Was it so much easier for Eddie Howe this season?

[hogesar]

One of the primary criticisms of Alex Neil, and one i'd agree with to an extent, is the loss of identity Norwich suffered during the season stemming from that Newcastle game. Eddie Howe, however, is consistently praised for sticking to a style and keeping them up with it.

 
But surely that was much easier for Eddie Howe to do than Alex Neil?
 
Eddie Howe had already had a couple seasons with his team, not half a season like Alex Neil. Instilling a style which players believed in and were good at takes time and Howe had that time. Alex Neil had an immediate requirement to take us from 10th in the Championship to Promotion to the premier league in half a season. Which of course, he accomplished emphatically.
 
On top of that, Bournemouth are / were / who cares either way, a smaller club. With a much smaller fanbase and therefore, more than likely, much less pressure. Bournemouth looked in danger for some time but there was nothing about any fans showing dissent, nothing really on social media etc criticising Howe. If anything, the media continued to praise, both locally and nationally.
 
When we lose a match, our own local media scrutinise every aspect of it and AN doesn't have the name of Howe so gets no backing in the national media. Coupled with increased fan pressure - the need to find an instant winning formula becomes more and more desperate.
 
I'm not excusing everything Alex Neil did or didn't do, but when I see the media crawling all over Eddie Howe it does irk me a bit. And that's not to say Howe is a bad manager because he's obviously not. But not only has he had more backing financially, he's also had all of the above in his favour.
 
I don't think it's fair to compare the two.

 

[eatonparkboy]

Bournemouth were bound to be the darlings of the media and pundits. Good luck to them. We would have loved the same attention.

Of course Howe was in a better position scrutiny wise as relegation was expected of them so 17th was all they needed. I think AN got quite a good reception from the media and it is natural that the home support, containing all manner of ages, opinions and desires would be harsh at times as we have been in the Prem before.

 

[Canaryboy]

Cruciate ligament injuries to Callum Wilson, Max Gradel and Tyrone Mings in the space of a month, the first 5 days after the transfer window closed, and I'd say that Eddie Howe has had an incredible season to be honest. 

I think that comparing us with Bournemouth is actually a perfectly acceptable comparison really, particularly transfer policy. They sign Callum Wilson (current age 25) in the summer before last when we sign Cameron Jerome (current age 29) and Grabban, they sign Benik Afobe (current age 23) in the past window, whilst we sign Steven Naismith (29). 

They sign just one loan player this season, preferring to invest in permanent signings, we loan Bamford, Wisdom, and Mbokani and our chances of signing any of them next season are probably close to zero. And Jarvis who we signed on a permanent of course. Crazy that we are going to own a 33 year old Matt Jarvis, considering he's barely Premier League quality at 29. Max Gradel will be 31 when Jarvis is 33. 

Which club is looking 5 years down the line? I'm not necessarily pinning that all on Alex Neil, although I'd certainly suggest that it implies a lack of joined up thinking at the club, and an abandonment of our previous transfer policy, when we were investing in young players like Redmond and Howson (you know, the ones we are now worried about losing!). 

Its OK people saying that £6m for BJ was a great price, but that's £6m we wouldn't have had if we didn't sign him when he was 24. We got 4/5 years out of him. We aren't getting 4/5 years out of Dorrans, nor £6m. 

You are saying that Alex Neil needs to be able to build his own team, and get promoted with that team,  but we've not looked like we are making much progress towards that, three transfer windows and 18 months down the line. 

Transfer policy is my concern. 

I'm worried about it personally, I want to know why Alex Neil thought it was sensible signing four 29 year old's on permanent deals, its the QPR circa-2012 model! Here are our players aged 29 or older......

• Ruddy (29)
• Whittaker (31)
• Martin (30)
• Bassong (29)
• Naismith (29)
• Jerome (29)
• Hoolahan (33)
• Jarvis (29/30)
• Dorrans (29)
• Mulumbu (29)
• Tettey (30)
• O'Neil (33)

What is our squad going to look like in 2 or 3 years time. Why, when clearly already facing the problem of an ageing squad, would we sign four 29 year olds. Its made even worse by the fact that none of the four new signings have really offered much at all this season and Gary O'Neil has made more of an impact than any of them.  

 

[Canaryboy]

Add Mbokani (30), and that is over 50% of our current Premier League squad. Or if we take away all loan players, its well over half of our permanently contracted players.

It actually makes me wonder what the hell is going on, we seem to have invested in the super long term by signing 17 year olds, but have completely neglected the years 2018 to 2023. 

Alex Neil did identify the fact that he has an ageing squad and needs a rebuild. I agree completely and would support him fully, if only he'd thought about this 6 months ago instead of spending £11m on Naismith and Jarvis and committing contractually to pay them both until they are the same age as Wes Hoolahan. Neither of them are fit to shine Hoolahan's boots.

So actually I think we are in more trouble then we may think, and have serious doubts about whether this club has any sort of plan. Did Alex Neil sign Matt Jarvis with the belief that he would be the manager here in the year 2019, or did he sign Matt Jarvis because he wanted Bamford for 6 months and doesn't care about 2019? 

 

[Fenway Frank]

You have to look at the squad as a whole, if you're going to highlight over 29s then you should really include the young players that will hopefully be forcing their way into the team. That will lower the age range. 

 

[GJP]

I don't know if it was easier for Smug Eddie but perhaps AN made it harder for himself by going too long not realising that what he was doing wasn't best for the team.

 

[GJP]

I would also add that you look at the way AN didn't use Redmond as often as he could but  then you look at Smug Eddie and he's taken Josh King from Blackburn and got a bit of a tune out of him in the Prem. I don't think you could see AN doing that at the moment.

 

[Dubai Mark]

Good subject and it gets you thinking. For me, as mentioned by Fenway Frank, you need to look at the squad in it's entirety, and when doing that you see we actually have plenty of younger talent. Also, these days, 29 is not old and could be considered as a player still in that prime time window. It's not the age that matters, its whether they are the type pf player that we need and if they will fit in to the bigger picture/vision of the Manager. As for Eddie Howe having it easier, sure he has, not only in terms of the money behind his club making it easier to dip in to the market, but also as he has for sometime been a bit of a media darling which will always take the pressure off. Also, if am am being totally honest, I see him as a better Manager than Alex Neil, as he proved with the way he managed the injury situation and how he secured safety relatively early avoiding the last few weeks dogfight........his only blemish is perhaps resigning Grabban, something I really didnt understand. 

 

[Bill and ben]

I wonder if the main problem was a crisis of confidence. It started at the top and went all the way down and unfortunately the characters that could pull us up were all gone, at least until the Swiss turned up.

howes trick is to have absolute belief in what he does and that is equally infectious.  He didn't waver and nor did his players. 

Hopefully we'll build a club style again, one that everyone buys into.

 

[GJP]

you need to look at the squad in it's entirety, and when doing that you see we actually have plenty of younger talent. 

Such as?

 

[Canaryboy]

Such as?

I was going to say that actually. 

Can only really see one of the Murphy's (probably Josh) and Harry Toffolo breaking into the first team picture this season.

Josh Murphy just won POTS at a Championship side (a weak one), and Toffolo will do as an understudy to Olsson. 

Possibly see a bit of Maddison? 

Could really do with having a talented striker coming through. Newcastle have got Adam Armstrong, 19 years old and just scored 20 goals for Coventry, we could really have done with having him! 

 

[GJP]

Yeah maybe the Murphs. But if Olsson got injured for any length of time I would be worried about having Toffolo in the team. From what I saw of him on loan he's not sharp enough defensively.

 

[Bill and ben]

Is 29/30 too old for the championship? I am not sure we have a demographic crisis, I say it's a blend of youth and experience.

Sure if we sign no one over the next two seasons and the young prospects don't come good we will have a problem, but not next season.

the only thing I would say is that for the most part the players have little value, but that might be a good thing, for a supporter at least, if no one wants them they will have to stay...

 

[Canaryboy]

Is 29/30 too old for the championship? I am not sure we have a demographic crisis

I'm not saying that we have a crisis right this minute, I'm saying that one is looming / catching up on us fast, and that I'd have liked us to have started to address that earlier.

On a positive note, Ivo Pinto much improved towards the end, I think he's a good replacement for Whittaker and will look class in the Championship. I'd put a few quid on him becoming a fans favourite. 

 

[dj161]

I'd agree with that about Pinto, looked really promising the last few games of the season, and if he can reproduce that kind of form in the championship he'll be an outstanding player for us at that level, and hopefully back in the prem too

 

[eatonparkboy]

I don't think age plays as big a part in a players future as much as it used to. These guys ought to be able to carry on into mid thirties, playing football fifty games a season. They may not have enough energy for the Prem but nowadays the three other divisions are as much about skill and tactics as they are running up and down the pitch. Yesterday I watched Jordan Henderson taking an energy gel just before he ran onto the pitch for 24 minutes of football so everything is monitored to get the best out of a modern day player.

Our squad is just slightly over its peak in terms of athletic performance but still good enough for the Championship, ability notwithstanding. And I did think that at times we looked laboured fitness wise last season. We can't always match teams skillwise but ought to be able to be as fit and energetic as any world class outfit.

 

[Bill and ben]

I think that  at around 30 you start trading speed for strength. So age can be an asset, you just need young us to do the running. injury healing slows but if you have a strong squad it's not such an issue. And that's before the experience kicks in.