Gallowgate Toon

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.

Oddly, I think that's happened on a few occasions this season

He seems to have so much freedom of movement now that I don't think it'll hinder his individual game too much. He was doubled up against a couple of times when out wide yesterday but managed to wriggle through, I think he's a got the hang of it.

The speed of his feet for that nutmeg was amazing. Playing better and better, delighted for him. He seems far more relaxed, at the minute.

This. Whenever I watch him, he just seems to be really average at the vast majority of things. I really like Cuadrado, mind, I think he'd be class over here.

If that's true, what an utter pisstake, man

I don't think Sissoko deep would be a problem against most teams, to be honest. I'm sure he dropped back against Spurs and put in a great performance, stealing the ball on a few occasions and getting us moving forward, IIRC. Him starting runs from a deeper position would mean he has more options to pass to when breaking forward too, he's often only had one or two players in support this season. It'd require Abeid to be incredibly disciplined with his positioning but, from what we saw in that run of games, he looks like he could do it.

I can't get away with him stamping on players, but I find his general antics to be refreshing, in all honesty. We live in an age of PR-trained, boring players, it's good to see a mad bastard back in the league.

I should be raging, but, frankly, I feel like I can't be arsed. I really wouldn't be surprised if he gets the gig full time if he keeps us around mid-table until the end of the season (which would probably result in a cushty 8 year deal for the dickhead).

Neville, man Joyless tit.

Typical Not that this wasn't expected, mind, just means annoying people get to bleat on a bit longer.

I'm more inclined to trust the words of his former manager, rather than PSV's technical director, like.

Might as well just say 'we won't appoint anyone until the transfer window shuts'.

Sick of players always choosing to move inside when they're up against full backs on the edge of the box. Take it down the line once in a while, man.

Some French lads I used to work with say he's really, really good. Mustn't get excited...

Looking back at the game, he was also way too deep at times, especially during possession play. He needs to be positioning himself in the final third more, a proper 'head coach' would see to that, I'm sure.

He looked very isolated at times.

Utterly abject in the second half. So directionless with our play.

Obviously nowhere near like last week but set up some opportunities with good link up and actually tried to do things. They shut down space very well, mind, just highlights how much we need a proper coach. I hope they persist with him. Being stop-start will achieve nothing, his confidence is fragile enough.

I don't know why they seem to think we were in for Defoe, he clearly doesn't fit into our transfer model. I'd probably take him on a very short term deal, but I don't think he'd be getting in the team ahead of Perez and Cisse. He'll be OK for them for a year or so, IMO, not that I think they can provide him with much service. Probably get 5 or 6 goals and it'll be enough to keep them up.