Lotus

He was great. Brought the talent out of the players around him too. Reckon he’s f**king sick of City and just wanted to do them and realised tonight was a great chance.

He looks confident and sure of himself and that’s putting the shits up the defenders he’s facing. I’m hoping his pace and willingness to run at players will mean they stand an extra yard off him and that gives him that fraction more time to play a mean pass. And if they get tight, knock it down the line and test their hamstrings ?

very happy for him. He was instrumental in our clean sheet. Kept focused.

Whatever he said at half time should be bottled and patented. What a difference that was. We just punched them in the mouth 2nd half and then played football all over them.

Superb pass to put Isak through. Otherwise looked a little overwhelmed at LCM. Still, 1st game in forever and up against a dominant City side. Only gets easier from here!

That was an excellent defensive performance. I actually doubt Trippier could’ve done better defensively. It’s the other aspects that Trippier brings that’s so important.

He looked alright against SU I thought. Seemed further along than Hall anyway. Wouldn’t be nervous if he started for us as long as our creativity wasn’t being sacrificed with the absence of Trippier.

I think if Longstaff is stationary instead of running at him there probably is barely any contact. Negligible at the most. Anyway, foul and card given and we scored from it. We’d have won anyway.

I think Longstaff’s momentum is as much to do with the follow through. If not more so. Longstaff was travelling faster than the SU player was. Thought it was a good tackle personally. Got the ball. Studs not up, etc.

Could be a better player for us than Longstaff at this rate.

I thought he’d raise his level with the arrival of Tonali. Now Tonali has to raise his level. Hope all the midfielders push each other to pure excellence.

Watched the Sheffield U game again. Schar was pure silk. Clearly playing within himself too. I know the standard of opposition can make you look better but you can only look better if you’re, like, actually better. And he was miles above them.

I remember he fought hard at Dortmund. He had to to cover Guerreiro’s horrendous defensive efforts. That hasn’t carried over to Man U, clearly. Don’t know why but I hope he can sort it out.

I have to say I think there is a good player in Sancho. Maybe not a natural winger but a creative playmaker starting in a wide position. He needs runners off him though. All good passers do. He had that in abundance at Dortmund with Hakimi and to a lesser extent, Guerreiro. Not sure what’s happened with him at Man U but I’m sure it’s a complex situation that all parties want to resolve. Wish him the best.

For instance. His goal was fantastic but the miss a few minutes before it was criminal. Top players bury those chances because, on big occasions against top teams they don’t come up often and the best make good on opportunities like that. Fwiw, I think it’s clear that Gordon is a better player for us than Maxi. To have him and Barnes competing for wide positions is great for the club. Now we need a natural RWF to balance out our threat. Exciting times ahead.

Im assuming once Tonali gets up to speed and Willock is in there being super press-resistant, then Bruno will get a bit more time and space. I think the way we played the ball through the middle yesterday was fantastic though. Lovely little around the corner lay offs in narrow spaces. Would give anyone time on the ball. Just got to do it against better opponents. Doing it against lesser opponents is an important 1st step though.

I did say at the bottom of the post, by the new year. Miggy had a very productive half season last year and then his numbers fell off. I wouldn’t expect the same thing to happen to Gordon if he has good run until Xmas. I think Gordon is a better player. He’s also a lot younger and has a lot more potential to be realised. He seems to have the attitude to do it and everything is moving in the right direction for him. He’ll have dodgy moments and off games and I’m hoping they become fewer and further between. I won’t jump on him if he has an off day. You have to look at the overall trend. So far this season it’s good but it’s not enough data points. We all want him to be a world beater but let’s wait for him to do it before crowning him.

His control for his goal was world class. No time to think, pinged his way and he just owned and then put it in the net. That’s just pure talent. Velvet touch. I reckon, in our squad, only Isak could do something similar.

His engine is insane. Do wish he’d pull back on the play acting though. I’m not talking about ‘that’ challenge btw.

Thought he did well. Good for his confidence.

Played well. Read the game. Good anticipation, supported Wilson when he could. Made use of the acres of space afforded him.

I didn’t think it was a foul tbh. He played the ball fairly and I think the ‘follow through’ was more of Longstaff’s momentum taking him over the player.

Excellent to see better movement from our wide forwards. Miggy drifting into the middle to receive passes caused them all kinds of confusion. Our passing through the midfield was top notch. Looked a bit like what Milan did to us. I’m delighted we maintained that level through the match. We’re a couple of levels above Sheffield Utd but it’s easy to be pulled down to standard of the team we’re facing . NUFC have been very guilty of that in the past. Yesterday our play reminded me of Fergie’s Man Utd. Just relentless and razor sharp. No mercy.

He was very, very good but we do need a bit of context here. SU did not deal with him well. He was up against a CB not a RB. He also needs to put in productive performances regularly before he can be judged properly. I didn’t slate him after the Milan game and I’m not declaring him the ‘a level above’ after yesterday. The whole team had a good game and AG certainly brought a level of danger to our attack. Was fantastic to see. Will have a better feel for where he is in his development by the New Year I would think. Hope he has plenty of +ve contributions by hen.

Rather than receiving the ball on the left with back to goal and carrying it inside, I’d like to se him make an out to in run from the left into the 10 position and receive the ball there with Isak or Wilson on the CB’s shoulder looking or a through ball or making space for Gordon to try a shot. Hes definitely got the pace for it. I also think he controls the ball a lot better like that than with his back to goal and defender up his arse as he’s not very strong. This tactic does requIre someone to make a nice weighted pass so he doesn’t have to break stride. Might work best if the ball comes from either a LB or Botman who probably has the passing range to execute.