Gallowgate Toon

time to move on.

Madueke has shown himself to look a bit of a twat with the penalty in-fighting stuff but Chelsea as a club have an awful culture. I feel he'd grow up a lot in this environment to make the most of his talents. Other worry with him is injuries - he picked up a lot in the Eredivisie, iirc?

I don't think he'll risk Kelly or Willock. Sounds like we've been very careful with them so far and I expect that'll continue for the foreseeable unless other injuries take hold - neither has really played that much football during the preseason. Feels like the big calls are Tripps/Tino and Barnes/Gordon. Hope it's Tino and both Barnes/Gordon.

The next... Josh King.

Aye, so much potential due to how flexible he is - wand of a foot to stick wide & cross and has the composure to step into mid if we're struggling to control possession. Shows a surprising turn of pace too.

Some lovely one-touch, direct football on show. Bring on the season, man.

Kulu feels a bit position-less to me - not quite an AM, not quite a winger, not quite a CM - but he does have some guile & quality that he shows in streaks. Always seems to put the running in as well even if he's not firing.

He's got some canny finishes on both feet in clips so it feels like it's a case of getting more regular chances, building confidence, and finding finishes that feel comfortable. He'll get plenty of bench time this season with Wilson's penchant for going missing ~50% of the season, but I doubt there'll be any pressure on his goalscoring numbers. Likely a campaign where the main focus will be truly trying to prep for 25/26 if he's going to make it here - getting 'Howe fit', building his athleticism up, learning tactics & roles etc.

His fee may be high but he's quality and only just turned 24 - could easily be our starting defender for the next 7/8 years.

We have goals from lots of parts of the pitch. Ideally, we'd have a dynamite backup striker who bags for fun and can stay fit, but it's just going to be a benefit to, as a minimum, have a consistent physical focal point who opens up room for others when Isak needs a rest. Lots of time to develop the goal scoring knack.

Little Joe

Started the summer with Kelly so well - can't lie that it's frustrating that we've not made another signing that isn't a GK since then. I think we'll get the 2 major needs in, and I'm hopeful we'll actually get a junior striker in as well, but we know how important getting a good preseason in is. I don't really rate Villa's business to date, objectively, but the speed at which they move is annoyingly impressive. All that said, I'm at the point that I'm really missing watching us play. I still feel we're going to have a class season.

Wasn't it even stated by Ashworth himself that they had a traffic light system in place? Mitchell shouldn't have final say on transfers, nor should Howe. It should be as democratic a process as possible between relevant people all providing their expertise.

For those marvelling at Everton's new stadium, isn't it located within extremely close proximity to a sewage treatment centre? Remember watching a video that it's quite whiffy there, and it's also a transport nightmare as there's only one proper road near it.

The few times we've used it, BIG looked pretty dynamic to me. Even with a new RW, I hope we see it more.

I think Chalobah would be an incredibly smart move from the club if we can get him for a good price. Underrated player.

Feels like his comments, which I don't think were that bad, were really aimed at YAR who I imagine Howe has no consistent direct line to in reality. I think Eales is in for a tough year, like. I'd wager AS and MG were a bigger comfort blanket for him than anyone else.

The setup definitely didn't suit Kane but rather than adjusting as a senior leader of the side to help others out he just seemed to go walkabout loads making everything worse by getting in others' space. And then when we were in decent positions around the box, he was miles away from where he needed to be half the time. He reminded me of latter years Rooney. Lots of performances and decisions throughout the tournament were just really weird. The instruction to keep fucking wellying it from goal kicks being right up there.

Wharton looks like he could be the one to break the mould.

Fully deserved. Southgate is a lovely man, I'm sure, but he's just not a winner. Tactical, risk-averse bore managing a team brimming with attacking, exciting talent.

Wow. What a finish.

Bowen would be absolutely class, man. Also, he's a big DJ Spider Radgie fan.

Something is definitely off with the Gordon situation. Got to be his post-match interview - it was far too courageous for Southgate.

Immense. He's seemingly a pretty strong advocate of getting good processes in place for cheap talent on the continent? Nickson may be head-over-heels. I wonder if we've changed strategy a wee bit with PSR troubles to be more value-focused.

Gordon still has plenty to prove and he knows it - his next challenge is to show last season wasn't a one-off and he can at least match it. Of course he'd be tempted to go to a team in the CL back in his boyhood city but I've no doubt he'll be all-in at the start of the season for us.