Gallowgate Toon

Was bored so I decided to watch the whole 90 Surprisingly, we played some nice football. Usually, our preseason games are turgid as (from my memory, at least), but players seemed pretty in tune with each other, and we put together some great moves. It reminded me of how good we actually were at times last season (as in, sometimes we looked so far and away above the opposition), especially with everyone fit, and gave me some hope for the new season. Even if we only get Murphy in for the rest of the summer, if Rafa stays, I can always hope we'll have a good-ish season. It's Rafa, man. You can tell Gayle and de Jong just get each other's games, like, as soon as Siem got the ball, you could see exactly what he was looking for. Aarons was also impressive (he's filled out a lot), it's just a shame we really can't rely on either him or de Jong over a season as they both have talent. Maybe they can be solid squad players for the season. Shelvey just picked up where he left off and looked a cut above, tbh. His second touch was an absolute raker of a pass looks very, very lean and more mobile - think he's going to have a good season. Diame was also good next to him, broke play up well and sprayed some lovely passes. Second half, Gamez and Saivet caught my eye. Gamez put some lovely crosses in and looked much quicker than I remember him. Saivet did the basics well - showed some nice turns of pace, and played some good passes. LeJeune looks massive but mobile. Potentially the defender we've been looking for for years & years.

Good sign that Colback was the last of the CMs on, mind. Hopefully a sign he's moving down the pecking order.

Saivet was good in his couple of years before moving here, tbf. Personally, don't think he wanted to play in Ligue 1 again.

Caught Chalobah a few times, never been that impressed. Had the odd flash, but largely pretty basic stuff. Worth a punt for 5m though.

No one else find it a bit weird that we've been even quieter on the outgoings front, considering how cash conscious we've seemingly become again? It's not like we don't have any saleable assets.

Wouldn't say Mbemba is awful under pressure, tbh, think it's the opposite. His biggest weakness on the ball is lapsing in concentration, making daft choices that invite trouble.

He can fuck off, like. He literally Tweeted this yesterday : 'Tension behind the scenes is not unusual with Benitez but this is getting worse not better #nufc'

There was always a flicker of hope for me that we'd manage to land someone who would work within the fat mess' parameters and still make nufc a success. Here we have a bloke who's trying to do everything the Ashley way, pretty much, and he still gets fucked over. If he goes, I'm done, nothing left to hope for after that.

Trying to read between the lines, I reckon this particular part of the window Rafa expected, it's the beginning he'll still rightly be pissed at. That's where the club have missed a trick. I think his realistic (not ideal) plan was to have 3 players in for the spine of the team in time for preseason. Following that, because of the nature of our budget, the next, less important signings (in relation to his tactics) would eke through during the rest of the summer, especially with outgoings filtering out. Probably being naive but I imagine the club's strategy will change in the next few weeks, should there be no further movement. It seems, atm, they're trying to find value deals to maximize budget across the squad. If Rafa's involved as I think he is, there'll be a process in place to ramp up, if necessary.

We shouldn't be thinking about who we are trying to sign at the is stage, we should be actively trying to buy them. The market's a lot more complex than that, tbf. There's a reason most clubs don't get their signings in early, even if it makes absolute sense for bedding players in.

Well, no.

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.