Eddie Howe

[TheEntertainer]

1 hour ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

Bournemouth just finished 6th. Sunderland were 7th, Brighton 8th and Brentford 9th. It should absolutely not take a miracle to finish above that lot.

Yeah the opinion that top 5 is very difficult because we should be finishing 7th based on our financial means makes no sense to me. There were 3 points between 7th and 6th and 6 points between 7th and 5th, it's hardly a chasm. I agree we should be aiming for around 7th, but that makes 5th very achievable, not virtually impossible. If we can finish 7th, we can finish 5th, not saying we should expect it, but we shouldn't be talking like it's virtually impossible. 

[Skeletor]

The perceived difficulty is probably because this season made us feel very negatively about our squad, not because the competition is so far ahead.

[Wallsendmag]

Personally I thought the league was of very poor quality last season. Arsenal basically won it on set piece goals, Man City nowhere near consistent enough to put genuine pressure on them, the defending Champions were awful and lost 12 games,  Bournemouth finished 6th despite losing their best players and a newly promoted team finished 7th on a negative goal difference.

 

Top 6 has to be the aim next season especially with no European distractions.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

7 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

Personally I thought the league was of very poor quality last season. Arsenal basically won it on set piece goals, Man City nowhere near consistent enough to put genuine pressure on them, the defending Champions were awful and lost 12 games,  Bournemouth finished 6th despite losing their best players and a newly promoted team finished 7th on a negative goal difference.

 

Top 6 has to be the aim next season especially with no European distractions.

 

It was low quality in a way but it was very competitive and no points came easily to anyone really. 

[Wallsendmag]

1 minute ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

It was low quality in a way but it was very competitive and no points came easily to anyone really. 

 

I just thought the standard and quality of football throughout was poor. Barely watched a game from start to finish that didn't involve us (even switched a few of ours off well before the end) as I found the vast majority of them boring as hell and that's not like me.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

1 minute ago, Wallsendmag said:

 

I just thought the standard and quality of football throughout was poor. Barely watched a game from start to finish that didn't involve us (even switched a few of ours off well before the end) as I found the vast majority of them boring as hell and that's not like me.

 

Yeah I completely agree, I'm just saying the quality being low doesn't necessarily mean that it's easier to collect a higher points total. 

[TRon]

6 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

It was low quality in a way but it was very competitive and no points came easily to anyone really. 

 

 

It was very competitive in a Sam Allardyce sort of way. Everyone in tactical cunt mode with set pieces and low blocks being used to snuff out any form of creativity. 

[Wallsendmag]

1 minute ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

Yeah I completely agree, I'm just saying the quality being low doesn't necessarily mean that it's easier to collect a higher points total. 

 

Yeah I see what you're saying but in a regular season I don't think there's a hope in hells chance of a newly promoted Sunderland finishing 7th on 54 points with a -6 GD as an example. 

[TRC]

Last season just felt like everyone was so tired. I’d expect the same next season with the World Cup and one of the reasons why we should keep Tonali as he’s probably one of the best players not to be going to the World Cup so will be fresh.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

In a way the nature of the league was uniquely bad for a team like us. Physically tired in a competitive league and not having the ability to just keep the ball and kill games off. 

[NUFC91]

51 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

In a way the nature of the league was uniquely bad for a team like us. Physically tired in a competitive league and not having the ability to just keep the ball and kill games off. 

 

That's just an excuse really, we played our final 7 games with a 3 week break and played once a week.

[TheEntertainer]

I think the problem was everyone was keeping it tight and trying to nick goals through set pieces and our game relies on high tempo pressing and counter attacks which is hard to do when teams aren't committing forwards and aren't really taking risks. Forest and Liverpool both play a similar way and they both had bad seasons as well (though there were other factors for both of them). We didn't have a plan B and then our confidence went and that was that.