Gallowgate Toon

Getting ~30 league games out of him this season would be a big success.

He reads danger well but his execution of dealing with said danger so far has been a bit patchy so far. All good, I think that's just a pace adjustment thing.

Longstaff isn't as bad as he showed last night - he put in some very decent performances during the second half of last season, imo. He's just lacking in minutes and was playing with a lot of other 'cold' players.

When everyone is fit, we may see him starting on the left and ASM moving across to the right. The forwards do seem to rotate positions a lot this season under Howe, mind, with seemingly a lot of license to take up inside forward positions. There should be a lot of opportunities for him to get on the scoresheet regardless. He's capable of scoring long-range screamer too which isn't something any of our attacking players seem to be able to do.

Good workout for a bunch of players with barely any minutes in their legs. Always tricky to play a cup game like that, imo. Thought bar 2 5 minute periods we were in control and didn't seek to push it too much.

I've been watching Tranmere vs Newcastle.

Some people have no chill. First competitive 45 mins in a while. Paully D will clean up in the second half and ping in a half volley to make it 4-1.

Love the way he takes the ball on the turn. Really looking forward to seeing how he develops over the next few months.

Think we've been fine, tbh. Held the ball, created openings, they've only had one shot (which was actually a lovely move, as embarrassing as the lack of recovery pace from Longstaff was) for a team of players who've not played much yet this season. They'll run out of steam and we'll create more openings in the second half. Ref has been a disgrace, like.

I have an irrational dislike of him, even though I think he's a decent player. His bouffant hair at the minute absolutely does my head in

West Ham would be a shit move for Paqueta, not least because he'd have to put up with Rice being a whacky gimp every day.

Pope is an absolute giant. Big Joe and Little Joe are a decent size as well.

Also, another tall player. We're amassing quite the collection of freaks.

I'm an absolute sucker for a player who moves like Henry, like - it's pretty much why I loved Remy.

This would be absolutely mad. Fuck.

People have faith in Romano because he's well connected to Watford and some agents. Our journos will be speaking to 'sources' who are likely to be a step away from the deal, tbh, if they're not one of the negotiating or senior team (seems like the latter has shut up shop). We also appear to have a chain of command to SA which likely means we can't say much at all until everything is well lined up. I don't think what Romano is saying is particularly outlandish and he made claims over the weekend about verbal offers which nobody on the NE journo side seems to be able to confirm or deny which doesn't exactly paint their sources in a good light.

It's a fine balance but I've got to admit that I'm not very keen on quibbling about how a £5m add-on is paid for Pedro, as an example, if that's genuinely the hold up there. Hardly going to massively impact our FFP down the line and you've already admitted that you value the player at that amount to a large degree.

"Look, Dan, Fabrizio has done a 'here we go' now..."

Wasn't Luke behind on Botman too? I think we're a pretty closed shop now, in terms of leaks. Presuming our local journos are primarily using NUFC sources, there's a good chance they're a bit behind the curve. Nobody knew about the first bid for a start.

Fucking yessssss

Deal agreed?

Miggy will definitely have his most productive season for us this year. Whether it's going to be good enough is a different question.

He has us playing some absolutely brilliant football. Fucking class watching us steam forward in numbers against the best.

Although I think a deeper lying role doesn't utilise his best talents, he did very well yesterday for a very tough job. What a player.