Eddie Howe

[Miggys First Goal]

1 minute ago, andycap said:

If we lose to brighton which is a possibility, I can see the twitter knackers calling for howes head. Which is laughable when you think about it. 

If we finish outside of the top 4 this season I can see the Twitter/x knackers calling to sack the board. 

[WinstonFC]

4 minutes ago, andycap said:

If we lose to brighton which is a possibility, I can see the twitter knackers calling for howes head. Which is laughable when you think about it. 

Eddie doesnt do social media so he wont give a fuck. Duno why fans get in a sweat about that cesspit twitter anyway, just stay aff it. 

[jack j]

1 minute ago, andycap said:

If we lose to brighton which is a possibility, I can see the twitter knackers calling for howes head. Which is laughable when you think about it. 

It's robson all over again i tell you

[andycap]

It's just a shame we've got a young well spoken talented coach at the helm. Who's worked wonders with what's at his disposal playing entertaining football which in turn has got us from nearly dropping out the league to champions league place, and because we've had a terrible fixture list to start a campaign off worse than any other team we've lost a couple and now he's not good enough. Wankers the lot of them short memories. 

[Yorkie]

It's not the Twitter knackers I'm worried about when it comes to Howe's longevity, it's that we don't know how trigger happy our board is.

 

We need to prepare ourselves for momentum to slow down this season - I'm absolutely convinced that we'll see sequences of poorer results because the squad was at its absolute limits last season and we've only recruited one more experienced PL player; meanwhile there's a European campaign to navigate. 

 

I just pray that the decision-makers aren't too hasty whenever the first sticky patch arrives. It will happen at some point, it happens to absolutely everyone. Just some teams have much longer gaps between them. 

[The Prophet]

Looking at his performance v Liverpool. The starting line up and tactics were fine up until around the hour mark.

 

You could argue he potebtially didn't react well enough to Liverpool's tactical switch and subsequent numerical superiority in the middle.  He tried to push the full backs narrow to give Bruno and Tonali more options, but it was still too easy for Liverpool to cut off the passing lanes. In hindsight perhaps switching to a 4-2-3-1 might have helped.

 

Instead he opted for like for like fresh legs. Gordon was exhausted and Isak was ineffective, so both seemed like obvious candidates to be substituted. Tonali was a strange one on the face of it, but we have no idea how his fitness was holding up and Longstaff is hardly a disastrous replacement.

 

Even then there was an element of misfortune in that we weren't clinical and he was forced into a late defensive reshuffle. Almiron buries one of his chances or Botman's interception doesn't ricochet off his heel and we aren't having this discussion.

 

All in all, it wasn't the disaster-class it's being made out to be, but there's areas of his in-game management he didn't quite get right. In particular, we probably required a change in shape to nullify the Liverpool counter-punch and pull them out of shape more than we did.

[magvicar]

Some people need to realise how dire this club was for long enough and how we all felt being dejected on a regular basis.

what we're getting now is enjoyable feel good football in the main, with the odd blip which all teams get.

We are not looked upon as cannon fodder by any of the top teams now. That tells anyone how far we've come in such a short space of time and that is down to 99.9% at the club going in the right direction.

What's not to like?

[brummie]

It's interesting seeing how quickly - and wrongly - a peak is treated as 'the norm' or 'the minimum'.

 

Don't get me wrong, I reckon this could be the same of any other club with a manager in the same position, so it's not you lot, but some of the stuff on here - as viewed by an outsider - is absolutely fucking mindblowing.

 

What he achieved last year was an absolute miracle, yeah you spent money, but not enough to outright buy fourth place, you got it mostly because of excellent coaching. To then be even looking remotely at him like some people are on here after three games is absolutely insane.

 

It's like a misplaced sense of entitlement has kicked in - you are quite obviously a project in progress, you've not just won something and set an elevated 'norm' for yourselves, thus far you've achieved nothing concrete, but the fact is, it's in very recent memory that you were stinking the league out under Captain Steak Bakes.

 

If you zoom out a bit from where you are now, ie the here and now of matches happening this last week or two, and look at the bigger picture, it is still insanely impressive.

 

All teams (except you know who) have questionable patches, it's not that they happen, it's how they react to them that matters.

[PauloGeordio]

2 minutes ago, magvicar said:

Some people need to realise how dire this club was for long enough and how we all felt being dejected on a regular basis.

what we're getting now is enjoyable feel good football in the main, with the odd blip which all teams get.

We are not looked upon as cannon fodder by any of the top teams now. That tells anyone how far we've come in such a short space of time and that is down to 99.9% at the club going in the right direction.

What's not to like?

It’s all good here. It’s painful to care again. That’s no bad thing. The future’s bright the future’’s black and white. We are United! 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

It’s not even a questionable patch really, it’s just incredibly hard fixtures all coming at the same time.  
 

The fixture list is massively underrated in football. 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by AyeDubbleYoo

[The Prophet]

2 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

It's not the Twitter knackers I'm worried about when it comes to Howe's longevity, it's that we don't know how trigger happy our board is.

 

We need to prepare ourselves for momentum to slow down this season - I'm absolutely convinced that we'll see sequences of poorer results because the squad was at its absolute limits last season and we've only recruited one more experienced PL player; meanwhile there's a European campaign to navigate. 

 

I just pray that the decision-makers aren't too hasty whenever the first sticky patch arrives. It will happen at some point, it happens to absolutely everyone. Just some teams have much longer gaps between them. 

 

This is a good point.

 

First season, we did go 1 win in 9. Then last season we had a run of 1 win in 7 and 1 win in 8, but all three of these runs were padded out with quite a few draws, plus expectations weren't as high.

 

[TRon]

I was surprised to find out it's his 11th loss to Liverpool running. Perhaps I shouldn't be given he was in charge of Bournemouth or maybe Burnley for a lot of those, but there is a step up in class when you are playing the very best teams. Until we can boast the same depth of quality in players though, his teams are always going to be second favourites against the like of Man City or Liverpool so comparisons are not really fair.

[brummie]

4 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

It’s not even a questionable patch really, it’s just incredibly hard fixtures all coming at the same time.  
 

The fixture list is massively underrated in football. 

 

 

 

 

I'll be honest - the result the first day of the season probably set an unrealistic expectation which was an extenuating factor given it was followed by the hardest game of the season and one of the next hardest, which ended with a freak set of circumstances.

 

It's like us - we got a 5-1 pounding on day one of the season - that was very, very bad, but it's one game and not reflective of where we are. We then followed it by scoring 12 goals and conceding 1 in winning the next three games. Just like the first day of the season, that is not going to be reflective of the rest of the season either, because the opposition across however-many-games is going to be better than the matches played in that sequence.

 

You can form any opinion you like by zooming in on a small set of matches - positive ones or negative ones - but you still can't really draw much from them because they're a tiny sample.

 

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by brummie

[KingArthur]

2 hours ago, brummie said:

It's interesting seeing how quickly - and wrongly - a peak is treated as 'the norm' or 'the minimum'.

 

Don't get me wrong, I reckon this could be the same of any other club with a manager in the same position, so it's not you lot, but some of the stuff on here - as viewed by an outsider - is absolutely fucking mindblowing.

 

What he achieved last year was an absolute miracle, yeah you spent money, but not enough to outright buy fourth place, you got it mostly because of excellent coaching. To then be even looking remotely at him like some people are on here after three games is absolutely insane.

 

It's like a misplaced sense of entitlement has kicked in - you are quite obviously a project in progress, you've not just won something and set an elevated 'norm' for yourselves, thus far you've achieved nothing concrete, but the fact is, it's in very recent memory that you were stinking the league out under Captain Steak Bakes.

 

If you zoom out a bit from where you are now, ie the here and now of matches happening this last week or two, and look at the bigger picture, it is still insanely impressive.

 

All teams (except you know who) have questionable patches, it's not that they happen, it's how they react to them that matters.

Sadly this is very true for many football fans. People seem to expect, not hope or dream, for us to end up in top 4. To regularly make it to top4 requires top coaching and resources. We have 1/2. Other teams also have top coaching, but 6 of them also have more resources. Last year was a off year for Chelsea and Spurs for example, but they will be up there again, maybe not this year but next one at least.

 

If we make it to top6 and through the UCL group stage, it has been a great season. That means we have beaten some top clubs and are progressing. People seem to forget reality and base their expectations solely on last seasons performance.

 

It is same for Liverpool fans, who keep saying "Liverpool deserve to be in the title race" after 2-3 great seasons. They are way behind City or even Arsenal, but because they won it few years ago, now they deserve to be there...

 

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by KingArthur

[Lish007]

32 minutes ago, brummie said:

 

I'll be honest - the result the first day of the season probably set an unrealistic expectation which was an extenuating factor given it was followed by the hardest game of the season and one of the next hardest, which ended with a freak set of circumstances.

 

It's like us - we got a 5-1 pounding on day one of the season - that was very, very bad, but it's one game and not reflective of where we are. We then followed it by scoring 12 goals and conceding 1 in winning the next three games. Just like the first day of the season, that is not going to be reflective of the rest of the season either, because the opposition across however-many-games is going to be better than the matches played in that sequence.

 

You can form any opinion you like by zooming in on a small set of matches - positive ones or negative ones - but you still can't really draw much from them because they're a tiny sample.

 

 

 

Exactly this. 

 

It's not as if the match between Newcastle and Aston villa means that AV are a bad team - far from it. I would say for us, it was more important to beat AV than it was Liverpool, because I believe we are gunning for similar places in the league to them. 

 

If people had called for Emery's head after our match, we would call them mad.. he's done wonders for that team and has got them competing to where they should be. He got it wrong that day but he's one of the only managers in the league, along with Howe, that will learn from that mistake. I'm sure he will be chomping at the bit to beat us at their place and I wouldn't be surprised if they did. 

 

I wouldn't be surprised if we beat Liverpool at Anfield because now Howe will not rest until his mistakes and ours are corrected. 

 

A little humility goes a long way. Probably Liverpool could do with some too and I hope a team dishes it out to them very soon. 

[Begbie]

7 hours ago, McDog said:

 

 

Dude, he took a team that had not only been flushed down the shitter and facing almost certain relegation and got them into the CL. Yes, money played a part as did the backroom staff additions but he led this team on the pitch to all that success.

 

 

He's going to be given the benefit of the doubt for a long time by me.

I didnt read the comment as negative as you did. It all depends what you put in the words "good" and "great" managers.

I read it like Howe is a good manager who just had a great season with us on all aspects, he is in the making of a great manager but not there yet. ie he is a good manager. If he continues the progress and win things with us or the next club he manage he might be considered a great manager.

 

In my opinion there are 4 categories: Shit/terrible, average, good, and great managers.

 

We had a bad game against Man City, we normally are able to upset teams but this game we just couldnt get it to work, and a really bad result against Liverpool. People will react especially with our history against Liverpool, and the way Klopp has been talking about us. I do hope Howe have learned something and that we bounce back the next game. Also I do hope that Howe becomes a great manager and take home some trophies!

[Scoot]

1 hour ago, andycap said:

If we lose to brighton which is a possibility, I can see the twitter knackers calling for howes head. Which is laughable when you think about it. 

 

Yeah I totally agree. The knackers are on standby this week but if we lose to Brighton on Saturday they'll be out in force.

[TheBrownBottle]

1 hour ago, jack j said:

It's robson all over again i tell you

They’re not comparable. 
 

For a start, Robson should have gone - only much earlier than he eventually did.  Howe deserves nothing but time at the moment.  

[Kid Icarus]

For me there was very little wrong with the subs tbh. 

 

Gordon was tiring, Isak was ineffective for some reason, and both Bruno and Tonali were starting to misplace passes - so choosing Tonali as the player to come off out of those 2 is justifiable. Wilson makes sense, Barnes definitely makes sense if you're looking for someone to get in behind, and Longstaff makes sense if you want someone making the 3rd run. 

 

It's the approach to the match after the sending off that I can't get my head around really. I get that we didn't want to go hell for leather with the threat of Liverpool on the break, but we very noticably reined it in, slowed things down, and attacked more speculatively rather than with real purpose after VVD went off, which seemed counterintuitive. Obviously we had chances and I've read some people saying it was not taking those chances when they thought it was an ominous sign, which makes complete sense. For me though it was when we were just knocking it about between defence and midfield without any real purpose, the sort of thing when you're controlling the game at 3 nil, that it felt off for me.

 

It's why I don't think there's any real use in pointing fingers at Botman, Bruno, Burn, or the subs, because the approach wasn't right and it was obvious that at some point Liverpool would create a chance or chances, no matter what, which is why we needed to kill the game rather than control it. Jota and Nunez coming on just heightened that inevitability further. 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by Kid Icarus

[The Prophet]

There was definetly a sense of not knowing whether to protect the lead or kill off the game. Howe said after the game he wanted the second goal, so experience and in-game nous probably factored in too.

[andycap]

1 hour ago, TheBrownBottle said:

They’re not comparable. 
 

For a start, Robson should have gone - only much earlier than he eventually did.  Howe deserves nothing but time at the moment.  

So you really believe that lad? We went to shit after he left. 

[The Prophet]

2 minutes ago, andycap said:

So you really believe that lad? We went to shit after he left. 

 

I'm not going to get into the Robson debate, but is that not more because his replacement was Graeme Souness?

[Sempiternal]

Robson’s time was up, but the replacement fucked us. 

[mighty__mag]

2 hours ago, brummie said:

It's interesting seeing how quickly - and wrongly - a peak is treated as 'the norm' or 'the minimum'.

 

Don't get me wrong, I reckon this could be the same of any other club with a manager in the same position, so it's not you lot, but some of the stuff on here - as viewed by an outsider - is absolutely fucking mindblowing.

 

What he achieved last year was an absolute miracle, yeah you spent money, but not enough to outright buy fourth place, you got it mostly because of excellent coaching. To then be even looking remotely at him like some people are on here after three games is absolutely insane.

 

It's like a misplaced sense of entitlement has kicked in - you are quite obviously a project in progress, you've not just won something and set an elevated 'norm' for yourselves, thus far you've achieved nothing concrete, but the fact is, it's in very recent memory that you were stinking the league out under Captain Steak Bakes.

 

If you zoom out a bit from where you are now, ie the here and now of matches happening this last week or two, and look at the bigger picture, it is still insanely impressive.

 

All teams (except you know who) have questionable patches, it's not that they happen, it's how they react to them that matters.

 

Thanks for bringing a sensible outside view to the party. ?? 

 

19th in the league to 4th, a cup final after decades. 

 

Two losses to arguebly the two strongest Premier league sides in the last decade, we only lost five games last season three of them to the sides who have handed our losses this season. 

 

It's a total overreaction. 

 

"We only want a club that tries"

 

What we got so far, was a club, owners, manager, flags, feel good factor, a chance to dream again, we got so much more, 10 birthdays and 10 Christmas rolled into one.

 

For some absolute arseholes it's never,  ever enough,

 

Wake the fuck up! If you are the type out there who think it's now top four every season, then you are those fans who got Newcastle labeled the deluded geordies back in the 90s, yes I do believe eventually we will become a force if the owners deliver on all their promises, but, its not granted.

 

These lads, Eddie, the board all knew, all admitted we over acheived, it's a luxury right now, we're very lucky, there's a long, long way to go, loads of work to put in, and it's progress, you could never ever right off Eddie Howe unless you're an absolute fucking moron.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by mighty__mag

[Abacus]

In some ways, you can understand the over reaction. It's a game we shouldn't have lost, and people get pissed off and need someone or something to blame when they're angry. It's genuine at the time but temporary.

 

The subs have been criticised, but you can understand them in the moment due to players tiring etc. Nor was it some tactical masterclass by Klopp - it was a classic flukey suckerpunch by an individual error and an unlucky deflection.

 

We dominated that game and with better finishing / luck would have steamrollered them. We did seem to step back a bit, but I doubt that was down to Howe - more the players thinking it was won. You can tell that because of Klopp's reaction in calling it a miracle and something that he's not seen in 1000 games, or whatever.

 

Likewise, Pep was absolutely delighted with that 1-0 at the Etihad - we didn't start well but by the end they were hanging on a bit and he knew it.

 

To say Howe was outthought comprehensively is hindsight based on the result in my opinion. We've played two of the best teams on the league, should have won one and taken a point from the other.

 

That we didn't was fine margins and if you look at the quality of the 3 squads, we're still punching well above our weight with both performances.

 

It's a few tweaks that are needed, not anything drastic - and Howe will be poring over both of those games looking for what they should be. Best since Keegan, and he might become better.