Gallowgate Toon

I actually fear for him starting as a CM against Cabaye and Tiote, both are just as tough as Joey and are far better players in that area of the pitch.

If Joey plays in the middle against Cabaye and Tiote, it's going to be nasty for him imo. 2 vastly superior players physically, as well as Cabaye being on another level technically. 1-2. Think it'll be a carbon copy of the Fulham game. They'll come out the traps and have a lot of early pressure but after 15 minutes, we take the sting out of them and keep possession much better. From around 35 minutes to 75, we'll be much the better team, creating some good chances and putting 2 away. Around 75/80 minutes, they'll nab one and put us under the cosh again, only for us to stay resolute, absorb pressure and take the points.

Ok adding " at all" might be a bit harsh, Ill moderate myself to saying he doesnt have any end-product YET The flick to cabaye was class, admittedly. Hopefully he can follow it up with some more of dat. Setting up the odd ball or two doesnt automatically give you end product, I`ll reserve that term for someone who creates something every time he has the ball. Jonas have on many occations done the same thing, would you also rate him as a player with end-product? If he did, he would be in Real Madrid, not here. Nani has end product, Jonas doesnt. Obertan clearly doesnt either ( although that can very well change , so heres hoping) What I have seen of Obertan tells me we are dealing with a fast and athletic player who can run past people but struggles a bit with getting it "in the box" or that brilliant final pass. If he can get that final piece in the puzzle sorted he is going to be amazing, but hes still a bit off, in my honest opinion only of course. He's played 3 matches for us and has set up at least one clear goalscoring opportunity, or an actual goal per game (albeit technically 'indirectly' against fulham). Whatever way you dress it up as, one thing he's shown so far is that he has some form of a cutting edge. As I said, inconsistent but something he definitely has in his locker, is the ability to play that killer ball.

Obertan set up the whole move for our second goal against Fulham with a fantastic run and pass to Ba, in a pretty key area. He nearly set up the winner against Arsenal with a clever back heel to Cabaye and put in a delicious ball for Ameobi in the derby. He quite clearly has a cutting edge and some inventiveness, it's just inconsistent but to say he has no end product at all? Garbage.

I think he's coming and told Twente he won't leave unless he can come here. I'm fucking hoping here like.

Accepted?!?!

Gignac's got some ability and quite frankly is miles better than Loven and Shola. I'd take him in a heartbeat.

He was hit and miss. Did some very good and difficult things and then some quite strange stuff as well. Promising, raw and lacking in a little self-belief. He's a very useful looking counter attacker.

He played a couple of more impressive ones than that as well. He bossed that midfield area from about 25 to 75 minutes, growing in confidence now.

Yep. They were very poor and saw little of the ball after 15-20 minutes or so.

Can't really see how he wasn't anything but promising tbh. I thought he was excellent on the counter for us, displayed some lovely skills, put in some good running, great challenges and went on some useful cross pitch dribbles that opened up a lot of space for other players. His ball to Ba was also spot on for the second goal. He's a strange player in that he does the difficult things very well but the simple stuff is hit and miss, which is usually down to confidence. He lacks self belief at times, that's very evident when it comes to the business end of the pitch but I remember someone who'd watched him a lot, claimed he'd be 'brutal'. So far, that's not been the case for me as he's put in 2 bright, if flawed performances and one poorer one.

Sick of Simpson atm. His concentration and awareness has never been great but he switched off a few times today and let his man get across him. Could've been a lot worse for us.

They started brightly, but from 20 minutes to 80 I thought they were pretty crap. They only came back into it when we took our foot off the pedal.

I think Jonas is still playing a little deeper than usual due to Ryan Taylor being left back. He's normally good on the defensive side anyway but he seems that extra bit cautious to me. He'll be more involved when he plays a few yards further up imo.

I thought we played quite well for large periods of the game. We passed it about a lot better, took control of the game and showed some great retention and paitience towards the end of the first half in particular. We lacked a bit of potency and shape at times but we didn't hoof and that was key for me. Got the creative foundations in place with Cabaye, we just need to get a left back, tweak our shape a tiny bit and get Ba back to his old form and we're looking good. Very encouraging.

From about 15 minutes to 80, he was the man. Some awe inspiring vision on show and some great work ethic. He took the game by the balls in the second half. What a fucking player.

Hope we end the game looking like this: Usual defence... Gutierrez Tiote Cabaye Marveaux Obertan Ba Still, it's an ok line up, I guess.

Highly ironic considering his player policy is virtually the opposite. Maybe that's what he thought about NUFC when he bought it? Probably not far off!

Highly ironic considering his player policy is virtually the opposite.

Displayed some lightning foot speed. Very impressive for such a tall lad. Thought he was a little bit erratic and raw but his potential is huge. It's great that he's a nice kid as well, Vuckic seems of similar ilk, personality wise.

Gosling reminds me of a younger Nolan. Doesn't contribute much good general play, looks to add the finishing touch, arriving late in the box or making runs. His passing was woeful.

Love him. It's a shame he's had to play so many games as the defensive player. Want to see him dictating the play a bit further up the pitch, that's where we'll see his real genius.

He's not just a poacher. He proved himself to be a very decent footballer at other clubs. I saw him play some great passes and show creative link up play at Hoffenheim. Whenever I've seen him before us, he's always looked a good player technically.

We'll control possession as a 4-4-2, but only when Tiote and Cabaye are playing together. We don't really have anyone else who can impose themselves enough, as a combination.