Gallowgate Toon

Really good to hear him say that we've got good footballers and should've been better on the ball, rather than just saying it was a good defensive performance and result. I imagine that's what he means when he says we've got things to work on and will get better, the attacking stuff will come later on. Pardew would've been piping himself off going on about how it was amazing that he'd led little ol' Noocarssle to a draw etc.

Think he'll have shown McClaren he can handle responsibility out wide. Will be very surprised if Obertan starts next week.

But he set us up to endure pressure, surely that's not cowardly, going by that definition? It's a ludicrously OTT statement, but I think Hans a point. I thought the subs could've been better.

Anita, Colback and Wijnaldum were being overrun and were fatigued. We really did need someone new in there. We should be fitter, imo. I'd have brought Aarons on ahead of Thauvin, tbh.

I thought his hold up was good before he tired.

We needed legs in the middle, tbh.

Well deserved. Our fitness needs a bit of work, mind, some of them were totally gassed by 70. Hopefully we keep on pushing on. Played some really nice stuff in spots, hope we build on that.

That Wijnaldum-Haidara move was almost so good.

Good recovery and some good football in that last 20 minutes. Aarons or Thauvin on for Obertan, please.

I don't think Anita/Colback is a permanent thing, tbh. It's there while the players get used to the system and Wijnaldum gets up to speed. I think if we had a fit Tiote (not that I'd play him, personally) we'd be seeing Gini at CM. Obertan is the one I'm not happy with but I think it's more about helping Haidara than anything else, I still think Aarons should be starting, mind.

I think SM will be looking to play a pretty fluid 3 behind the striker, once we've got more used to the shape and system.

Aye, might as well forget the Spurs game, Hull, Burnley, QPR at home, West Brom away, Arsenal at home (second half). Chelsea was the standout performance, aye, but let's not pretend he didn't put in good shifts elsewhere.

How early on in the window did he sign for us? After the season he'd had, he must've had a few suitors that were in a better situation than the campaign we'd just had. To be honest, it wasn't a good move for him. Whoever was advising him should've known that the set up we had in place was just totally not right for his style. Not saying he's right for this league, btw, he's clearly not ideal for it, but I think there are some PL teams out there that he could play for.

Cabella really was excellent in France, but he was in a system built around his talents. Montpellier got a lot of bodies forward on the counter and their play was built around a lot of one-touch passing with players very close to one another. Cabella was the centre of all that, with a lot of key passes, chances created and goals. He's a system player in this league, he's not got the physicality to be a maverick/individual here. Would be nice to see if he can prosper under better coaching.

That was only Haidara's 15th league start for us, I think. Really does need to get a run of games to see what we get from him.

I've seen Haidara put in some good defensive performances (City in the cup rings a bell, in particular), tbh, he's also had some games where he looks very threatening going forward. Put in a couple of absolutely brilliant crosses in preseason too. Has he ever played more than a couple of games in a row? His career here has been really stop-start, I think he'd improve his consistency a lot if he had a good 15 game run in the team. He's certainly shown more flashes than Dummett, for me, but he's been much more erratic.

To me, Wijnaldum is going to be at his best running ahead of a fixed 10 and/or arriving in the box late. He's going to be marked even tighter after the weekend, now, so we need to get plenty of bodies around him to give him space. He's too good a footballer to leave too far up the pitch, imo, need him dominating games for us and linking play.

Aye Big Sam did that a lot. His conclusion was always "more hoof to Micky O & Oba" so it means nowt. re Sissoko in cm: Hindsight is 20/20. It turns out anyone would've done a better job than Tiote. But i can't fault that sub too much. It's the NDJ sub that seemed as if he thought "we need a goal. Who is the best finisher on the bench. NDJ? You're up." With no thought as to how we would get up the pitch. He might well have thought that de Jong's a calm player in possession, moves into space well and would help to retain the ball more by using his brain rather than his brawn. Fair enough. But it didn't pan out like that at all. I thought he brought him on to help bag the winner. Nah, it wasn't a great sub. Our shape was too stretched for it to work as there weren't really enough link options. I just think there was logic to it, but it just failed.

Fed up of all this modern terminology sneaking into everyone's vocabulary. When I was a lad there was no such thing as an advanced shuttler, you were either a shuttler or you weren't. It's an oxymoron to say you're a shuttler if you're operating in an advanced role. Kids nowadays don't know s***. An advanced shuttler is very real, they're not quite gegen-shuttlers (their starting position is about 4.1 yards further forward), but they're much different to your average shuttler.

I have no doubt he can play as a CM. With the positions Colback was taking up yesterday, I think he'd be ideal in that role. That way, instead of passing it back/sideways when receiving it in 5 yards of space, we'll have someone who can turn and run. His stamina will improve once his fitness gets up and he's more used to the league.

Wijnaldum was an advanced shuttler, obviously, you silly fools.

Aye Big Sam did that a lot. His conclusion was always "more hoof to Micky O & Oba" so it means nowt. re Sissoko in cm: Hindsight is 20/20. It turns out anyone would've done a better job than Tiote. But i can't fault that sub too much. It's the NDJ sub that seemed as if he thought "we need a goal. Who is the best finisher on the bench. NDJ? You're up." With no thought as to how we would get up the pitch. He might well have thought that de Jong's a calm player in possession, moves into space well and would help to retain the ball more by using his brain rather than his brawn.

Did he not just mean we were obviously knackered and we needed to play it a bit smarter?

This is so depressingly predictable. Even some of the local reports have been saying how much better yesterday was compared to 'the rest of 2015'. Aye, what about all the times before that, you knobs?

I'd be very interested to see Cabella as a 10 behind the striker. Easy to forget after last season but the lad was an absolute class act for Montpellier when played there. He created a boatload of chances (think he was the highest in Ligue 1) and got 14 goals. Of course, it's not the best league, but it's just as impressive as Wijnaldum's individual season for PSV last year, IMO. Don't think it'd work that well if Cisse's the one leading the line, due to a lack of athleticism, but if Mitrovic proves to be a good player in this league then they could be a duo that dovetail quite well.