Gallowgate Toon

We thinking that's a 343? Or is Hall in midfield in a 433?

Good to see the big man back with the Barnes news. He's a really solid LW option as well as mid.

I thought he had a decent amount of positive moments last season, tbh, but they largely seemed to come when he was a sub rather than a starter. Obviously not much output (although he did provide a few good chances) but some intelligent touches, movement, and build up play. The main difference this season is his drive to go forward and run at the opposition. He was far less confident in this side of his game last season, cutting in & playing simpler passes extremely often apart from one half against Southampton. I think his dribbling stats were generally pretty poor.

No idea why it should be a handball. It's not deliberate and doesn't benefit Gordon - it actually makes it harder for him to keep the move going.

He can definitely play a Firmino-like role when required. It's just not feasible tactically for us to always to be able to create space for him to run behind. In those situations, we either need him to play like a proper poacher and accept he'll be largely out of the game or become more of a link man to help draw defenders out. To make it work, it requires either midfielders running ahead, wingers tucking in, or both. He does need to move the ball quicker when he does this though otherwise the gap created is gone. From his time at Sociedad, there are some nice clips of his one-touch link up - it's very smooth when he does it so I can see with some more polish that it could be a really effective tactic for us. Or we just shove him out to the wing

Do we break out 5 at the back here to try and protect those pesky half spaces better? City are just about the best in the world at finding those spots. I'm expecting Hall and Livra to start.

It was cool to hear in his NUFCTV interview that he'd been working with Tindall on that shot - before, he said he'd have tried to hit top bins but they've been working on a more controlled effort.

Saying we were fortunate by focusing on their 2 half chances is like saying Brighton were lucky to win because we fluffed 2 good opportunities up in the first 7 minutes against them. In this league, every team will get at least 1 decent chance a match the vast, vast majority of the time.

This is perfect for us, tbh. Someone in excellent form while Tonali continues to integrate. I think the CL is where Tonali could be most valuable for the first half of the season.

Pretty sure Spurs were getting points at a good rate. We were neck & neck with them for a while. Last 1/3 of the season they capitulated.

He's becoming very unpredictable. Can stick wide, can drift in, can fly down the line, cut in and play incisive passes. As a massive bonus, he does decent graft the other way.

Even though we've had quite a few massive scorelines under Howe, I always feel like I enjoy them more the next day. So much to look forward to in the highlights. The Wilson goal was just gorgeous.

Feels like his distribution has gone up a level this season. Monster.

Could tell he started to feel some real confidence at the end there. Started rivalling Bruno for sexy turns.

Only gutter is the Barnes injury. Hope it's just a short layoff.

Phwoar. Electric.

It's madness

Playing through a bit of a knee injury according to Howe.

Even though they're at home, they will give us a lot of the ball and look to break. It should help us that we've just played Brentford who set up with a back 5. I expect pretty much the same side as last weekend. The only contentious call will be who plays RW as Miggy is theoretically a better option to cut in & shoot from that side. Think it'll be 1-1 after 55 minutes and we see the return of the fabled 4-2-3-1 to see it home. 3-1 - Anderson, Wilson, Isak to score.

Oooof rough night for Villa and Brighton. Interested to see how de Zerbi gets on. He's quite an idealist and I think against more consistently tactical opponents his system won't be as effective. His teams will have always leave some room for opposition to score so if you can nullify their attack then you've got a great chance to nick it.

I'd take quite a few of Milan's players in our starting lineup, like They're clearly a good side with some players in there that helped them win Serie A only 2 years ago and go deep in the CL.

Always enjoy the positivity of the StatsBomb guy when we're not firing. We're still in a solid place, despite some obvious issues showing in a tough run, thanks to the good principles that Howe has laid down. Howe says he tries to win every game which is obviously true but I feel like the buys we've made this summer have more been made to help us beat 'lesser' sides more consistently rather than try to solve our weaknesses against the better teams where our lack of particular individual qualities can be exposed if the systems are being outdone. It does feel like that's a good natural progression for us from last season too where we drew a lot with teams we probably shouldn't have while still masterminding some points when up against the big 6 (especially at home). - Barnes feels like a flat track bully of a winger who will bag goals & assists consistently against bottom & midtable sides. - Tonali was definitely bought as a Longstaff upgrade, imo - as good as he was at lots of parts of the game last season, he didn't have much attacking output in the league despite being pretty heavily involved in some of our attacking patterns & on the end of good chances. Tonali was more assister than scorer last season but bagged a decent amount in 21/22 so it's something he's got in his locker. - Hall is the complete opposite of Burn with main strengths going forward - he put several on a plate for Chelsea players last season only for every single one to be missed. It feels like that's an option for games where we think we're going to be on the front foot trying to wear sides down.

Quite similar to Brighton in a way. Really sharp start, missed some opportunities and then heads seem to drop a bit once they get their foot on it and controlled the tempo. We do seem to have abandoned the switch in a couple of games after it's worked a few times which is a bit strange as Gordon looks a proper handful when he's 1v1. Although, I'd add that our performance at Brighton this year was honestly quite a bit better than last season. Not good and it felt horrific at the time post-Liverpool but we largely kept them to shots from distance and had 3 good chances ourselves not including the consolation goal. Last season, we were absolutely schooled by them on all fronts - relentless attacks, barely had a shot, less possession etc.

That's quite similar to how Joelinton positionally plays as an LCM, no? Perhaps not quite that high but effectively having an interchange with the winger with Burn not often getting forward. It was noted before the game that Calabria has been drifting infield from RB at times this season so maybe we thought we could either pin him back more by having two in that space or capitalise on the gap he'd leave especially with Isak dropping into deeper pockets in buildup.

The right hand side averaged about 85% as a comparison and had the ball about twice as much. Whole pub went collectively mental after Burn put his 3rd pass under no pressure straight out