Gallowgate Toon

I thought Miggy was sat way too narrow when he was on the right and the Murphy sub was a way to try and stretch their backline a bit. A real shame about the injury. That said, when he sits wider, he can also be shit when he doesn't want to use his right foot & constantly cut back to Trippier.

The tactical reviews of this will be interesting. I couldn't quite figure it out at the time but it just felt like they always had an extra man available. On the break, they consistently had an overlap option or when we had the ball with the likes of Trippier/Bruno, they'd often hunt in 3s which you'd think would leave good outballs but they always seemed to shut the passing lanes down well. It did feel like the Arsenal game where we had plenty of our own chances but it never felt like we were truly the better team.

Think this was it. Things were decent at the start and then many seemed to realise they're actually canny good as they got the better of the early exchanges

Sounds more precautionary than anything. Hopefully, he just misses a couple at most.

Think it's too easy to say 'ballot'. PSG was the best atmosphere I've experienced at SJP ever and it used the same system. Naturally, the occasion and gamestate will always play a big role in how the atmosphere goes. I thought tonight started well but then dropped off as the game unfolded but not really in our favour. We do need more dedicated sections though.

Murphy-Almiron-Gordon behind the striker looked canny interesting for some brief minutes

Rough-ish night for the big man. They shut his passing lanes down well

Think it's become a bit of a theme against the better footballing sides that they've worked out he's not great at knowing what's behind him. Some simple movement and rotation and he can be undone.

Our best today. Wish he'd mixed up to some wider movements more but he was looking sharp driving inside.

Good game, interesting tactical battle. Howe had to roll with the punches after the injuries - pretty sure we were a form of 4-4-2 at the end. Draw probably would've been a fair result on balance of chances but it felt like one of those nights after so many missed opportunities. It's a level you so often get punished if you don't score.

If he stays fit then fucking perfect timing. Missed watching him at full flight.

I don't feel like Spurs have many chips are down players still, some of the mopey bottlers from past seasons are still there. They started last season well in terms of results (much worse performances) but when things didn't go their way then they really faltered.

The chasm between the top 9/10 and the rest feels fucking massive this year.

Have it on good authority that Maddison is an absolute twat. Shame as he's such a good player.

Villa are a bit weird in that they've consistently outperformed their underlying stats since Emery came in, although not by massive amounts. I expected they'd drop off a tad but it's just not happened yet bar the odd run - very impressive. Tricky Thursday game for them this week but I expect they'll still get a result on Sunday.

I think Burn's development so far this season has been the most impressive. Last year, he was very, very functional but he basically just formed the 3 CBs line most of the time but then started to make a few more runs up the touchline in the second half of the season. This campaign, he's popping up in lots of places while still being decent defensively. He's actually contributing to build up play far more than just some decoy runs. I'd love to see his attempts to whip in an early cross

WIlson is definitely better at pressing. His nous for when to trigger is really, really good, and he properly commits to it when he does it. Isak can be great at it but can also be a bit lacklustre/seems to gas out easier. I think it's fair to say Wilson is better at 'traditional' hold up play too but he's not a better link man when it's about balls into feet, imo, he's levels off Isak when it comes to that.

I do think he'll be a big miss for us should we progress in the CL. Imo, his experience would've been important to help us manage occasions better. Less of a problem in the PL with the emergence of Anderson as a legitimate CM option against at least 3/4 of sides in the division. Hopefully, we'll see Miley progress in the second half of the season too as a rotation option, especially if we don't bring anyone in in January.

Going to be a pleasure to watch Reus. He's getting on a bit but still seems a very good player. Fucking loved watching him in the CL over the years. Gordon reminds me of mid-20s him a bit, actually.

Gordon just fits us better than ASM because he's a more rounded attacking player. His movement off the ball is the biggest difference - ASM was rarely very good at this for anything other than counters. What's been so impressive with Gordon this season has been he's shown different qualities in different games. It'd be easy with his speed advantage to be a touchline merchant who waits for the ball to come to him to try and get 1v1, but he mixes it up depending and consistently to good effect. He's 22, man.

Feels like he's getting a lot more space at the moment but this won't be down to opposition no longer targeting him, I think we've constructed a few possession moves to free him up more.

Walk in the park performance. Looks right at it.

Every week, I can't get over how quick he is. Love watching him now.

The movement and rotation in this team during games is currently exceptional. Palace couldn't keep tabs and we unlocked them for fun for 45 minutes.

Everyone seems to talk about how unpredictable it is but it seems pretty easy to overcome, in all honesty. Like almost everything tactical in football, it's been seen before in some guise or another.