Gallowgate Toon

Honestly couldn't give 2 shits about his shooting. That's not what we bought him for at all and his relatively decent goal output for us has been a bonus. Not sure who made the comment about his tackling but I'm sure Bruno has excellent defensive numbers generally. Gets through so much work, reads the defensive side of the game so well.

Thought he was pretty good today, tbh. Unlucky with his shot off the bar, loads of nice bits of interplay, an assist. Considering he's playing through a knock then that's not bad going at all.

Feels like we really learnt from the 10-man game earlier this season. Liverpool are obvs a better side but we chose to up th tempo really well in the second half.

Thought he was bright when he came on and liked that he took up flexible positions, Zinchenko-style.

Boomers will say it's not a red but he goes into Longstaff's head with some force. Very easily could've knocked him out. Dangerous as.

Another assist? He played a pinger of a cross in with his left in the second half, hope he carries on using it more.

That confidence is starting to grow in possession, you can see there's more levels in there. So impressive, man.

Real shame we don't see him in the final third a bit more often. He can be really fucking good there.

Desperately need another attacking body in Jan to stop this ridiculous Isak-Wilson cycle.

No Isak at all.

Howe was pretty complimentary about him in a follow up question later on in the presser. Noted again about his technique but that the defensive side of being a left back is new to him. Coupled with Howe talking in the same presser about how there's barely been any training time between games and I think you start to see why he's reluctant to chuck him in.

Imperative we invest in January now after the latest round of setbacks. Some of these players are going to struggle for fitness for some time after returning, and the recurrence rate for a few seems like it'll be quite high as well.

All aboard the GK and wide forward of some description now, like. For the latter, this season, our wide players have tucked into pockets quite a lot rather than sticking to the touchline all the time - Gordon is picking inside forward positions more & more now and Miggy roams far more than he used to. Annoyingly, I think his movement has improved a fair bit but his actual output has regressed this season.

Think in about 5 years with Leicester Barnes only had 1 injury that kept him out for months rather than weeks Shite luck. Maintain that, at the time, Barnes and Tonali were very clear upgrades to our starting XI. Had both been largely available, we'd likely have been seeing the best of them now.

We were deservedly ahead at half time against PSG away, like.

They're all fucking shit. Adam P is funny when on his travels but that's it.

No idea if it was visible in the stadium and he'd just opened his jacket as walking by the strawberry, tbf. England is canny unique for home/away vitriol. Plenty of places over the continent and in other cultures, it's very normal to have fans mix without issue in the same end. Milan/Inter derby they now mix etc.

Pretty unsavoury moment coming out of the stadium. A young Asian lad with a Milan shirt on had apparently been sat in a home seat. He didn't look like he had a clue what was going on and didn't seem to speak much English but someone tried tripping him up from behind and started demanding very aggressively how he'd got his ticket. He was fucking harmless and probably petrified. People should be taking issue with the club, not randomers.

Isak even dangled his leg as well.

Really hope he's backed in January. The way he works, it's almost better to get some players in for Jan to help prepare for next season.

Aye, it's been absolutely class. The feeling on the day is just immense. For all last night ended up in disappointment, the collective joy in the Gallowate when we thought we could go through when up and Dortmund went up was brilliant. CL was always a free hit for me this year once we got that group but I'm still gutted about how last night unfolded because we were so close.

He just doesn't inspire confidence in others, above all else.

Ultimately, the key is what his bosses think. Context innit but my suspicion is that if we ended the season 7th but didn't progress in any further in comps then they'd not be best pleased. Seems the exact reason we tried to bulk out the squad more this summer. Howe is class and will win something here. I feel it in me bones. Edit: I don't think they believe qualifying for CL again is realistic either with every other front to compete in.

We're a serious club again and, for me, we have enough of a platform already to go and win something and that's exactly what we should be doing. Top 4 and cup final last season was great fun, we should be trying to do at least one thing better this season. If you gave me EL/ELC and a trophy this campaign or a top 4 finish alone, I'm taking the former every single time.

Some great posts in threads about how he went for CL next round option as he is that kind of person, caution to the wind etc. - that will bode well in the future, I'm sure. That said, how it feels to me tonight, we need to win something this season and the EL was another realistic shot at a trophy so I'm gutted about how we've come out with nothing.