Gallowgate Toon

He went for it but it didn't pay off. In hindsight, we should've looked to control the game more after the first went in as they love open periods of play- hopefully, it's something he learns from.

Gutted for a great lad and 'keeper.

Fantastic effort. Please play like this next Sunday!

What a picture that first one is.

Absolutely awful. Someone who seemed like a really good person.

Wilson as a bench option would be terrific for tomorrow. Wilson-Isak brothers of destruction to finish the match, plz.

Some of the commercial team are over in Riyadh this weekend for a Liverpool match watch party. Seems like an event with VOV Gaming.

He's a class supersub so even if he can make the bench over the next couple of games then that'd be lovely stuff.

Feels like a bad psychological defeat for Arsenal considering how meek they've been for an hour.

Nice move. Arsenal have been wank 2nd half.

Looking forward to the red card.

Big game for the interim midfield, as Gakpo seemed to drop in as a false 9 a lot last night. Assuming we go 4-2-3-1, not sure who'll play #10 but they'll have a decent defensive job to do. I think it's important to keep ASM out left against TAA as that's his bet for success (not sure how well Salah tracks back these days either). Maybe Gordon behind Isak (presuming Wilson makes the bench along with Willock) is a good fit.

It's harder to tolerate flair players rejecting systems now when, Messi, one of the most instinctive players in the world thrived under a tactics psycho like Guardiola.

Agree. We need to get some relationships built up for the likes of Isak and Gordon. The latter to me seemed to play it quite safe on the weekend as he's figuring us out. A couple of times, he could've turned or played a ball around the corner but he chose to make the easier pass - worked fine for keeping things ticking over but we lacked that moment of play to open them up.

Looking back at Bournemouth, he seemed to largely be dribbling inside and going into congested areas. He's got a good left foot so I hope we encourage him to mix it up.

It felt like the Wilson knock sounded a bit precautionary so he might make the bench for this. 4-2-3-1 for me. Lots of pace to break with between Isak, ASM, Almiron & Gordon.

I think Isak's game is pretty flexible, he has the touch and intent to pass & move which suits trying to break down a side sitting back. Has a decent long distance strike on him too. It just requires other players to be on the same page, like pushing up when he moves out of that central space or when to show for a give-and-go.

The judgment of the success of the January window will be closer to the end of the season. There's loads of football left to play. It was the same after summer, folks going on about not having enough in attack etc. We've taken a somewhat calculated risk, yes, but way too early to say if it's a failed gamble or not.

Saw on SofaScore that he averages 6 successful passes a game this season? He can go long periods without being involved but that feels very low.

Watched some of it back and the game never seems as bad as at the time, still not great viewing obviously. I don't think it's legginess, but we seem to have switched tactics a bit with Bruno out in terms of our press aggression, maybe we're more concerned about being caught on the break. Or maybe ASM and Isak don't lead the press as well. I also felt Trippier was a lot more concerned about bombing on than usual. There were some signs of some half-decent linkup but, ultimately, it just looked like forward players who haven't played with eachother much. There were a lot of times Isak would make a dart only to be ignored etc. Bruno does things a second quicker (as well as making unexpected moves) than most and we miss that as well as his defensive dirty work.

Willock has a really annoying knack of letting parts of the game pass him by, I thought Gordon looked really up for it without being very impactful. Some nice touches and attempts to get quicker passing moves going.

Yup. I actually thought he wasn't bad on the ball etc. but that was just shit from him.

He went looking for space because they were sat back a lot. He's not a player to just stick in one spot and wait for a couple of touches.

Thought he was alright up until the final ball which was generally rubbish, goal involvement aside.

Think this is a general consequence at the lack of rotation we've seen and something Howe will need to figure out next season, imo. Feels like players were figuring eachother out in the attacking lineup. We miss Bruno when we're the dominant possession side.