Eddie Howe

[RS]

38 minutes ago, 1964 said:

Yeah, my mate is a season ticket holder and says exactly that, players have no discipline and are all over the plae 

The Watford game was textbook Bruce. I’ve got to be honest I thought there would have been signs of a change by now.  Disappointed so far. 

 

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by RS

[TRon]

1 hour ago, Shearergol said:

I’d have Rafa back, no questions asked. Even if he then took us down I’d trust him completely to take this club where it needs to be. I don’t get that feeling with Howe, but he needs much more time either way.

 

It looks pretty certain that we’re going to go down, which delays the transformation of the club. I think Howe needs the next two seasons to show what he can do.

 

I'd not touch Rafa now like, despite being a staunch supporter when he was here. He's making a pig's ear of the Everton job. You could argue he needs more time, but then you could make the same argument for Howe. Rafa's methods are outdated in the modern era, for teams who aspire to greatness at least. 

[Guest neesy111]

2 hours ago, Bimpy474 said:

 

Apologises as my post should have said, 'i can understand why he hasn't'

 

You're not wrong either, organised we haven't been. But his defensive record at Bournemouth was atrocious, it was about goals scoring, that's not going to work with us, especially with our lack any forward attacking plans over the last few seasons.

 

The worry as well is we've scored less goals under Howe as well than under Bruce.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by neesy111

[Elliottman]

Until he’s had a couple of windows and gets 6-7 new players it’s really difficult to judge him. 

[nufcnick]

59 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

I'd not touch Rafa now like, despite being a staunch supporter when he was here. He's making a pig's ear of the Everton job. You could argue he needs more time, but then you could make the same argument for Howe. Rafa's methods are outdated in the modern era, for teams who aspire to greatness at least. 

There is something fundamentally wrong with that Everton team, even carlo ancelotti (one of the current best managers in the world) could only get that team 10th with all of that talent 

[macphisto]

8 minutes ago, Elliottman said:

Until he’s had a couple of windows and gets 6-7 new players it’s really difficult to judge him. 

His remit is to keep us up so we can judge him. You can also judge a manager by how much a team improves.

 

I really hope he does turn it around but so far I've been very disappointed by him. As someone said previously, we're now scoring fewer goals than under Bruce. One shot on target against Watford at home is terrible.

[Armchair Pundit]

I suspect Rafa becoming available will now put added pressure on Howe to succeed, perhaps from a section of the fans but also from Mandy who wanted Rafa from the start of their involvement. I'd like us to give Howe a chance tbh, I do like the idea of having an attacking team, the new entertainers, very much... but I also loved Rafa's approach to running the club while he was here, I always felt like we had a chance of getting something, even with the dross players and complete lack of investment he was restricted to, his involvement in everything, including the community.

[toontownman]

People are getting naturally and understandably jumpy given our predicament and how much staying up means to our swift progress as a club. I just can't see changing managers helping the situation at all regardless of who  they bring in. 

 

While there are mistakes like keeping Dummett on a full game when he wasn't fit enough, It's the players letting Howe down imo. 

 

For the owners to put so much faith in Howe they have to give him the season at least, if not next year in the championship. He is still building "his team" and ethos admist unhelpful comments from leaders in the squad like Hayden about players not going to leave if they are pushed. The core of this club is rotten and needs gutting and replacing. It takes time in most new jobs though regardless of the industry. 

 

It was widely accepted he had an uphill battle with some saying impossible when he took over. This transfer window was and is everything and it's not his fault if we don't get what is needed in. 

 

I'm gutted we haven't shown the earlier progress continue in an offensive nature. The limitations and attitude of our spine has beaten any renewed confidence along with wretched refereeing/var. 

 

If we replace the midfield and central defence with leadership and quality, we still have a chance. It's a very awkward place to be buying players when it looks more likely we go down.

[duo]

36 minutes ago, Elliottman said:

Until he’s had a couple of windows and gets 6-7 new players it’s really difficult to judge him. 

His job atm the minute is not to get us into Europe, or win things it is to keep us up.  Granted he inherited a mess but he knew the brief when he came in so it's only right he's judged on it.

[Awaymag]

12 minutes ago, duo said:

His job atm the minute is not to get us into Europe, or win things it is to keep us up.  Granted he inherited a mess but he knew the brief when he came in so it's only right he's judged on it.

 As each week goes by, it gets harder to see us escaping relegation but its so tight at the bottom, anything could happen and we still have a chance.  Howe has my full support - I have reservations but I honestly think, the players need to step up here.  If we get in 2 CB and 2 CMs then he has been given the tools to succeed and the emphasis will be on him to prove he has what it takes.

 

Some suggesting ditching Howe for Rafa, to me that is wanting change for change sake.    I personally wouldn't go anywhere near Rafa, he has had his time, never go back!

 

 

[TheInfiniteOdyssey]

Personally, if we get relegated, I don’t think Howe should be kept on to get us promoted.

I’d be reluctant to have confidence in a manager who would have at that point completely failed in his original ask to keep us up.

[STM]

2 minutes ago, TheInfiniteOdyssey said:

Personally, if we get relegated, I don’t think Howe should be kept on to get us promoted.

I’d be reluctant to have confidence in a manager who would have at that point completely failed in his original ask to keep us up.

Despite the original ask being incredibly difficult?

 

I'm quite the opposite. If we go down, I can't think of many managers of a better standard who would be prepared to take on the challenge.

[Amir_9]

How is it we're halfway through the window and we still do not have a CB in? You seriously telling me we can't find anyone short term better than the shit we've got?

[Menace]

1 minute ago, STM said:

Despite the original ask being incredibly difficult?

 

I'm quite the opposite. If we go down, I can't think of many managers of a better standard who would be prepared to take on the challenge.

 

Taking over this team in October with a few points a drift wasn't "incredibly difficult".. A challenge for sure, but some of his decisions have already cost us points that would have placed us out of the bottom 3.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by Menace

[Unlucky Luque]

Draws will send us down. We have proven to lack the fortitude to hold on to 1-0 leads and we have run out of time trying to make it work.

We need to win at any cost even if it means conceding 2 or 3 every single game.

[Alan Pardew]

"dust ourselves down.." Did he really fucking say that in the post match interview? 

[Elliottman]

32 minutes ago, duo said:

His job atm the minute is not to get us into Europe, or win things it is to keep us up.  Granted he inherited a mess but he knew the brief when he came in so it's only right he's judged on it.

We have zero midfield, a horrific back line and our best forward is injured. There’s no way this set of players can play the way he wants them to play, there’s not enough athleticism in the team. Until he’s got some of his own players in, I’m not going to be over ally harsh on him, it’s pointless. 

[HaydnNUFC]

6 minutes ago, Elliottman said:

We have zero midfield, a horrific back line and our best forward is injured. There’s no way this set of players can play the way he wants them to play, there’s not enough athleticism in the team. Until he’s got some of his own players in, I’m not going to be over ally harsh on him, it’s pointless. 

 

Agreed tbh. He's had Liverpool, Arsenal and Leicester away plus Man City and Man Utd at home and I doubt he'd have planned for Clark's red card or Darlow costing us 2 goals v Brentford. He has however not had the impact we all desired but he has come into an absolute shitshow of a squad.

 

Said it before but what's worried me is these last 2 games. We've had a break since playing Man Utd off the park and have looked clueless in two halves of football against a League 1 side and garbage Watford who had lost their last 7 in a row. 

 

The club needs to just splash for our targets and get them in ASAP as we're just tossing games off given our options.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by HaydnNUFC

[McCormick]

Watford’s squad is just as unbalanced as ours is and with a worse backline. Completely capitulating after taking the lead time and time again is as much Howe’s fault as it is the players’, arguably more so.

[Thomson Mouse]

1 minute ago, HaydnNUFC said:

 

Agreed tbh. He's had Liverpool, Arsenal and Leicester away plus Man City and Man Utd at home and I doubt he'd have planned for Clark's red card or Darlow costing us 2 goals v Brentford. He has however not had the impact we all desired but he has come into an absolute shitshow of a squad.

 

Said it before but what's worried me is these last 2 games. We've had a break since playing Man Utd off the park and have looked clueless in two halves of football against a League 1 side and garbage Watford who had lost their last 7 in a row. 

 

The club needs to just splash for our targets and get them in ASAP as we're just tossing games off given our options.

 

 

 

 

Agree with the last two games, was expecting a lot more yesterday 

[HaydnNUFC]

1 minute ago, McCormick said:

Watford’s squad is just as unbalanced as ours is and with a worse backline. Completely capitulating after taking the lead time and time again is as much Howe’s fault as it is the players’, arguably more so.

 

Against Burnley he brought on Fernandez and went to a back 3 to tighten up and we did look more solid and saw the game out. If we were intending to sit back then I don't know why he didn't do the same, move Dummett to a CB in a 3 and bring Lewis on to play LWB. First time I've had questions of Howe was yesterday and I hope he can provide the answers and still believe he can but needs help in the transfer market. This squad is finished.

[The Prophet]

Having totally given up on us under Ashley and Bruce, I didn't particularly watch much of us, but based on past results I thought this team was still capable of finishing midtable.

 

Having watched more or less all of our games since Howe came in I was completely wrong, I was totally ignorant as to how much some players have regressed.

 

I don't know if its physical or mental, Lescalles is totally shot, he makes errors on an almost gamely basis. Once upon a time he was a capable albeit limited PL centre back, but due to a lack of options he's still starting. He simply has to replaced and the captaincy needs to be moved on. 

 

Longstaff and Hayden, again two that were always limited, but at least capable look absolutely awful. Again, due to a lack of options and Willock's form falling off a cliff, one them is almost always guaranteed to start, but the pair of them are absolute liabilities. If you play Shelvey, you need someone to do the defensive graft behind him, something neither of these two looks capable of or willing to do.

 

There's others who are less culpable, for example Schar and ASM who are still among our only good players and talented footballers, but they just aren't the players they were 18 months ago.

 

I honestly think without reinforcements at CB and CM, Klopp would struggle to keep us in the division. Our weak spine means we're far too easy to play through and we'll always concede far too many chances.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by The Prophet

[The College Dropout]

4 hours ago, TRon said:

 

  Where have you been hiding? It was the toxic crowd who got rid of Bruce right? Did you read Ron Liddle's column today?

 

 

Notice how you are putting words in my mouth?

My post wasn’t a compliment to Bruce.  It’s gigantic criticism of Howe.  We got rid of a dinosaur that everyone despised. And we are no better for it. I don’t think any manager in this league would have amassed less points/wins in the 11 games 

[midds]

He's got to be feeling the pressure now, he's had no discernible impact on results, minimal impact on performances, same deficiencies we've seen for the last couple of years not addressed. It's a critical few weeks now, Staveley needs to nail this situation now and be decisive but it many ways she's caught between 2 stools. They took their time to appoint him (fair enough) and he's very much their choice. If he's having little or no impact on results then her decision to appoint him looks like a huge, very public mistake. If however, they're feeling that he can pull this around and they give him more time then it questions her judgement on big decisions. But if they have doubts and do nothing then they'll be criticised for not acting swiftly and correcting their mistake quickly enough. 

 

They need to get their shit in a pile and get it right, we'll know more in 2 weeks time if they manage it.  

[Billy Pilgrim]

Not sure we can pin it all on Staveley. It's a collective decision for a consortium to take. So far as her judgement goes, on paper it was optimistic but not ludicrous to suggest that Bruce was the major obstacle and that a highly rated Eddie Howe could come in with a plan and change things. We had been turned down by the first target and we needed to do something. What matters is being decisive should we get to february and still be on a single win. 

 

They're definitely working hard and they have done a lot already and it seems they have detailed plans for more to do. But they also need to get working on a contingency plan for what happens if we go through more winnable games and end up with no wins. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail, and time is no medicine for bad football management.