Gallowgate Toon

From February 2022 to November 2023, we had a good, often very good, defensive record. It wasn't a fluke.

If he's not doing that half space run then he's pretty much not doing anything else if we're the ones with more of the ball. Miley is so much more purposeful. Longstaff is another Miggy in our evolution. Can be useful tactically with his legs, stamina etc. but not what you want as a regular starter.

His issues seem mental to me. He seems quite flappy when he was ice cold before. Maybe a lack of confidence in his body but getting rolled and subsequently doing nothing to stop Jackson was a sad sight.

Tbf, he didn't move a lot tonight imo made it count when it mattered though. Probably going to bag about 18 league goals despite being half fit for 90% of the campaign.

He still has some mitigation in that clearly the squad is still quite stretched and it feels to me that a few are playing through things. The plan felt wrong but then we conceded so early that I expect we had to change things to get back into it. And then you've got momentum to keep pushing once you've equalised - we just look dreadful when we push on due to lacking legs in midfield, slow CBs (one having a crisis of confidence) and a deep keeper. We started the second brightly but, outside of Isak, so little fret with Flash off and Barnes crocked.

Effort rarely in question, especially if playing through a knock, but he's fucking doing my head in on the ball every match

Infuriating performance. I think the plan was to sit and counter but they scored fairly early so that was scrapped. Then Gordon was clearly not right so another spanner thrown in the works. Absolutely no conviction in our forward play. Far too open as we're prone to pushing on. Hurts to say as I love him but Botman needs to sit it out for a bit. Just nowhere near it. Whether he puts himself about or not, Longstaff is an eyesore in possession.

If Tony G hadn't got crocked then I'd have felt quite confident going into the second. As it stands, very little to change on the bench attack-wise.

Looking forward to watching the Willock-Gordon-Isak axis tonight.

The Edwards-Klopp situation seems a bit strange. He's miraculously interested in being a DoF again now that Klopp's said he's moving on?

I'd be up for the arena site if it was a goer. Repurpose current SJP into a business centre for the club/museum/reduced capacity academy & womens venue. Perhaps it could be an expansion for the foundation.

Man U still have to play Liverpool and Arsenal at their place - they are tricky fixtures. We could very well sneak some form of result at OT as well, should our form trend up from here. Brighton should have some players back by the time they host them too.

Chelsea are pretty shit against lower blocks, yeah? Does feel like what we did against Wolves is a good blueprint for this one. Go more mid, invite them on, hit with pace. Not too dissimilar to Villa, hopefully.

He's definitely a useful tactical player, he's just not what you want regularly starting at home against 'beatable' opposition because of his flakiness in the final third.

You can tell why he did his ACL, he's a bit of a contortionist What a talent.

Much closer to our old selves. I don't think it can be understated how massively important having some CM bench options actually is on many fronts but none more so that we don't have to manage legs as much through games. Gives us so much more flexibility. Lovely to see Willock back and looking sharper. I thought Bruno was unbelievable.

Hasn't Neto been playing left more recently?

Selling his house... but moving to Darras Road, apparently.

Barnes has a very good goals and assists output - he's more than just a finisher. Very fair to say he's a final third player though imo.

You mean they didn't recruit well enough in summer '22 and rather than having a manager be a magician who could make it work they needed another couple of windows to get what they needed? They went from 92 points in 21/22 to 67 in 22/23 despite spending massively on a striker, like.

I think Klopp is one of the best but he finished below us with some genuinely elite players at his disposal, like, and he's had plenty of of troughs in his managerial career. Not a given that he'd have replicated it. TAA was getting routinely rinsed last season until he was moved into his wanky midfield hybrid role for the last quarter of the campaign. Would've been interesting to see the outcry about that on here had it been us. Actually, Liverpool last year are a good comparison to us now. Dodgy defensive performances, slow as midfield, many comments that they'd lost their energy,

That age for an average season ticket holder is very common - even for a club with a strong 'youth' brand like CPFC they've got the challenge of an ageing ST base. You'll see more digital 'Fandom' products coming to PL clubs over the next year or two, awarding points for all kinds of behaviours.

I actually think this'll be a good game 3-1 us. Isak first career hat-trick.

That tracking back in ET was insane. What a class act he's been this season.

It happens canny infrequently/randomly so I wonder if it's just a decoy vehicle to keep folks guessing rather than being a genuine tactical plan. Probably helps save Tripps' legs a bit too.