Sure but you could argue in december we were exhausted and depleted with massive fixture congestion after CL games. In Feb there'll be none of this issue.
Eh? I understand - but you're making no sense, mate. You judge based on the season, not the easy parts of it!!! Literally the only team in the entire league the "exhausted" claim has been used for, it's a bit sad really. I repeat, Brighton, West Ham, Villa all above us, all still in Europe. Man U, same games, above us. That's obviously exclusing those miles ahead, Arsenal, Liverpool, City.
Villa, West Ham, Liverpool, Brighton likely did suffer fixture congestion, but were also playing somewhat easier opposition than the likes AC Milan, Dortmund, PSG. Similarly they were also dealing with far fewer injuries to key players, therefore had a greater opportunity to utilise squad players in those games, a luxury we couldn't afford. Add in the fact that we've had some pretty horrendous cup fixtures has meant a pretty punishing schedule both physically and mentally. Since the last international break, we played 11 games in 38 days, roughly one every 3.5 days, essentially with no training over that period - if you think that doesn't have an effect, then I'm not sure football is really your thing. You cite Liverpool, City, Chelsea; they all have superior squads, I'm sure no one is going to argue that - I'll give you Forest, but that came at the end of that run of fixtures so again, perhaps not surprising given what had occurred over the previous month. You clearly have an issue with Howe, we get it, you've banged on about ad nauseum but I'm not sure what else he was able to do in many instances - player rotation? With who? Change tactics, how do you that with no time to train? Send them out in a new formation/system with no opportunity to iron out the kinks? An even bigger risk I'd suggest. Coming back to player rotation, let's look at example - Botman out for a long spell, could that have been mitigated by rotation? In the 5 weeks before his injury he played 6 games, not exactly a difficult schedule. I'm pretty sure you'd have had enough to say if Howe had replaced Botman with, let's say Lascelles or Burn - you can't have it both ways. Yes, the squad players undoubtedly need to be improved but this isn't happening overnight - it's not Football Manager ... I think Tash made a reasonable comment, not sure who pissed on your cornflakes today, but I think you're reaction was a bit over the top, don't you ...?
No. All you've done is write a missive on what happens in a football season. That we're the only "knackered" club is disappointng. That we're out of Europe is disappointing. That we're losing to Luton and Forest is disappointing. There's been some highs, but a lot of lows and I just don't accept we've been hit harder than anyone else and lady luck just wasn't on our side. That nobody at this football club seemed to have any remote idea what this season might be like is an astonishing lack of experience and foresight. Maybe the ex-Bournemouth manager and ex-Brighton DoF weren't the right people in the first place. The recruitment was sure as **** a disaster (again which I have said ad nauseum). In terms of injuries with Brighton, West Ham, Villa, they have suffered them but their squads are - somewhere inexplicably - able to cope better than we have so far. And the ultimate point here, and why I got miffed at Tash, was at the suggestion Howe can only be judged in easy games when there's no fixture congestion and all his players are back. That's rubbish - he can be judged so far and continue to be judged throughout the season. Perhaps final judgement needs to be reserved for May and if we're 6th and in the FA Cup Final then he's redeemed himself. If we go out to Fulham and have a crap February, I'll be positively screaming for him to go!!
I understand what you're saying but you have to take into consideration having to play CL football and insane fixture congestion with a squad that is just not made for it while other teams like Spurs dont' have the same problem, and teams like Villa only have to play against Warsaw and AZ Alkmar where as we have to go all out to play against PSG, Dortmund and Milan. You're being unfair because this is not a normal season. Eddie Howe was given an insane task of making this squad be successful in an insanely difficult season. Our squad was no where near good enough for CL. Our first team yes, but not our squad as a whole.
come on mate, Villa played Zrjinski in the conference league.. put some respect on their name brother!
Yes, apologies should be in order, but only if you can name their right back without googling it ....
You may have read that Tash suggested he only be judged on easier games, but I think he was pointing out that if we're going to judge Howe on an insanely tough run of games, that's its only fair to do so for a easier run too. Ultimately, it should be whole season as I think you managed to suggest
You are all misrepresenting what I've said completely. It's not just about their being a tough run of games, it';s the fact we've had to play 2-3 games per week consistently throughout the first half of the season, including having to play a full strength team to face Milan, Dortmund and PSG. No, I repeat, no other side in this league has a set of fixtures/schedule as tough as ours, and our squad has been laughable compared to the other champions league teams, besides perhaps man utd who went out in laughable fashion. So if you are all going to criticise me please at least treat me fairly and don't strawman me. It's one thing to judge Howe on a season where we're playing one game most weeks against just PL opposition and cup opposition, and another to judge him on his ability to deal with an impossible schedule with a thin squad, asking players like Trippier at 33 to play 2-3 times a week and somehow not get injured. I'm not saying he should just be judged on the easier games, I'm saying you have to take into account everything - 1. The difficulty of the opposition 2. Fixture congestion 3. Depth of squad and resources available to you. Making our thin squad successful with such a difficult fixture schedule was always going to be a horrible task to have to deal with. I'm NOT suggesting that he should just be judged on easier fixtures, what I'm saying is that the issues with fixture congestion ended January, a month where we had to face Liverpool and Man City, and only really lost 3-2 in both, negating Liverpool's ridiculous 2nd penalty. Losing by 1 goal to the two best teams in the league is nothing to be concerned about, and next we have Villa. In February we have Luton, Forest and Bournemouth. The is the first month of the season where we have no excuse for continuing to lose games and perform badly. Before this, Howe and everyone could blame fixtures and squad depth issues, but there's no excuse in February. If we don't start winning games again, then there'll be no excuse and now fingers can be pointed firmly at management.
Wasn't criticising you in the slightest - go back to my original post and I'm actually agreeing with the point you were making
I agree with Tash. It’s ridiculous to judge someone over a part of a season regardless as to whether it was an easy, average or difficult period. Ultimately, it’s always a case of putting it all into context and not judging out of context. Judge over a full season and take facts and circumstances into account before coming to a view.
Tbh, they did acknowledge this season would be ****ing difficult. It comes out of the mouth of both Amanda and the DoF in a few scenes of the documentary. They are struggling with FFP requirements but for me, the issues with Howe mostly boil down to two aspects: He doesn't rotate players enough, especially evident with Trippier. He is also tactically limited - he has a style, wants us to play that style and doesn't change it even if circumstances in game happen. I don't feel we are drilled with what to do when you're a player up, or if you're 2 ahead and the opposition changes style. Its why we have remained such bottlejobs, when our system suffers, we often fall apart. This has been happening before injuries btw. I am a little concerned about this, but not overly. I don't think Howe was ever the long term solution for Newcastle. He's a good bloke to have when you're trying to settle in and build revenues though. He keeps quiet and cracks on
Oh We are also ****ing ****e at set pieces. Jesus H. What in the name of all that is holy in this dreaded world, do we do on the training pitch? We are so bad at corners it's unbelievable
We're **** and the only encouraging signs were two brilliant goals in 2 mins. The other 88 minutes Newcastle were ****.
That would be weird as ****, but we have been **** at set pieces for ages now, not just recently. There's a marked downgrade in set piece conversation since Howe came in
They didn't do physical or technical training. They went in for recovery sessions and tactical sessions. Howe said as much in the week after the Liverpool game
The end result is what really matters and it's been more than satisfactory up until recently. I think it's been a learning experience for everyone. Lets see where we are at in 5 games time and then we'll know if we're truly ****ed.
