Gallowgate Toon

Can we stop saying £85m worth of full backs. Hall is on loan.

One of the big things around both Livramento and Hall was that they both have positional flexibility, to be fair.

Very rarely frustrated with him but really disappointed in him today. I know we've got a game midweek and he probably wants to protect some of them for that but 4 players looked fucked by 65 minutes.

It's very wet and that will have played a part in Pope's decision but it was still fucking shit. Someone should've called he had time.

Very, very strange from him this second half.

Absolutely dreadful from Pope. Genuinely amateur.

Hall was fine in his first game in months, one shit pass to Pope aside. He's very talented and now is the time to start upping his minutes.

Not only have we got the worst end of the entire deal through little fault of our own, they couldn't just wait one more day?

Sometimes, an injury pile-up can lead to a couple of good results in a row due to there being some surprise elements that opposition can't plan for. I'm sure Howe will concoct something useful up. I wouldn't be shocked to see 3-4-3 or something against Man U.

We definitely can't hammer Wilson so I think we sometimes go with either Gordon up top & Joelinton left or vice versa while hoping Willock can get back up to speed quickly.

This particular shot felt a fairly consistent problem for us in the first 20 or so, reminiscent of some of our play against City and Brighton with opposition roaming and finding spaces behind the midfield. It got a lot better as the game went on but it's hard to know if that's because they scored and changed tactics a bit. Bruno caught between press and a lack of decisiveness from the rest of the midfield.

Seems Twitter is as lively as this thread this morning. As a fanbase, we need to support the team but we also need to welcome & educate new fans too. It's pretty shit to tell anyone new to fuck off and it's not going to help matters in the long run either when it comes to stadium expansion.

I actually couldn't see the teams come out because the cards were being held up as high as possible by the very tall person in front of me that might've been a niche problem for me on the night though.

Ah shit. Wilson's got some hard graft to put in. Thought he was weirdly meek yesterday - hoping he gets fired up for some of the tougher opposition we've got.

I thought Miggy was sat way too narrow when he was on the right and the Murphy sub was a way to try and stretch their backline a bit. A real shame about the injury. That said, when he sits wider, he can also be shit when he doesn't want to use his right foot & constantly cut back to Trippier.

The tactical reviews of this will be interesting. I couldn't quite figure it out at the time but it just felt like they always had an extra man available. On the break, they consistently had an overlap option or when we had the ball with the likes of Trippier/Bruno, they'd often hunt in 3s which you'd think would leave good outballs but they always seemed to shut the passing lanes down well. It did feel like the Arsenal game where we had plenty of our own chances but it never felt like we were truly the better team.

Think this was it. Things were decent at the start and then many seemed to realise they're actually canny good as they got the better of the early exchanges

Sounds more precautionary than anything. Hopefully, he just misses a couple at most.

Think it's too easy to say 'ballot'. PSG was the best atmosphere I've experienced at SJP ever and it used the same system. Naturally, the occasion and gamestate will always play a big role in how the atmosphere goes. I thought tonight started well but then dropped off as the game unfolded but not really in our favour. We do need more dedicated sections though.

Murphy-Almiron-Gordon behind the striker looked canny interesting for some brief minutes

Rough-ish night for the big man. They shut his passing lanes down well

Think it's become a bit of a theme against the better footballing sides that they've worked out he's not great at knowing what's behind him. Some simple movement and rotation and he can be undone.

Our best today. Wish he'd mixed up to some wider movements more but he was looking sharp driving inside.

Good game, interesting tactical battle. Howe had to roll with the punches after the injuries - pretty sure we were a form of 4-4-2 at the end. Draw probably would've been a fair result on balance of chances but it felt like one of those nights after so many missed opportunities. It's a level you so often get punished if you don't score.

If he stays fit then fucking perfect timing. Missed watching him at full flight.