Eddie's, don't doubt the Dubs, NUFC v Wolverhampton Wanderers

[RobinRobin 11281]

2 hours ago, strawb said:

We need to win a game fucking quick, this is minging discourse 

[Christmas Tree 4725]

My first match for quite a while so really hoping they have managed to sort themselves out for tomorrow. I would love to see Isak getting some decent service for a change and rediscovering his silky footwork in front of goal. 

[aimaad22 4156]

I don't see sudden improvement tomorrow. Too many players still getting back to full fitness and far too many completely shot of confidence to go with the mid table plodders that have been punching above their weight. 

 

I think the rest of the season is going to be a slow recovery in form with gradual improvement in results which'll probably be too late to get 5th/6th. The priority for Howe will be getting some semblance of the style and intensity from last season back to take into the summer when the club will hopefully back him.

[Christmas Tree 4725]

Just piss on my chips why don’t you  😂

[RobinRobin 11281]

2 hours ago, Christmas Tree said:

Just piss on my chips why don’t you  😂

Not like you don't from time to time 🙂 

[ohhh_yeah 2967]

6 hours ago, Christmas Tree said:

Just piss on my chips why don’t you  😂

 

 

[Kid Dynamite 7030]

8 hours ago, aimaad22 said:

The priority for Howe will be getting some semblance of the style and intensity from last season back to take into the summer when the club will hopefully back him.

Which isn't going to happen until the players have had a Summer to recover. The lack of a plan B is becoming more obvious by the game 

[Gemmill 44900]

What are we looking for from a Plan B? Cos if we're suggesting Plan B is just "have an unprecedented injury crisis, but be better than we currently are", I don't think that's really fair.

[strawb 4266]

50 minutes ago, Gemmill said:

What are we looking for from a Plan B? Cos if we're suggesting Plan B is just "have an unprecedented injury crisis, but be better than we currently are", I don't think that's really fair.

442. Big man, little man, get it forward quick, proper wingers. Like football used to be.

 

Oh we only have one centre forward, never mind.

[Ayatollah Hermione 13873]

52 minutes ago, Gemmill said:

What are we looking for from a Plan B? Cos if we're suggesting Plan B is just "have an unprecedented injury crisis, but be better than we currently are", I don't think that's really fair.

I’d say trying 5 at the back in an attempt to stop leaking as many goals and give the defence some protection might be a decent start

[RobinRobin 11281]

1 minute ago, strawb said:

442. Big man, little man, get it forward quick, proper wingers. Like football used to be.

 

Oh we only have one centre forward, never mind.

[Kid Dynamite 7030]

1 hour ago, Gemmill said:

What are we looking for from a Plan B? Cos if we're suggesting Plan B is just "have an unprecedented injury crisis, but be better than we currently are", I don't think that's really fair.

Plan B is find a style of football that isn't "high energy, high press, outrun your opponents" when the entire squad is fatigued (as you keep pointing out). 

[Kid Dynamite 7030]

14 minutes ago, Ayatollah Hermione said:

I’d say trying 5 at the back in an attempt to stop leaking as many goals and give the defence some protection might be a decent start

It's worth a try. We've got the second worse Xg against in the league and our defence continues to get the run around from teams like Luton, Forest and Bournemouth.

Playing 5 at the back relieves Burn of his wing back duties but still allows him to support for/against set pieces, with the added bonus of Tino offering more attacking threat. 

[PaddockLad 17281]

Howe’s not properly tried to change anything to compensate for the injuries. If he’d tried something like starting with 3 centre backs which he has switched to on the odd occasion we may have been a more solid at the back. It can also give you an extra man to pick up the “no. 10” player operating between the lines, that’s the space that’s been exploited by opposition attackers since Pope’s injury. He's not really tried anything though. With the massive benefit of hindsight he’s been tactically one dimensional and pig headedly single minded about it. 
 

If there’s no alternative to his tactics with who’s been available week to week for the past 3 months then ok, but someone will have to explain that.  Obviously players coming back from injury aren’t going to hit the ground running and need to be eased back in. Because of this we’re not always sure which Eddie Howe team is going turn up, and his tactical inflexibility seems to manifest itself in different ways. To concede four at home to Luton and the energy free performance v Arsenal weren’t just down to injuries. The first one was piss poor tactics in the first instance to concede 4 in less than an hour without changing anything and the other one was a distinct lack of confidence to even compete for the ball in the face of a team brimming with confidence. But that same lack of confidence shown by the players was visible at Blackburn too. It’s almost as if they’ve lost confidence in what they’re being asked to do as well. Howe has proven he can see problems early and make the right decisions like he did at Villa Park when he brought Livramento on and went to a back three. We just don’t see that anywhere near as often as we should. 
 

There is lots of mitigation. There is also an adherence to trusting a system that plainly doesn’t work when key players aren’t available. I think he’s failed to find the balance between the two and the players are showing signs that they’re not sure how to sort it themselves. Would anyone else have done better?….. at Howe’s “pay grade” and experience level probably not.
 

Hes still got loads of clout with the owners which means he’s almost certainly going to be around for the summer recruitment drive. How much shout he’s going to get on that is going to be the most interesting thing going forward at the club and it very largely depends on if/when Ashworth is replaced and by who.  If (as rumoured in some quarters 😆) he gets to build a power base of his old mates it will in reality make him more powerful than the owners. That’s tail wagging dog territory and in view of his travails this season am not sure if he’s properly earned that amount of trust. I do think he’s won a power game with Ashworth which shows he’s a formidable and skilled operator. All that’s bullshit speculation obviously . But we’re definitely going to be living in interesting times and judging by comments around us in the away end on Tuesday night support for him regardless of the unprecedented injuries we’ve had this season is wavering among rank and file punters  to say the least. Howe and the recruitment team need to get this summer very largely right if we’re not going to be in a whole world of toxic pain next season. 

[Gemmill 44900]

26 minutes ago, Kid Dynamite said:

Plan B is find a style of football that isn't "high energy, high press, outrun your opponents" when the entire squad is fatigued (as you keep pointing out). 

 

We haven't been doing that though.

[PaddockLad 17281]

2 minutes ago, Gemmill said:

 

We haven't been doing that though.

Sort of agree. But he’s been sending the team out in the same formation that achieves that when all players are fit and available to carry it off. That’s not been working iyam. 

[thebrokendoll 9244]

9 minutes ago, PaddockLad said:

Howe’s not properly tried to change anything to compensate for the injuries. If he’d tried something like starting with 3 centre backs which he has switched to on the odd occasion we may have been a more solid at the back. It can also give you an extra man to pick up the “no. 10” player operating between the lines, that’s the space that’s been exploited by opposition attackers since Pope’s injury. He's not really tried anything though. With the massive benefit of hindsight he’s been tactically one dimensional and pig headedly single minded about it. 
 

If there’s no alternative to his tactics with who’s been available week to week for the past 3 months then ok, but someone will have to explain that.  Obviously players coming back from injury aren’t going to hit the ground running and need to be eased back in. Because of this we’re not always sure which Eddie Howe team is going turn up, and his tactical inflexibility seems to manifest itself in different ways. To concede four at home to Luton and the energy free performance v Arsenal weren’t just down to injuries. The first one was piss poor tactics in the first instance to concede 4 in less than an hour without changing anything and the other one was a distinct lack of confidence to even compete for the ball in the face of a team brimming with confidence. But that same lack of confidence shown by the players was visible at Blackburn too. It’s almost as if they’ve lost confidence in what they’re being asked to do as well. Howe has proven he can see problems early and make the right decisions like he did at Villa Park when he brought Livramento on and went to a back three. We just don’t see that anywhere near as often as we should. 
 

There is lots of mitigation. There is also an adherence to trusting a system that plainly doesn’t work when key players aren’t available. I think he’s failed to find the balance between the two and the players are showing signs that they’re not sure how to sort it themselves. Would anyone else have done better?….. at Howe’s “pay grade” and experience level probably not.
 

Hes still got loads of clout with the owners which means he’s almost certainly going to be around for the summer recruitment drive. How much shout he’s going to get on that is going to be the most interesting thing going forward at the club and it very largely depends on if/when Ashworth is replaced and by who.  If (as rumoured in some quarters 😆) he gets to build a power base of his old mates it will in reality make him more powerful than the owners. That’s tail wagging dog territory and in view of his travails this season am not sure if he’s properly earned that amount of trust. I do think he’s won a power game with Ashworth which shows he’s a formidable and skilled operator. All that’s bullshit speculation obviously . But we’re definitely going to be living in interesting times and judging by comments around us in the away end on Tuesday night support for him regardless of the unprecedented injuries we’ve had this season is wavering among rank and file punters  to say the least. Howe and the recruitment team need to get this summer very largely right if we’re not going to be in a whole world of toxic pain next season. 

 

sack the cunt then?

[PaddockLad 17281]

Just now, thebrokendoll said:

 

sack the cunt then?

Aye. Give it Mad dog till the end of the season ☺️

[RobinRobin 11281]

4 minutes ago, thebrokendoll said:

 

sack the cunt then?

Perhaps a bit drastic but I would like to see something else even if it doesn't work. Perhaps there's too many who he's worked with before around so no alternative views but that's always the case. 

[PaddockLad 17281]

1 minute ago, RobinRobin said:

Perhaps a bit drastic but I would like to see something else even if it doesn't work. Perhaps there's too many who he's worked with before around so no alternative views but that's always the case. 

It’s only his nephew if you’re talking behind the scenes 

 

he’s not signed anyone from Bournemouth 

[Gemmill 44900]

Tindall too.

[Kid Dynamite 7030]

20 minutes ago, Gemmill said:

 

We haven't been doing that though.

Im not sure anyone can tell us what we have been doing though? Same players, same formation, same system, without the energy and without the results.  
 

We looked shambolic against Blackburn, a team at the wrong end of the championship. Perfect opportunity to make up for the Arsenal result.

[RobinRobin 11281]

3 minutes ago, PaddockLad said:

It’s only his nephew if you’re talking behind the scenes 

 

he’s not signed anyone from Bournemouth 

Coaching staff but as I said that's usually the case. 

[Gemmill 44900]

I think the mitigation of a) the season we had last year, b) the gargantuan efforts in and around the CL campaign, and c) the ludicrous injury crisis are way, way, way more than enough to continue with the bloke.

 

And I don't mean that he starts next season on borrowed time either. I understand frustration in the away end with what people are seeing in the moment.

[Gemmill 44900]

6 minutes ago, Kid Dynamite said:

Im not sure anyone can tell us what we have been doing though? Same players, same formation, same system, without the energy and without the results.  
 

We looked shambolic against Blackburn, a team at the wrong end of the championship. Perfect opportunity to make up for the Arsenal result.

 

We're limping to the end of the season though. That's the point. The CL and the injury situation has completely fucked us.

 

Spurs have played TEN GAMES fewer than us this season, haven't had close to our injury crisis, and are only 10 points above us in the league.

 

Swap our games and injuries for theirs and we'd be absolutely flying again.

Edited March 2 by Gemmill