Gallowgate Toon

Seems to be quite a mixed perception of what we 'need' in relation to what our aims are this season. Personally, I think our squad is strong enough to finish top 10 and have a good run in the cups this year which would be a good transition season for us. It's also harder for us to bring new blood in when we can't shift some of the deadwood. This will be a challenge for another year or so, imo.

It feels like he's got a lot worse. He's never been great, obviously, but he'd show these flashes of ability or pace that made you think he might have *something*. This year, though, it's like he's barely able to pass a ball or do the most basic of things.

What a debut. The best thing about him is that he should be extremely effective playing a number of ways. Palace will be a different match for him with more of the space locked down but I think he has the technique on the ball to keep possession moving in the final third as well as the ability to create his own room. Really looking forward to seeing him play in person.

I like him and think he has the ability to nab quite a few goals over a season against weaker opposition. Ideally, though, we have J Madz in that slot with Little Joe coming off the bench

If it's Lascelles & Burn then we're going to be sitting deeper.

Wouldn't be shocked to see Howe go for the unpredictable factor and go 4-4-2 with a devilish Isak-Wood combo.

We don't really play with wingers so I expect we'll put Isak on the right when everyone is fit, until the next window. Considering how we typically use Trippier for width on the right, and a combination of Targett and Joelinton to stretch the pitch on the left; there'll likely be a lot of license for positional rotation between the front 3. We've seen this in patches anyway between Maxi and Almiron making runs across the pitch to help build attacks towards the opposite flank. With Isak, I reckon we'd see Wilson rotating in & our of central spots as well.

Saw a thread on Twitter which highlighted that the team shape has been more like a 343 in possession the last few games with Burn dropping in but back to a 433/451 out of possession.

Howe is definitely just trying to keep expectations in check, just in case nothing comes off. In fact, I think a lot of the comms and 'leaked' info this summer has been for that exact reason. I don't think the budget murmurs have been anything to do with perception to other clubs - that's something that'd be handled within club and agent circles as elite sport isn't very big.

Didn't Paqueta have a poor second half of the season? If you combine that with the scrutiny over his time at Milan, you can see why there might be some reluctance by bigger teams to take the risk.

Parker's gone.

The players who started yesterday won't have properly trained today, surely? It'll have been recovery, some light work, and probs a tactical review session.

Lovely interplay to win that free kick. Looks a good footballer.

Stats aren't everything blah blah blah but imagine saying a year ago that a midfield containing Longstaff and Joelinton would clearly contribute to outpossession-ing Neves & Moutinho? This man's a freak, tbh.

I think he'll start Isak. Wood has had a lot of minutes over the last week and I generally get the impression that Howe is more wary about dropping players in who have more defensive responsibility due to the pace change of the league. Of course, our forwards have pressing duties but that shouldn't be too hard to give basics on for Wednesday.

Just watched it. Thought it was a solid performance, tbh, considering we were missing 2 of our best players. Our play in 2/3s of the pitch was generally great - lovely structure and some nice patterns of possession. A few good interchanges in the final third too but we're not great at breaking down sides who are sat deep as it is. What a moment from Maxi. Solid point against some good players (but seemingly not a good team). I was surprised at how passive their midfield was.

Murphy has got a decent strike on him, to be fair. Unfortunately, he's always aiming for the fucking post. I think he's got worse. I'm usually fairly relaxed about player performances early on the season but he was also absolutely shite in preseason. Just consistently makes the worst decisions.

It's hard to focus too much on one game early on in the season as Bruno did have a good showing against an even better midfield in City. I just think him being deep reduces the best strengths of his possession game and freedom to dribble through the lines, partly just because he's further away from the action. He's a good long passer but his short & medium passing is absolutely world class. Not a problem against sides where he has the freedom to progress and we want him to be the one to initiate the majority of attacks a la Forest.

I think having Bruno as the deepest CM is great for a decent amount of games but against strong possession midfields or matches where we're likely to be more under the cosh than not, it's a waste of his talent.

Miggy will have 7 more for the season by then.

Will be a decent battle when we play them. Big Joe guna get jealous and 2 foot Paqueta?

Wood's header against Southampton was a banger, tbf.

He's going to be fucking class.

A tough game and another solid test for our midfield. I hope we fare better than the Brighton match where I expected us to be more competitive in the middle. Should be a good'un.