Gallowgate Toon

What a lad. All the luck in the world to him. Championship to Champion!

Very predictable outcome, very poor attitude to the second half imo. Sick of us doing dumb shit against them Such a shame after such a brave opening 30. For me, you have to twist at 65 mins. We'd restored some stability but were looking tired and timid in their half. I just don't understand why you don't make your move then, it's not like we were looking likely to score before.

Even considering the state of the game, we have a stretched squad. Why are we waiting so long to make a single sub?

Why is he so fucking allergic to subs?

Their first goal is a good one, tbf. What we're doing on the second I have no idea.

I really enjoyed the formation and general approach to the game. Felt like a test of shape before the fixture pile-up ahead...

The best

Class battle with Barcola, tbf. Got mullered early on but Miley is so smart so can adjust well.

Just kind of expected that he's some level of really good each game now (Leeds aside).

I thought he linked play well

Phwoar, that was sexy. Pedri-like?

Class performance. So many were immense.

Think that absolutely abysmal reffing decision knocked us right off. We've recovered really well.

Bruno is an elite 8, we shouldn't move him. We can find ways to get him more involved in deeper play while giving him the freedom to get forward. In theory, I'd say Miley is maybe the best profile we have for a lone DM. Smart on the ball with a range of passing, can drive forward, decent enough legs/engine to get back & cover, not scared of getting stuck in. However, I think you lose him as a box threat considering how poor our other mids are at scoring (other than Bruno).

Our crossing stats this season are quite mad, like. We're way out in front with 588 attempted, Forest are next up with 547, and then Spurs with 507(!). Compared to previous seasons under Howe, we were fairly middle/upper middle of the road for this one. It seems a bit weird to me that we've suddenly gone this way but it's probably not totally by design. I think as teams sit deeper & narrower against us, we look to stretch the pitch but a lack of patterns/coaching/quality/bodies/balls/any of the above, we don't really get anywhere so just end up chucking it in against a settled defensive line.

I thought the reaction to the Bournemouth experiment was a bit weird. Howe sort of downplayed it as something we wouldn't see much as he saw some good and some bad, almost as if our 4-3-3 is flawless? I decided to torture myself and watch Hope's post-match gurning review and he agreed with Howe. Either way, our strikers are isolated just as Isak often was, but neither of them currently have his qualities to make up for it in certain moments. There are reasons that so many of our midfielders and attackers have abysmal attacking output in open play this season - it's not solely down to their quality.

It feels very much like the Pep/Arteta approach. They play the same system & tactics almost all the time, but the difference they have is that they have lots of quality depth to do that. We need to be more creative with our solutions. Quite infuriating to watch us play a team that do concede elements of control in the middle to play Rogers further forward but we just won't ever do it anymore. The other thing is that we did used to when needed when we were a more 'inferior' squad than we are now.

Again, his movement for me is very poor. Doesn't look to stretch the line anywhere near enough, he's always dropping back like some kind of LWB.

I'm just trying to get into his head at the 75 mark and what he's thinking. I don't know you how you can watch another game where we're struggling to create chances and not think there's something fundamentally wrong so we really should try something different. I feel he'll see we have decent 'control' in the game so it's not worth risking that when one down, but the problem is this is a well-worn pattern. You have to take risks. I feel like the data behind our season is probably quite good, we'll be up there when it comes to territory and xg etc. but maybe that's clouding things for him in a way in these situations. It creates the illusion that it just needs the margins to flip, but I just don't feel that way about us this season. We feel off and often lifeless.

Just slowed things down far too much, for me. Probably because he's knackered

Love him but he really does need to try something different when we're in losing positions in the last 20. Another side happy to cede possession against us. Willock is doing nothing, might as well get Osula on with Woltemade for that last stretch.

Fantastic performance, he's really growing. He should easily be a starter in our midfield right now.

If we're going to relentlessly cross the ball in, when are we going to be allowed to have 2 strikers on the pitch? Too one dimensional and lacking gumption on the ball. Miley was excellent.

What a footballer.

I think Gordon's movement is the the weakest part of his game. It's the biggest difference you notice when Barnes is there instead.