Gallowgate Toon

Howe really did do a good PL job at Bournemouth for a while, like. Look at the squad he got promoted with and was the core for his first two seasons - so many absolute regens. Dan Gosling was a starter in their midfield ffs.

I'm happy to reserve judgment until the end of the window. But if we're going into the Feb games with marginal improvements at best then they should absolutely be pilloried for it. I can see some sense in building up through the window, players that we really want may come available the closer you get to the deadline. But does that counterbalance the risk of maybe getting 5th/6th targets in earlier to help make the difference? I guess if the players are really, really good then yeah. Basically, they've got to pull some more Trippier-like stuff out of the bag.

We should be buying a mix. Having good league experience does actually count for something. Even really good players sometimes don't initially adapt when they join. Considering our main links are to foreign players, I'm pretty sure we aren't operating a PL experience-only policy. When we went into the window, I really wanted a CM (and still do) but I just see such massive problems at both ends of the pitch that feel more pressing. A wide forward who can operate as a second striker and scores goals would be tremendous.

I thought he was OK. Some nice touches, a couple of times he was slow to react etc. I quite liked that we didn't just try to lump it up to him and wanted to mix up build up. What I didn't like was the lack of trying to get crosses in early for someone who obviously wins a lot in the air. Got to be smarter than that.

Mad that Villa have lost more than us

We're not actually that easy to beat though. We've drawn a lot of games and are often 'competitive'.

I expected 2 more wins in the league - today and Norwich. We're playing kinda how I expected though. I think the biggest problem we have is the mentality of the squad - a fair chunk of this lot have been grinding out staying in the division for years. While final positions have looked comfortable, we know that most of the season has been tough work each year. That's not healthy for high performance and players become harder to motivate for the slog each passing year. We've been a fine margins team for a long time. The last few seasons, it's been a slight shot of fresh blood that has got things moving in the right direction again - Almiron, Willock, Rondon coming into fitness etc. Theoretically, we have the means for a massive dose of quality this time.

Easy to forget that we were poor under Rafa in his last season until he had a fit, competent front 3 to work with. Don't think he'd make much difference now considering what's available. He'd also absolutely hate Maxi. Not sure where he goes from here, tbh. He does feel a bit finished?

Wow didn't realise it was 1 win in his last 13 in the league.

Fraser is weird. His off the ball stuff is top notch - movement, pressing, tracking back. On the ball, he doesn't seem to be able to beat anyone and his crossing is often very meh. Like a high octane Damian Duff.

We've literally signed Kieran Trippier who is a genuinely elite right back

We've been on long winless runs every year since we came back up, like.

I don't think that was by design, like. Seemed like a combination of a bit of 'what the fuck do we do now?!' after the goal, players getting tired, and Watford actually trying to press a bit that had us sagging back.

Did Watford really have 18 shots? I can remember 3 of note 2 of which came from us fucking about. It didn't feel like we only had 1 shot on target but that's definitely not good enough. We had many 'opportunities' but as is always the case fucked them up. People getting in the way of passes etc. So frustrating.

If anyone's hoodwinking us, it's our players. They've had 20 or so opportunities to win a football match this season and they've won 1. Think what you like about Bruce and Howe but their win %ages in this league are not 5%.

He was good again after last week's shitshow. Time and time again, he wins the ball and gets us on our way on the break but we contrive to fuck it up.

Team defo shit itself for a bit not long after the goal but I thought we'd weathered the storm. Remember seeing Tindall trying to get players to push up.

At best, this current squad is 15th in the league. It has absolutely massive deficiencies across the whole lot and the core has had a habit of being diabolical for long stretches. That includes Rafa's time here. What would you be doing differently?

He's not a bigger problem than the squad he has available. To me, that's pretty clear.

Caused today's plight, imo, with his poor on-ball decisions. Team seemed to shit itself after.

Strange game that perfectly encapsulated our season. It felt like we were in control for about 80 minutes of that match, even though we weren't brilliant (first half was pretty positive, imo) - Watford had a spell mid second half after some daft unforced errors but that seemed to level out until they pushed on again last 5 mins. I can see what we're trying to do with pressing and building play, and we play some half decent stuff at times, but the lack of quality in the final third is telling. So many bad passes, poor touches, tepid crosses. Combine that with lapses in defensive concentration and crapping ourselves with dodgy play out from the back and you get a bad mix. We have a very impotent squad. I don't think any manager fixes the current situation without more players in.

Would like to properly see Willock in the midfield 3, tbh. Like pretty much every midfielder at the club, he can't play in a 2 due to huge flaws in his game.

We've got enough in our locker to beat Watford, like, and I think we've now found a more suitable shape for the midfield in the 4-3-3 - it helps to protect mitigate defensive deficiencies in def/mid. I think we're better going forward in a 3-4-3 though.

Will be really interesting to see how we try and utilise Wood. Howe has been trying to build passing out from the back to, let's say, very mixed success. There's now going to be a very, very easy outball for players considering Wood's aerial duel win %age is the highest in the league this season. I'm all for mixing it up, like; I just hope we don't spam the long ball. I do think we'll try and lock it down a bit similar to Burnley and eke the win out. That might not be Howe's intention but I do think that's how the players will ultimately perform.

Having Wood available is making me feel a lot better than I thought it would, tbh. Cambridge was so depressing I think we'll continue to play well but be a bit unsteady at the back. 3-1.