Gallowgate Toon

For someone that apparently can't dribble, I thought Barnes looked canny on the ball as well.

Important result. Performance leaves a lot to be desired but that felt like a bit of a statement from Howe, to me, about ensuring we do the basics of what he expects.

He needs a run of games, really. He did fine, much better off the ball after a first 20 where I thought he was caught a fair bit positionally. Can tell he's not that confident but that's where the games need to come in.

An effective performance.

Think if Tonali had been fully fit we'd have seen him in.

Annoyingly, I'm sure we would've beaten them if it had stayed 11v11.

I feel unreasonably excited about Hall, considering how green he is. Just feel he could give us so much more flexibility on the ball and even off it in cases where we want FBs to tuck in more centrally to help pack out midfield.

Honestly, Brighton wasn't that bad. We had good chances in the game and their goals came from long range strikes rather than big chances (thought we had the best of them). It wasn't a good performance by any stretch and they showed us how to beat a press & build play effectively... but cabbage-heed it wasn't. For this, assuming all those 50/50 injuries go our way, I think he'll go: Pope Trippier Schar Botman Burn Tonali Bruno Joelinton Gordon Wilson Barnes Perfect world is that we're 3-0 after 60 minutes so he can sub important players for Tuesday. Problem is, Brentford are a canny side.

First time in a long while where I'm really not sure what the starting XI will be for multiple positions.

How do we think he's going to manage the mid-week games then? I reckon for the first half of the season, he'll be going for it to see how we get on and not rotating as much as folk expect. Rotation more likely to happen in the second half of the campaign if we get deeper into comps and have a chance to potentially further bolster things in January. Maybe see more of the likes of Livramento starting in the Carabao. Isak/Wilson I can see being consistent switching options but, outside of that, I feel like it'll largely be the same starting XI core unless there's obvious poor form in there. We've got the benefit of 5 subs as well now to help manage minutes.

433/4231 - I don't think it really matters. We just need to get him the right support and into positions he does most damage in. Howe has been pushing him up more this season, almost flipping to him playing AM at times. We did it a bit last campaign but in the last 3 he's effectively been man marking the deepest mid for the press, presumably because he's our most efficient ball winner in midfield. Just hasn't transpired into the desired result yet and the defensive shape of other mids has been very patchy. Along with hesitancy for the back line to push up as well against Brighton.

He was isolated against City and Liverpool but we're usually very good at supporting the striker in our shape. We often have a line of 5 attacking in and around the box, sometimes even 6. And that's usually anchored by Bruno as well. I'd like to see 4-2-3-1 used more in some games this season though. If we're going to have more tight matches than last season then I expect it'll get quite a few airings as we push for the win.

Would maybe argue that his best performance last season could have been Leicester away after the restart, tbh. He was fantastic.

Bruno has burst up the right a few times in those games and Tonali has switched in. Did it well against Villa but not others. Bruno's heatmap is actually mad compared to Joe and Tonali. He has so much responsibility.

I watched the Gallowgate Shots lads last night absolutely lay into others and saying Tonali shouldn't be taken off. While I'd like to also see him stay on, his output since Villa just hasn't been that good while still having had some decent moments. Looking at his numbers, you can see why he's maybe not seeing games out. Stats aren't the only evidence, it's a small sample size and he's had some very tough first fixtures for his adaptation period, but a few things are interesting: 1. I presume this is tactical but the strongest spots on his heatmap to date has been in an RB spot and RCM. He has very few touches anywhere other than on the right. This'd be fine if his role was fixed but we think he's meant to be rotating with Joelinton/Bruno. 2. Pass completion in the opposition half has been very low at 70%. Far lower than both Joelinton and Bruno at 80%. 3. Defensively, his output has been minimal compared to the Brazilians for interceptions, tackles, ball recoveries, and duels. Again, maybe tactical but just not involved enough here. He's also behind Longstaff 22/23 on some of those stats too. He has obvious class and will be a monstrous signing for us in time. There are already positive signs of upgrade in chance creation and dribbling etc. but we know Howe expects midfielders to put in dirty work as a bare minimum.

Pasted Villa when they were playing together and winning against Liverpool before Tonali went off. It's just far too early to say. It's not like we didn't have performances like Sunday with Willock and Longstaff in the team either.

Don't think full backs being sat that deep is uncommon against Brighton. Think part of De Zerbi's plan is to leave wingers high and very wide to open up space. So you either leave them be and push up or mark them. Seems like Howe thought we could leave 4 on 4 and let the midfielders pull into wider spots to compensate.

Aye, feels weird. This maybe could've been in response to Brighton's pressing to have some alternative long options. Weirdly, we never switched play. Not sure if that graphic shows that Bruno doesn't trust Burn on the ball as well

Good side, Brentford. Shape-wise, this is more of a straight up fight than Brighton. I don't think we'll change formation yet but I do think there'll be some personnel tweaks. For all the midfield is getting rightful shit, the forward line has almost been as abject other than Gordon. Reckon Miggy hits the bench and either Murphy or Gordon take the right. We either play Isak left off Wilson or Barnes left & Isak central. Depending on Jo's fitness, I think he gives the same midfield another chance. Same defence as usual but, personally, I'd like to see a change from Burn at LB. Allows us to spring some tactical surprised + they have pacey, agile forwards.

Watched it back and still don't think Brighton were that great but always interesting to watch De Zerbi's tweaks. Their press actually had a huge hole in it like ours but we refused to exploit it. We used the switch loads last season and it was on on multiple occasions yesterday usually for Joelinton/Gordon. We did it once but Joe was unlucky with the touch. Never again. Think we were caught off guard by the their aggression and potentially due to Liverpool not feeling confident. They used a canny tactic from goal kicks. Gilmour would stand by the GK to create a bigger gap for forwards to take up/pull defenders for long balls and then essentially ran in a straight line past our first pressing line. Totally disrupted who we should cover and then they'd long ball it into Ferguson/JP to get on the turn. Ferguson absolutely owned Burn at this. Their flexibility in build up is great. Comfortable keeper and CBs. Sometimes Veltman tucks in alongside Gilmour while Gross moves up and wider. Sometimes they go traditional box between Gilmour-Gross. Sometimes JP dropped in deeper while Gilmour played as the lone pivot. Really nice and some cool ways to see how we could make a Wilson-Isak partnership work as well as a future with more balanced FBs on both sides. From our side, the midfield tracking really was chronic, possibly due to lack of clear instruction. Joelinton is the worst for this - I reckon good footballing teams have him targeted well now that simple runs behind undo him. Wonder how much Botman is the organiser for us usually on that side.

Interesting to look at the heatmaps from yesterday. Don't think I've ever seen our back 4 so flat. When you look at theirs, it's basically their front 4 on our back 4. Wonder if they pinned us back or it was tactical. Something I hadn't noticed from the first goal is the pathetic covering by either Almiron or Tonali once Pope fucks up his kick. Estupinan picks up Pope's ball with nobody around him, he has acres and it forces Trippier to rush in a bit despite already having Mitoma to worry about. Absolutely shite defensive effort on all 3 goals. Still don't think Brighton were even that good.

Isak off Wilson could be very exciting but I can't see a formation change yet so I wonder if the answer to our midfield gaps woes lies at full back. Or, at least, partially. When wingers tuck into that 'half space', you either need mids to drop deep or full backs who are confident to step up and inside safe in the knowledge that a winger or the midfield will cover the overlapping runner. Emery's 6 at the back comes to mind but probs not as extreme. Hall feels like a naturally good candidate for this. With Hall also being a midfielder, you'd think he can step in when we're in possession too. We often go into a diamond on the ball with Bruno ahead of Burn/Botman/Schar but that can be dangerous once Bruno is beaten as the CBs are flat and on the turn. An alternative option is for Hall to step up and play alongside Bruno and we then form more of a box which should give us more options to build play. Still risk but it means there's more cover in the centre of the pitch ahead of the CBs for second balls.

How can Liverpool be winning without a dedicated holding player?!

The only thing Hope is wrong about is that Bruno/Tonali can't play together. It's far too early to say anything like that but it's also a strange point. They're not similar players and they play in a 3. Why isn't he saying Tonali can't play with Joelinton? He mentioned this after the 352 experiment in preseason and has now raised it again as a convenient controversial talking point for his rag.

I'm really not sure what Longstaff and Anderson are meant to be doing here. Bruno pressing high is something we've done a lot so you'd think the midfield would know what to do when that happens. Maybe trying to cut passing lanes but there's such a gap behind them that a simple chipped pass renders it useless.