Gallowgate Toon

Ake has always struck me as someone who can play well in a 3 or as a full back but struggles as a CB in a 2. Would absolutely have him as a reinforcement, like.

Really like what he's doing with us. The positivity, some of the organisation to set us up for the break is great, we press well, and are showing some signs of becoming more coherent in attack. I just think he's great, tbh. Give him what he needs and I think we'll see some really good football.

Gutted. We deserved a win.

Isn't Lamptey exclusively played as a wingback, whereas Trippier can play fullback as well (plus, on either side of the defence)?

The Botman links are getting stronger at the right time; encouraging that it's now progressed to a fee being mentioned. I thought he was a smaller ball playing defender but he's 6'5! Get him and Trippier in early and we're off to a good start.

You've just read he was part of the England set up; does this not change your mind at all? He seems to be highly rated.

Really good people aren't necessarily at the big clubs every time...

A big thing for Howe will be getting defenders who are also comfortable on the ball as well as actually being able to defend - you could see what we were trying to do yesterday on many occasions but we lacked the conviction/skill/ability to build moves well from the back. Our best hope ended up being Joe turning a couple to move play forward, and a few decent balls behind their fullbacks. I swear Lascelles used to have some level of competency on the ball but he barely seems to be able to kick it these days. A colleague is a Fulham fan and he has pretty solid football opinions - he says Tosin is really good; excellent athlete but also excellent on the ball. Looking at a few clips, he reminds me of a much more physical Mapou. A bit of 'scouting' on Kamara and he looks to be exactly what we need in midfield and seems to have real calibre. Feels like the sort of signing that would be far too good to be true.

Trippier would be so good. He's obviously a very good player but it's just the intent/signal too that would likely soften up players who are less keen to join because of our position.

Was a weird game. 4-0 felt a bit flattering to City but you could also tell they were a class above at the same time. A truly obvious difference between the sides was composure. We actually built really decent positions on 5/6 occasions but just seemed to always pick the worst option when in their box.

Dubravka actually made the first move to the ball. You want your 'keeper to communicate that's his because he can literally see the play in front of him. Clarke would likely not have got a decent headed clearance anyway as there was no pace on the ball.

At the time, I blamed him. Looking back, I think it's Dubs' fault. 'keeper should be claiming a slow, looping ball in his 6-yard box every fucking day of the week.

We saw the power today of having someone in the middle who can turn a player and break the line. Joe was class at times until he looked to gas out after 70 mins or so (fair enough). We're shaky passing out from the back and we don't have a great outlet to boot the ball up to (Wilson is a nuisance but it's not his natural game) so having someone who can collect deeper and get things moving forward is massively important. More midfielders, please.

I loved Benitez here but this core group of players looked worse under him than Howe, at times. Howe is working to build a different legacy and is learning about this squad. I honestly don't buy that a defensive manager would have come in and make all that much difference to this team from a points gaining perspective this season - the squad is incredibly stale and looks weary after years of scraping by. We tried being uber defensive a few years ago and didn't win our first 10 games or whatever. Things only really changed when we were able to defend from the front more and had an outlet in Rondon. We need quality new players and we need them quickly. It's a pathetic indictment of our central midfield, perhaps the most important position in today's domestic game, that our best one at present is a failed striker.

Think the 4-3-3/4-5-1 worked nicely in spells, and it was good to see some pressing & attacking play with intent. Ultimately, too many aren't good enough.

I think this would be more worrying if he were a permanent appointment. Seems like they've got their eye on the man they want (we've just poached someone else from Liverpool...) but need someone to do some of the grunt work in the meantime until they're available.

It is noticeable just how stale the squad is, like. Effectively having to reposition players just to freshen it up a bit isn't a good place to be. *Just* a few really astute signings can massively help bolster this squad.

Tbh, it was just refreshing to not roll over and provide some occasional threat against a good side. Not that that's actually good enough, like. Some positive tactical tweaks today, considering he never changes anything

Feel slightly fucking robbed after that, tbh. Liverpool don't need additional help getting wins, you cunts.

Absolutely this. Clubs work in so many aspects of the business into deals now too. Single commercial deals can span front of shirt, sleeves, front of boards, back of boards, fanzones, digital static & dynamic (which can break down massively), digital takeovers, hospitality coverage, social, pre-roll etc. etc. What level of scrutiny are they expecting to go into here?

The majority of clubs have so little common sense or market knowledge when it comes down to their own commercial deals - how the hell are they going to help regulate others? It's nonsense. Also, sponsorship deals can be structured in many different ways and are often packaged with digital rights where there's currently a shift into valuing fan data etc. Not a chance that can be easily regulated.

Hopefully, Howe is nowhere near as short-sighted or emotionally OTT as some in this thread. Poor performance after a good showing. I'm not convinced about the main shape of the team - feels like 4-4-2 hybrid asks too much of these players against good sides. I thought going 3-4-3 would help us but we got absolutely whalloped when moving to it. Centre mid is such a problem for us, especially against good teams. I think the best route is to pack the midfield - he used 4-3-3 at times at Bournemouth and it feels like something we need in our locker. I get the calls for Hayden but I don't think he's the answer alone, and he comes with other issues. Most importantly, he needs to keep calm and analyse where things went wrong today (players seemed very, very lax after last week) without ripping it all up. Some progress has been made but we can't forget this team was absolutely tragic before him for a reason. Always loved this about Rafa - never too high, never too low. He's absolutely seen the worst of this lot today so his next decisions will be really interesting.

I've just figured out where this is. Why is she in there!?

A 'kid playing with adults' is a pretty bizarre overstatement in the context of that game. He was fine. He made tackles, kept the ball moving, made a couple of good runs, forced a decent save and was a block away from maybe sneaking in a goal. Also made some poor decisions in good positions. My main criticism of him over the last 2 years is that he's become too passive. He too often takes a safe route which is a routine he needs to get out of.

Personally, I'm really enjoying us not having one of our midfielders be defensive. Unless you've got a Kante type, they can often be a bit of a waste imo. Willock will rebuild his confidence. Seems like this week was hard on his legs so he's got to get into the best shape he can first & foremost.