Eddie Howe

[Jonas]

42 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Straw man argument for me.  It’s hardly one or the other.

It is. No Quarter-Final and not challenging for top 4 - we play a full strength team today and win.

Unless people expect to win every game or go through the season using 14 players.

[TheBrownBottle]

1 minute ago, Jonas said:

It is. No Quarter-Final and not challenging for top 4 - we play a full strength team today and win.

Unless people expect to win every game or go through the season using 14 players.

It is unprovable that playing a stronger XI today results in failure in those two fixtures.

 

Just as playing the starting XI we did today doesn’t mean success in those fixtures.

 

It is still possible that we lose Tuesday and Sunday regardless.

[huss9]

1 hour ago, RS said:

That result will drop us down the League significantly.  Being beaten by a third division team is a massive hit for morale

didnt affect morale last season.

[The Prophet]

Come the end of the Arenal game we had players blowing out their arses, coming off with cramp, the lot. It was horrible, physical encounter. Howe will be fully aware who does and doesn't need a rest.

 

With another midweek game next week, Howe had to make a call as to when to rest those players that need one. He chose to rest the lot in a first round cup tie against League One opposition. We know all about the drop off from the first team, but the side he put out tonight created enough chances to win the game.

 

The alternative was phased resting across today and either a cup quarter final or a winnable league game. He made he correct call for me. 

[The Prophet]

1 hour ago, RS said:

That result will drop us down the League significantly.  Being beaten by a third division team is a massive hit for morale

 

...and if we beat Leicester? 

 

Last season, we lost to Stevenage and went on an eight game unbeaten streak, winning six of those.

 

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by The Prophet

[TheBrownBottle]

1 minute ago, The Prophet said:

 

...and if we beat Leicester? 

I’ll be delighted.  But it wouldn’t prove that today’s starting XI was the reason for the victory - correlation / causation etc etc

[Jonas]

9 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

It is unprovable that playing a stronger XI today results in failure in those two fixtures.

 

Just as playing the starting XI we did today doesn’t mean success in those fixtures.

 

It is still possible that we lose Tuesday and Sunday regardless.

Its unprovable that playing your strongest XI every game will tire players out and fuck up your season completely because no coach does it for, presumably, reasons unknown.

 

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by Jonas

[The Prophet]

Just now, TheBrownBottle said:

I’ll be delighted.  But it wouldn’t prove that today’s starting XI was the reason for the victory - correlation / causation etc etc

 

...and a loss wouldn't prove that it had knocked morale either. My point is that I doubt it will have much bearing on our season. 

[TheBrownBottle]

2 minutes ago, Jonas said:

Its unprovable that playing your strongest XI every game will tire players out and fuck up your season completely because no coach does it for, presumably, reasons unknown.

 

 

 

I’m not arguing against rotation - I’m arguing that the Sheff Wed match saw too many changes and a few poor decisions

2 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

...and a loss wouldn't prove that it had knocked morale either. My point is that I doubt it will have much bearing on our season. 

I agree, I don’t think it will impact morale either

[AyeDubbleYoo]

1 hour ago, Menace said:

I genuinely can't believe we're third with the depth this squad has. We have a very decent core 11. The rest is championship tier at best. 

 

We're very fortunate to have him and people need a reminder we still have players like Hendrick on our pay roll.

 

Imagine in a few years when even our bench is full of players drilled exactly with how he wants them to play and are levels above the dross we currently have.

Even our first team has players that are basically performing miracles compared to their on-paper ability. Howe has been outrageously good. 

[Ginola]

1 hour ago, RS said:

That result will drop us down the League significantly.  Being beaten by a third division team is a massive hit for morale

Tell me you're an idiot without telling me you're an idiot

[bhoywhonder]

He fucked this up today, playing that first eleven riddled with sub-par garbage like Lewis, Murphy and Ritchie, match-unfit Isak, Lascelles and Manquillo? then expecting the cavalry to save things with 30 min left with the damage already done? Poor.

[elbee909]

The reality of not being able to compete on all fronts.

[nemtizz]

4 hours ago, RS said:

That result will drop us down the League significantly.  Being beaten by a third division team is a massive hit for morale

 
Beg you stop posting.

[LV]

1 hour ago, bhoywhonder said:

He fucked this up today, playing that first eleven riddled with sub-par garbage like Lewis, Murphy and Ritchie, match-unfit Isak, Lascelles and Manquillo? then expecting the cavalry to save things with 30 min left with the damage already done? Poor.

How would you have played it? 

[Anon]

We weren't outplayed by them, so I think he got it right, it's a cup tie and we didn't take our chances. I would have thought there was also an element of showing the management how thin the squad is too.

[Guest]

We knew we needed to strengthen the squad so I'm not sure why there's been a big point of pointing that out. When you look at the squad December 2021 and compare it today, we've strengthened hugely, but we're still going to be 2-3 windows away, even more possibly, from having the ideal squad. We're not going to be able to turnover 15-18 squad players in 2-3 windows to get to a level where we're putting out top quality teams with whatever starting XI we play, it's just not possible.

 

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by Optimistic Nut

[ExiledGeordie]

Just now, Optimistic Nut said:

We knew we needed to strengthen the squad so I'm not sure why there's been a big point of pointing that out. When you look at the squad December 2021 and compare it today, we've strengthened hugely, but we're still going to be 2-3 windows away from having the ideal squad. We're not going to be able to turnover 15-18 squad players in a 2-3 windows to get to a level where we're putting out top quality teams with whatever starting XI we play, it's just not possible.

I guess the hope is that after this jan and next summer the reliable, quality pool of players goes from 13-14 up to 15-16+. Either way you get my point and that pool will have to increase if we’re in Europe. 

[Guest]

Trying to order it from Bruce's choice order to today when all fit.

 

Dubravka - Pope

Darlow - Dubravka

Woodman - Darlow

Gillespie - Gillespie (assuming Karius isn't being kept on)

 

Krafth - Trippier

Manquillo - Krafth

Murphy - Manquillo 

 

Ritchie - Burn

Dummett - Targett

Lewis - Lewis

 

Lascelles - Botman

Clark - Schar

Fernandez - Lascelles

Schar - Dummett

 

Shelvey - Bruno

Willock - Joelinton

S.Longstaff - Willock

Hayden - Longstaff

Hendrick - Shelvey

M.Longstaff - Anderson

 

 

St-Maximin - St-Maximin

Joelinton - Murphy

 

Almiron - Almiron

Fraser - Fraser

 

 

Wilson - Isak

Gayle - Wilson

NA - Wood

 

Hopefully over the next 2-3 windows we see people at the bottom of the right hand columns replaced and we see even better players at the tops of them. It was a massive job we had to overhaul the squad and we're still short, but it was never happening in 3 windows.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by Optimistic Nut

[bhoywhonder]

9 hours ago, LV said:

How would you have played it? 

 

 

Not have completely underestimated the opposition and what the game meant to them. Not to put out a trio of shit players who - God willing - will never pull on a black and white shirt again. Not to have a plan which meant 'bring on the big guns' when two goals down. Not to have Chris Fucking Wood as a game changer.

 

That. How would you have played it?

 

[Lotus]

2 minutes ago, bhoywhonder said:

 

 

Not have completely underestimated the opposition and what the game meant to them. Not to put out a trio of shit players who - God willing - will never pull on a black and white shirt again. Not to have a plan which meant 'bring on the big guns' when two goals down. Not to have Chris Fucking Wood as a game changer.

 

That. How would you have played it?

 

I’m guessing Eddie knows the physical condition of the players, what kind of loads they can put under and how many games they can effectively play. 
Teams doing well in the league but with small squads tend to start falling away in January and February. We might yet do that tbh.

However, i trust Eddie’s understanding of the squad fitness over yours so I’m very happy to back his judgement.

FWIW, I think we should have won the game on chances created. Shit happens.

[Scotty66]

I'd actually be more annoyed if he had went full strength yesterday, even though we're out of the competition today. 

 

Remember how Tranmere played against us? we had no idea if Sheff Wed would be the same and injuries to anyone like Bruno, Pope, Botman, Schar, Trippier, Isak or Wilson would give us a serious possibility of completely messing up our league position and league Cup run. 

 

It was either put a weak side out in the FA cup or League cup. 

[bhoywhonder]

Murphy has had literally months to do nothing but train to peak fitness. So how did he look so completely the opposite of 'match-fit'?

 

[King HTT III]

He can feel a bit better this morning with his boy’s team beating my boy’s team (3-2, last minute winner for them, we were 2-0 down).

[Kanji]

I got 0 issue with Howe yesterday. My issue are with the lads out there yesterday who didn’t perform and are premier league paid footballers who put up far less of a performance to justify their pay. More than enough chances to level and win the match. That’s football. But hopefully a good reminder to the football people at the club that they need to move players on and upgrade. Even a 5-10m winger or fullback or striker who’s actually got some self confidence of desire to step up and not bottle it is better than persisting with players who have shown far too often they don’t have it. 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by Kanji