HawK

Think I'm in a minority here that really isn't bothered by him now as I wasn't that enamoured with him when he was here, I've said before often against the grain that he wasn't that good. Yes, with us he was probably only behind Haaland in the league. But still below Shearer and Ferdinand for me as outright strikers, and if his touches on the ball are Beardsley-reminiscent, well Woltemade is better in that regard too. Everything was set up at Newcastle to get the best out of Isak and made him look better than he was in my opinion, there's a limit to how well a player does who's essentially only a finisher and it's how a team is set up with how many eggs in that tactical basket. I think Isak at Newcastle is loosely like Foden at Man City, works extremely well in the respective systems but outside them it just doesn't work so well. And I think £130m is a fantastic price for him.

Countdown to the awkward interview with someone who doesn't often talk to the media and drops a bombshell remark that'll forever define him.

Thanks I was genuinely curious as I thought he hadn't. I'm not suggesting he needs to get 1 in 2 to justify playing there in a pinch, as long as the team is scoring as a whole.

Has he ever scored a goal at CF from open play in senior football?

Tonali is a bit of an unfair comparison because the load of pro-active passing and chance creation is shared between Bruno, Tonali and Trippier as well as our centre backs, the load is more spread. Who at Forrest is going to do it other than Anderson?

I don't think he was very good against Forrest, errors aside he slowed down our play a lot on the ball, Elanga was having to check runs 2 or 3 times in a single phase while waiting for Trippier to release it. He's always looking for the overlap but that gives the opposition time to reset their defence as we ready our attack. When he plays with Murphy he knows now he can just give it to Murph who'll put in an early ball. Didn't used to be like that I remember when they first started playing regularly together there was a bit of a disconnect. I think he needs to figure Elanga out, hopefully won't take long. Maybe as he gets older he can sit deeper and tuck in, be that defensive playmaker like Trent was for Liverpool, rather than trying to get up and around the box.

Aye it's the same situation for Murphy & Elanga imo. Lineups for when we're on the front foot vs when on the backfoot. Elanga with space to run into on the break, or Murphy on the ball when not being pressured. But with players like Ramsey, from the little I saw of him, he may help contribute to us becoming more regularly the team on the front foot as our build up play through the middle will improve massively with him in there instead of Big Joe.

Ruddiger's heir?

Daft punk

Woltemade makes us better Woltemade makes us stronger Hour after hour after hour His work is never over

Around me, as soon as he started that stuttery run up, literally dozens were saying 'Oh for fucks sake, just hit it!', and it looked like he was missing it, until it hit the net. Amazing penalty.

Just got in, saw it from the Gallowgate Corner. Ref was woeful. Tonali is our best player by a mile. Bruno was quality today. Gordon had a more solid performance, building on his 2nd half showing midweek. Tripps looks past his best, a couple of wild misplaced passes and decisions and just slows us down so much. Elanga for most of the game appeared to have an absolute mare. Thiaw imperious next to Botman. Barnes and Murphy as 'finisher' subs were good. Not sure if it was picked up on cameras but after Woltemade scored, he came to salute the crowd and turn back to restart only for Tonali to absolutely manhandle him and throw him back to us for another ovation Good win, a couple of scary moments but looking solid.

Back 4 with Burn LB again it seems watching them warm up

Chillin in the stack waiting for me burger.

Edit : I was being a bit of a twat

Man against boys

6-1, Forest finish with 10 and Anderson gets the first goal of the game

For a player who is a midfielder, to have worked with Howe for almost 4 years now, to look as clueless and lost as he does when he does play is inexcusable. Confidence can account for a lack of touch, progressive passes and mistakes with directing a pass away from a pressing opponent. But he just seems to take up all the wrong positions and looks, well lost. Low footballing IQ but good on the break, we've got/had a few of them. A team that controls possession can't carry players like this.

I think there's more to Dan Burn's inclusion than footballing ability. I think Howe might see him as a leader on the pitch, despite Bruno's captaincy.

You gotta laugh

Going to this one, pumped. Hoping the CL game was the catalyst for a good run of performances and results. Until I see BDB at LB

Greatness recognising greatness