Gallowgate Toon

Expect Rafa to stick with this until the hour mark. Possession to tire out, bring on some more flair when gaps open.

The weird thing is Colback doesn't seem anything like a Benitez sort of mid. He's the most undisciplined central midfielder I've seen play for us.

We seem nervous. Dare I say it but being overcautious has nibbled at confidence? Think he's been far too defensive with that selection.

Don't like it. It seems far too defensive.

Isn't that a parody account?

Fulham have been playing a 3/5 at the back, haven't they? Expect goals to come from mid. Ritchie and Perez to score.

Love some yellow bib theory. Sels Janmaat Hanley Lascelles Dummett Hayden Colback Ritchie Perez Aarons Gayle Would personally be unhappy to not see Mbemba start. Would much rather Shelvey or Saivet over Colback too.

Mbemba can't defend? He's not great in the air but he's a good reader of the game and a good tackler. He's a specific type of defender, just like most.

Shelvey is miles ahead of any of them. He's a good creative CM. Bagged 7 assists last season and that was supposedly his worst campaign to date. His key passes etc. are all solid too. He needs backup, aye, and whether he has a suitable partner remains to be seen.

Of course he has

Martinez won the FA Cup at Wigan but Allardyce has never had enough great players to land ONE trophy?

Shelvey absolutely merked the Championship, the last time he was in it, iirc. Was better than a goal every other game He's by far the best midfielder in the league, as long as he's got the right partner and motivated. He managed to bag a few assists for us last season, as well as play some pretty key passes in moves for us too, and that was him being unproductive.

Keeps colback out the team Saivet & Hayden can play there too. I think there's a good CM in Saivet.

Don't see any point in playing Tiote in the Champ, tbh, especially if Dummett is going to be one of the starting full backs.

It's a friendly man, chill out Yeah, and a friendly is a good opportunity to test out legitimate teams for the season. This shouldn't ever be one.

That midfield is crap. 3 DMs to play against Sporting Lokeren?

That's a great appointment for them.

Gini's technique is absolutely excellent. First touch and dribbling in tight areas are really, really good. The only player that's had better in the last 10 years is HBA.

I think the Saivet thing has been blown out of proportion. He was new to the league and Rafa likes to have experience, doubt there was much more to it than that. I reckon he'll have a good season - he seems a potentially handy footballer from the glimpses I've seen - and will hopefully push Colback down the pecking order. As for Hanley, he sounds like what we've needed for a while. Don't think he'll be an automatic starter, though. As has been said, there's going to be a lot of games, all 3 senior CBs will get loads of playing time.

Perez needs to play in one position for a while and this opens up the 10 spot for him nicely.

I don't think he's suited to a team that keeps the ball more at all. Firstly and quite importantly he never looks for the ball so he would essentially be a waste of space in that system most of the time. He's much better suited to counter attacking football which is what Klopp really wants to play anyway He was very successful in a PSV side that saw a lot of the ball. He's fine in both, just simply not someone that can be the fulcrum of that type of team.

He was brought in to try and help us become more of a possession side and was generally shot at it. Can't see him having much of an impact there at all tbh. Pretty sure Dutch jouralists suggested he was more of a final third player than an all-action midfielder who was going to dominate the midfield for us and control our play. The exact line was 'never seen a player have so much impact with so few touches', IIRC. With other players capable of seeing more of the ball, it allows him to do what he's best at - find space in and around the box and exploit it. He's also a very handy player on the counter; a big part of Klopp's gameplan. Think we'll see him get close to 15 goals.

Think he'll do really well there, tbh. Much better suited to a side that will have more of the ball.

Sure I read that his touches and passes per game between his time here and PSV were very similar. Would suggest he's simply a finishing touches player used to sides with much more of the ball. He could be a really good playmaker, IMO, but not sure it's in his mentality. Strange, strange player.