I agree with most of this. But Burn is reliable. He is solid. Howe is scared to give the others a chance mind. He’s should play his best 11 every game and anyone saying otherwise are bonkers. He doesn’t have the brain to manage a top squad. And we are seeing why. So he should play his best 11 get the goals and points. And then make these subs with his beefed up squad. He took off Elanga who was by far our best player. Gordon and Barnes were give 3 chances to score easy chances and they ****ed them up. Then Rashford scored because he’s a striker. Not a winger or a fake player.
Current back 4 has 3 clean sheets in the last 4 games before to ight so it hasn’t being doing awfully…
Burn cost the 2nd goal... Was a great strike, but in the build up he gave the ball away twice.... We need to get real on selections eventually
Thought that was my job? Anyway I just feel it’s not right to spend some half a billion quid and be playing players from Ashley and Bruce’s time here. The majority of the team played in the last awful UCL campaign. And there’s no guile, the in game management remains questionable, and some players in spite of a good spell are now going backwards - Joelinton, Bruno, Gordon chief among them. Howes worked wonders but I think his limitations on ruthless squad management - I’d point to Pep/Traffors/Donnarumma as how it should be done - his misplaced loyalty and his baffling lack of in game improvements means we might be approaching the end of the road with him.
It’s a transitional year I feel. I think we will struggle in all competitions because hows hasn’t the experience. He’s never had to step up to this level with a squad so he has to learn quick. That’s fine. He is in a situation when he transitions to a good manager to a great one. Will he be able to do that. It’s different levels.
Burn is reliable in the PL, but will get found out in these types of games, he isn't a champions league level player let's be honest about it, not a dig at him, just realistic, he's done well to become a solid PL player.
He’s always going to he questioned the higher we get and the closer we get to the highest levels. But the fact remains we can’t just accept he’s the holy grail. I still think this is steady Eddie levels but we are on the cusp. If we want to get to the next level. Can he do it? I’m not sure. But let’s see.
It's going to be this way if selections and changes are reactionary. If you buy better players get them on the pitch and if something isn't working or if someone isn't playing well sub them before you're losing.
From the outside it looks really simple. Our best XI is Pope, Tino, Thiaw, Botman, Hall, Tonali, Bruno, Ramsey, Gordon, Woltemade and Elanga. Our effective subs are Wissa, Murphy, Joelinton, Miley. The rest are there for games we’re winning, for league cup matches, etc. We start with a selection of slow, old, huff and puff types. Then we look baffled when players like Rashford, Pedri, Ekitike, Szoboslai, etc, run rings round them. It’s all about effectively game economics. The lack of mobility at the back puts too much emphasis on the midfield to cover more ground. The lack of basic intelligence from someone like Barnes or Gordon’s lack of experience up top puts extra strain on the ball being lost and coming back at us. Howe perseveres with loyalty, smiles, effort, and history above all else. He did it with Bournemouth, he did it two years ago and he won’t change. How Lewis Hall is somehow worse than Trippier (who wasn’t entirely terrible) is completely bewildering. Barnes gets picked no matter how bad he plays. Gordon has been dreadful up front every time, yet there he is playing again - and Osula, who Howe refused to sell for £30m - sits on the bench. Howe is a super coach and an excellent mid tier manager but if this club wants to be elite, then it’s time to think about the future. There have to be questions as to how Barnes, Trippier, Schar, Willock and others are still here after spending £500m.
Him and Schar are all over the place imo. Graft is ok and not awful players but when you're having to try that hard somethings not great
The fact that we are disappointed at losing to Barcelona speaks volumes. There is said it. But it does feel for some reason that we missed an opportunity and that happens a lot with Eddie. But maybe I’m expecting too much. I genuinely think we could have beat them today with Woltemade up top and Gordon on the left. But then again i don’t know if Woltemade wasn’t fit enough. I guess we are at the stage where we trust the process. It just feels like a missed opportunity.
To add to my earlier points, Howe said this: “It was a whole-hearted gutsy display but maybe lacking the quality to get us the win.” I don’t need to expand, said it all about the recruitment, the management and the squad in a simple sentence.
All extremely valid points on which I agree with 100%. Howe has taken us this far and we have to give him that credit. He has earned the right. We are now at a transition stage where he needs to be ruthless if his remit is to get to the very top. I think this year is our learning year.
1st quarter i think we were the better team. Barca took over from there with a small flurry from us at the very end of the 1st half. Standard stuff with our style of play, we can't sprint 100% of the time. Barca were able to play through us easier in the second half but needed a mistake from a possibly concussed Schar (should have come off for Thiaw immediately) to score their first and an absolute thunderbolt for the second. I may be accused of being a happy clapper but I think Howe got it right today. Woltemade is clearly not yet Eddie Howe fit, has no European experience and doesn't have the pace to threaten Barca's typical high line. Elanga looked good but faded as the match went on, switch with Murphy was right as Murphy played well down the right with a lovely ball for the goal and some good defensive work. Thiaw and Botman looked solid when they came on. Burn and Bruno were decent. Tonali and Joelinton didn't have their best games but were dogged enough. Its a shame Ramsey is injured as I think he'd have offered more than Willock, who was just frustratingly inconsistent again today. Barnes and Gordon should've had us 2 goals up in the 1st half but didn't offer much else until Gordon's goal at the end. (Kounde was excellent at RB). Speaking of full backs, Tino was very good again and Trippier was solid at the back, marshaling Rashford well. He only got space when Trippier handed him off to concussed Schar and the midfield. Going forward, I think Trippier is struggling to get up and down the line these days, got to be time for Hall to come back in. Pope couldn't do anything about the goals, made a couple of good saves and didn't boot the ball directly out of play so yay him. Overall, we competed with one of the best teams in the world but the class of Pedri allowed them to dictate the pace of the game once our high intensity press faded. Definitely not a terrible performance but things to work on.
Two years ago was the learning year. If we end in 7th and out of Europe, and potless, he might be done.
I don't think it matters who you lose to, but people take losing to a big clubs more easily, that's all. It's because nobody really believes in Newcastle anyway and we're still just happy to take part. Bournemouth is a game of more importance though... The champions league is a fruitless chase tbh...
We're also missing Wissa, who may well have started at CF if fit. End of the day, it's Barca. Their extra quality made all the difference. We weren't hammered 5-0. It was 1-2. And we gave them a good game. The frustrating thing is that team selection 'could' have made a real difference. But we'll never know now.
Great summary, but here’s a question - it’s absolutely impossible to play at that intensity for 90 mins. Time and again we’ve tried, faded and lost. Two years ago the same thing happened time and again in Europe. Why have we learned nothing? Not only that, but why are we trying it with players who are two years older than those that couldn’t do it two years ago? Ultimately, why have we not evolved at all?
