Eddie Howe

[The College Dropout]

watching MNF yesterday. They mentioned how both Liverpool and Brighton outnumber opposition in midfield (a box midfield?) with strikers that drop deep.

 

Isak can do that i'm sure.

 

Apart from Bruno, i'm unsure that we have midfielders that can find him consistently though. 

[The College Dropout]

15 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

I think the contribution of our midfield is currently very poor too, albeit with injuries, suspensions and hard fixtures. To get the most out of the forwards we need more precision and control in midfield. May need signings to achieve. 

"JJ Bull" from Tifo makes a big deal about our midfield having ball carriers and runners rather than passers. I thin that's mostly Joe, Willock and a bit of Bruno

[TRon]

On 05/03/2023 at 21:32, huss9 said:

got a bit of a stubborn streak, has wor Eddie.

not always a good thing.

 

Or he just doesn't reckon swapping in players from our current bunch will make that much difference. And he's probably right. That said, it does look like he's prepared to haul off his first choices during a game if they aren't performing.

[The College Dropout]

Just now, TRon said:

 

Or he just doesn't reckon swapping in players from our current bunch will make that much difference. And he's probably right. That said, it does look like he's prepared to haul off his first choices during a game if they aren't performing.

We've been off form for 3 months and he's not changed anything. It's definitely stubborness.

[TRon]

2 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

We've been off form for 3 months and he's not changed anything. It's definitely stubborness.

 

I think injuries and suspensions have had a lot to do with it. But yes I agree, Howe is not one who likes to switch styles much, he's very much invested in his formation and playing style. I would have liked us to be a bit more cagey in the Carabao cup final and try to hit on the counter more, but he's not going to go backwards if he thinks we are moving in a new direction.

[Lush Vlad]

Could be that he is a bit stubborn and/or loyal to certain players he trusts. But also that he has faith in his system and feels that with minor tweaks, he can get us back to winning ways. 
 

It can be frustrating to watch at times. But I think I’d rather that than knee jerk reactions from managers week to week. Which we saw from the likes of Bruce, Pardew, Allardyce etc over the years. 
 

My biggest concern is how stale it has all gone. I know basically every team at this level will have rehearsed passages of play. But we have just become so predictable with what we try and do. There never seems to be any fluidity or flexibility with how we play or what we try and do.
 

Hard to argue against it, when it has served us so well for a year or more. But it does feel like something needs to be changed. As I’m not sure we can just keep playing out of form players and saying ‘goals will come.’ 

[Gallowgate Toon]

The stubborn accusation is a bit early imo but there are a couple of recent signs. There've been a few niggly injuries between Bruno, Isak, Wilson, Willock, and then suspensions, over the last couple of months which has limited options and stopped us being able to build momentum trying new things. ASM has actually had a decent run of starts over the last month so it hasn't been same old.

 

The last 2 games there have definitely been some poor/safe choices but it does feel like there's a clearer run for the squad going into the business end and he pretty clearly said in his post-match presser that he feels like he has options to tactically rotate now (midfield aside while Jo's out).

 

I actually think we have some really interesting options to play going forward that can be tweaked nicely in-game as well. Not prolific but quick, decently technical players who can play a couple of different ways and happily swap into other positions. I have a feeling he's trying to mould Gordon into his next Fraser but with more physicality. 

[The Prophet]

I wouldn't say things have gotten "stale" as such, we're still opening teams up quite regularly. Most recently we created three decent chances against Man City and four v Liverpool. At the same time it never hurts to experiment with different attacking patterns so you have more options moving forward, particularly against low blocks which we've struggled against all season. 

 

Rotating personnel might also see a player who wasn't previously in the side hit a hot streak or strike up a good understanding with a couple of team mates, that's what happened with Willock and Joelinton when we moved the latter out to the left before the World Cup. We're not talking wholesale changes, just tweaks that give the opposition something different to think about. 

[The College Dropout]

I don't agree with "we're still opening teams up quite regularly" at all.

 

We're predictable in attack.

 

We rarely change shape or approach. That's obviously limited by the personnel.

[The Prophet]

1 minute ago, The College Dropout said:

I don't agree with "we're still opening teams up quite regularly" at all.

 

We're predictable in attack.

 

We rarely change shape or approach. That's obviously limited by the personnel.

 

It might be predictable but its's obviously effective. That's not to say we shouldn't try and mix it up though. 

[The College Dropout]

Just now, The Prophet said:

 

It might be predictable but its's obviously effective. That's not to say we shouldn't try and mix it up though. 

It's not effective because we are not scoring goals.

 

Our big chances from open play are not among the best in the league in the last 6-8 games. 

[maze]

Need to shake things up. We have lost momentum. Agree with The College Dropout.

[The Prophet]

1 minute ago, The College Dropout said:

It's not effective because we are not scoring goals.

 

Our big chances from open play are not among the best in the league in the last 6-8 games. 

 

That's conflating chance creation with chance conversion though. Before the weekend we were third in the league for big chances created post-World Cup. We then created three clear chances v City, though I'm not sure if they were considered "big chances".

[54]

3 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

It's not effective because we are not scoring goals.

 

Our big chances from open play are not among the best in the league in the last 6-8 games. 

Our creative stats this season:

 

Big Chances created: 47 (7th out of 20)

Big Chances missed: 44 (3rd out of 20)

XG Created: 38.5 (6th out of 20)

Shots on Target per Match: 4.9 (7th out of 20)

Goals per Match: 1.5 (9th out of 20)

 

 

[SUPERTOON]

Just now, 54 said:

Our creative stats this season:

 

Big Chances created: 47 (7th out of 20)

Big Chances missed: 44 (3rd out of 20)

XG Created: 38.5 (6th out of 20)

Shots on Target per Match: 4.9 (7th out of 20)

Goals per Match: 1.5 (9th out of 20)

 

 

He said the last 6-8 games though, can’t see them being that high over that period.

[The Prophet]

I'm an advocate of tweaking things, I just don't think things have gone stale. Putting the stats aside for a moment, you can see with your own eyes that we're creating opportunities, we're just not taking them. A clinical side bags three at City on Saturday. 

[Beth]

Clear as day to everyone that Isak should be starting ahead of Wilson now.

[Kid Icarus]

15 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

He said the last 6-8 games though, can’t see them being that high over that period.

They are. 

 

Again TCD keeps excluding chances from set pieces though.

[SUPERTOON]

6 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

They are. 

 

Again TCD keeps excluding chances from set pieces though.

I’m surprised at that tbh, excluding the Liverpool and city games which we are always going to create more, there is only the West Ham game where I came away and thought we missed some good chances.

[The Prophet]

2 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

I’m surprised at that tbh, excluding the Liverpool and city games which we are always going to create more, there is only the West Ham game where I came away and thought we missed some good chances.

 

We missed loads v Leeds and Fulham. Palace we were a bit more subdued but Almiron, Joelinton and Wilson all had decent chances to score. Bournemouth is the only one I can think of were we looked pretty hopeless. 

[Kanji]

1 hour ago, The Prophet said:

 

We missed loads v Leeds and Fulham. Palace we were a bit more subdued but Almiron, Joelinton and Wilson all had decent chances to score. Bournemouth is the only one I can think of were we looked pretty hopeless. 

 

Isak too v Palace. 

 

Agree on Bournemouth where we were lucky to even draw there. 

[The Prophet]

24 minutes ago, Kanji said:

 

Isak too v Palace. 

 

Agree on Bournemouth where we were lucky to even draw there. 

 

We actually created far more than I remember away to Palace. 

 

Bournemouth away is comfortably the worst we've played this season though.

[The College Dropout]

3 hours ago, The Prophet said:

 

That's conflating chance creation with chance conversion though. Before the weekend we were third in the league for big chances created post-World Cup. We then created three clear chances v City, though I'm not sure if they were considered "big chances".

The big chances created have mostly come from set-pieces. From open play we were upper mid-table in the rankings.

 

Wilson and Almiron aren't missing buckets of chances. 

[The College Dropout]

3 hours ago, Kid Icarus said:

They are. 

 

Again TCD keeps excluding chances from set pieces though.

Because i'm talking about the teams general performance and creativity. How the midfield and attack are working together to create chances.

 

And overall - the team isn't passing the eye test. To me anyway. I thought we were a little lucky to beat Fulham which counterbalances being a bit unlucky at Palace. We are competitive but we don't look like a team on the cusp of goals flowing in.

 

Until we changed formation we looked poor against Fulham. Poor against Bournemouth. Poor against West Ham. Out the game in 20 minutes against Liverpool. Out the game in 40 minutes against Man Utd.

 

 

Edited March 7, 2023 by The College Dropout

[TRon]

2 hours ago, The Prophet said:

 

We missed loads v Leeds and Fulham. Palace we were a bit more subdued but Almiron, Joelinton and Wilson all had decent chances to score. Bournemouth is the only one I can think of were we looked pretty hopeless. 

 

There's part of your problem right there. When Almiron and Joelinton are making up a big part of your attack, you will struggle to score goals, Almiron's amazing start to the season withstanding. We need guys who will hunt the space in the penalty area. Joelinton did manage it against City for the Murphy cross, but he missed the ball altogether when all he needed was to get a solid contact on it.