came Kieran Trippier, Bruno Guimarães, Dan Burn and Chris Wood, with Matt Targett on loan. Wood did not work out, but his signing damaged Burnley, who went down instead as Newcastle hauled themselves up to 11th.

 

The rest, as they say, is history: Champions League football, winning a first trophy since 1969 and consistently improving the squad. Good times. But one thing did not, really, change. And that was Howe’s approach to the way the team played.

 

Psychologically, it can be argued, Newcastle still go out like underdogs. They press high, they run hard, they get in and amongst the opposition, they try to get the crowd going. They rely on out-of-possession intensity, man-for-man aggression and running. A lot of running.

To execute this, a manager needs a big squad, to avoid running out of steam. To have two players for every position. Newcastle argue they have that, but whether they are all good enough is a moot point while they have had to navigate the difficulties of profitability and sustainability rules. Injuries have also hit hard in key areas such as defence.

 

Opposition managers have identified it. In the Champions League last September, there was one of the most visible examples as Hansi Flick, Barcelona’s head coach, stood in his technical area and urged his players to just keep the ball so Newcastle would burn themselves out. They did and Barcelona won 2-1. It was no disgrace for Newcastle and one of those goals was an outstanding strike from Marcus Rashford (who scored both). But it was still a loss.

‘If you keep trying to play like that then you have to recruit properly’

 

In a sense, Howe turned Newcastle into a Geordie Atlético Madrid – even if he is a far different character than Diego Simeone, the ultimate big-dog underdog. At times it almost feels like a throwback style of play, although even Simeone would struggle with it in the Premier League, where the football is more physical and more athletic than La Liga.

 

But even Simeone resorts to defending deeper at times while managers like Oliver Glasner and Antonio Conte sit back and counter-attack, which requires less energy and a lot less physical capacity.

 

Howe? It is, as one manager put it, “all guns blazing and if you keep trying to play like that then you have to recruit properly and make sure you are ready for injuries”.

 

No one doubts that Howe has done a brilliant job. But is it sustainable to play the way he has asked Newcastle to play if you are in charge of a team who want to compete on all fronts and have as many matches as they do?

 

So maybe there has to be an adaptation. Newcastle’s first-choice midfield is Bruno, Sandro Tonali and, probably, Lewis Miley, moving on from the running power of Joelinton. That is a very good trio, among the best in the Premier League, who are all comfortable in possession and want to play the ball through the “thirds”, as the coaches say. They are capable of gaining that level of control through ball possession as well as running power.

 

The test for Howe is can he adapt as a coach, having helped take Newcastle such a long way already? The level of determination he shows, and his work ethic, suggests so. And it will be fascinating to see if there are tactical differences in the way Newcastle play in the coming weeks – maybe even against Tottenham – and whether what has happened actually emboldens Howe.

When, as a manager, a certain way of doing things has brought success, it is not easy to come away from that. But it is almost as if Howe needed this bad run to be braver and make changes, which it looks like he will do.

It is hardly a crisis and the fan noise, although not ignored, is certainly not shrill. It does not help that the new players – Anthony Elanga, Jacob Ramsey and Yoane Wissa in particular – have struggled to find their feet. But, again, that is not unusual with Howe. It takes time to adapt working for him and Anthony Gordon, not enjoying his best season now but in the England squad, and Lewis Hall, who may follow him, are examples of that.

 

If Newcastle had beaten Aston Villa in late January they would have gone fourth in the league, they were in the semi-finals of the League Cup, fourth round of the FA Cup and doing well in the Champions League. That was only two weeks ago. The big dip in form has come at the wrong time, but football can be fickle. It can quickly change. The question is: can Howe?

 

I actually quite like this piece and mainly agree with the points raised. Some bollocks mixed in too.

 

I certainly don't want Howe to go but there needs to be a refresh in the summer of the squad and the style. We just have to adapt.

 

The performances across the board have been poor all season long - granted with the odd anomaly like Everton away or City at home. If we are incapable of putting in 90 minute performances then something has to change with the tactics/setup. How many times this season have we pissed away an early lead to then be comfortably beat? It's not a coincidence when it happens time and time again. It's a pattern.

 

I do have a feeling that Brentford was a turning point for us. I hope I'm right anyway, I'm desperate for it to turn round and I really feel for the bloke on a personal level. He's given us so much joy, but comments like the ones Chris Sutton is peddling are not helping at all.

 

There's been questions asked from plenty fans - including me - but if you're using social media as your source then there'll probably be a handful of fans at every single club that are truly happy. St James' hasn't turned, the away fans haven't turned and that's the biggest tell. The booing at full-time on Saturday was the first outpour of emotion from the crowd in what has been (whether you care to agree or not) a disappointing season, but the support has been unwavering for Howe and the team.

 

It will take a defeat to the mackems on Tyneside for it to become nasty imo, but even that wouldn't be anything close to the shit messrs Pardew/Souness/Bruce took. Rightly so of course.

 

 

Edited February 10 by Chicken Dancer

[TRon]

7 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

A lot of this is inaccurate to say the least. We don't high press every game these days, we definitely don't show up all guns blazing recently (even before the fixture pill up). I imagine Burt doesn't watch us very often. 

 

 

He makes some good points nonetheless though. We might not press every game these days but that's difficult to tell if it's because we are deliberately sitting back, or players are just physically incapable or unwilling to do it. We do look like we are either confused or transitioning between styles. 

[r0cafella]

1 minute ago, Mattoon said:

Its not so much about squad size or Eddie's aleged inability to navigate a 2 game a week season but more pertinently about the haves and the have nots. The PSR rules are there to protect the few so when a club such as ours does enjoy some success it is ensured that it is short lived. We don't have the means that the usual 6 do, to have little to no drop off in quality when we have to rotate or deal with injuries, its just another pathway to protect the PL true masters, the red tops.

Obvious element of truth to this but I do think we have a couple of elephants in the room. 

 

Nobody forced us to buy players from expensive markets and despite prior overachievment it's that very thing which Gave Eddie his unprecedented amount of influence. I also can't help but think the owners do expect a slight amount of over achievement it's the bargain they have imho. 

 

I also note our owners are basically investors and one of the golden rules of investment is past results don't guarantee future results. the only thing I can guarantee is it's going to be a long summer. 

[Holloway]

Just seen an interview with Mourinho where he states, because of his affiliation with 'Mr Robson', that he'll always be a 'little Magpie'.

No idea how old it is but he has white hair