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Gallowgate Toon

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  1. Not convinced, like. He referenced his family again in an interview about Bayern recently, iirc, talking about how moving young kids a few times in a short space of time isn't ideal. Would seem strange to mention that if his plan was to do it in 4 months' time.
  2. What a ball from Rom.
  3. Nice work from Mainoo there.
  4. We didn't know how good Gordon was last July. Some rays of hope but he'd ultimately had a very mixed start.
  5. Decided to depress myself and watch some of our highlights from earlier in the season. Ah man, how I miss us.
  6. As long as whatever happens doesn't stop Chelsea from getting done ASAP.
  7. There's focus on DoFs setting sporting direction and identities above a manager but that's also a risk imo. What if what they're setting is rubbish? You've spent 5 years building a crap vision which is very expensive to rip up and/or hard to shift.
  8. I was all aboard the Lloyd Kelly freebie train until I saw his injury history. Missed some canny chunks over the last 2 seasons. Potentially fine as a managed rotation option but a cause for concern.
  9. He gets knocks a fair bit imo, he mentioned at the end of last season that he'd played through ankle and hamstring problems. As he's not that athletic and such a BALLER, he gets away with it.
  10. Really gutted for him. However poor he's been in recent weeks, he's a very talented player who started this season incredibly well after a fantastic debut campaign. 2 major injuries in the same season must be mentally really hard to take. I hope he comes back even better.
  11. Gallowgate Toon

    Dan Burn

    Would far rather he move to CB than stay at LB. Might force us to go 3 at the back for the remainder of the season as an option.
  12. It's not but the wording of your post to me seemed to reduce us to harriers for limited possession return which I felt was an oversimplification. If that were the case, we'd see a net negative there, we obviously do try and retain the ball and build phases of play - we manage to be a threat with it too. I'm not saying there aren't ways we can improve though. I always thought the focus on us out of possession last year was also too simple. There were a few sides who pressed more, had more sprints, covered greater distances each game iirc. We mostly just triggered and did it really well and there was great coaching method to it so it was very effective. When you look at players that cover the most ground in the division, there are a lot of top 6ers. Passing and moving with more of the ball still requires a lot of intensity and energy. I think Rice is the top dog this campaign for it with Rodri not far behind. Coaching/tactics obviously have an impact as they set the overall direction but it's ultimately down to players to actually enact it and that's where the complexity in football lies most weeks regardless of tactical tweaks. Imo there's also a natural shelf-life to coaching the same group of players if there are talent limitations, this is why even the best teams need to keep evolving. How often do you see a very similar team of players regularly outdo their actual level of quality year-in-year-out? We've effectively been the same team as last season but with more injuries - 3 of our 4 signings have barely played for differing reasons. I think we have a lot of mentally fatigued players but it's got little to do with style of play.
  13. We still have some key injuries and mixed fitness of those returning. Just because something has been happening for a while, it doesn't diminish reasoning because it's annoying to keep referencing. We've had more of the ball than not this season. 52% average, 2% off Villa with Emery's pausa approach. We've scored a lot so we're evidently more than just runners, especially when you factor our press has been used far less this campaign due to lack of availability. Brighton have the second highest possession in the league but have still had lots of injuries and struggle to put together coherent performances. Style and tactics are so often overrated, players are the most important part of the whole thing most of the time.
  14. I thought he had the right idea tonight and liked the approach to have Gordon and Isak closer together for breaks. I thought their first was canny spawny but it's the main moment of the game - changes the complexion completely early on. Similar to Chelsea. For all the talk of a 6, you need your entire midfield to have the appetite to defend, or at least the majority of them. Longstaff and Willock are pretty passive defenders. They're players who get into shape but they aren't the types to often display proper defensive instincts consistently. Obviously, Willock has so many other strengths but he was helped last season by a stay-at-home LB and Joelinton rotating in from LW. Miley is improving but is like this as well, and Anderson is an AM learning his trade.
  15. Our strikers have some of the best goals-to-minutes ratios in the country and iirc are on par with their xG. The service can always improve but it is absolutely not shit.
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