EH: HIS BIGGEST MISTAKE

“AFC Bournemouth, we score when we want.” There’s a song you don’t hear nowadays.

56 PL goals scored last season, 55 in 2016/17 yet only 29 from 29 this season.

Surprisingly goals conceded 47 this season is on target to equal 2017/18 best total of 61.

So why have the goals dried up?

For me the main reason is that EH has not recognised that Callum has built his reputation based on working in a strike partnership. Leon Clarke at Coventry, Kermogant, then King/Murray. He’s not a hold-it-up-and-lay-it-off striker. He runs the channels and will do it all day for you, he never gives up.

Add to that the fact that in King we have a genuine PL class striker. Big, strong, quick, great touches, he’s the perfect partner for Callum.

Too often the midfielders get the ball, look up and the only option in front of them is Callum who’s already started to run a channel. The pass has to be so precise that it rarely finds the man.

Play King more centrally, back to goal, play it to feet, hold it up and then the midfield can advance and the shape is instantly much better. Lay off to Callum or attacking full backs and you’re back to the old days of the free flowing Bournemouth style football.

King is not a wide player. That’s EH’s biggest mistake and it could well define the season.

I’ll bet anyone that when he moves on in the summer, he’ll play in a central striking partnership and make a real impact.

Burnley away: King cutting in from the left wing and floating a cross for little Harry Wilson at the far post. All wrong.

Take Burnley as an example. Wood and Rodriguez are not fit to lace King and Callum’s boots yet as a partnership they are an effective strike unit who cause problems for central defenders. Too often central defenders get an easy ride against an isolated Callum Wilson.

With King injured, Howe now MUST play Surridge and Callum as a central strike partnership for the Palace game.



Rant over.
 
From what I have been told eh is a very stubborn bloke hence playing solanke, playing out from the back when we are already under pressure etc etc
 
Lol have I woken up into a parallel universe?????

If Neil comes on here banging on about the virtues of 442 I'm going back to bed!
 
“AFC Bournemouth, we score when we want.” There’s a song you don’t hear nowadays.

56 PL goals scored last season, 55 in 2016/17 yet only 29 from 29 this season.

Surprisingly goals conceded 47 this season is on target to equal 2017/18 best total of 61.

So why have the goals dried up?

For me the main reason is that EH has not recognised that Callum has built his reputation based on working in a strike partnership. Leon Clarke at Coventry, Kermogant, then King/Murray. He’s not a hold-it-up-and-lay-it-off striker. He runs the channels and will do it all day for you, he never gives up.

Add to that the fact that in King we have a genuine PL class striker. Big, strong, quick, great touches, he’s the perfect partner for Callum.

Too often the midfielders get the ball, look up and the only option in front of them is Callum who’s already started to run a channel. The pass has to be so precise that it rarely finds the man.

Play King more centrally, back to goal, play it to feet, hold it up and then the midfield can advance and the shape is instantly much better. Lay off to Callum or attacking full backs and you’re back to the old days of the free flowing Bournemouth style football.

King is not a wide player. That’s EH’s biggest mistake and it could well define the season.

I’ll bet anyone that when he moves on in the summer, he’ll play in a central striking partnership and make a real impact.

Burnley away: King cutting in from the left wing and floating a cross for little Harry Wilson at the far post. All wrong.

Take Burnley as an example. Wood and Rodriguez are not fit to lace King and Callum’s boots yet as a partnership they are an effective strike unit who cause problems for central defenders. Too often central defenders get an easy ride against an isolated Callum Wilson.

With King injured, Howe now MUST play Surridge and Callum as a central strike partnership for the Palace game.



Rant over.

It's all about balance. If you want Wilson at his best, yes he needs a number 10 behind him and the best to do that is Joshua King when available.

But to play that you need to go with 4-2-3-1 and lose the extra central midfielder which is what other people have called for on a more regular basis and said we haven't played enough.
 
Lol have I woken up into a parallel universe?????

If Neil comes on here banging on about the virtues of 442 I'm going back to bed!
You continue to misunderstand my position on this so i would get the hot water bottle ready... hope you have got a remote for that black and white tv too as it’s a pain to keep getting up.

4-3-3 is the formation a modern team should use. Until we learn how to play it properly (which may require coaches that have played or coached it) then it will always become an insipid 4-5-1 when we play it and the goals will dry up. The formation we understand and probably gets us our best chance is 4-4-2. It won’t get the best out of our best footballers hence why a lot of the new signings spend a long time looking lost but if we are playing the championship lot as we like to do in a crisis then you might as well play the formation they understand.
 
The OP doesn’t make sense because most of the games we have failed to score in were when we were passing from side to side in a 4-4-2. It’s only since we’ve changed formations we been able to play through the lines and create chances.

Very few strikers play in a genuine strike partnership these days. If you can’t play “on your own” then you aren’t good enough to play in the Championship let alone the PL.

Also think King is much better out wide. He is quick and wants space in front of him not surrounded by packed defences with his back to goal. I know every longs for nostalgia at the moment but playing 1988 football isn’t the solution.
 
The OP doesn’t make sense because most of the games we have failed to score in were when we were passing from side to side in a 4-4-2. It’s only since we’ve changed formations we been able to play through the lines and create chances.

Very few strikers play in a genuine strike partnership these days. If you can’t play “on your own” then you aren’t good enough to play in the Championship let alone the PL.

Also think King is much better out wide. He is quick and wants space in front of him not surrounded by packed defences with his back to goal. I know every longs for nostalgia at the moment but playing 1988 football isn’t the solution.
I agree that Josh is better off at wide but I don't I don't get the 1988 reference......433 isn't anymore modern than 442.
 
You continue to misunderstand my position on this so i would get the hot water bottle ready... hope you have got a remote for that black and white tv too as it’s a pain to keep getting up.

4-3-3 is the formation a modern team should use. Until we learn how to play it properly (which may require coaches that have played or coached it) then it will always become an insipid 4-5-1 when we play it and the goals will dry up. The formation we understand and probably gets us our best chance is 4-4-2. It won’t get the best out of our best footballers hence why a lot of the new signings spend a long time looking lost but if we are playing the championship lot as we like to do in a crisis then you might as well play the formation they understand.
Only about 5 teams in world football play your utopian version on 433 Neil.....for anyone else its more often than not 451....... maybe you're one of the few coaches that truly understands it....:wack:
 
We can dwell too much on formations.
Its just the 'basis' of what goes on across the pitch and can't possibly work to any great degree of efficiency ....simply because its confronted by another formation opposite with maybe better players in most positions.
So its back to ' how good' players are....as it would have been in 1899 , 1920, 1950 or 1980 !..or how they gel together as a team under pressures.

Our problem is ' giving the ball away cheaply!
 
I know Surridge is a bit of a golden boy at the moment but who else is he ahead of in the pecking order?

If Callum Wilson, Joshua King, Ryan Fraser, Junior Stanislas, Danjuma and Brooks are all fit and available Solanke isn’t playing.
It's a bit like the love in some have with Mousset, you would never have picked him last season above, Wilson, King, Fraser and Brooks
 
It’s natural to make Solanke the scapegoat and it’s easy to see why as his record is appalling. But let’s assume for one moment he isn’t the worst player in the history of football and look at why he is so underwhelming.

What do Joshua King (initially), Glenn Murray, Lewis Grabban (2nd spell), Benik Afobe, Lys Mousset and Solanke all have in common? They were all signed to play this no. 10 role which has never been their natural position. Some have been more prolific than others but every single one of them has been slated for their performances. In fact I’d argue that until the past 3 months, Solanke has actually played better in this role than the other names.

So do you think there is even the slight possibility that some of his woes are tactical? The only player who has genuinely mastered Eddie’s interpretation of a no.10 was Yann. The difference being he had a completely different skillset, was at a lower standard of football and we had so many other weapons at our disposal in his time.

Please don’t misrepresent my post to think I’m saying Solanke should be starting, that his performances have been acceptable or that he’s been in anyway a good signing. Categorically I am not. I’m just putting forward an argument as to why he has disappointed given the recurring theme of everyone who has played his role for us.
 
If EH not recognising King is not a wide player, is EH's biggest mistake. Sorry,
that's just one of his many smaller mistakes. His biggest is not being able to recognise that he has run out of ideas and should have resigned at the beginning of January to allow Pulis to take over, and save the Club. It is something EH will look back on in years to come and regret it.
 
King is not a natural number 10. He is at his best with open space to attack, so either the main striker or out wide. Brooks is the one with the skill set to play in very tight situation as a number 10. However if we play with a number 10 we get outnumbered in central midfield. We have looked better of late playing 3 in central midfield. 433 and 451 is basically the same formation. When you have the ball it’s 433 when you defend its 451.
 
If EH not recognising King is not a wide player, is EH's biggest mistake. Sorry,
that's just one of his many smaller mistakes. His biggest is not being able to recognise that he has run out of ideas and should have resigned at the beginning of January to allow Pulis to take over, and save the Club. It is something EH will look back on in years to come and regret it.

Not an expert fisherman, but when you fail to catch any bites it’s probably a good idea to change your bait.
 

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