Gallowgate Toon

Early play in general is so low these days. Players take ages to cross and all that. So effective when done well.

Mitro and Perez did drop their levels a bit, he mixed up the one area he could and that's no bad thing to do.

Beautiful goal. Seemed really up for it again.

He definitely dipped after the international break, that was back to his initial displays. Fantastic.

Thought we held shape well in the first and it was a decent framework to work from, for once, no giving up. Grew into the second and tremendous impact play from Mitro and Perez.

Mitro and Thauvin, please.

Cisse's gone back to turd so would chuck Mitro on. Would get Thauvin on for Sissoko too.

Get Sissoko off.

Another set piece goal conceded.

Been impressed by de Jong off the ball again. Done a couple of important interceptions. The odd nice touch, too.

We were pressing high and were getting hammered, happy to sit deeper and counter.

I don't think listening to players' feedback and changing is a particularly bad sign of leadership, like. Not saying he's a good leader but that's hardly bad, imo. If he carried on playing in a way that players were admitting to feeling uncomfortable in that would be far worse. But it does suggest that he doesn't really know how to operate in the premier league today. How so? There's not one uniform style to playing football in the league.

I don't think listening to players' feedback and changing is a particularly bad sign of leadership, like. Not saying he's a good leader but that's hardly bad, imo. If he carried on playing in a way that players were admitting to feeling uncomfortable in that would be far worse.

Exactly. Plus, we're in desperate need to defend from the front due to the problems at the back and that's something we saw an improvement in with de Jong.

Does Sissoko want to do the dirty work of a CM is the biggest question. My gut says no and he'll always see himself as largely above it and want to play a position that demands less close physical work than that. He's probably best dribbling in wide areas too, as his close control isn't the best. Dyer's short passing was good, mind. As was his finishing when he got older.

It's a squad game, man. This is the benefit of having competition.

He might, just might, have decided to protect 2 young players and gone for more experience up top to try and lead the team better.

Pardew's gameplan was to sit deep, we didn't do that for long stretches of the game. Our pressing game stopped after de Jong went off, I don't think that's a coincidence, mind. We tried to play but we don't have a really balanced set of players so it can be very patchy in how it comes off. I thought Thauvin looked alright for the moments he was on, really would like to see him come in against Villa and start on the left with Mitro ahead of SDJ. Would prefer to see Perez come back in next weekend as our best chances will be counters and he's a better option away from home as a 10, IMO.

He got stuck in too, which is massive for a side like ours. Nicked the ball, stuck his head in etc. As much as I like Perez, he can be a bit of a bottler.

Most have praised his work off the ball, rather than what he did on it. Today was his first start in how long? He was better than Perez has been in his last couple of matches and may well get better with more time. Personally, I saw a pretty big benefit in having an experienced, intelligent head in a key area. He stayed in similar areas the whole game and that suited our structure more, IMO.

He was decent. Helped Liverpool's midfield is pretty pissweak.

We're on tele again next week know what you mean though. Absolutely infuriating.

The first goal is so simple, just put in an early ball with whip and it'll usually cause problems. Second was great. Still thought he was really patchy overall.

I think de Jong was massive for him, today. Someone on the pitch, with a bit of gravitas, that marshalled our play. We actually pressed really well on occasion and I think that was largely down to having SdJ there.

I thought today was his best overall effort. Seemed more involved in general play and had some lovely moves. Second was a lush goal.