Eddie Howe and another manager

can't put in a link for some reason but good interview with Eddie Howe in Guardian's sport section today. Great and reassuring quotation from SH right at the end - and yes I'm being ironic. Turns out our players just aren't intelligent enough for the system.

Napier's Knee said:

Great and reassuring quotation from SH right at the end - and yes I'm being ironic. Turns out our players just aren't intelligent enough for the system.

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Err, seriously? Sami said that? How "paraphrased" is your summary? If the answer is "very little" or "not at all", then that's extremely poor of him.

EDIT: Turns out that it was, at best, "very" paraphrased

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/oct/31/eddie-howe-bournemouth-rise-to-prominence

Unfortunately life is not quite so convivial for Hyypia, with this autumn’s balmy seaside weather so far failing to exert a similarly restorative effect on Brighton. “I think my situation is the same as Mauricio Pochettino’s at Spurs,” said the Finn, whose side lost 2-0 at Tottenham in the Capital One Cup.
“I’m new here. I’ve brought something different and, although we’re working hard, it’s not always possible for the players to understand everything in a short period of time. I’m very happy that the chairman and people at the club appreciate what we’re trying to do and are behind me, but it’s not a nice time. The supporters have been quite patient but it’s not a good start to the season.”

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Ye olde 'we tried to do to much in a short space of time' excuse. I'm not buying it.

“I’m new here. I’ve brought something different and, although we’re working hard, it’s not always possible for the players to understand everything in a short period of time. I’m very happy that the chairman and people at the club appreciate what we’re trying to do and are behind me, but it’s not a nice time. The supporters have been quite patient but it’s not a good start to the season.”

Turns out Napier's Knee is misquoting, assuming this is what he is referring to.

Husty said:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/oct/31/eddie-howe-bournemouth-rise-to-prominence

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Just beat me to it`

He's waffling and fooling very few of us. You adjust your tactics to suit the players at your disposal. Just like McGhee and Oscar did. When you look at how much space the opposition have everytime they break from one of our rare forays into their penalty area, it is obvious that the system is seriously flawed. Certainly with the players we have.

Ah yes the players don't understand, I see. Maybe he only knows one system, I don't know, but it isn't working right now.

It baffles me. Poyet built a squad capable of playing one way and we got decent results. Oscar continued the same way of play more or less and we got reasonable success ( yes I know it was boring ! ). So when Oscar left, rather than employ a manager that plays the same way, we got rid of most of the squad and bring in a manager with a new system. How on earth is that sensible ? Surely a five year plan doesn't mean starting from scratch again in year four ?

Eddie Howe has the letter “R” tattooed on a wrist. It is in memory of his first dog, Rodney, and reinforces the impression the latest blue-eyed boy of British coaching is a very modern manager.

Big on emotional intelligence and coherent football philosophy, the manager presiding over Bournemouth’s unexpected rise to prominence seems well on the way to proving homegrown coaches can be every bit as three‑dimensional as many of their overseas peers. Fresh from last weekend’s 8-0 demolition of Birmingham in the Championship and Tuesday’s 2-1 Capital One Cup win against Premier League West Bromwich Albion, Howe’s players are looking forward to Brighton’s visit on Saturday.

With the Cherries fourth in the Championship and Sami Hyypia’s Brighton fourth-bottom, the match is being televised live. At 41 Hyypia is four years Howe’s senior but compared with his south-coast peer the former Liverpool centre-half and Bayer Leverkusen coach remains a relative managerial novice.

Howe was first placed in charge at Dean Court at the age of 31. So fresh-faced he could have passed for 10 years younger, the club’s cherubic former defender seemed ridiculously youthful to be in charge of a club not only fighting for their League Two future but handicapped by a 17-point deduction.


How wrong can you be. After preserving Bournemouth’s precious league status, Howe led them into League One before departing for what was, with hindsight, an ill-advised 18 months at Burnley. Reinstalled at Dean Court, life swiftly looked up and, last spring, he secured the club’s first return to the Championship in 25 years.

It might have been very different had his playing career not been interrupted by chronic knee problems. At 29, shortly before a specialist told him he would have to hang up his boots, Bournemouth’s then manager, Kevin Bond, opened a door to a whole new world for Howe when he invited him to become player-coach. New friends included Brendan Rodgers, who swiftly came to admire the younger man’s slick-passing, attack-minded vision.

The pair, something of a mutual appreciation society, remain in touch. “It’s coaches like Eddie Howe who are taking the game forward in this country,” said Liverpool’s manager recently. “It’s because they have a philosophy and really believe in it.”

It helps that, partly thanks to his character and partly down to his cautionary experience at Burnley, Howe seems unlikely to be consumed by burning ambition.

Life at Turf Moor, where some first-team players were older than him, proved tough, with respect an issue. When his mother died unexpectedly Howe suddenly felt a long way from his Dorset roots. Although his wife had recently given birth, the demands of managing Burnley monopolised Howe’s time and attention to such an extent he feared he was short-changing both his immediate and extended family.

Returning to Bournemouth felt like coming home and there is no yearning to depart. “At this moment I have no desire to manage a Premier League club,” Howe said recently. “I think the journey I’ve been on has made me very appreciative of happiness off the pitch and I’m very happy here and very happy in my life away from football.

“And that has sort of led me not to lose my ambition – not at all because I’m very ambitious for this club – but to be very appreciative of the people here and the relationships I have here.”

Much as Howe knows glory can come at a cost, he still likes players with points to prove and has built a young, talented and hungry squad featuring a number of individuals stung by supposed “failure” with bigger teams.

Seizing fresh chances, Dan Gosling (formerly Newcastle and Everton), Adam Smith (Tottenham) and Junior Stanislas, once a West Ham winger, are thriving under his tutelage at a club bolstered by £10m worth of investment from its owner, Maxim Demin, since 2011. The reclusive Russian, a Swiss domiciled petro-chemicals trader, rarely ventures to Dean Court but remains in regular, highly-amicable contact with Howe.

Unfortunately life is not quite so convivial for Hyypia, with this autumn’s balmy seaside weather so far failing to exert a similarly restorative effect on Brighton. “I think my situation is the same as Mauricio Pochettino’s at Spurs,” said the Finn, whose side lost 2-0 at Tottenham in the Capital One Cup.

“I’m new here. I’ve brought something different and, although we’re working hard, it’s not always possible for the players to understand everything in a short period of time. I’m very happy that the chairman and people at the club appreciate what we’re trying to do and are behind me, but it’s not a nice time. The supporters have been quite patient but it’s not a good start to the season.”

Westdene Seagull said:

It baffles me. Poyet built a squad capable of playing one way and we got decent results. Oscar continued the same way of play more or less and we got reasonable success ( yes I know it was boring ! ). So when Oscar left, rather than employ a manager that plays the same way, we got rid of most of the squad and bring in a manager with a new system. How on earth is that sensible ? Surely a five year plan doesn't mean starting from scratch again in year four ?

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I was under the impression from an interview somewhere in the midst of time the club said they wished to model the club along the lines of Swansea and wanted continuity with the style of play and wanted to be known as a good footballing side with a distinctive style...

I could be wrong though.

Shows what an idiot he is then persisting with tactics that are not suitable for the players he has got

Rather than admit the tactics will only work with players who have the ability to make it work he is too stubborn to adapt it to a system to suit the players skill level. Its no good believing we can score on the counter attack when the strikers ain't up to it and we inevitably lose possession and the players have to scramble back all out of position.

Husty said:

Ye olde 'we tried to do to much in a short space of time' excuse. I'm not buying it.

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I wonder if anyone on NSC thought for one minute you were 'buying' anything the club was selling.

Icy Gull said:

He's waffling and fooling very few of us. You adjust your tactics to suit the players at your disposal. Just like McGhee and Oscar did. When you look at how much space the opposition have everytime they break from one of our rare forays into their penalty area, it is obvious that the system is seriously flawed. Certainly with the players we have.

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Square pegs, round holes. How long is it going to take to make the peg round?

Stat Brother said:

I wonder if anyone on NSC thought for one minute you were 'buying' anything the club was selling.

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I bought a ticket to Huddersfield v Brighton the other week, but that's about it.

Tactics? What tactics - I read the article and just felt his comments at the end oozed negativity - I just hope we don't have any Grauniad readers amongst the Squad - reading that will certainly reduce morale to an all time low!.
Sami's words are those of a dead Man walking - I feel that even if we grind out a result today, he wont be around after the International Break

Napier's Knee said:

can't put in a link for some reason but good interview with Eddie Howe in Guardian's sport section today. Great and reassuring quotation from SH right at the end - and yes I'm being ironic. Turns out our players just aren't intelligent enough for the system.

Click to expand...

Just listened to Edie Howe on Sky Sports tonight - (Jamie Redknapp feature re Bournemouth v Liverpool)

Eddie Howe articulate, passionate, obviously has the respect of players, great style of play, will to win, and what i like is that he talks in a clear and concise no nonense manner, and no talking around the houses. I for one would like a manager like this especially when providing after match feedback if he was our manager. I for one have been fed up with the post match interviews from some of our managers over the years - at least this man would be honest and frank with his feelings.

Pulis also good to listen to tonight at Bmuff game....

""Brendan Rodgers wants his side to be a passing team that will create a lot of opportunities. But you have to be solid all over the pitch. They are fantastic going forward, or were last season, but are poor defensively. You've got to improve where you're weak. If you're going to win leagues and trophies you have to be tight at the back. And Liverpool have not improved as well as they could have."