Gallowgate Toon

Absolutely dominated in the centre yet again, this is basic stuff here and Pards has even mentioned it in interviews. Anita and Cabaye are good players in their own right but are NOT 2 man midfielders. The centre today provided little protection, little imagination, no attacking penetration and didn't even pick up second balls. It's an absolute shambles, Diame ran us ragged for 70 minutes and they happily passed it around us too, meaning our 2 men were chasing shadows, we're simply not physical enough for it. This has been our biggest problem all year and a massive reason as to why we've been so poor, it makes us so predictable.

Great finish.

Most fans were great but one or two just took it too far. While waiting to walk to the stadium in Zand square, one lad walked into the group by the fountain with his dick out and just pissing. I dunno if he actually 'hit' people but i'm not sure how he could have missed as he was walking through/between groups while doing it.

I thought for the little amount of football he has played over the last 18 months, he didn't do too badly at all. His touch is fantastic and he created some good opportunities with some excellent passing, I think we'll see him on Sunday.

Is looking more and more confident in our colours. He played a lovely ball out to Obertan too just after his goal. He will be an excellent player for us, put him where he was against Liverpool, a defensive midfielder, and we'll see the best of him.

Me and my two mates are in that, proud. I'm in that shot too I went over with the mentality of not going for the match, as I didn't have a ticket (there was 6 of us and 2 tickets) and was fine with that but I won our little raffle and got in, so glad I did now as it was brilliant. Fantastic trip, got the ferry back to Hull and have just landed home. Loved Brugge too, brilliant town.

Generally agree apart from the last bit, I think he seemed more committed defensively earlier on in the campaign. We would get more out of him by having a more attack minded style but there's definitely a bit of snap missing from his individual performances, people are saying it's his pace but I think it's more his agility which is looking a little tired.

Anita played really well in midfield yesterday, if we go into the next match playing the same formation, I'd have Anita any day. 4-4-2, then fair enough as we need the physical presence.

Reflecting on his recent performances a bit more, I think it’s either in-game tiredness (both physical and mental) or a slight dip in motivation. He has tried some, let’s say, lazier attempts at taking players on of late but also his defensive game has gotten worse too. In the first 6 games or so, when he was tracking back he was winning tackles regularly and getting plaudits for it but ever since that Man U second half, we mostly see a lazy attempt at sticking a leg out or something along those lines and the opponent more often than not glides past him. He still makes sure he’s back in his ‘zone’ and tracks well enough (he made an excellent defensive headed clearance yesterday) but overall it’s not at the standard it was, much like his attacking play. I don’t think anyone should really be getting on his back too much mind, he’s still producing some real moments of magic a game, even if it isn’t quite as much as before.

Decent result, thought with a bit of tweaking we could have won. Perch looked positionally clueless before he had to go off, Anita came in and did his job excellently. He guarded the space ahead of the defence, nicked the ball a few times and kept a cool head when in possession, Makelele-esque. I thought we were in control after that opening 10, we managed to pass it about a bit which will no doubt be forgotten because we played negatively in the second. I can see Pards' thinking, it's a very English manager thing to do, 'keep it tight for the next 10' but we end up naturally going too deep and running ourselves into the ground, we're always shagged by 75 minutes. I thought Ba and Cisse were fine, HBA was a little hit and miss but again he created our goal with excellent skill, he might not be playing his best at the minute but he's ALWAYS a threat. It was a little concerning to see him so deep at times however, whenever we lost the ball in the second he moved within 10 yards of Simpson, he did look very leggy in that second half. Cabaye has been much better of late, he looks way more comfortable in that 3 man midfield and supports attackers much better as a result, we lost a bit of bite when he went off (I thought Fergie was a poor choice to come on). Quick word on our Argentinians, I thought Colo did a lot of things right today but they were overshadowed by the negatives, the sending off was unfortunate in my opinion. Jonas was poor, his pass to Cisse was woeful, such a lazy attempt. Overall, not too bad as they're not a bad side by any stretch. We're getting there, hopefully we stick with the same formation for the next league game, some of our players look so much more comfortable for it.

Thought he was alright myself. Nothing special but some nice passing and whatnot.

Not a red, a supposed stamp yet he's not even looking at him and completely misses? Silly tackle certainly but only a yellow for me. Just reckless.

Made for the 3 man midfield and was excellent there. His positioning was top notch compared to Perch who seemed to forget to sit back in his brief display. Also showed a bit more confidence to do something a little different and express himself.

He can be tired in games if he's being asked to work hard. I wouldn't say he's naturally the fittest.

It wasn't that noticeable when he absolutely burned 3 WBA players, in particular Mulumbu, who's no slouch. It's simply a tiredness issue, I'm certain.

It must be said mind, that he very rarely gets the ball in that position where he set the goal up. You could tell they both thought he was going inside but he's actually got a competent right foot, very nice bit of skill.

Stupid pass led to their goal, he's not exactly a calming influence in the centre at times.

Think he did alright, can see why he thought it'd be best to shut up shop for a bit but our boys aren't really the fittest to always hold on.

He is looking leggy atm, the little fizz he had in his step at the start of the season is gone. Perhaps he's being overworked defensively but even his decision making is looking a little lax.

Although he has his faults, Hoillett could've been a really useful squad player for us.

I hope we go 4-2-1-3 for this (I think we need to compete man for man in the middle to have any chance at getting a result) and that we have Anita, Jonas and Cabaye in midfield. I know Jonas has been poor so far but I think he has what it takes as our box-to-box player, we can use Anita as a sitter (I think he’ll be able to cause Suarez some problems when he drops deep) and Cabaye as the more advanced ‘playmaker’. Up top, Ben Arfa on the right and Cisse in the middle. I’ll get stick for suggesting this but I’d have Obertan on the left. I don’t think Sammy’s really ready to play from the off, Shola should be nowhere near our starting XI and Marveaux appears to have gone missing. This is the type of game where I think Obertan could be useful though, I think our best chances will come from counter attacking and while his productivity can be hit and miss, his pace could cause them all sorts of problems and he’s a little less predictable on that side too. I never really expect anything from Anfield but think we could get a point with that line up, I think that’s the system that would really get the best out of Cisse too. Saying that, I fully expect some bullshit 4-4-2 with Cisse and Shola up top and lopsided wings, we’ll be outnumbered in the middle which suits their passing style and we’ll change it round later on, only for it to be too late, resulting in a 3-1 loss.

So we basically surrendered possession to West Bromwich Albion What kind of ridiculous comment is that, we're at home man, we should be looking to dominate teams te majority of the time.

He's looked shite this season but I agree that it looked like he'd been told to hold yesterday, which doesn't suit him at all. A shame really, he looked very promising last year as a box-to-box midfielder.

I couldn't believe how he set up yesterday after he's pretty much outright refused to go 4-3-3 with Cisse and Ba all season, instead shoe-horning them together. He had the personnel for a potentially effective 4-4-2 yesterday and went 4-3-3 with Shola and Simpson making up our right side. Absolutely comical management, Mike Bassett-esque.

Unbelievable this plank managed to waltz straight back in to the team despite Anita looking far more capable at full back. Simpson and Jonas need dropping asap but I doubt that'll happen as they're both 'hard-working' favourites.