Newcastle ‘considering’ Eddie Howe sack? Man Utd star under Mikel Arteta ‘would be a different story’

The Mailbox reckons Newcastle United are ‘considering’ replacements for Eddie Howe, while Marcus Rashford would flourish at Arsenal. Plus, Erik ten Hag vs Mikel Arteta, Jurgen Klopp advice and more…

Get your views in to theeditor@football365.com…

Erik ten Hag vs Mikel Arteta
It’s funny isn’t it, Man U fans lambast their team and Erik ten Hag, but as soon as other fans join in the pile on they turn on them and defend anything Man Yoo.  ‘We can hate our team but you can’t’  I see endless amounts of ten Hag v Arteta comparisons.  From an Arsenal viewpoint I thought ten Hag’s appointment was the first sensible thing Man U had done for a long time, he seemed to be making the right moves, attempting to change the culture etc but it has fallen apart a bit since the early months.  People will rightly point to periods early in Arteta’s tenure when his results could have easily seen him sacked by a more trigger happy board but if you dug a bit deeper you could see there was more there that was being built and there was some mitigation for the poor results adn the time he was given was justified.

No manager is without mistake in the transfer market, but other than the results on the pitch this is the area they are most harshly scrutinised.  The facts are that any of Arteta’s transfers that haven’t worked out have been low cost and low risk.  Compared to Ten Hag who has had some very expensive flops – now in time they may come good but its a really poor look for him right now.  ten Hag has had 2 summer windows and 1 winter window, has spent £400m in that time.  His successes in that transfer list were short term ‘win now’ players like Casemiro and Varane, who already look ill thought out for long term progress.

Many other players have been a disaster, Anthony at £80-90m and a player he used to manage! It reflects so badly on ten Hag that one.  Whilst ten Hag supporters will point to Arteta needing 2.5 seasons before he got his team properly ticking with HIS players he had a lot less money to work in that time with so it was always going to take longer.  Arteta came in just before a January window, signed 2 loan players as stop gaps. In the summer it was Partey, Gabriel (80m spent), the summer after was Odegaard, White, Ramsdale, Tomiyasu (£150m spent), then Saliba back in the fold (managed perfectly BTW), Jesus, Zinchenko and Trossard, Kiwior, Jorginho in the winter (£170m spent) – it was at this point that Arteta spent the same as ten Hag has already spent and the squad was well set with mostly players U25, many english and prem ready players, and all fitting in to a clear style of play. Ten Hag has had the money and has not spent it wisely.

He didn’t have to spend so much on individual players when that money could have been distributed more evenly around the squad. Some transfers are so obvious you don’t need hindsight. Maddison was there for £15m less than Mount, maybe that saved money could have then been invested in someone better than Johnny Evans for out of retirement CB cover.  This season ten Hag decided he’d play Casemiro as a lone 6 with Mount and Bruno has 8’s ahead of him, that was shelved immediately and Amrabat bought in on loan and McTominey thrust back in the side – this is why people say there is no direction, no clear plan.  Its bouncing from high press to low block, from possession to counter attacking – what is Man U’s style of play after 18 months of ten Hag?

Next we come to the improvement of players, Arteta has now developed a niche for improving wingers, he did it at City and he’s done it with Saka and Martinelli who were both only 18 when Arteta became manager,  Look at how he managed Saliba, now one of the best young CB in europe. No one questions Ben White’s price tag, Odegaard has gone from lost Madrid reject to a top 3 play maker in the league, hell even look what has happened to Havertz these past few months.  One eyed Man U fans may point to marginal improvement in some of their players under ten Hag but the expectation should be much greater than what he’s achieved, Rashford under Arteta would be a different story.

Next it is about seeing visible improvements on the pitch irrespective of the result, how are we going to play, what players fit in to that etc.  Arteta set out his non negotiables from the outset and Arsenal are now one of the best teams in europe in their off the ball structure and organised press.  Look at the comments from De Zerbi and PSV manager Peter Bosz for evidence of this.  The strategy was there to see early even if the players couldn’t do it.  Klopp was the same, the principles were set and it came to light when better players were plugged in.

Finally, culture.  Some will say ten Hag is trying to do this, but if he is I’m not sure its working because of the shear amount of stuff that’s going wrong.  Board room, manager, coaches, players and fans all in the same direction – incredibly hard to achieve.  Klopp did it at Liverpool and it is a very special force for the club.  ten Hag is no closer to uniting any of these aspects at Man U.  And experience, ten Hag has managed over 300 games more than Arteta in his career. When ten Hag first starting managing clubs Arteta hadn’t even moved to Arsenal as a player yet!  There should be greater expectation on a manager with the record ten Hag had compared to the zero experience Arteta had.

I think the most damning thing I can say and many rival fans will say is we hope ten Hag doesn’t get sacked.  It was the same when Mourinho was smashing things up from the inside, and Ole’s brand of management.  When Man U sack these guys there is a chance they might actually get things right next time – so I’m more than happy for ten Hag to keep that nice balance of never quite losing enough games to get sacked but never showing anything that gives you confidence he can turn the ship around.
Rich, AFC

The difficulty of the EPL
So, how many people expected that from high flying Villa v no hopers Sheffield United? It’s in there with ‘Spursy’ and ‘Bottlers’ Arsenal is it not? No, it’s called the EPL and we don’t want a European Super League.

By the way, people who claimed that my comment about Arsenal not being ‘oil rich’ but having a Stadium named the Emirates is embarrassing need to realise it’s a fifteen year sponsorship deal with Emirates Airlines. We paid for our ground through various investment deals and selling our old ground and driftwood to get us back on track. The Spuds had Government loans!

Anyway, I wish Villa and Emery the best if they don’t outdo us!
Chris, Croydon

Eddie Howe…
Its funny to watch Newcastle fans get their knickers all in a twist over fairly innocuous comments on Howe’s job security. A few things for you lot to think about.

Firstly, your club is now part of the constant media cycle. All clubs get some media attention but the further you get toward the top and the longer you stay there the more intense this gets. You have to start getting used to the fact that no matter how good or bad your team’s form there will always be some positive and negative articles written about you on a daily basis. A by product of this is constant speculation over the managers job, even when things are going well. If you hit a run of bad form there will be some ex-pro or journalist ‘calling for their sack’ or whatever and this will be re-reported by every man and his dog.

Secondly, your mad if you think your owners aren’t considering replacing Howe with another manager. As is the case with pretty much every club the owners are going to be ruthless. The manager is the person most responsible over the short term for the club’s fortunes, and when those fortunes run into the hundreds of millions of pounds then their job is constantly in review, always on a knife edge. Just because you like a manger, just because they are doing a decent job and ‘get it’, doesn’t mean they won’t get dropped the instant the owners head turns. Every club does it but considering your owners neighbours look at City. Hughes 2 wins in 11 games, sacked. Mancini finished second to United, sacked. Ooh Pep is available, Pellegrini sacked. The only managers which survive in the long run are those that deliver continual success. Even Klopp after what he has achieved at Liverpool spent a good portion of last season under speculation of the sack.

Lastly, Eddie is doing a good job and he has achieved more in a short time than even the added investment can account for, however he will be sacked. It may not happen for a little while but don’t kid yourselves, at some point the owners will want to move the club onto the next level and Eddie will be let go. Some significant manager will become available, contact will be made discretely, and if they are interested that will be that.

So what I’m really saying is get used to it and grow a thicker skin because its only going to get worse.
Dave, Manchester

Eddie Howe should not be sacked. He has brought Newcastle to the top 10 in the league we have had worse. Other teams are injuring our players on purpose because Newcastle are a threat which is why we have so many injured players. Newcastle had to stick to players who were match fit. They had to play in Europe and the league cup plus the league matches. Our players are worn out and tired but they are all match fit which is why they are not playing well it’s not Eddie Howe’s fault he is training them nearly every day. I think that the referees need to be checked and watched every time it is them that are not watching what is going on. So think on as to what I have said Eddie Howe is a great Manager and it would be a shame if Newcastle sack him. We have only got to look forward to winning more matches and getting us to the Top.

Yours,
Neil Grant

Are we supposed to fall for this?
On the desperate A22 marketing Glitz. Are they calling it the ‘Blue League ‘ because the teams in there will be FeeLiNg SaD about not being in the ‘Gold League’?

Are we supposed to fall for this graphene thin, gaudy, hocus-pocus?

Imagining some kid proudly saying:
” We’re in the Star League now! “, because of the baboon droppings that fall out of some shiny suited PR exec actually makes me feel physically sick.

Happy Xmas everyone.
Hartley MCFC Somerset

Jurgen advice 
Dear Jurgen.

We will be there in fine voices tomorrow doing our best to sing our hearts out, as we mostly do.

Could we ask though, if the players you put out on the pitch tomorrow are planning to play like they did against United last week with low every and zero creativity, could you please give their shirts to someone else?

Thank you
Paul (Kop, row 6)

Mark MCFC
One of the best emails I’ve ever read.

Thank you.
JK

Mark’s Letter

Amazing letter from Mark and fully support the points and spirit. Powerful.
Brian, Dublin, LFC, YNWA

Thank you Mark for sharing your mail, that must not have been easy, and please forgive yourself for any role in what had transpired. As you rightly put it, gambling advertisements are now everywhere, and like many folks, it can eventually find its way to people one way or another.

I’ve got somewhat of an additive personality, and as such I have to guard myself against known addictive things. I love placing the odd accumulator, but due to being rather bad at it and relatively poor financially when I began, I never allowed myself to get overly consumed by it – thank the heavens for that too.

That’s not to say many I know have not. Growing up in Ireland, I saw the blight Paddy Power and others put on the society. You’d see unemployed people sitting at bars running in and out over to the bookies to place bets issuing all they had. I’d have my mates doing the same each mid week and weekend. Their weekend was based off of what they could win gambling.

This only grew with the introduction of technology and things such as cash outs, ease of access. Push notifications would put gambling even more front of mind and made it harder to avoid it. I’d have a friend celebrate a day he won 10 grand but also conveniently leave out he had gambled every penny of the winnings away.

What I really didn’t like about it was what it did to people and to communities and even the country as a whole. Large percentages of peoples incomes would go towards the habit – less so if you were wealthy but certainly still destructive. Large amounts of local and national income would be sucked out and into a small handful of companies. I’d assumed the tax revenues were what the local governments wanted – but that also brought a follow up question: at what cost?

Once in America, I noticed they had more strict rules about gambling, where it can take place and online gambling. This has all changed since 2018 and mobile and sport betting are at peak levels. What people once travelled to Vegas for, they now have in their hand. I told my girlfriend when it all started to watch out and see how seedy things would get.

The rich can paper over the cracks, but the poor and middle classes will be really hard hit. People with addictions and desperations will end up losing a lot if not it all, and for what benefits it will bring via tax revenues, it will also lead to growth in other negative aspects to life.

Data can prove gambling has grown massively over the past few years, and with it so have depression, and suicides. Both the industry, those who accept its sponsorship money and our governments who authorized it know this. As Mark rightly put it, it is just like big Tabacco.

What’s especially jarring is allowing it on football and other sporting sports, as it will therefor be directly marketed to children, who will have this attraction subconsciously planted in their minds from a young age, so they hardly stood a chance – That’s the devil we are dealing with.

So it seems the only people who can fix this, is ourselves through domestic pressure for the greater good. I wouldn’t necessarily do away with it all, but limits on where to advertise and to who, push notifications and how they market to people, and potentially making the industry fund some of the health crisis’ they cause.

Merry Christmas Mark, and to you all. Stay safe.
Calvinho