Gallowgate Toon

Still need some players in and it's good in the long run for us that today showed it. Need a proper defender and striker in, pronto. Not good enough on too many levels today.

Aided by a fair amount of s**** on the pitch. All he had to do was make one f***ing change. Jesus. And then what? Our centre halves still would've been mugged off by Deeney and Ighalo being able to out-muscle them. So might have been an idea to play to our strengths then rather than rely on a defence that got raped by the same front pair at St James. The f*** are people watching? The same thing but trying to view it with more balance, maybe? Balance. Christ. Have you actually criticised any players today, by any chance? Or is it just your usual McClaren rant that you've been regurgitating every single week for about the last 7 months?

The players don't know the system we're playing, it was a pointless screw up by a manager who is massively out of his depth. Didn't we just play it two weeks ago to decent effect? Doesn't seem like they don't know it, we're just not that great a side still.

Balance comes up again when discussing a s*** manager who was sacked by Derby. Eh, yeah? We're a soft team at centre half (which they have the perfect combination against) and nobody to play at left back. I wouldn't have switched it but I don't think it's the main reason we're losing this game.

Aided by a fair amount of s**** on the pitch. All he had to do was make one f***ing change. Jesus. And then what? Our centre halves still would've been mugged off by Deeney and Ighalo being able to out-muscle them. So might have been an idea to play to our strengths then rather than rely on a defence that got raped by the same front pair at St James. The f*** are people watching? The same thing but trying to view it with more balance, maybe?

We seemed to start pretty attacking but got pegged back. We're hardly very good going forward, man

Aided by a fair amount of s**** on the pitch. All he had to do was make one f***ing change. Jesus. And then what? Our centre halves still would've been mugged off by Deeney and Ighalo being able to out-muscle them.

So rubbish defensively.

Is the system seriously getting blamed for that goal? It's just basic, basic defending, man.

Sounds like the usual recent story. Good football, relatively solid-looking defensively but missing opportunities.

The other thing that was noticeable in that first goal is as soon as Shelvey gets the ball, Sissoko makes a run in behind straight away. They obviously trust him to find them. Edit: the pass had a bit of disguise on it too, I thought. He sort of gave the eyes before popping it off.

I'm not sure that it's down to him or just the quality of the players we are signing. Wijnaldum, Perez and Jonjo are just good footballers who play football the right way. Graham Carr was getting flak on here for signing too many players unsuited to the premier which was justified to some degree, but from a technique perspective some of our best football comes from those signings. What I will say is that the football we saw yesterday could never have been produced in a million years by a long ball merchant like Pardew. It's a mixture of both. You need the players to execute the gameplan. That first goal was a smashing team effort and Shelvey said it was something they were instructed to practise in the warm up. McClaren was much more astute in his post-match interview, talking about the importance of a passer like Shelvey opening a defence and tempo being key. I'm sure he knows the formula, he's just not had all the tools for it. We'll see where it goes from here.

He played on the left for Tenerife, didn't he? I think he'd be absolutely fine there with a good LB behind him. Long-term, he's probably a fit for 10 but I think he's better off sticking wide for now and keeping on learning his craft. We still need a LW, obviously - if that Montero rumour is true we should be all over that.

Great to hear the 1st goal is a move we've been practising. It was executed so well.

He's not as talented a dribbler as Ben Arfa but his overall game is better. He's sensational and certainly the best of those, in my opinion. The others all had some form of big-ish weakness in their game, Gini is pretty damn complete.

Lovely, lovely finish.

That pass is as spectacular as you'll ever see, man

The subs were OK, tbh. We naturally sagged back due to the mistake, the players are human and feel pressure. His subs are the worst thing about him, imo, but I thought today's were fine and helped to combat some of their threat. Good job, Steve.

He'll frustrate but he looks a very natural footballer. That pass will get real attention but it was how easy he made some more subtle moves that really impressed me. Couldn't care if he's erratic as fuck, I'm happy to have a risk taker there.

I thought he was quite decent, after his first few touches. Got a couple of good interceptions in, nice Cruyff turn, comfortable on the ball. Think he could be a very useful player for us.

Finishing aside, he was very good. If he hits a vein of goalscoring and form and notches 10 for the season, it'll have been a really solid year for the lad.

This guy, man, by the way. What a phenomenonal footballer he is. Could very realistically hit 15 this season. Starting to run games too.

Apart from, you know, the first 8 games of the season.

That bench is horrific, mind. So f***ed off about Colback. Hope he either tears his hamstring or bites someone and gets a lifetime ban. Prick.