Eddie Howe

[The Butcher]

Don't think Howe is here next season if we finish 8th. That's if we don't win a cup.

[TheBrownBottle]

1 minute ago, The Butcher said:

Don't think Howe is here next season if we finish 8th. That's if we don't win a cup.

That’s not our call - but I think it would be a poor one by the owners if it occurs. 

[et tu brute]

1 minute ago, TheBrownBottle said:

No one is saying ‘aim for 8th’.  8th at a minimum.  Anything less than that is a bad season. 

I disagree with that, 8th as a minimum for where we are now shouldn't be accepted. As I said I'm quite certain the Saudis won't accept it either 

[Big Geordie]

As someone said earlier, we just don't have the nouse (yet!) to go toe-to-toe with the 'Top 4/5' as yet. We've come so far inside 2 years - remember where we were.

[Jagten]

5 minutes ago, Viana said:

Hmm, it's an interesting discussion to have, I just don't know if I can see the other side of the argument. 

 

They tried for a more 'pedigreed' option in Unai Emery and were rejected. I don't remember who else was available at that time, but you'd have to consider the first 18 months of Howe's tenure an success. 

 

In terms of transfers, it would appear from the limited exposure on All or Nothing, that deals require full alignment from the recruitment team, and I can't think of any that have been total failures (Wood is probably the worst, but was a desperate, temporary, solution). 

 

That leads us into the topic of his style. He wanted us to bridge the gap as quickly as possible and has clearly (if somewhat ironically) seen a blueprint in what Liverpool did under Klopp. No system is infallible, and Howe's next obstacle showed itself today - how do we break through teams that sit deep. We'll need to figure that out and we'll need to do it promptly. 

Howe has been fantastic. I am not suggesting we should have appointed anyone else. Results thus far could not have been any better. 

 

My point is we should be making lots of asymmetrical - ideally uncorrelated - bets. Whilst I am not privy to our internal decision making it feels like Eddie's influence has grown, and our largest bet has increasingly become him. Tonali and Barnes, the two most likely starters, feel like accessories to his style above anything else. Taking such a concentrated position is generally how you blow up. 

[TheBrownBottle]

Just now, et tu brute said:

I disagree with that, 8th as a minimum for where we are now shouldn't be accepted. As I said I'm quite certain the Saudis won't accept it either 

They can not accept it if they want - our turnover will be roughly on par with West Ham for last season.  If our ability to spend was on the same footing as the Sky Six, then they’d have a point.  Until it is, expectations should be in line with wage bills. 

[The Butcher]

Just now, Big Geordie said:

As someone said earlier, we just don't have the nouse (yet!) to go toe-to-toe with the 'Top 4/5' as yet. We've come so far inside 2 years - remember where we were.

Eh? We got a draw vs City last year. Beat ManUtd, Spurs and Chelsea. A point at the Emirates. Absolutely no reason why we shouldn't do the same this year.

[GlenMag]

Yep, a squad that was built to consolidate top half last season massively overachieved and got 4th, now a squad that should have pushing for Europe this year have CL and heightened expectations (and all the bed wetting that comes with them) to deal with. The Saudis know that fine well too, it was their fucking plan

[TheInfiniteOdyssey]

4 minutes ago, Big Geordie said:

As someone said earlier, we just don't have the nouse (yet!) to go toe-to-toe with the 'Top 4/5' as yet. We've come so far inside 2 years - remember where we were.

I don’t think that applies to the match context of playing against 10 men for 70 minutes. I think supporters of clubs like West Ham, Villa, even Brentford and others, would also be bitterly disappointed to lose a game in these circumstances. It’s a really bad defeat to take.

[Vinny Green Balls]

Howe is still only 45 and seems very willing to learn from his mistakes. 
 

He’s a very young manager who has already established a very impressive career from the ground up, and who has shown single minded determination to make himself better. This really sucks, but I have confidence that Eddie will use this well. 

 

 

Edited August 27, 2023 by Vinny Green Balls

[Big Geordie]

3 minutes ago, The Butcher said:

Eh? We got a draw vs City last year. Beat ManUtd, Spurs and Chelsea. A point at the Emirates. Absolutely no reason why we shouldn't do the same this year.

 

I should have added regularly. 

 

Rome wasn't built in a day and clearly FFP stops us doing what Man City and Chelsea have done.

[Viana]

6 minutes ago, The Butcher said:

Eh? We got a draw vs City last year. Beat ManUtd, Spurs and Chelsea. A point at the Emirates. Absolutely no reason why we shouldn't do the same this year.

This was a different game though. Even before the red card Liverpool sat off us and wanted us to play. That's a different kind of game to say Man Utd or Spurs who tried to out fight us and got steamrolled. 

 

 

7 minutes ago, Jagten said:

Howe has been fantastic. I am not suggesting we should have appointed anyone else. Results thus far could not have been any better. 

 

My point is we should be making lots of asymmetrical - ideally uncorrelated - bets. Whilst I am not privy to our internal decision making it feels like Eddie's influence has grown, and our largest bet has increasingly become him. Tonali and Barnes, the two most likely starters, feel like accessories to his style above anything else. Taking such a concentrated position is generally how you blow up. 

I think I'd agree that Barnes feels like an accessory to his style right now, but Tonali feels like a central building block that is adaptable enough to play in several styles. The same is true of Gordon. 

 

I think it's difficult to justify anything but ample opportunity for Eddie to impart his preference on the squad while we build, but it's interesting to see your interpretation of the deals, as I believe a lot of the major signings are not one style players but rather promising players that can be moulded if a new coach comes in 2-3 years down the line. 

 

 

Edited August 27, 2023 by Viana

[HaydnNUFC]

10 minutes ago, Big Geordie said:

As someone said earlier, we just don't have the nouse (yet!) to go toe-to-toe with the 'Top 4/5' as yet. We've come so far inside 2 years - remember where we were.

 

We have and we've proven that we can. Spurs home and away, Man Utd home and away, Chelsea home and away and even the games we've drawn and lost against Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City last season have shown that.

 

Today, not winning a match that was handed to us on a plate, in fact actually ending up losing it, is utter shite. 

[et tu brute]

Just now, TheBrownBottle said:

They can not accept it if they want - our turnover will be roughly on par with West Ham for last season.  If our ability to spend was on the same footing as the Sky Six, then they’d have a point.  Until it is, expectations should be in line with wage bills. 

They own the club so we will see, their expectations I would imagine would be Europa League at a minimum. 

[gbandit]

Not remotely concerned about what this means long-term, I don’t think it’ll dent his confidence or belief but I do think he’ll use it as a major learning exercise. His major work is going to be figuring out how to break teams down this season and I think Gordon and Isak are the key 

[80]

42 minutes ago, Jagten said:

Mostly OTT takes in a game where we weren’t great but were still unlucky not to win. That said, we have doubled down on Eddie – hired his family and gone to the limit FFP in pursuit of his style. I hope it does not become relevant to ask whether we could have hedged our advantageous position better.   

 

6 minutes ago, Jagten said:

Howe has been fantastic. I am not suggesting we should have appointed anyone else. Results thus far could not have been any better. 

 

My point is we should be making lots of asymmetrical - ideally uncorrelated - bets. Whilst I am not privy to our internal decision making it feels like Eddie's influence has grown, and our largest bet has increasingly become him. Tonali and Barnes, the two most likely starters, feel like accessories to his style above anything else. Taking such a concentrated position is generally how you blow up. 

I see where you're coming from, but I don't really think that's right. I'd say one of the best things about what we've done overall is build a squad and club that, if Eddie somehow disappeared tomorrow, is really well positioned to be taken on by A.N.Other. There's nothing eccentric about it, no sense of personality cult. Just team spirit, fitness, tactical awareness and natural quality. I wouldn't accept any manager coming in and struggling Bruce-style to convert the team to 'his way of thinking'.

 

Conversely, if the club had hedged it's bets with, say, an oppositional sports director we could end up at war with ourselves and not getting the best out of what we have which, overall, Howe absolutely has.

[Pata]

Signings have also been young with big re-sale value, seems a bit weird angle to take. And completely unnecessary at this point.

[joeyt]

Just now, Ash2579 said:

His signings have been super safe and not improved the starting 11 one bit!

 

Tino Barnes Hall squad fillers!

 

Nonsense

[Weezertron]

From what I've gathered from the Amazon doc, the fact that the owners knew they wanted top 4 early last season (atleast the timeline was cut that way by the editors), makes me think they're almost too ambitious for where we are. It'd be a horrible mistake to shift Eddie on, like. 

[SUPERTOON]

1 minute ago, Ash2579 said:

His signings have been super safe and not improved the starting 11 one bit!

 

Tino Barnes Hall squad fillers!

Tonali ?

[Vinny Green Balls]

Just now, Ash2579 said:

His signings have been super safe and not improved the starting 11 one bit!

 

Tino Barnes Hall squad fillers!

Tonali is a squad filler? Barnes scored more goals than any of our players except Wilson in a relegated team. Class take.

[Dancing Brave]

1 minute ago, Ash2579 said:

His signings have been super safe and not improved the starting 11 one bit!

 

Tino Barnes Hall squad fillers!

Wow, that blue pop does narf stink.

[Geordie Boyo]

Eddie heee, Eddie whooo, eddie eeee, eddie Ha’owe! 
 

that’s all I’ll say on the matter. 

[thomas]

 

1 minute ago, Ash2579 said:

His signings have been super safe and not improved the starting 11 one bit!

 

Tino Barnes Hall squad fillers!

 all those poor windows going unlicked while you're busy posting

[Erikse]

We're a bit predictable in the way we play atm, and Howe seems to be putting out the same players while also making the same subs again. We can't do this for a long time regardless, there needs to be rotation at some point due to added games.

 

One thing we need to remember is that during our bad run of form this winter we were seeing and complaining about similar things. We looked predictable and were playing the same players with the same tactics and subs. However Howe acknowledged this and changed things up, and it worked brilliantly. Just when I started to doubt that he could adapt to being figured out, we went on a fantastic streak again. I'm sure Howe will spend a lot of time analyzing this game to figure out how him and the players can learn from this. He's no Steve Bruce who will solely blame any defeat on being unlucky.

 

 

Edited August 27, 2023 by Erikse