Gallowgate Toon

Hang on, he had a collapsed lung last season, didn't he? Fucking hell.

Considering we made little effort to pass from the back, it's not a surprise he didn't touch the ball very much. It's not like he was playing as one of our B2Bs either, his position seemed far more rigid.

The amount of times he fucking lumps it to nowhere is infuriating. Not all his fault, yesterday, as Anita and Colback weren't always dropping deep enough for a short option (would be nice if we tried split CBs, once in a while), but still. Bar the odd run of form, he's shit. It's incredible that he's still here.

Said it in the match thread, but that Stoke possession stat was very misleading. Like you said, a lot of it was just passing it around not taking any risks whatsoever, and especially in the first half it felt like they took a minute or two for every f***ing throw in, which I assume counts as possession for them. It did annoy me that in the second half we didn't do more to break up their possession because I thought we looked like a threat when we had the ball, so bringing Abeid on to help control the midfield more would have been ideal. This was my biggest gripe. It was almost as if Carver decided he knew they wanted to keep possession (to kill the tempo) so he just let them have it until we got the opportunity for a break. No attempt to push them up a bit higher so we could get on the ball (and in potentially better areas) and control the pace of the game.

That second paragraph is just spot on. Our movement on the break is decent, but the majority of our players' instincts when we're trying to build moves is just terrible as too many just want the ball to feet. It gets worse when we get towards the box too, often slow to get there, no attempt to speed play up in key wide areas and a lack of bodies and movement when it comes to delivering. We spent large periods of yesterday going at Stoke with 2 or 3 players. Starting Cisse, especially at home, would really help matters. It'd give Ayoze some more room to both play in and attack off the ball, whether he starts at AM or on the left.

Watching Perez is sad, like. Most of his service comes from him chasing things down. He and Cabella obviously have a bit of a connection but they're often too far apart to really hurt teams. That 1-2 in the box they played in the second half could've been good, it might also have helped if we'd have had someone else in the area to create a bit more space for them

Carver does seem to want to start out well by getting at teams, rather than feeling the game out, it's just his utter incompetence means he looks clueless as fuck when we run out of ideas and/or teams make changes to shut down some of our dangerous players.

It's pretty fucking embarrassing when Stoke, who had Walters (physically better than our centre halves), actually played it short from goal kicks on a number of occasions. We had Ayoze Perez up top for the majority of the game and I don't think we attempted it once

He could probably do with a bit of competition. I'd put in Santon against Palace, to freshen things up.

This. It was meant for Colback, initially, but it may well have been far too hard for him if Sissoko hadn't have got to it first.

Ameobi should've been the one to go off, really.

There's another quote out there saying he thought he was brilliant but out on his feet, can't see him dropping him after that.

I want to see Perez as a #10, but don't think this is the right one for it. I don't think we'll lose, probably draw 2-2 or something. Krul Janmaat Colo Dummett Haidara Abeid Colback Cabella Sissoko Perez Cisse

He was looking a bit tired but I'm sure he'd have been fine if we'd just tried to keep the ball for a bit, he just needed a breather. I couldn't believe Ameobi had stayed on.

As for this div, he looked like he didn't have an utter clue today. Tried the same thing virtually all game, even though it really helped Stoke keep possession.

I agree. I'd like to see him there against Palace, he's struggling in the CF role. He's better at it when we're away, but it's still a waste of his talents (at the moment).

Absolutely atrocious game, finishing and tactics (on-pitch and subs). Showed them far too much respect, we were almost resistant to breaking forward when we got the chance to. Carver was shown up, like, utterly clueless. Played right into their hands with endless lumping up of the ball, especially from goal kicks, no attempt to try and build from the back or even open them up a bit with short options etc. Our passing was incredibly impatient, at times, and shape non-existant. As we all know, we need a coach; that was just direction-less rubbish, I felt as if the players had no clue how to break Stoke down, we just let them have the ball. Ayoze is really struggling up top for (home games, in particular), we need to be dropping him back a bit and get Cisse up there. Cabella should've stayed on ahead of Sammy too, he'd shown great flashes and some simple tactics could've helped get the game in his favour and him back on the ball in the right positions.

His first few touches were good, gave it away and then reverted to type.

Based on nowt, I think he's going to work well with Perez and Cabella. Both are good movers off the ball and need a central presence to play off, especially during possession play. I'm intrigued to see how he fits in.

Genuinely curious about this as well. Seems they've just completely collapsed this season. Any Bundesliga followers (Tooj? _01? Jillian?) have an explanation? They can't score. The games I've seen of them this season they just don't seem to have a reliable #9. There's no Lewandowski anymore. Immobile and Ramos are good players, but they haven't adapted very well. Reus hasn't looked the same player this year in the league either. It's not time to panic yet, but they will have to get points very soon or they'll be in a battle down south come end of the season. Still time to get away from that. Immobile has been pretty much dreadful all season, he has really struggled to adapt to the Bundesliga. I'd be starting Ramos over him every day of the week, his style suits Klopps tactics a lot better as well. Mkhitaryan has been really poor too, you would expect him to be chipping in with a few goals but he hasn't scored any this season. I'm pretty sure Klopp will resign in the summer no matter where BVB finish now. The fans have started to turn which is a bad sign seeing as their support has never wavered until now. I think he'll be in the Premier League in the next couple of years, either at City or Liverpool. Where's Bender gone? I've not caught them too much this season but a Sahin/Gundogan centre doesn't seem like a good idea when the teams they're facing are so good on the counter. For a team that's in the position they're in, they don't half leave the space in front of the defence wide open, at times. Going forward, they seem OK, but almost too fluid. They need more of a fixed point and some more purpose (which would come if they had more of a fixed point up top). It's a truly odd situation, I've only seen them play domestically in a few games this year and have never felt like they deserved to lose, but they're definitely going through the motions. It was good to see they were pressing quite high again tonight, in the first half at least, but have lost their edge when it comes to final third play; where's all that superfast, neat, intricate passing got to? The more I think about it, the more they just seem direction-less.

If de Jong is fit, and lives up to his billing, Wor Jack'll soon be competing with Sissoko for a CM spot. I imagine Carver will try and shoehorn him into the defensive midfielder role alongside Moussa, at first, but, from what I've seen this season, he doesn't have the positional sense to play there.

Merge Anita, Colback and Tiote and you get Abeid

He's a good lad and could have been a fine full back for us with a bit of decent coaching. I look forward to seeing his replacement in a meagre two years. We could've had Santon and Haidara challenging one another for a good few years, if we were still a proper club. Sad times.

We're definitely still playing well within our limit. Ayoze needs more freedom, for a start, I'd be playing him behind Cisse against Stoke.

Sexy as from Ozil.