Good manager, but...

[toonviking]

I think Howe is a good appointment, but its probably too late.

Hes best season in PL is around 1,21p per game. That wont be enough I'm affraid.

Dont think there is much more quality in this team than hes best side at AFCB.

On a positive note:
Hope he stays when we go down, he'll take us right back up!

PS! I'm not trying to wind you up, its honestly my opinion.

[Jammy89]

It's a fair point and we're all welcome to our opinions.

My personal view is that we'll pick up some results now, including ones we wouldn't expect. I also think there will be at least one team that in the next few weeks will go on a bad run and plummet.

I think we'll spend a decent wedge in Jan and will just about do enough to survive.

[Alberts__Lob]

I'm also concerned about Howe's defensive record at Bournemouth. They played good football but did leak a lot of goals.

If we can pick up enough wins before Jan 1st we should be ok though

[toonviking]

He has been studying defence lately, hes spent time with Simeone at Atl. Madrid.

If he deliver like at hes best at AFCB, we will end up at 37-38p. In theory it could be enough, but I think this season will be close.

He need to start winning right away.

[Alberts__Lob]

Well in the last 3 years or so we've beaten Man City, Man-U and Leicester all unexpectedly so there will be one or two surprise results coming i would have thought

[MagpieKit]

I get that he didn’t have the best defensive record but my theory is that this defence can’t get any worse but the attack can do a lot better. Hoping that’s enough to keep us a up. A ruthless attack would’ve turned any our our draws in to wins so far this season.

[MidsMagpie]

9 pts in the next 4 games is very doable specially now we have a decent manager in charge.

[Zippity]

The players have shown that they are capable of better performances than they have been producing and I think we'll see a big difference with a new manager.

Although, I'm still thinking about that Shelvey free kick.

just for that, he can fuck off...oh...for ever.

[Andy1981_2]

I think Howe is a good appointment, but its probably too late.

Hes best season in PL is around 1,21p per game. That wont be enough I'm affraid.

Dont think there is much more quality in this team than hes best side at AFCB.

On a positive note:
Hope he stays when we go down, he'll take us right back up!

PS! I'm not trying to wind you up, its honestly my opinion.

I know where you're coming from and, for what it's worth, I sort of agree... I think that IF Howe keeps us up, it'll be the best managerial performance we've seen since Pardew's 5th place finish, even if we just finish 17th. It's a massive ask. I know we have money and a transfer window to come, but that'll be a tough one - no PL club will want to do business with us since the top 6 have spat their dummies about us being able to compete with them, and most of the rest of the clubs in the league will be worried about helping out a relegation rival. That means recruiting from overseas, and that's not easy under the circumstances since it means attracting good players to come and battle relegation.

However, it's certainly not too late mathematically, and we saw under Bruce that this exact squad is capable of going on a great run of games once confidence is high and things click with ASM, Willock, and Wilson. Howe needs to figure out the way to do that, alongside shoring up a leaky defence. Again, that's not impossible - we had a good shape and were relatively solid under Rafa with the same group of players. I think he'll do it, but it'll go down to the wire. I think the fans will need to get behind the side during the tougher moments, the way it used to be prior to the toxicity that set in under Ashley, and that'll lift the players who've no doubt found it hard to play at SJP in recent years because of all the negativity around the club. It's a fresh start, and although I'm not expecting a huge improvement in results, I think we'll see enough to survive and then we can rebuild in the summer.

[PhoneymcRingRing]

I hear what you're saying I know what you mean, but lets look at the glass half full. We are 5 points from safety with 29 games to go, we have the recourses to out spend and strengthen more than others in the relegation area. I'd be disappointed if we went down I'd see it as a massive failure.

I think we'll be safe around 12th and push on from there.