Gallowgate Toon

We were getting humped by Brentford until Longstaff went off. He'll be a miss but it's not the be all & end all - the further reduction for midfield rotation is a bigger concern with a cluster of games. Expecting Isak to start and Wilson rotated for the midweek game.

Liverpool's self-righteousness about 'dodgy' money is hilarious, like. They go on as if their entire current situation, as self-proclaimed net spend champions, was built entirely organically, and often forget that their primary sponsor (ploughed in many millions) has some very questionable practices.

Weirdly, I feel pretty chill between CL and EL even though the former would be such a massive leg up for us and help us to presumably attract some unbelievable talent. For me, I feel more desperate for us to reach 20 wins than anything else. Something feels very satisfying to me about winning more than half of our games.

https://theanalyst.com/eu/2023/05/guide-to-premier-league-time-wasting/

Levi Colwill seems a great fit for what we want at the back but can't see Chelsea dealing with us at all.

Liverpool's away record is poor against bottom half teams, isn't it? It's a shame Leicester are so tragic defensively at the moment, I think they've got quite a few tools going forward that are a bad match for Liverpool's style.

Wouldn't be mad if we saw Isak-Wilson here, feels much more suited than the Arsenal game. They're going to sit deep, shore up the centre of the pitch, and look to break on us at speed. On the left or as a 10, Isak should more freedom to move around and find gaps than if he was locked in up top. He's also got a good long shot on him too. I'd be absolutely fine if we had Wilson as super sub though.

I still think a 'true' DM would be too restrictive for a Howe squad. We need another midfielder of Longstaff's ilk, someone who can rotate in-game to play deeper or further forward depending on gamestate and is capable of reading danger in deeper areas better than Jo & Joe. We tried this on the weekend with Joelinton dropping deeper but it's just not suited to his strengths to play that way especially against a really fluid midfield like Arsenal's. Rice is probably the best fit for this but just can't see us going for his price tag or winning the battle to get him. Thuram, maybe?

Cabella actually turned in some really good performances in the PL in the end but was a terrible fit for us and was no point in keeping him on. Chelsea away and Hull away were class.

Ferguson would be class. Brighton are absolutely mint negotiators though and would ultimately price us out, imo.

I think we should see Wilson-Isak again in certain games but yesterday wasn't it. It was the right intent but not a particularly strategic move. The beauty of Isak is that yes, he's class, but you can move him about to suit the game so easily as long as you have good plans B & C.

For all of his improvements, I'm actually a bit surprised Howe trusts him so much against certain opposition as the defensive side of his game is lax (unless he's being instructed to stay higher up).

Don't think the answer is necessarily in midfield because our system is designed for all of the 3 to press up on their men as high as possible and we then push the defensive line up. Even a really effective press will be beaten at times and defenders will be left to deal with it. We either adapt the press to try and enable better coverage or need a CB/defenders with recovery pace.

I do think our centre mids have been hung out to dry a bit with the January window, looking back, considering how we play the game at such intensity. Obviously, we've still done so well but there's been so few options to rotate that fatigue, whether mental or physical, has crept in a few times in the second half of the season.

Not seen the pen decisions back but I thought the general management of the game was absolutely wank. Effectively incentivised the shithousery.

Didn't think we deserved to lose but we definitely didn't deserve to win and they edged it on balance. The post that says we played well and poorly in different phases is bang on. Thought we made a few really key errors. 1. Getting too sucked into gamesmanship and committing niggly fouls which continued to slow the game down. 2. Midfield gaps - felt like we didn't learn from Liverpool and Villa at all. All were poor but the off the ball tracking was abysmal. We left acres at a few points from not very complicated movements and then our high line and slow defence were exposed. 3. Isolating Isak. He was class when on the ball but we were so slow in progressing play at times. Their closing off of passing lanes was immense and we were very reluctant to go direct, weirdly. 4. Dawdling at the back. Generally, we seemed to make decisions today at snail's pace all over the park, maybe as they were so quick to press on mistakes and we started panicking. They triggered press well and attacked quickly after turnovers.

I think his lack of presence is pretty overrated but it was pretty staggering a few times today where Xhaka just ran off Joelinton with ease.

Yes and was an absolute legend

Is/was your dad a teacher, by any chance?

This felt like the crux of the problem today. Once they went up, the passing lanes were shut down so well. We were slow at making choices and started to dally so they capitalised.

The entire midfield was rubbish.

Lavia nicked it off Bruno at a crucial moment obvs but he still lost half of his 'duels' and his passing was patchy. He's in a poor side though and has very obvious potential.

Whole midfield was poor first half, all very slow to release the ball. Considering how small our pool of CMs are and little they've been rotated, it's not a surprise we're seeing some sloppier performances at times.

Thought he was unlucky to be hooked, tbh, as he'd had a far better half than Murphy. Think he has some great tools to work with.

He'll be a miss but I think his absence at Villa was overplayed and we'll be fine as long as none of our other CMs pick up knocks...