Gallowgate Toon

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.

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.