Eddie Howe

[SUPERTOON]

3 minutes ago, Jaqen said:

I don't think people are suddenly overrating Shelvey it's just we legit don't have another midfielder to play at the moment. When you play a 3 man midfield with a high intensity style only having 4 options in the whole squad is crazy. We are going into the Liverpool game with only 2 available and one is one card away from a 2 game suspension. 

Worth remembering we have been playing all 4 of those CM options in pretty much every game this season up until Bruno’s ban.

[Zero]

Howe was not happy for Wood being sold in Jan. and, he put a 16 years old tall boy on the bench last game. The message is quite clear imo.

[Hanshithispantz]

Just now, The Prophet said:

 

Wood offers absolutely nothing that Wilson doesn't offer. The only reason he got a sniff I'd because Isak has been injured. It's perfectly normal for a team who play one up top to have two strikers and a number of players who can fill in up there.

 

I agree we could use an extra body in the middle, but with the passing range of Botman and Schar, Shelvey's role in the side became a bit redundant.

Wilson has just picked up his 4-5th injury of the season though. We have no youth strikers so will have to rely on wingers who we're also now short on.

 

Shelvey's role isn't redundant if we have no other midfielders who are anywhere near as smart in possession. I feel like I'm having to make incredibly obvious points here, like both Shelvey and Wood would fairly obviously be good to have at this moment in time? How is this even debateable?

[SUPERTOON]

1 minute ago, Hanshithispantz said:

Wilson has just picked up his 4-5th injury of the season though. We have no youth strikers so will have to rely on wingers who we're also now short on.

 

Shelvey's role isn't redundant if we have no other midfielders who are anywhere near as smart in possession. I feel like I'm having to make incredibly obvious points here, like both Shelvey and Wood would fairly obviously be good to have at this moment in time? How is this even debateable?

It really is that simple, that is the exact point.

 

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by SUPERTOON

[Hanshithispantz]

4 minutes ago, Dr Venkman said:

Promise I’m not just being a contrarian, and I agree with the point in general. However, Wood never looked a competent hold up striker during his time here, nowhere near.

His hold up play is terrible. You could probably have put any physical striker in his place and got similar or better results.

[Zero]

4 minutes ago, Dr Venkman said:

Promise I’m not just being a contrarian, and I agree with the point in general. However, Wood never looked a competent hold up striker during his time here, nowhere near.

sometimes we just need someone who can create a bit of troubles inside the penalty area.

 

It doesn’t need to be Wood. We may not be in this shit if we just sign a cheap back up striker or loan someone from abroad during Jan. Same for Shelveys case.

 

The broad has gone too far imo.

[huss9]

17 minutes ago, Hanshithispantz said:

His statistics tell us otherwise though, he won loads in the air. 20p head or not Howe clearly wanted us to target him.

 

 

 

stats?

he won a few (not loads) in the air but very rarely did the ball go to one of our players.

whats the point of that?

[Shays Given Tim Flowers]

Yeah but if he flicks a header on to no one and it ends up going into the channel with the opposition in possession that might end up effective for us because that’s where we press well. 

[The Prophet]

5 minutes ago, Jaqen said:

I don't think people are suddenly overrating Shelvey it's just we legit don't have another midfielder to play at the moment. When you play a 3 man midfield with a high intensity style only having 4 options in the whole squad is crazy. We are going into the Liverpool game with only 2 available and one is one card away from a 2 game suspension. 

 

As far as I'm aware, no one is disputing that we are a body light in the middle?

 

I'm looking forward to us contesting fourth and a League Cup final. The transfer window and the merits of additional signings has been discussed to the Nth degree. If folk want to tediously drag up the same argument every time we drop points them crack on. For me there's far too much to enjoy this season with circling around the one potential negative.

[The Prophet]

15 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

It really is that simple, that is the exact point.

 

 

 

 

Shelvey isn't match fit and Wood wouldn't be playing, so I don't think it'd make a huge amount of difference.

[SUPERTOON]

Just now, The Prophet said:

 

Shelvey isn't match fit and Wood wouldn't be playing, so I don't think it'd make a huge amount of difference.

Im not to bothered about the wood one as I think Gordon is his replacement (Howe said himself we wouldn’t replace wood like for like). Im also not on about the last couple of games where Shelvey wouldn’t have played. Im talking about over the next few weeks/months, having Shelvey (or a Shelvey replacement) as an option would have made the squad stronger considering how short of options we already are in the middle.

[The Prophet]

Just now, SUPERTOON said:

Im not to bothered about the wood one as I think Gordon is his replacement (Howe said himself we wouldn’t replace wood like for like). Im also not on about the last couple of games where Shelvey wouldn’t have played. Im talking about over the next few weeks/months, having Shelvey (or a Shelvey replacement) as an option would have made the squad stronger considering how short of options we already are in the middle.

 

Agreed on the second point. Again though, I've never dispute that we look light in the middle.

 

This is only being discuss for the 100th time because we've dropped points though.

[SUPERTOON]

Just now, The Prophet said:

 

Agreed on the second point. Again though, I've never dispute that we look light in the middle.

 

This is only being discuss for the 100th time because we've dropped points though.

I think it’s because everyone can see we are struggling in the middle and more so now with Willock going off injured and Joelinton likely missing 2 games sometime soon. It just seems from the outside looking in that it was a completely avoidable situation that we find ourselves in.

[The Prophet]

1 minute ago, SUPERTOON said:

I think it’s because everyone can see we are struggling in the middle and more so now with Willock going off injured and Joelinton likely missing 2 games sometime soon. It just seems from the outside looking in that it was a completely avoidable situation that we find ourselves in.

 

I take your point, but I highly doubt any new player would have seen many minutes over the last few games, granted they may have started v Liverpool if Willock is injured.

 

More than anything we miss Bruno and he'll be back after the weekend thankfully.

[Hanshithispantz]

15 minutes ago, huss9 said:

stats?

he won a few (not loads) in the air but very rarely did the ball go to one of our players.

whats the point of that?

Like Shay says, it's about getting the ball up the pitch quickly, we can then set up to either counter-attack (if we win it) or counter-press (if they win it).

 

Wood also presses well, if you dip into his bi-polar thread everyone on this forum was piping him off for it not too long ago.

 

[SUPERTOON]

Just now, The Prophet said:

 

I take your point, but I highly doubt any new player would have seen many minutes over the last few games, granted they may have started v Liverpool if Willock is injured.

 

More than anything we miss Bruno and he'll be back after the weekend thankfully.

Yeah he is obviously the biggest miss, thankfully we have a relatively simple schedule for the remainder of the season, only 1 game per week l. International break should also help as well.

[Theregulars]

1 hour ago, The Prophet said:

I'm not sure why selling Shelvey has become an issue after drawing with West Ham and Bournemouth when he was only declared fit this weekend and played all of half an hour.

I’d imagine it was because we lost 3 players to injury, one of whom plays in his position and looks to be out for a few matches. I’d also imagine it’s because he was the only other player in that position we had aside from Bruno who is known for being able to play a decent through-ball and reliable for a 5-10 assists a year. 

[Theregulars]

47 minutes ago, Choppy Chop Chop said:

The comment's here remind me why I steered clear of NUFC forums for a few years, except I'm now on the `HappyClappers` side now.  Just be happy even if its just for this season, we are not getting sucked into a relegation fight 

I understand the sentiment but I think this is such a basic outlook. It’s completely legitimate and reasonable to debate what’s going on now that our reality has changed. It doesn’t make us miserable, deluded, entitled or whatever meaningless trope you want to throw at us. We’re just analysing the football team we support and admitting that we haven’t looked great since the turn of the year, punctuated by our worst performance of the season yesterday and the squad coming out of the transfer window shallower and arguably weaker (TBC, depending on Gordon). 

[Theregulars]

38 minutes ago, Hanshithispantz said:

Wilson has just picked up his 4-5th injury of the season though. We have no youth strikers so will have to rely on wingers who we're also now short on.

 

Shelvey's role isn't redundant if we have no other midfielders who are anywhere near as smart in possession. I feel like I'm having to make incredibly obvious points here, like both Shelvey and Wood would fairly obviously be good to have at this moment in time? How is this even debateable?

Because you’re being critical, which isn’t allowed in some people’s minds. Everything can only be “good” or “bad”, and any nuance in between means you must think it’s “bad”. Social media age and its accompanying assault on curiosity and discussion coming to the fore in my view. 

 

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Theregulars

[Hanshithispantz]

12 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

I take your point, but I highly doubt any new player would have seen many minutes over the last few games, granted they may have started v Liverpool if Willock is injured.

 

More than anything we miss Bruno and he'll be back after the weekend thankfully.

Like Anthony Gordon?

 

Any new midfielder would have replaced Willock yesterday if they hadn't already forced their way into the side during the West Ham game. This isn't some kneejerk reaction to defeats either (from me personally), I'm only responding because I disagree with some comments here. 

 

I don't think we're completely fucked or anything, just gambled and made it a lot harder to qualify for the CL.

 

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Hanshithispantz

[Theregulars]

22 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

Shelvey isn't match fit and Wood wouldn't be playing, so I don't think it'd make a huge amount of difference.

But Shelvey is match fit, he played in PL match yesterday. 

[Theregulars]

20 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Im not to bothered about the wood one as I think Gordon is his replacement (Howe said himself we wouldn’t replace wood like for like). Im also not on about the last couple of games where Shelvey wouldn’t have played. Im talking about over the next few weeks/months, having Shelvey (or a Shelvey replacement) as an option would have made the squad stronger considering how short of options we already are in the middle.

Staggering how difficult this appears to be for some to comprehend. All we’re saying is that we lack depth and an option. It might not be fatal; it likely won’t be, but why take the risk?

[The Prophet]

7 minutes ago, Theregulars said:

I’d imagine it was because we lost 3 players to injury, one of whom plays in his position and looks to be out for a few matches. I’d also imagine it’s because he was the only other player in that position we had aside from Bruno who is known for being able to play a decent through-ball and reliable for a 5-10 assists a year. 

 

He also isn't match fit and played his first 30 minutes after a long term lay off this weekend.

[Theregulars]

Just now, The Prophet said:

 

He also isn't match fit and played his first 30 minutes after a long term lay off this weekend.

I mean firstly your point is wrong - he played a match of football yesterday, meaning he is match fit, surely? I guess I’m arguing the toss if you mean “fit to start”. The point we’re making is that we might need the squad depth to sustain the wonderful season you’re (and we’re) correctly enjoying, so some of us have an eyebrow raised at the decision to let him go and not replace him. It seems about as complicated as the 2x table to me.

[OverThere]

The Shelvey gamble likely is because the 100k a week for his salary is needed for Maddison or equivalent. We could have been stuck with Shelvey if this automatic extension was triggered.