Gallowgate Toon

Posted this before but I know some lads that played in Ashworth youth setups and he's not a popular man at that level. Everyone recognised that he's a smart operator but the terms used were 'snake', 'sly' etc. General consensus was that he'd do what it takes to get what he wants, and he was ruthless as fuck while being proper smarmy with it. Not necessarily all bad traits in sport at all, tbh, but it made me think after seeing the wee chipper fella presented on TV talking about being in the middle of a wheel.

Iirc, he got injured in training the last day of the international break. Didn't seem like it was directly connected to a game. If that's true, it's probably worse in terms of what it could mean for his long-term fitness

His fragility will get worse & worse as he's getting on. His body has suffered a lot over the last 10 years. He's a bit of an FFP conundrum for us. If he manages to get back to last season's goalscoring form to see out the campaign then weirdly I'd cash in as it'll be the only time we can realistically extract any decent value from him to help our long-term goals - it's not like we're a side that struggles to score. I just don't think he's really reliable enough for us in seasons where we actively want to compete on multiple fronts. If he doesn't then hit that form then it's probably better net result for us to keep him around and massively manage his minutes, but that really doesn't feel like him.

If true, would that be 4 players from that squad who've done that over the last year? Yikes.

All of the current top 3 are often playing at least one CB in at least one of the FB positions, tbf.

His movement looks sharp as a dart still. Naturally intelligent player.

Didn't appreciate the finish for his first at the time. Incroyable.

Felt like we just had an MO to control tempo as much as possible in the first half so there was a lot of safer passing, probably with Forest having played ET a few days prior as well as them doing us on the counter 6 weeks ago Gordon G+A next weekend.

It wasn't a pen. He'd lost control (Botman put him off really well) and looked for contact because of it.

Murphy picked up a knock in the warm-up which gives more explanation to Gordon staying on. Still could've brought Krafu on a few earlier, like.

For all of the snipes about him only having Plan A, btw, I think he's trying quite a lot of stuff at the moment and has had backup plans in recent away games. We tried much more of a 3-2 today in possession, Miley back and usually partnered by either Tripps or Longstaff with Bruno roaming. Feels like the 3-2 is a way to try hold possession more and manage the gaps we leave during turnovers at the moment. Didn't work perfectly as our inclination is still to press a lot but it shows that he's tinkering imo.

Well in the hunt for European contention and a winnable cup fixture coming up, I think he's done pretty decently this season considering the context. I am frustrated with his use of Burn, like. Yes, he did stuff well tonight when it came to scrappy defending (and he did improve as the game went on) but he's such a an obvious weak link while our midfield is down on personnel and it creates pressure on other players imo. The set piece point is a fair one to a degree but Burn is also part of the problem when it comes to conceding set pieces

Back 5 works well when we're sitting deep and protecting, we've never used it for other scenarios. It's hard to say if it's a good fit for the likes of Bournemouth at home.

Big, big result. Bruno

Just can't see a genuine midfield 2 working with our lack of legs there unless the plan is to sit narrower/deeper and counter. None of the front 3 are comfortable dropping in to that area if we're overloaded and our CBs seem allergic to aggressively pressing up as a unit, they seem to have picked up a bad habit of dropping off a lot.

Just can't see us encouraging that much mass turnover in one go. Creates a lot of risk considering FFP too, margin for error is so much tighter and we've seemingly built real team spirit. The outcasts will rightly go but I think we'll only see a couple of the next tier leave, depending on how much we can fetch per. Feels nailed on the Miggy will, followed by 1 or maybe 2 of Lascelles/Wilson/Targett. I reckon 4 or maybe 5 genuine first team squad players in, some straight into first XI contention but others more development/rotation to grow into the campaign.

I bet we're absolutely delighted for City to fight battles for us

Gordon being out probably cements Burn starting. Tino is too useful as a flexible bench option when we're light on wingers.

Genuinely convinced this is for advertising purposes

Our numbers prior to the injuries taking hold were really good, weren't they? At decent strength, every team will have games or small runs of crap performances.

Assuming Gordon is back and Willock makes the bench, I'd start the same team as Luton apart from Tino for Burn - it feels pretty likely Elanga starts RW.

They play 3-4-3 don't they? Or 3-4-2-1?

Barnes had 2 decent chances after his goal and then the Bruno cross too but Luton shithoused excellently to take the sting out. We were through another time too but the ball bounced and Murphy headed it to nobody iirc. I think Luton played a massively risky strategy all game, tbh. We had players free nigh on 1v1 quite a few times in the game but the passes didn't arrive or the final ball was poor (mainly first half). Refreshing though after years of promoted teams sitting deep and countering.

I get that he's not the sexiest winger about in terms of being pua dribbly but some of his finishing and ball-striking is ludicrously good. Delighted he's back.

Really depends on the tactics for Forest, tbf. If the plan is to sit deeper and work counters, Burn is fine. If we're going to try and dominate and pen them in, he should be taken out of the firing line for it because they're a big counter threat.