Gallowgate Toon

We must be shipping a couple out if we're seriously targeting 2 CBs in this window. I just can't see Lascelles being ousted as a starter this season as we're going to have to balance new incomings with squad harmony to see out the year - he's a big voice in the group, rightly or wrongly. Botman feels like a good partner for him if we're going to play deeper and continue to focus on the counter.

How was Coutinho at Bayern? Seems absolutely bizarre what's happened to him at Barca and it's easy to conclude he's finished/checked out, but could just be a case of a bad match between player & cloob. When he's on form he's absolutely majestic so it could be some find by Villa. Always wary of stars coming back down a notch though - feels like it never works out.

The pen thing isn't good but it's only a few games - sometimes bad/freak form happens. What's more important is what he's like over a longer period. Has he conceded pens since? He's been a seemingly major part of a defence that's conceded less than a goal per game over the last few seasons. Can he be that error prone?

He's played a lot for Sevilla over the last few years and they appear to have had a pretty mean defence while he's been there. Love a mad defender, like.

CM was biggest priority for me before the window and it still is important, although I think it's interesting that it seems like our prioritisation of it has cooled since we moved to 4-3-3. We do look more stable in that shape, but it relies on Joelinton keeping his form up which doesn't feel that realistic. And we still need someone to come in to protect the defence properly. Suggests that Howe is perhaps looking to keep the shape compact for the rest of the season with attacking focus on the counter?

He only arrived at lunchtime yesterday 3pm announcement for me.

So fucking exciting, man.

Hasn't Simeone already said it's up to the player now? Suggests the agreement has been made? If so, wouldn't be surprised if Trippier's team are doing a bit of the ol' waiting game.

I know it looks like it on the surface & the reaction is hilarious... but have we actually 'played the system' here?

Hayden has really struggled this year; I wonder if the knee has been limiting him. Either way, he's absolutely not the standard of player we require even when fully fit. Neither is Shelvey, really, but when he's motivated he does have some decent qualities about him. If we're going to continue to play a midfield 3 for the rest of the season, Shelvey will do as one of the trio, but he absolutely shouldn't be the deepest midfielder. No matter how motivated he is, his defensive reading of the game is poor and he lacks the athleticism to make up for the things he misses. Hopefully, come mid-Jan, we're looking something more like Shelvey - New (Kamara?) - Joelinton as the 3.

Agent Rafa at it again Digne would be class, man. The striker conundrum is a hard one. On the surface, Martial on loan seems like a great option as he's definitely got some quality about him. Just feels to me like a downward, short-term move with someone who seemingly has questionable motivation at one of the world's biggest clubs.

Ake has always struck me as someone who can play well in a 3 or as a full back but struggles as a CB in a 2. Would absolutely have him as a reinforcement, like.

Really like what he's doing with us. The positivity, some of the organisation to set us up for the break is great, we press well, and are showing some signs of becoming more coherent in attack. I just think he's great, tbh. Give him what he needs and I think we'll see some really good football.

Gutted. We deserved a win.

Isn't Lamptey exclusively played as a wingback, whereas Trippier can play fullback as well (plus, on either side of the defence)?

The Botman links are getting stronger at the right time; encouraging that it's now progressed to a fee being mentioned. I thought he was a smaller ball playing defender but he's 6'5! Get him and Trippier in early and we're off to a good start.

You've just read he was part of the England set up; does this not change your mind at all? He seems to be highly rated.

Really good people aren't necessarily at the big clubs every time...

A big thing for Howe will be getting defenders who are also comfortable on the ball as well as actually being able to defend - you could see what we were trying to do yesterday on many occasions but we lacked the conviction/skill/ability to build moves well from the back. Our best hope ended up being Joe turning a couple to move play forward, and a few decent balls behind their fullbacks. I swear Lascelles used to have some level of competency on the ball but he barely seems to be able to kick it these days. A colleague is a Fulham fan and he has pretty solid football opinions - he says Tosin is really good; excellent athlete but also excellent on the ball. Looking at a few clips, he reminds me of a much more physical Mapou. A bit of 'scouting' on Kamara and he looks to be exactly what we need in midfield and seems to have real calibre. Feels like the sort of signing that would be far too good to be true.

Trippier would be so good. He's obviously a very good player but it's just the intent/signal too that would likely soften up players who are less keen to join because of our position.

Was a weird game. 4-0 felt a bit flattering to City but you could also tell they were a class above at the same time. A truly obvious difference between the sides was composure. We actually built really decent positions on 5/6 occasions but just seemed to always pick the worst option when in their box.

Dubravka actually made the first move to the ball. You want your 'keeper to communicate that's his because he can literally see the play in front of him. Clarke would likely not have got a decent headed clearance anyway as there was no pace on the ball.

At the time, I blamed him. Looking back, I think it's Dubs' fault. 'keeper should be claiming a slow, looping ball in his 6-yard box every fucking day of the week.

We saw the power today of having someone in the middle who can turn a player and break the line. Joe was class at times until he looked to gas out after 70 mins or so (fair enough). We're shaky passing out from the back and we don't have a great outlet to boot the ball up to (Wilson is a nuisance but it's not his natural game) so having someone who can collect deeper and get things moving forward is massively important. More midfielders, please.

I loved Benitez here but this core group of players looked worse under him than Howe, at times. Howe is working to build a different legacy and is learning about this squad. I honestly don't buy that a defensive manager would have come in and make all that much difference to this team from a points gaining perspective this season - the squad is incredibly stale and looks weary after years of scraping by. We tried being uber defensive a few years ago and didn't win our first 10 games or whatever. Things only really changed when we were able to defend from the front more and had an outlet in Rondon. We need quality new players and we need them quickly. It's a pathetic indictment of our central midfield, perhaps the most important position in today's domestic game, that our best one at present is a failed striker.