Gallowgate Toon

Exciting. Spoke to an ex-player about Ashworth. Says he has a proper ruthless streak in him/can be a twat, but he's really, really good at what he does.

Have they been playing a back 3 all season? I look at the side they had out on the weekend and I feel a bit more confident. I don't think he'll start Alli or VdB due to lack of gametime but they'll make an appearance, I'm sure. I'd like to think that we can win the midfield battle, tbh.

What a finish.

Forest's right hand side looking very handy.

I only occasionally watch L1 games but it seems much more tactical. You get more time on the ball to make decisions but teams are more disciplined, on the whole, so the space to pass into is less.

You'd like to think in a league that's a bit more open than Ligue 1 that he'll have more space to play those through passes into.

Aren't Brentford in terrible defensive form? Everton will give us opportunities, like. Them coming to attack will suit us better. Fancy a close win.

Pretty sure it's going to be a Shelvey, Bruno, Joelinton combo to start with. Have a feeling Howe will want Bruno's ball winning ability further up the pitch, as well as his ability to pick passes. Willock to reprise role as super sub.

Generally, I like him, but his comments about the transfer window were pretty odd. Anyway, he's not a very good footballer. Hopefully, he's played his last game for us but goes on to have a solid career.

He'll start on Tuesday, probably taking Willock's place (personally, I'd take Shelvey out for Bruno).

I think we can put a competent back 4 together now; they'll still need good protection, but there's a good foundation there for a counter attacking side. Survival is all about the midfield 3 balance, for me. I think we'll need to protect Guimaraes a bit, initially, by not putting him in a 2 and letting him be run ragged. Play Willock and Big Joe just ahead of him and you have 2 players who can get forward to support Wood but also do some of the dirty work (to differing degrees).

We should be winning the midfield battle here. Dubs Trippier Schar Burn Targett Bruno Willock Big Joe Fraser Wood ASM Expecting Lascelles will play in place of Schar, Shelvey in place of Willock.

I think the role he played at Leeds is good foil for him. Part of a flat-ish 3 but with license to get forward & support.

I think he sticks with the 4-3-3 now but has genuine options to go 4-2-3-1 or 3-4-3 if he wants to change it up.

I'm not convinced it's quite a 4-team mini league anymore, tbh. Some very catchable teams.

I was disappointed last night after we didn't get Lingard in but I'm feeling pretty good about the business this morning. We've not been far from turning draws into wins as it was, so to bring in 4 players that do improve us should see us through, but it's still riskier than I'd like. I think the full back acquisitions are going to be the most important for us for the rest of the season. We've gone from Krafth/Murphy/Manquillo (I like him but he has deficiencies) & Ritchie/Lewis/Dummett to Trippier & Targett. While the latter isn't a statement signing by any stretch, he's seemingly great defensively and has more assists than Dummett and Lewis combined While Wood is the main man with Wilson out, full backs who can provide some form of quality into the box should nab us some goals. As we've now got defenders who are actually decent defenders but also comfortable on the ball, you'd like to think we can get a foothold in games better than before which should give attackers more of a platform to get some rhythm going. I get the impression a lot of the work on the training ground so far has been shape and defence-based, as that's been the immediate need to see us through to January. We're not going to be prolific by any stretch but there are some goals in our team and we've got to coax them out. ASM is converting at a decent rate, but Willock, Wood, Fraser and Joelinton all have tools to get a few goals each between now and the end of the season. Gut feeling is that we're going to be quite a handy away side for the rest of the campaign. Also, we should be an interesting set piece proposition now with a bit of work. Some big distracting targets in Burn & Wood.

I'd go 7. Lingard or Mavididi would've made it 8+.

I'm at a 4. We've been in most games this season, hence the many draws. We should've added enough quality now to be able to turn some of those into wins in the second half of the season. I think we've also got more fret from set pieces now...

I'm just basing my opinion on things that have happened, the evidence we've seen so far is that he has scored goals in streaks in the PL. You can spin the argument around and say that he's been in a shite side bereft of creativity for years and still scrapped out goals consistently - in fact, his time at Leeds might just suggest that he can flourish in a better footballing outfit... It's not like he's a header merchant either, judging by his scoring breakdown. I thought his focal play was pretty good against Leeds, like, but it's a very small sample size either way. Not worth continuing this, as you say, as we'll never agree until he's played more games for us.

The pattern is more likely to repeat than not, when that's been the pattern for the last 4 years. If he scores 7 goals between now and the end of the season, I'm really not going to give much of a shit if he has a dodgy touch sometimes.

He's only just turned 30, like. He's done this pretty much every season, according to the stats. His crimes seem to be that he regularly scored goals for unfashionable Burnley and is a bit of a throwback player.

I think he's going to keep the 4-3-3. We're going to need to give Guimaraes support & structure while he settles in, imo, and we're still likely going to need to sit deep and compact as we've not got in the pacey CB we were after.

This really would be fucking fantastic. Please happen.

Aye, this really isn't hard to comprehend. Saying that someone unproven and with question marks over quality is a definite improvement on a player that's has scored plenty of goals in this league just isn't a logical take.

I suspect Howe is going to keep us as a counter attacking team for the rest of the season, tbh - the defensive signings are suggesting it. Plus, Targett is probably good defensive foil for Maxi.