How good is Eddie Howe?

MackRobinson

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If there's anyone being disingenuous, it's you. Pointing at league positions without context means nothing. I could do that and claim United have been title challengers multiple times over the last decade because they've managed to finish second and third a few times. Again, they didn't finish lower than 13th, and it's a massive stretch to say sitting in 15th is a clear sign of being threatened by relegation.

Newcastle were promoted back to the Premier League for the 17/18 season. Ignoring the first few matches, because league position is meaningless there, Newcastle slipped from 9th after 10 games to 18th after 18 games after a run of bad form. They immediately left the bottom three, although they were within touching distance for a stretch, but ultimately ended up 10th, 11 points clear of the drop. The team in 18th finished on 33 points. With that in mind, Newcastle were effectively safe with seven games left to play. Newcastle actually spent the final seven games in 10th, despite losing four of their last five games. That is not the finishing position of a perennial relegation-threatened side, and they didn't spend more than a single week sat 16th for the entire second half of the season. There were at least four teams worse than them for long periods of the season.

In 18/19, they had a bad start, found their way back with a run of four wins and draw over seven games, then had a slide of five without a win dropping them into the bottom three for a single week. There were still 16 games left, and once again they immediately climbed out of the bottom three. In fact, after finding themselves in 14th just two games later, they didn't drop lower than 16th for the rest of the season, and that was just for a single week too. They finished 13th, once again 11 points clear of the drop, and as the team in 18th finished on 34 points, were effectively safe with seven games left. Again, there were at least four teams worse than them for the bulk of the season.

After 11 games of 19/20, they didn't drop lower than 14th, reached as high as 9th, and finished 13th despite winning none of their last six games. This absolutely wasn't a relegation threatened season.

In 20/21 they didn't spend a single week in the bottom three and finished 17 points clear of relegation in 12th. They had as many points after 28 games as the team in 18th did at the end of the season, and despite being 17th with four games left, even then they were nine points clear of the drop.

In 21/22, they spent 18 weeks in the bottom three, and 23 weeks in the bottom four. That's three more weeks in the relegation zone than the previous four seasons combined, and only five fewer in the bottom four than the previous four seasons combined. That season was absolutely an anomaly.

Allowing for your stretched bottom six criteria for being "perennially threatened by relegation" - Newcastle spent 14 of 38 weeks in the bottom six in 17/18, 19 of 38 weeks in the bottom six in 18/19, 9 of 38 weeks in the bottom six in 19/20, and 23 of 38 weeks in the bottom six in 20/21, which ironically, is the season they finished the most points ahead of the drop. This not only proves that position doesn't tell the whole story, but that this apparently perennially relegation threatened side had spent near 60% of their time outside of the bottom six over those four seasons.

You're making out as if they were akin to that Wigan side that repeatedly left it until the final game or so to escape the relegation zone. They simply were never that bad, and the horrendous start to 21/22 was quite clearly not the norm.

As for the point about players, you've clearly misunderstood the point you even made in the first place. You said, and I quote: "Even though they have spent, a lot of their key players were fighting for relegation under previous managers."

I asked which of the pre-Saudi players were still key players, and you listed five players. I then asked where the dozen or so senior signings they've made since the money came in fell in relation to those five if they were still key players (now keep in mind a football team can only field eleven at a time). You then shifted the goalposts to say that these five were, and again I quote, "players still used". Still using a player doesn't make them a key player. It just means you have spaces in a line-up that need filling. Micah Richards was a regular starter for City when they won their first Premier League. He was by no means a key player by that point. Scott McTominay and Harry Maguire are still used at Manchester United. They are certainly not key players.

I've not claimed that Newcastle were a great side in the four seasons before the money and Howe, but they were also nowhere near as bad as you make them out to have been.
As I suspected, you're being disingenuous. The unnecessary walls of text and the arguing of semantics are dead giveaways. Their form and league positions are posted for anyone to see. You can look up the amount of appearances for the players I listed. The bolded is not what I said but you knew that.

Were many of their current key players on the team before Howe? Yep.
Was Newcastle in relegation battles in seasons before Howe? Yep.
Were many of these current key players involved in these relegation battles? Yep.
 

Blood Mage

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He's a solid top half of the table manager but he'll never lead Newcastle to a major title. They'll replace him with someone better when the time is right, maybe Pep goes over there for a laugh after he gets bored of City.
 

Tyrion

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United are a completely different proposition to Newcastle or Spurs hence results are reflected differently in the media. Not a shocker.
It's incredible that we're the only side with 4 wins in their last 5 pl games and our manager is games away from being sacked according to the media.
 

Luffy

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It's incredible that we're the only side with 4 wins in their last 5 pl games and our manager is games away from being sacked according to the media.
One of our managers (perhaps Frank O'Farrell) from the 70s won his last 7 league games, and still was sacked.
 

Amira

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I think he is a B- Manager. Not elite. Not very good. Decent.
 

Alex99

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As I suspected, you're being disingenuous. The unnecessary walls of text and the arguing of semantics are dead giveaways. Their form and league positions are posted for anyone to see. You can look up the amount of appearances for the players I listed. The bolded is not what I said but you knew that.

Were many of their current key players on the team before Howe? Yep.
Was Newcastle in relegation battles in seasons before Howe? Yep.
Were many of these current key players involved in these relegation battles? Yep.
"Supports: Football"?

Are you a closet barcode?

They averaged a final position of 12th over the four seasons and spent fewer weeks in the bottom three across all four than they did in the season Howe took over.

They were a comfortable mid-table side, as evidenced by them finishing comfortably mid-table every single season.

They even spent 60% of their time in those comfortable mid-table positions or better.

These are the facts of the matter.

"Were many of their current key players on the team before Howe? "

No, because they've signed a number of better players that are now their key players.

Was Newcastle in relegation battles in seasons before Howe?

No, as evidenced by them not once finishing close to the relegation places.

Your final question is now irrelevant.
 

FootballHQ

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Same happened with Klopp's Liverpool in 2021 and they ended up losing at home to Burnley,Brighton,Everton,Fulham without scoring themselves.
They rallied and had a ridiculous end of season run full of abnormal things e.g. Allison scoring last minute winner. The protest that forced Man. United-Liverpool to get postponed also benefited them.

I think with Eddie Howe he only becomes under serious pressure if Newcastle start posting results like Chelsea for a full six month period so losing the odd game like yesterday isn't going to change much.

If in two years time they decide he isn't the man to lead them for a title challenge I think he'd accept that and really based on his 10 years in management he'd probably be the favourite for the England job which is very attractive considering the next one after Southgates gets to work with peak Bellingham.

To me this is a bit like people on here chuckling when Brighton lose a game or two. If Brighton win today they're in top 6 after a third of the season pretty much and that's with combining a first ever euro campaign. Brighton finishing top 6 two years running on their budget is an amazing achievement. Newcastle finishing top 4 twice in a row is still achieveable for them and fits what they want to do. Neither are anything close to Chelsea slumming it around in the bottom half spending 200 + million every transfer window.
 

Bestietom

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With all the money they have, he hasn't rushed to buy all these 10million + players that the fans were expecting. He has chosen well with some of the players he has brought in.
 

christinaa

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He's only as good as the injuries permit - just like EtH.
 

MackRobinson

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"Supports: Football"?

Are you a closet barcode?
Queue the ad hominems.

They averaged a final position of 12th over the four seasons and spent fewer weeks in the bottom three across all four than they did in the season Howe took over.

They were a comfortable mid-table side, as evidenced by them finishing comfortably mid-table every single season.

They even spent 60% of their time in those comfortable mid-table positions or better.

These are the facts of the matter.
It is very convenient to add the overachievement season by Benetiz just to perform statistical hand waving. Just realized that's the only reason why you are insistent on this arbitrary four season window. What happens if you only look at the previous three seasons before Howe? You can literally find articles from all those season discussing Newcastle's relegation battles.

Comfortably midtable when they spent most of their time in the bottom half, rarely surpassing 10th. Right... (some of the last fixtures are cut off, but you get the gist)





At least you are consistently disingenuous. That should count for something.

"Were many of their current key players on the team before Howe? "

No, because they've signed a number of better players that are now their key players.

Was Newcastle in relegation battles in seasons before Howe?

No, as evidenced by them not once finishing close to the relegation places.

Your final question is now irrelevant.
Literally laughed out loud at the bolded. Now, shifting to arguing the semantics of what a key player is. Imagine for a second someone arguing about Newcastle yet thinking the following aren't key players (apps in 2022-23):
Almiron - 34(7)
Joelinton - 37(3)
Schar - 41
Longstaff - 36(5)
Wilson - 26(10)
Willock - 36(7)

Thank you for saving me from the meaningless walls of text, though. Your last post was much more readable, although equally as disingenuous.
 
Last edited:

Alex99

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Queue the ad hominems.


It is very convenient to add the overachievement season by Benetiz just to perform statistical hand waving. Just realized that's the only reason why you are insistent on this arbitrary four season window. What happens if you only look at the previous three seasons before Howe? You can literally find articles from all those season discussing Newcastle's relegation battles.

Comfortably midtable when they spent most of their time in the bottom half, rarely surpassing 10th. Right... (some of the last fixtures are cut off, but you get the gist)





At least you are consistently disingenuous. That should count for something.


Literally laughed out loud at the bolded. Now, shifting to arguing the semantics of what a key player is. Imagine for a second someone arguing about Newcastle yet thinking the following aren't key players (apps in 2022-23):
Almiron - 34(7)
Joelinton - 37(3)
Schar - 41
Longstaff - 36(5)
Wilson - 26(10)
Willock - 36(7)

Thank you for saving me from the meaningless walls of text, though. Your last post was much more readable, although equally as disingenuous.
You don't understand what a relegation battle or a key player is, but I'm glad we've cleared that up.
 

MackRobinson

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You don't understand what a relegation battle or a key player is, but I'm glad we've cleared that up.
I've already checked arguing semantics off your argument-style bingo card—no need to revisit it. It's just tedious at this point.
 

Alex99

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I've already checked arguing semantics off your argument-style bingo card—no need to revisit it. It's just tedious at this point.
I've checked not understanding basic football terms off yours so all good.
 

MackRobinson

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I've checked not understanding basic football terms off yours so all good.
Nice to know "key player" and "relegation battle" have concrete definitions that you can't even give. Ad hominem was also checked off your argument-style bingo card. You need to reach deeper into that argument fallacy bag.
 

Gene Loblaw

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I think he's done well and plays some really entertaining stuff. I believe (before yesterday) that his squad had scored the most goals in the premier league this season. So he's definitely not scared of the pressure and playing not to lose/keep his job. They press as high up the pitch as anyone and kind of remind me of Klopp's chaotic system but not quite.

I like the signings he's made too. No crazy "Statement Signings" like City did when they first became flush with cash. Where they tried to make of point of stealing top players from their rivals that maybe weren't the best signings like Adebyor and Nasri etc. All Newcastles signings have been under 23 at the time of signing and point towards a planned squad imo. Gordon, Hall, Isak. All look good value. And brining up Elliot Anderson instead of trying to make a big signing seems to be paying off as well.

I think he's doing quite well. Weaker managers could've wasted bunch of money and wilted under the pressure.
 

Tyrion

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One of our managers (perhaps Frank O'Farrell) from the 70s won his last 7 league games, and still was sacked.
I just checked and you're right but it was Dave Sexton in 81. He won his last 7 but was sacked for 4 years without a trophy and an 8th place finish. Shows how much football has changed. Now managers who look set to have a bad finish are immediately sacked
 

Luffy

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I just checked and you're right but it was Dave Sexton in 81. He won his last 7 but was sacked for 4 years without a trophy and an 8th place finish. Shows how much football has changed. Now managers who look set to have a bad finish are immediately sacked
Thanks for checking.
 

Teja

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I like him and the style of football Newcastle play. I don't think he'll seriously challenge a tactical nerd like Pep but really how many managers can?

He's good for top four.
 

AshRK

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Funny thing is the poster who created this thread will be the first to create a sack howe thread if he was our manager
 

lsd

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Funny thing is the poster who created this thread will be the first to create a sack howe thread if he was our manager

I still can't believe there were and probably are people who wanted Howe to manage United
 

Tyrion

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Howe has done a good job but I can see him getting the sack before the end of the season.
He's definitely done a good job. This place is awful at evaluating managers of other teams. Every other team is either managed by a clown who will definitely be sacked or a genius who we should get to replace our own manager, sometimes simultaneously.

I think all their money means they'll be able to get a very good manager, while Howe is just a good one.
 

FrantikChicken

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Howe has done a good job but I can see him getting the sack before the end of the season.
He’s doing a very good job.
Their squad has been hit by an insane amount of injuries and they’ve had to play the same 11 like 5 games in a row. He got them across the line vs PSG and ourselves but the team has since tired out. Having to play a 17yr old twice a week isn’t exactly easy.

I find it odd people are shitting on him considering he’s slapped Erik around 3 times in a row now without much difficulty either.
 

IrishRedDevil

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First manager ever to have to deal with injured players. Apparently.

The commentators are literally listing out the players and making all sorts of excuses.
 

L. Robert

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Reading the earlier comments on this page, NUFC definitely weren't "comfortably mid-table" before Howe. Rafa's season yes but dead last in expected points under Bruce when we finished "comfortably" mid-table and the football was a complete mess, more about luck than anything Bruce did.

I wouldn't blame Howe for these recent results, the already thin squad and the worst injury crisis I've ever witnessed means his hands are tied. We've had a poor season according to some yet we are fourth in expected points, only 4-5 points behind Man City who are at the top and nine points ahead of Man United. He possibly could have rotated more early in the season but there's not that many muscular injuries either. This is his first season playing in Europe, it's a learning experience for him too.

I would be absolutely shocked if we were to sack him this season or even the next, he's done an amazing job so far and everyone loves him. Saudi's have brought in smart people to run the club and I just can't see them calling for his head (lol) either anytime soon. And there's no reason to, there's some weird Mark Hughes narrative told by fans of other clubs when it doesn't make any sense in reality.
 

AltiUn

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Reading the earlier comments on this page, NUFC definitely weren't "comfortably mid-table" before Howe. Rafa's season yes but dead last in expected points under Bruce when we finished "comfortably" mid-table and the football was a complete mess, more about luck than anything Bruce did.

I wouldn't blame Howe for these recent results, the already thin squad and the worst injury crisis I've ever witnessed means his hands are tied. We've had a poor season according to some yet we are fourth in expected points, only 4-5 points behind Man City who are at the top and nine points ahead of Man United. He possibly could have rotated more early in the season but there's not that many muscular injuries either. This is his first season playing in Europe, it's a learning experience for him too.

I would be absolutely shocked if we were to sack him this season or even the next, he's done an amazing job so far and everyone loves him. Saudi's have brought in smart people to run the club and I just can't see them calling for his head (lol) either anytime soon. And there's no reason to, there's some weird Mark Hughes narrative told by fans of other clubs when it doesn't make any sense in reality.
In reality you're behind both clubs.
 

Champ

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He’s doing a very good job.
Their squad has been hit by an insane amount of injuries and they’ve had to play the same 11 like 5 games in a row. He got them across the line vs PSG and ourselves but the team has since tired out. Having to play a 17yr old twice a week isn’t exactly easy.

I find it odd people are shitting on him considering he’s slapped Erik around 3 times in a row now without much difficulty either.
They didn't have to play the same 11, they have a squad for a reason.
 

L. Robert

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They didn't have to play the same 11, they have a squad for a reason.
Aye, a squad that has been missing:

Anderson
Barnes
Botman
Burn
Longstaff
Murphy
Pope (now)
Targett
Tonali
Willock
Wilson

Lewis Hall has been the only player in the bench for the past 5 matches that you were expecting to get any minutes in PL this season and Howe doesn't seem to trust him yet.
 

Abhinav

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Aye, a squad that has been missing:

Anderson
Barnes
Botman
Burn
Longstaff
Murphy
Pope (now)
Targett
Tonali
Willock
Wilson

Lewis Hall has been the only player in the bench for the past 5 matches that you were expecting to get any minutes in PL this season and Howe doesn't seem to trust him yet.
I am in no mood to defend EtH as can be seen in other threads. However, I am bemused by all the excuses being made for Eddie Howe in the media when we went through a similar injury crisis earlier in the season and no one was giving us an inch:
1) Lisandro Martinez
2) Casemiro
3) Antony (personal issue)
4) Sancho (personal issue)
5) Malacia
6) Amad
7) Mainoo
8) Mount (of & on)
9) Shaw
Some more I might be missing.
Shows why Man United manager and players have it tougher than other clubs. That’s why doing well at Brighton is no guarantee of success at United.