Gallowgate Toon

Bit of a lesson for him today off the ball. Still, some lovely touches. (Joelinton and Bruno not much better.)

Got a weird feeling that we're going to win handsomely

There are some shouts that Pope has a ceiling too, like. Wouldn't dare get rid of him as he's class but finding some better competition is no bad thing.

This is just a fun opportunity in a season where we've got a chance of achieving something (still believe we can win a trophy this year, regardless of this week). Don't understand panicking about it. Although, I only actually speak with 1 mackem so maybe that's why

But he's barely moving Neither coming deep nor trying to work channels in the last 2. Just seems to plant himself between CBs at the moment. It's likely due to trying to maintain a base level of fitness but it's frustrating to watch when he can be so fucking good. For all the talk of service this year too he's missed quite a few really, really decent chances.

Think there's a fair shout that he's pretty rusty. If he doesn't improve before new year, I'd be going out for a keeper and sacking off one of the current lot.

Yup, don't feel selection was wrong today but the gameplan seemed lost. It's a shame as he showed in 21/22 that he can coach a really good sit deep and counter team but we're not seeing it anymore. It came out a bit last season when we needed it but, PSG aside, we always seem to try and stick to our core plan at the moment. I think he wants to see us control situations with possession now but that requires good movement and stamina as well. Felt like it might've been prudent to try starting deeper today as Spurs always start fast. Hindsight is a wonderful thing though.

After some immense performances last week, he's been canny tragic this week. Nature of the beast with him. Likely due to the situation but I've found his tracking back the last 2 games to be very poor.

Anderson started 4 league games in a row before getting injured. Don't disagree about the defence, made that very clear already.

2 such un-Howe performances. We'll have the last laugh over Spurs at the end of the season.

I really think the rotation think is massively overplayed. Defence aside, we rotated plenty when a decent amount of the squad were available. Isak-Wilson, all 4 wingers getting starts, pretty much all of our midfield options apart from Miley (understandable) and Willock (injured) were used too despite there being some preseason hangover.

Really disappointing today, I'm not really sure what our plan was meant to be in the first half which is ultimately where the game was lost, but this is kinda classic Howe. A couple of poor results usually culminate in fairly class winning run. Wouldn't be surprised at all if we win the next 4 in considerable style. It is mad that we went from playing that fantastic football against Man U to the last 2 pitiful performances. Just so worryingly open at times. Getting a few back this week will be huge.

Expected a lot more from him today with Wilson on the bench. Thought he'd go pelters for 60 minutes knowing he'd likely come off. He's not a luxury player, imo, but he can be annoyingly inactive when things aren't going our way. Pretty sure one of Spurs' CBs today was a full back which makes it even more frustrating.

Midfield have almost impressively been absolutely nowhere defensively while contributing nothing going forward.

Just not even done the fucking basics while we have the energy. Piss weak off the ball, not tracking runners, taking too many touches. Fucking up relatively easy chances doesn't help.

Have we actually done any research on Spurs?

Been a genuinely disgraceful performance, tbh.

If we go for another central midfielder, we'd need someone like Odegaard who can handle the hard work in that area while being more creative. Failing that, a playmaker who will sit in from out wide. Our current tactics see loads of tucking in from those players and they often take up AM positions while full backs and/or centre mids overlap.

Miggy is a very useful tactical player, especially against the harder sides with our current style. He's far too hit-and-miss in the final third against the 'lesser' teams to be a regular starter though.

Phwoar, Wilson being a bench option would be fucking dreamy even for a 20 minute run-out. You'd hope we can maybe get Barnes and Willock on the bench for Milan too.

I think it's fair to say the next 2 games are likely going to be a battle for us and we'll do exceptionally well to put together complete performances in such a short turnaround against good quality opposition. Doesn't mean we can't get positive results perhaps with changed up gameplans and potentially some luck. Spurs are looking brittle and have injuries themselves - could be smash & grab territory for us but I don't think we'll outplay them. Milan is a slightly different kettle as it's at home, crowd adrenaline should be high as it's high stakes, and we may have 1 or 2 back for the bench. Must be hard for the players during this run because the next game and maintaining a physical level must be on the brain while playing. Likely exacerbated with the CL being a crunch match.

Brentford. Barnes started left, Gordon started right.

That clip from Burn the other day was so interesting. He felt like he'd played an entire season, mentally, when it came to one of the international breaks.

I think the best we can do is aim for ~70 points again if we're going to continue on multiple fronts and see where we land. If we can sneak 2 more wins from the next 4, we'll only be a few points from 35 at the halfway mark. Feels like we can easily close that gap in the second half of the season if we have better luck with injuries + some new recruits.

Have thought for a while that the second half of the season will be much more for him and I still BELIEVE.