#Eddie out

[Dr Gloom 22023]

7 minutes ago, Kid Dynamite said:

Our starting XI yesterday

 

Pope - £10m

Hall - £22m

Burn - £12m

Schar - £4m

Tino - £32m (+£8m)

Tonali - £55m

Bruno - £35m (+£5m)

Willock - £25m

Joelinton - £40m

Gordon - £45m

Isak - £65m

 

£345m and 8 of them were Howe signings 

 

That doesn't include the Howe signings that weren't playing:

 

£40m for Barnes

£35m for Botman

£22m for Vlachodimos

£15m for Osula

£15m for Targett

£12m for Trippier

£6m for Ashby

Mental wages for Kelly.
 

Add in £30m for Wood and Minteh who have been and gone and Howe has spent the best part of £500,000,000 in 3 years  

 

And the issue is he hasn't been able to overhaul the squad!? I'm not saying he should be sacked instantly, but the fanboys need to find a new argument because that one is now moot. 

 

 

 

 

that’s all very well. The owners did initially invest how we hoped but they’ve spent the best part of fuck all in three consecutive windows. You need new signings to lift the fans, refresh the squad and put pressure on players who might be getting comfortable or starting to believe their own hype. 

[Monkeys Fist 42569]

If you say the average player costs a PL side £40mil these days, you’re getting about 12 players for your £500mil. 
 

Not really a squad overhaul when you include “prospects” too. 

[Kid Dynamite 7077]

2 minutes ago, RobinRobin said:

I question how many were truly Howe signings as opposed to signings while he's manager. 

So we are literally just guessing at things now to defend his recent record?

 

The fact remains, these are the same players that finished in the top 4, got to a cup final and hammered PSG. Which suggests the issue is less the quality of the squad, and more the ability of the manager to continue motivating them. 

[Isegrim 9832]

Ah, the gardening season has started.

[RobinRobin 11358]

Just now, Kid Dynamite said:

So we are literally just guessing at things now to defend his recent record?

 

Clearly 

[Kid Dynamite 7077]

2 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said:

that’s all very well. The owners did initially invest how we hoped but they’ve spent the best part of fuck all in three consecutive windows. You need new signings to lift the fans, refresh the squad and put pressure on players who might be getting comfortable or starting to believe their own hype. 

Pretty sure Liverpool signed a GK they loaned back out and Chiesa who doesn't get a game in the Summer. Their new manager seems to be doing a good job of motivating the same squad 

[strawb 4310]

13 minutes ago, Kid Dynamite said:

Our starting XI yesterday

 

Pope - £10m

Hall - £22m

Burn - £12m

Schar - £4m

Tino - £32m (+£8m)

Tonali - £55m

Bruno - £35m (+£5m)

Willock - £25m

Joelinton - £40m

Gordon - £45m

Isak - £65m

 

£345m and 8 of them were Howe signings 

 

That doesn't include the Howe signings that weren't playing:

 

£40m for Barnes

£35m for Botman

£22m for Vlachodimos

£15m for Osula

£15m for Targett

£12m for Trippier

£6m for Ashby

Mental wages for Kelly.
 

Add in £30m for Wood and Minteh who have been and gone and Howe has spent the best part of £500,000,000 in 3 years  

 

And the issue is he hasn't been able to overhaul the squad!? I'm not saying he should be sacked instantly, but the fanboys need to find a new argument because that one is now moot. 

 

 

 

 

Now do the teams who qualify for champions league regularly 

[Kid Dynamite 7077]

2 minutes ago, RobinRobin said:

Clearly 

I mean the transfer committee for the first 2.5 years was Staveley, Howe and Eales. Literally zero evidence that Howe didn't sign off on most of those signings 

[Kid Dynamite 7077]

1 minute ago, strawb said:

Now do the teams who qualify for champions league regularly 

4 teams have spent more than us in the last 3 years. Spurs, Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal. 3 of those didn't qualify for the CL.

[RobinRobin 11358]

2 minutes ago, Kid Dynamite said:

I mean the transfer committee for the first 2.5 years was Staveley, Howe and Eales. Literally zero evidence that Howe didn't sign off on most of those signings 

Clearly 

[thebrokendoll 9293]

8 minutes ago, Kid Dynamite said:

So we are literally just guessing at things now to defend his recent record?

 

The fact remains, these are the same players that finished in the top 4, got to a cup final and hammered PSG. Which suggests the issue is less the quality of the squad, and more the ability of the manager to continue motivating them. 

 

something is clearly not right, isak, bruno and gordon don't suddenly become average.... and average is probably giving them too much credit this season.

[Ayatollah Hermione 13926]

Liverpool’s squad is insanely expensive but they also have the benefit of an academy that’s been ran properly for the better part of 30 years so they have the players in there to fill the squad out. We have to spend fortunes on bench warmers because we have fuck all coming through 

[Kid Dynamite 7077]

Just now, Ayatollah Hermione said:

Liverpool’s squad is insanely expensive but they also have the benefit of an academy that’s been ran properly for the better part of 30 years so they have the players in there to fill the squad out. We have to spend fortunes on bench warmers because we have fuck all coming through 

I agree. And I don't think anyone expects us to be 8pts clear at the top of the league with our squad. They just expect that the response to the awful showing against West Ham isn't 0 shots against a bottom 3 club a week later. 

[Gemmill 45313]

Just now, Kid Dynamite said:

4 teams have spent more than us in the last 3 years. Spurs, Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal. 3 of those didn't qualify for the CL.

 

So you do think we should be top 4 with our current squad then? 

 

I'm not gonna waste my day arguing point by point breakdowns of the starting value of the first team. You could go round the division and pick out teams with similar starting values to ours who occupy similar spots in the league. 

 

We're on a journey here, and there are gonna be transition points where things don't go the way we want them to. We're in one at the minute, and replacing the manager is not gonna fix it. It's not going to be a linear progression, and we are being held back by PSR, a genuine drag on our progress that at times you don't even seem to believe in. Like it's possible to be a PSR atheist or something. 

 

Your expectations have come unmoored from reality imo. Brought about by the incredible overachievement during Howe's early period at the club. And the answer seems to be to remove the bloke that made that possible at the first sign of trouble. 

[wykikitoon 20397]

1 hour ago, Gemmill said:

I personally would give him the next two windows and next season to sort it. The summer window was a fucking joke and we had the problems that we're seeing this season, last season, so we really needed to strengthen and didn't. It should be no surprise to anyone that things haven't improved when the tools at hand haven't been improved and are a year older. 

 

There are still Ashley players on the bench. And as much as Howe got a tune out of them for a short period when we were riding the crest of a wave, those players wouldn't get a regular game in most of the rest of the division, never mind the top 4 to 6. They're fucking shit. 

 

Achieving CL so early with the squad he did it with has completely distorted expectations. I'm not saying that we shouldn't be doing better than we are now, but we REALLY can't be sitting back and expecting CL with this squad. It cannot compete with Man City, Liverpool, Spurs, Villa, Arsenal over 38 games. 

 

We're basically hoping for another minor miracle season, except now we're no longer hoping, we're expecting and demanding. 

 

If we get rid of Howe, we're gonna end up on a managerial merry go round. That's one of the main reasons I don't want him to go. He's fully committed here, he's a very good coach, and there's been a load of flux at the club. He needs more time and the actual investment to deliver on the expectations (entitlement?) that the fans now have. 

 

As for LTA, let this be a lesson to you: if you turn up and act the wind up merchant 95% of the time, you might just get dismissed on the occasion when you actually think you've got something to say. 

 

Now close the thread

[wykikitoon 20397]

42 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said:

Speaking of which, there are plenty of muppets saying they’d take Mourinho. 
 

I was at the match yesterday and the travelling supporters are still backing Howe as you would expect. 

 

Fuck me

So there we have it.  The truth

[Chaser 1228]

As alluded above, there's fine margins here between feeling like we are back and feeling like we are going backwards. If we had scored the goals we should have against West Ham and held out yesterday we would have been 3rd. Instead, a few errors mean questions are being asked. 

 

 

We've seen glimpses this season of what the squad is capable of. It's just that we've seen too much inconsistency in performance and that's probably what frustrates. Gordon is much more hit and miss this year as is Isak and Bruno. Barnes is a goal threat one game and completely lost the next. You can't have that much inconsistency from players who are considered the spine of the team. 

 

[wykikitoon 20397]

If you look at our defence record and goals conceded we are up there with Arsenal, Chelsea etc.  Its the final third we are struggling with.

[strawb 4310]

1 hour ago, Kid Dynamite said:

4 teams have spent more than us in the last 3 years. Spurs, Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal. 3 of those didn't qualify for the CL.

Yeah but we were starting at a much lower base, come on this is simple 

[Dazzler 9886]

3 hours ago, LongTimeAdmirer said:

First off, to those posters dismissing any criticism of Eddie Howe as trolling or attention-seeking—give it a rest. I’ve probably got more football knowledge in my clit than your collective brains, which happen to have the IQ of room temperature. If you can’t comprehend the concept that other people might think differently, that’s a you problem. And before you act like I’m the only one saying this, feel free to check Reddit, R/NUFC, Twitter, or any other NUFC forums—there are plenty of fans who’ve run out of patience with Eddie too.
 

Now, onto the actual issues. (FOR THE REAL ONES)

It’s undeniable that performances have gone downhill. For the last 18 months, things have gotten worse instead of better. It’s been a year now where we’ve failed to string together consistent good performances. Compare that to the 18 months before, and it’s night and day. And don’t even try to tell me he hasn’t been backed in the transfer market—he’s had hundreds of millions.

 

This summer, the club spun some nonsense about how “only a few players can improve us.” Yet we wasted the entire window chasing Marc Guéhi at a ridiculous price, refused to budge, and ended up with nothing. That’s on Howe. His refusal to compromise and adapt hurt us in the market. The squad has gaps, and that’s directly tied to his decision-making.

 

Then there are the internal issues. Bust-ups with Dan Ashworth and Darren Mitchell? It’s like he doesn’t understand that this isn’t Bournemouth anymore. Newcastle is trying to operate like a top club, and he needs to get on board with that. Add in the rumored England job threats—it’s disgraceful behavior from someone who should be focused on the club. Howe’s ego and power plays this summer were embarrassing, and they cost us when we needed reinforcements most.
 

Now let’s talk tactics;

 

• Howe’s Tactical Blueprint Is Too Predictable

Eddie’s system has always been built around pressing high, winning the ball back quickly, and transitioning into attack with pace. For a while, it worked brilliantly. Teams couldn’t handle our energy, and we thrived off chaos. But here’s the problem: it’s a one-trick pony.

Opposition teams have figured out how to neutralize us by sitting deep, staying compact, and forcing us to break them down. And when that happens, we’re completely toothless.

• No Plan B

We’ve seen it time and time again this season: teams park the bus, we dominate possession, but we lack the tools to break them down. There’s no creativity, no movement in the final third, and no alternative approach. Eddie has failed to adapt the system to give us a Plan B. Always the same farken subs too man. right on the 60th minute.

• Lack of a Creative Playmaker

Our midfield is flat and functional, but it lacks a proper #10. There’s nobody playing cute passes behind Isak or Wilson, who can operate in tight spaces, spot a pass, or pull defenders out of position. Without that creativity, our attacks are predictable and easy to defend against.

• Ineffective Wingers

Our wingers—Gordon, Barnes, Joelinton—are not the kind of players who can consistently beat defenders one-on-one or create moments of magic out wide. They’re players who need space to run into, and when teams sit deep, they’re ineffective. We’ve seen this repeatedly against teams who defend in low blocks.

• Predictable Patterns of Play

Our attacking moves are overly rehearsed and predictable. The ball goes wide, a hopeful cross comes in, and the defenders clear it. Rinse and repeat. There’s no variety in our approach, and we rarely try anything unexpected to break teams down.

• Isak and Wilson Starved of Service

Whether it’s Isak or Wilson leading the line (Mainly Iasak this season) neither is getting the service they need. They’re left isolated up top, feeding off scraps because the midfield isn’t providing them with anything meaningful. This idea that were probably not going to see Osula until March or next season because Eddie wont budge on giving new players minutes, is wild.

How do we expect to break teams down when we’re so predictable and toothless in attack? Eddie is meant to be an attacking coach, this is on him and his staff over the last 18 months.  What are they working on in training? Why is there no progression in our attacking play? We’ve gone backwards. Eddie and his staff were hailed for their ability to develop players and make the team greater than the sum of its parts, but that’s just not happening anymore. The blame lies squarely with them. At this point, the "attacking coach" label feels more like a myth than a reality. If he can’t deliver on the one thing he’s supposed to specialize in, then serious questions need to be asked.


Lastly,

Eddie’s comments after the Palace game were the final straw for me. If he genuinely thinks that performance was “decent,” we’re in big trouble. He sounds like a manager trying to cling to his job, and it’s not working.

At this point, it’s hard to see him lasting beyond Christmas. The decline is obvious, the squad isn’t being utilized properly, and his approach is alienating key people at the club. He did a great job stabilizing us and taking us to the next level initially, but he’s not the man to push us forward anymore.

 

[Kid Dynamite 7077]

4 minutes ago, strawb said:

Yeah but we were starting at a much lower base, come on this is simple 

We are going in circles. My response was in reply to the assertion that the reason we are playing poorly is because we haven't been able to improve the squad sufficiently. My point being, how long does that excuse last? £1/2bil into improving the squad? £1bil into improving the squad? 

 

We run the risk of Isak, Bruno and Gordon agitating to leave in the Summer if we finish mid table, and if they leave, even if PSR weren't a issue, where do you find their replacements? 
 

We were bang average for most of the 2nd half of last season. It was put down to injuries. We've been bang average for most of the 1st half of this season without the injuries. Howe has had a year's grace and is still largely living off his impressive first 18months in post. How long does he get before people stop with the excuses and consider that maybe he just isn't the man to take us to the next level? 
 

 

[Ayatollah Hermione 13926]

Also, we need to brace for Isak leaving in the summer for eye-watering money. With that £100 million in the bank, I’d be expecting to kick on thanks to the relief it’ll give us with PSR. Howe has enough credit in the bank to get his chance to build the squad alongside Mitchell with that cash 

[strawb 4310]

4 minutes ago, Kid Dynamite said:

We are going in circles. My response was in reply to the assertion that the reason we are playing poorly is because we haven't been able to improve the squad sufficiently. My point being, how long does that excuse last? £1/2bil into improving the squad? £1bil into improving the squad? 

 

We run the risk of Isak, Bruno and Gordon agitating to leave in the Summer if we finish mid table, and if they leave, even if PSR weren't a issue, where do you find their replacements? 
 

We were bang average for most of the 2nd half of last season. It was put down to injuries. We've been bang average for most of the 1st half of this season without the injuries. Howe has had a year's grace and is still largely living off his impressive first 18months in post. How long does he get before people stop with the excuses and consider that maybe he just isn't the man to take us to the next level? 
 

 

Agree to disagree.
 

I think we have played poorly for some games this season but we ended last season really well.

 

Everyone is beating everyone this season. Even looking back at the season we finished 4th I think some people have rose tinted glasses on, we did so well that season because our defence was amazing, not because we played some free flowing and smashed teams regularly. We defended well and took our chances. 
 

Our defence is 5th/6th best so far this season, but our forwards are missing chances they usually take.

 

Regarding spending, Howe hasn’t been able to upgrade or change the team significantly for 3 transfer windows. That’s going backwards, rather than standing still.

 

He has at least 2 years more grace with me, just by deed of him giving me a team and club I care about again.

[thebrokendoll 9293]

9 minutes ago, Ayatollah Hermione said:

Also, we need to brace for Isak leaving in the summer for eye-watering money. With that £100 million in the bank, I’d be expecting to kick on thanks to the relief it’ll give us with PSR. Howe has enough credit in the bank to get his chance to build the squad alongside Mitchell with that cash 

 

no way we're getting £100m for him on current form.

[Ayatollah Hermione 13926]

1 minute ago, thebrokendoll said:

 

no way we're getting £100m for him on current form.

We paid £65 million for him when he was worse than this. He’ll still finish the season with 15+ IMO. Lot of top teams are needing strikers and we set his price