Gallowgate Toon

Really? Why? What does he actually do? He did f*** all other than run in a straight line every now and then for us, and seems to have done the exact same for Boro last year. He's big, stocky and quite fast, but he has zero football awareness. I remember Village Idiot on here telling me *exactly* the same thing when we signed him, and he was absolutely spot on. I find it utterly bewildering anyone would want him, let alone pay some of the figures mentioned for him. He's not a winger. He's not even a footballer. I never saw him for you lot but I caught a few Boro games last year and he was dribbling past players with absolute ease, going on Ben Arfa-style runs past 3/4 at a time. Struck me as someone who could be molded into something and would be useful now in the right system.

Would absolutely take a punt on Traore. For all the talk that he's just got pace, his dribbling is his best asset. He could be a fantastic option on the counter and, at 21, he's got loads and loads of time to improve with one of the world's best coaches. That said, I wouldn't be happy if he was one of our first choice wingers. Him, Aarons and Atsu as back-up would be very decent, but Aarons should really be getting loan time under his belt. Carvalho apart, we've not been linked to any superstars so far, and I'm sure that's absolutely Rafa's call. He's a 'team above all' kind of guy anyway, but I reckon he'll be thinking it's especially important in our current situation. He'll be looking to protect one of the strongest elements of this squad, morale, and be building a team with players that require specific attributes so we can have some tactical advantage in games. I think we'll bring in around 7/8 in total, but I don't think the majority of those will get done until August. Our current predicament leans itself to getting deals that fall out of transfer activity with other clubs. It's frustrating as, but we know Ashley isn't going to spend a single penny of his own (last year was different).

Based on the quality of signings so far, think they're destined for rock bottom, tbh. Lots of players who'll be good should they go down.

Their (Twitter) fans were seemingly underwhelmed with him for the initial links but I think he'll be absolutely brilliant for them. Very good striker who adds a real counter option for when they're playing the bigger top 6 (they need more than that, obviously, but he can be an integral part).

I'd be fine with Huddlestone being a pure squad option for Shelvey (and someone who can add competition). He can't hack full seasons and/or lots of games, but he's decent enough to come off the bench and play the odd game. A 5th choice CM, ideally. Bakambu aside because I don't know enough about him to comment (he doesn't seem an out-and-out striker?); Hart, Gibbs & Grosicki would definitely improve our XI, with Chambers and Gray arguably better than what we have there now.

Awful. RIP.

Goal and assist for Gini? Think that's 11 assists and 6 goals for the season. Decent return, considering he's played far deeper.

Great video. A good kit, too!

In a season where we're probably going to have a lot of tight games and will do far more counter attacking than the one just gone, he's a very handy bench option to have.

It's Afar, man. He's eternally pessimistic

I hope to Christ we do upgrade Yedlin. He's decent going forward but his defending is way below Premiership standard. He'll get eaten alive. Seemed to do fine at Sunderland.

We can definitely do better but he'd be adequate as squad backup. I'd take him as a 4th choice winger. He's useful in the sense that he has a turn of pace and can beat a player - we're going to be playing a lot of counter next year, I imagine, so he'd certainly have his place. Scored a decent return considering his playing time too.

3-0 win for us. Atsu first scorer.

Charnley would definitely instantly rat on anyone to save himself, like. Interesting to see what happens next.

Leeds, Wednesday, Fulham. Reading and Huddersfield can do one.

He shouldn't be called upon as a starter next season, even though I do think he could do a job. He should be used in rotation. Two more CMs needed, one creative and one box-to-box. Shelvey's burnt out, IMO, but he could be really good next season if we can manage his fitness.

3.5. The first half of the season was really good - the winning run, some of the performances and football, etc. The second half has been a slog and not much fun, but I also think that's been fairly understandable. It's felt like the reverse of the 09/10 season, in a lot of ways.

I think that showed how fragile we are mentally. Start well, immediately seemed to shit it and then have to work hard to get a foothold back into the game. Delighted. Surely Preston won't keep that up?

I've always been a big fan of Rafa, and thought he was a great manager for Liverpool. I put down his career wavering due to some poor choices in terms of clubs. Going to Inter after winning the treble, replacing Mourinho just as Moratti had fulfilled his ambition to win the CL meant he was on a hiding to nothing in a new financial reality. The fact Rafa was the last Inter manager to win a trophy tells you everything. Chelsea, too, as an interim, was not the kind of project or club suited to him. But he ultimately did an excellent job in the end to guide them to 3rd and win a trophy. However, I was disappointed with how he did at Napoli. While he did win the Coppa Italia, Mazzarri had also managed that, and he ultimately took them backwards to finishing 5th. Also, losing the Europa semi-final to Dnipro was a big disappointment. He succeeded in improving the status of the club by attracting big signings, but failed in developing the team on the pitch and developing the players they had brought in. Since replacing him Sarri has had them playing significantly better football. You only have to look at the level of goal output Higuain, Insigne and Mertens have produced and the way they've developed as players to see that. So I'm not sure whether I agree with the hypothesis that managers can pass their sell-buy date. But I do think they can make bad career choices, and become looked at less favourably because of it. Rafa has done that in a pursuit for trophies for his CV. With us he finally has a project more in line with what he had at Valencia and Liverpool, so long as he receives the backing and support he deserves from the board. There should be no short termism to it. He is back in England, close to his family, and in a job where the expectations aren't high and the timeframe is longterm. He needs to prove himself as a manager who can build and shape a team over a number of seasons again. Then, he only needs to deliver one of his usual trophies, and he'll have a statue outside the ground. I can't speak for the style of play but Rafa's Napoli didn't seem to struggle with goals? Despite Higuain having an absolute monster of a season last year, they only scored 3 more than Rafa's first season - that would suggest he built a good team of scorers, would it not, rather than an over-reliance on one player? His second season seemed really weird, they shipped a lot of goals but still nabbed a solid 70.

We do have the best overall first XI, but we've been missing key components for a little while. Our depth in numbers is good, but our quality doesn't match. We essentially have 3 CMs and 1 winger on our books for one of the most physically grueling professional leagues.

We'd solve a lot of problems by really sorting out the spine of the team, tbh.

This is a pretty unfair criticism, IMO. He's basically tried to rebuild a whole squad in a single summer for a club in a not-so-desirable situation. When you have a massive turnover change like that, there's going to be plenty of wastage. That's a hangover from years and years of horrific recruitment - we still lack balance and I imagine it'll take another window or two to fully rectify it.

What formation are we really suited to? It's either 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, IMO. Perhaps 4-4-2 with Gayle but we're already very leggy in midfield. There are far bigger factors. The spend point is an annoying one. He pretty much overhauled an entire squad and then some. Naturally, there's a lot of massive risk in that because you're getting a lot of players at once which is an unknown.

Howay man, we can win one game. I wish I had your confidence, but after that display today, it's very difficult to see. Ne offence but you're possibly the most pessimistic person I've ever come across