Stottie

I guess it's because we never normally have the ball, but we are telegraphing every pass.

You'd think there would be a way to get the ball to Almiron with space to run into against League One opposition, but oh no there isn't.

Strong team, let's go for it.

Dubs over the season is worth ten below xGA!

Just saying but Gayle played in 39 Champo games last year, 2700 minutes. He may not be PL quality, but he's not a crock. He can do a good job for someone. It won't be the thinking at the club, but non cup-tied striker would be my #1 priority.

Jonathan Wilson or one of the Opta people said it last season but most of the PL games where one team has had 70% possession have happened in the last two seasons. It's a new way of playing. Leicester also won the league with under 50% possession, again as a new phenomenon. The way we play looks really really bad and conventional thinking says there must be a reversion to the mean. I guess one is coming, but possibly not as sharply as some people think. We don't give away many clear-cut chances and have a top 4 or 5 keeper. Everton played us off the park but their first goal was a flukey finish and the second a rare mistake from us.

Now up to the dizzy heights of fifth bottom scorers! Only one fewer than Sheff Utd. I only point this out as evidence of other shit teams in the league. Apologies for the Bramble sidetrack, and it was only intended as a warning against overrating other teams who make more defensive errors than us.

Understated post of the season. Great work to even care at that stage, but what a four minutes they proved to be. I've stopped listening to football podcasts, but had the Guardian's on yesterday and even they were saying Pickford is too up his own arse. Even Glendenning, the mackem supporter, said he had lost faith in him. There is of course another mackem with the same name who got a big money move to the city of Liverpool. The other one got his head down, worked hard, and has become a very accomplished player, albeit with a still dislikable face. Pickford could learn a lot from him.

I reckon we are now Rafa's defence, with better set pieces and a big slice of luck. Regarding the defence, it's as was, except that the best defensive striker in the league (Ayoze) has been lost. Miggy is doing an amazing job at covering lots of ground though. Today's were ping-pong stick it in the mixer, and we've seen some awful set penis ones, but our set pieces are way more successful now, league leading for goals scored even, and there is more to it than simply Andy Carroll. Bruce gets credit for this. My fear is of course is that Bruce will not be able to reconstruct the defence if players get sold or age or go down to long-term injury. The luck will surely run out as well.

We look like staying up on solid defence alone, something Boro tried and failed to do a few seasons back. Almost every team in the league has more firepower than us, but almost all of them in the bottom half have a worse defence. A bad defence automatically makes you a poor team. It's like Titus Bramble used to be, the 1 minute of mistakes and lost concentration made him a bad defender. The 89 minutes of good or decent play were ultimately irrelevant.

More like polyfilla than paper over the cracks. What a keeper.

Troy Donkey!

FT. Good point in a rearguard action. Wolves didn't deserve three points, so pleased we didn't gift them to them. Miggy our MOTM and maybe for both sides. Great performance from him.

First time we get a layoff from our CF and Atsu misses it.

The big AC unit on. Let's see if it sticks when it goes to him.

More great work from Dubs. Really evil ball in that time.

Playing pure hoof/desparation clearances now.

Huge regression like. I think our only hope is to win a corner and aim it direct at Cieran Clark's head. None of that tappy short corner nonsense.

Some improvement here. fwiw Gayle managed 2845 minutes in the Champo last year in 39 appearances.

Cue Iggy Pop

HT. Scored a good one, gave them a soft one, and ultimately did well to hang on with (probably poorly managed) players dropping like flies. Hang on for a draw is probably going to be the limit of ambition here. They were lucky/dodgy bastards against us last year, so it leaves a bad taste again if we're going to gift them a win as walking wounded.

Joelinton down. Carroll looked like he just said "fuck off" to someone who suggested him going on.

Great save by Dubs, Traore has Willems' number all ways up here. Miggy looking really good btw, wasted in this team.

Gayle's done his hamstring. Atsu on. Vive la squad rotation. Two subs down and we're only 28 minutes played.

Shame. Need to be more robust.