Gallowgate Toon

Coloccini's first 2 seasons back in the Prem after Ashley relegation #1 were sublime, like. He was genuinely one of the best defenders in the league. It all ended badly and he was a shadow of his former self before he left, but those 2 years (and his season in the Champ, tbf) were really, really good. He matched players physically and his reading of the game was masterful, along with his play on the ball. Lascelles and prime Colo would've been a mouthwatering pairing.

Meh, we move on. Lost to a worldie.

Chelsea are more possession oriented and strangled us a bit. City are more open so there's more space for us to work with. Sarri has already worked wonders on Chelsea's shape in possession - it was really good.

We're benefitting from City being more direct than Chelsea as well.

Good half. Nicer balance to us.

Get in. Class from rondon!

Fuck off, Diame.

Interesting stat doing the rounds on Twitter. We were the best of the rest against the top 6 last season, apparently. We really should go for it more though.

Written by Craig Hope, who definitely isn't an embarrassing puppet.

People really do just need to ignore the bloke, like. He's the lowest of the low and loves the banter. Stop giving him what he wants

Don't think I've ever seen him praise Rafa once

He needs to work on getting everyone back in line and calm. He was very good at points of last season of getting the no panic message across, this certainly feels like that time as mongs start to shit the bed a few games into the season, 'negative' press stories start seeping out, new players start getting labelled as shite before they have time to bed in etc. Last night was shite and annoying but what we've seen for nigh on the last 10 years in domestic cups, apart from Rafa getting to the quarters(?). Just need to get expectations set on the playing side so the correct focus can go back to Ashley and keeping that pressure up

Not having that - we created plenty last year, we missed so many opportunities. This year has been a rough start but it's early days and we'll come out of it.

Finish, and lovely play from him in the buildup.

Can't believe I'm sticking up for Cider Ryder but he's just reporting that the players aren't happy with the coverage - a story to the original story Hope trying desperately to keep the drama alive. I wonder why...

Rafa is managing this opening fixture list as well as the goal difference, IMO. He knows results will likely not go our way so keeping some level of confidence (defensively, in particular) is going to be important. There are far bigger things to focus on than Rafa's tactics.

Good post, rich. Their shape for second balls was immense. They swarmed us well and we often lacked composure to deal with it. Very impressed with that side of their game.

Good minutes for Rondon. I still feel he'll be a good addition for us.

Didn't deserve to lose, imo. Oh well, we move on.

What a goal.

Just listened to World in Motion for the first time since we lost the semi. Still absolutely fucking gutted. Missing the World Cup What is life.

Look to games mid last season and Jacob put in better performances than that against better opposition.

He's a second or two behind the play, as you'd expect, but he looks well matched physically. Loves a channel!

Every time We'll be fine this year. It just should've been much more.

Looked cocky as fuck after his showing last week.