Gallowgate Toon

He'll always be a slow'un but it's his general speed of touch off the mark that looks back to his best.

Looks a real step quicker at the minute.

Phwoar that might be the most complete CB performance I've seen. Bit of a cheat code for us when the game goes basketball-y. Looked quite Saliba-like.

Nick is big therefore can't be fouled in the ground, it almost looked like the CBs arms were on Woltemade's throat.

I don't think I've ever enjoyed watching a player live as much as him. He's just so mind-boggling.

We need to start planning for life without him. He's 95% physicality but that can't last forever, and he usually gets a serious injury each season anyway.

Time to actually win here.

Rice properly impressed me against us for the first time as an Arsenal player, last week. Often felt he's been pretty average against us otherwise, even when he scored in April/May I felt his general performance was pretty meh. Lots of running mixed in with lots of sideways stuff.

Immediately went to get the ball for the pen, ne fucking about. Showing a real competitive personality. We'll get better at using him in these types of games. Howe will teach the midfield specific movements to open up better passing lanes into him, we'll figure out some more dynamic rotations etc. Howe's mentioned that we haven't really been training loads so what we'll be seeing now is much more learning on the fly. Closed a ball down with very decent speed not long before he went off which is a good sign he's getting there with his fitness. A few around me surprised at how quickly he got across the pitch.

Love his calmness in possession. Schar has unbelievable passes in his locker, with Thiaw it feels more consistent if not as explosive. Very impressive start here in all aspects.

Some good moments but some really not good ones. We have to support him, you can tell he's finding confidence.

Thought he played some absolutely excellent passes between CBs and wing backs.

Keef said Ramsey is back in the squad for this one.

Ridiculously fun footballer. I absolutely love him

Time for a Big Nick masterclass.

Not loving Burn there at all, tbh. Their game looks to be about breaking at pace so they'll target him. Having Thiaw in the backline could really help.

Felt like Isak would rather find spaces to isolate defenders, you'd see him move further out wide if he was struggling to get into a game rather than drop deep.

They seem a pretty low possession side. Need Big Nick & Bruno as today's door pickers.

Personally, I can stomach the lack of chances we aren't creating for Woltemade while he gets up to speed, but then you want to see the benefits of having a striker that likes to be involved in play by dropping in. You'd think a big plus there would be we'd have more options to be able to hold the ball and build possession + some momentum, but we were hopeless on the ball yesterday and couldn't get him involved.

We need a run of games where we can get on the ball more with a decently settled side so we can find some consistent rhythm + combinations. We don't have much training time to work on things so it's very much learning as we go, unfortunately.

He was so good because he was an arse to play against. Not just at being a pressing pest but his movement off the ball was excellent, he was getting into great areas a lot & constantly involved in the action. Personally, I think the coaching team have played a part in creating this version of him. Even when he was wank last season, he was constantly starting games. Barnes was grabbing goals but still being benched while Gordon was doing fuck all. Came back after the cup win to be immediately rewarded with his spot at LW while Barnes was on a good streak. Gordon himself has said he's at his best when he's got a point to prove, but the management of him over the last year has almost been the opposite of that - he's had a lot of leeway.

Same. He looks an excellent footballer. Chucked in the deep end as much as he could've been so far but he's looked very good.

Class having a CB with genuine recovery pace.

It was definitely 4-3-3 first half. As others have said, the fact it was hard to tell is telling in itself

Class header. He did pretty well in general play, we just again didn't really have a setup to get people in & around or beyond him with any consistency. Felt he came deeper less today than others to give an option to the defence but we probably needed it more than ever? We really struggled to get any moves going.