Do you think

[Zippity]

Eddie Howe is capable of winning the League with us?

I absolutely do.

Now, note, I'm not saying he will. But, when you look at how well we play with our full squad available and some of the results he's got despite the worst injury crisis I can ever remember, given even better options after another couple of windows, I think he's got the coaching skills, the tactical nouse and the style of play to at least provide a genuine challenge.

He's the most important asset the club has after the fans, imo.

Thoughts?

[GBruno]

I desperately want to win the league with this guy, but I am not yet convinced. I am just not sure he’s elite level yet. The potential is there though.

[Guybrush]

I’d love to win the league with Howe in charge…

Can he do it? Maybe, if owners and fans are patient enough.

You’re right in everything you say there Zip… he has all those qualities. There is just one thing I don’t see from him, and it’s what we hate to see in other managers.

It’s great to see us go out to win every game, not just settle. But what I don’t see is that fire when we lose. Klopp, Pep, Fergie, Mourinho, Wenger as much as they come across as sore losers, it’s because they are, they hate to lose.

Maybe it’s the mentality of where we are as a club right now, we’re not expected to win every game so not an issue when we don’t…

But maybe, just maybe that’s what we need… expectation, and with that the disappointment of losing.

Maybe Eddie has it, he just keeps it away from the cameras… maybe that’s JTs job, I dunno… maybe we’ll see it in the future.

Bit I suspect if we do see it in the future, it’s because we’ve won something.

[toptoon]

Definitely , yes.
It’s just a question of having a squad with enough players to play his system for a full season - that’s it!

[Xamand]

I would love to see Eddie win it with us. And in response to the above, I actually think that Eddie does hate to lose, it's just that he reacts to it differently. With the above managers, losing makes them angry and upset, wanting to blame anything around them (a favourite being the ref or the other team cheating somehow). Eddie's mentality seems to be different, when we lose I think he looks at it as a personal failing that he need to work harder to put right. Hence him being first in, last out of the training ground, hence him travelling around seeing how other teams go about it when he was between jobs, both abroad as well as in other sports. I get the impression he hasn't got the time to get angry when we lose as he is already thinking of ways to improve matters for the next game.

[Ragatino]

Put it this way.

If we'd managed the 2 games we drew recently and didn't get screwed over against Liverpool again this season we'd have +7 points.

That's level top with Arsenal. Both the Gunners & Us have +17 GD however we beat them some H2H we would be top of the league with our current injury crisis with 11 first teamers unavailable.

So the conversation should be "When will we win the league with Howe as manager, not IF'.

Just one mans opinion but if we had Barnes, Willock, Wilson, Isak, Murphy & Botman fit for all 13 games this season on form, we'd be top with a couple of points gap.

Adding 1 or 2 quality in Jan secures top 4 for next season as the injured masses return.

Adding again 3 or 4 in the Summer + Tonali back and clear from his ban means we will be frightening the establishment next season with a very real place in the conversation for the title.

4 seasons after the misery ended. That is some achievement!

[HughieG]

Think Guybrush makes a decent point, how(e)ever I also had prejudices about him when he first arrived - a bit boring, a bit too polite.

But really he's a bit like Rafa, very analytical and tries to be objective at all times, which you can argue is a very strong quality to have when things are going against the team. Plus he has Jason Tindall by his side and he seems to be the one bringing the fire to the party.

A great partnership, a bit like Clough and Taylor.

[ex_pat_magpie]

I think he has everything going for him and each and every season we are going to be in the mix. Teams like Arse-anal and Liverpool will come and go with odd seasons of bad patches depending on who is present manager and Citeh won't stay at the top every season.

With another 3/4 transfer windows, if the unit continues to steadily improve as it has done past two seasons then the squad should be as strong as it can be, and with the youngsters, like Miley and Anderson as well as others out on loan, emerging with built in confidence and maturity in their game we can only get stronger each season.

Eventually we ought to take over from where Citeh is now but at the same time being a more permanent and established structure

[Jammy89]

I think he can.

I think he's showing how good he can be and like the club will continue to grow with us because he's that type of manager, keeps working and learning.

[ex_pat_magpie]

I think he can.

I think he's showing how good he can be and like the club will continue to grow with us because he's that type of manager, keeps working and learning.

I can't see him wanting to go on to manage the National team as CabbageHeed has prophesied.