Gallowgate Toon

Any chance they're doing some practice for the Jubilee?

The Sevilla fan on here absolutely loved Carlos and I could see why, despite some of the moments of occasional madness. I think that's a very good signing.

David can play all across the front line, can't he? Seems to have quite a few strong parts to his game.

Didn't realise Neymar hasn't started more than 22 Ligue 1 games in a season since becoming a PSG player.

I'd love for Targett to sign. There's a chance Howe may have already asked him how he feels about competing with another first teamer next season and not got the response he wanted.

If we want to pick up more points against the top 6 next season then one of the things we need is a strong DM who is comfortable on the ball, imo.

I don't think Neves is that good

I do feel weirdly quite sad about seeing Hayden, Gayle, Ritchie etc. go even though I don't rate any of them anymore and we're hopefully going on to much better things. Including Targett, I think we'll sign about 7... Can see a GK, LB, CB, 2 midfielders (one being Paqueta), and 2 forwards (one of which at least will be able to play out wide). 5 of these will be first-team ready.

I really like the look of Kamara but I'm not sure he's a true DM in the Premier League. Strikes me as a Bruno-type player, quick thinker and gets stuck in well but isn't a defensive powerhouse.

Interesting choice for him, as it sounded like he had some real options going into the summer.

Bloody fantastic job. Gutted the season is over, tbh.

If the terms of that Mbappe deal are true/as bad as they sound

Many of these sorts of journalists come across as genuinely joyless about the sport. I saw John Brewin sniping about Howe's terminology too

At the very least, he'd be excellent competition for Dubravka. Darlow's been a decent servant to us but he's just not at the level required at all. Woodman and Gillespie even less so. A loan would be excellent.

The January window was terrible for me. I had fuck loads of work on but was absolutely obsessed with reading transfer rumours instead. Absolutely can't be doing that again

Cabaye was a grafter and, for me, more of a moments player. It often felt like chunks of the game could pass him by but he'd keep working away and pop up with some real quality. It didn't feel like he dominated midfields very often, but that was sort of the style of our team anyway.

Do atmospheres ever transfer well on TV? There's just the unexplainable buzz that's about the place when you're in the ground, it's not only about singing for 90 mins straight.

He really is like many midfielders rolled into one. And he's good-to-very-good at pretty much everything. I still think he's best suited to us playing alongside someone a bit deeper and more naturally defensive, but he showed last night how well he can mix it up playing in that role too. I absolutely love watching him play football - he's just different to a lot of what you see now.

That was fucking amazing. The atmosphere

Personally, my overriding feeling about this saga is that it's mainly a really tacky approach, more than anything, and incredibly shit global marketing (which is supposedly the primary strategy for sportswashing).

Some of the journalists have good points but too often temper it by writing a novel about how they feel. Then you get stuff like this which is just absolute shite.

I think Bruno could play as a DM in this league but only against the weaker sides where we want to control tempo - and, really, this would be to play him as a deep lying playmaker rather than a true DM. Against good teams who often have very athletic players, it puts a lot of pressure on him that I think mitigates his best abilities in the PL. One of the best things about him is his versatility to progress play; he's a great passer with good range, yes, but he also looks to find gaps, play 1-2s, take on a man etc. Basically, he's an option as deepest mid but I don't think it's where he should be the majority of the time. I think Phillips is great foil for him, tbh, if he's still the same player he was.

Basically, as expected. Some decent parts in the first 30 minutes but we've been very flat since the second went in. Get some Trips and Wilson minutes.

He's a solid defender who can cover multiple positions but, perhaps most importantly, is someone who knows the club, tries 100% even in training, and is popular among the squad. Howe seems to understand the importance of a club's culture & identity; I wouldn't be surprised to see him keep some unfashionable players around the place over the next few years who serve a utility purpose. The big caveat is his fitness, of course, but he's likely not going to be playing much anyway, as has already been said.

City will likely turn us over but it's as good a chance as any to get a result. This has happened so much to them now that some genuine despondency might creep in for a bit.