Keener window-cleaner

He must be so frustrated to play with these players, in the first half, of our 4 midfielders and 2 strikers I'd say that only McCormack and Tshibola can pass the ball properly, and Adoma to a certain extent. He had almost no service during the whole game. He had our only chance with his header, should have had a penalty when Baath pulled his shirt towards the end (on the replay the ref stood perfectly in line, looked in that direction and you could clearly see how his shirt was pulled, unbelievalbe how the ref ignored that). McCoremack also regularly contributed to the build up play. What did Gabby do during the game?

Jedinak and Tshibola are too static now that the game plan is ruined and we need to create more. Please put in Grealish at half time and don't wait until the 70th+ minute. I'd take out Bacuna, although I must say he hasn't been awful. And let McCormack play the whole game this time. Just compare the contribution of McCormack and Agbonlahor. I will go mental if Gabby stays on and McCormack goes off.

Very happy to see Tshibola and McCormack in the team!

I was also thinking about Tommy Johnson and Gary Charles. I don't really know why, but I just very much like the idea of making double signings from a club. It's a bit like signing another club's captain. A statement of power or something.

I say we hurry up and get Hourihane.

He seems to have a problem with his knee, I hope it gets better. What is a bigger problem though is his positioning, his decision making and, quite frankly, playing football. I doubt he'll get better at that, regardless of his knee.

Didn't Bruce say in December that he had verbally agreed deals for two players?

I hope we'll see a McFlurry of signings over the next few days.

I must say that the first impressions of Johnstone are very promising, ok it's only 45 mins, he hasn't had much to do and it's probably a bit wishful thinking, but he looks very confident and has an assuring calmness about him, the times he went out for crosses he looked determined and his kicking was no nonsens. Keep it up!

Gabby and Bacuna start - McCormack on the bench. I have no words for it.

I suggest you take an aeroplane, joepane.

I totally agree, I hold him as perhaps the best left field player we've had since the early/mid 90's.

Can he play central midfield?

When he left I remember someone here posting something like good luck with your loan move to Stoke City in 2017. Thought it was hilarious back then, seems spot on now. Would definitely be a shock if he wanted to drop down a division, I suppose the only chance of that happening would be if City wouldn't sanction a loan move to a rival club.

I would have preferred a more experienced keeper. Another up and coming youngster seems too much of a gamble and no real difference to Gollini. Bunn is not good enough and Gollini has had his fair share of mistakes and is weak on crosses and corners, so hopefully Johnstone will be better. To achieve promotion we need a consistent keeper who wins us games now and then. Please become Big Sam for us

We shouldn't let this one schlupp away.

I'm all for signing him. He was great when I signed him on Football Manager and I love when we sign my favourite FM players.

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I think that midfield against Cardiff in the first half was the worst midfield performance I've ever seen from us. Bacuna just didn't have a clue where he should play, seemed to have a free role with the instructions of being crap and give the ball away. Gardner and Westwood were completely anonymous. Must say that I was impressed by Tshibola when he came on, I wouldn't say we then started dominating the midfield, but we at least had a midfield. He looks quite comfortable on the ball and was a physical presence. I also liked that he didn't seem stressed when he had the ball, he managed to keep it and looked for opportunities. Can't believe he doesn't play more. I'd like to experiment with Thsibola and Grealish in the middle. At least we would have players who wants the ball and knows how to play.

At the Cardiff game I sat so I could see McCormack quite well in the first half. I watched him quite closely as I had a bet on him scoring the first goal. I felt really sorry for him. Yes he was anonymous and didn't touch the ball much, but it was largly not his fault. At several times he made runs or bursts that split their backline and looked like it could create a chance, only to look back and see that our "midfield" either had lost the ball or just knocked it back to our defenders, if they even managed to touch the ball. Must have been so frustrating for him. Such a waste of talent. I can remember one cross that we put in during the first half, and McCormack was very near to scoring when one of their defenders managed to clear it with a sliding tackle just in fornt of him. Must say that he did look a bit chubby though, not just compact or "the way he is bulit", but a bit like Gabby-chubby. Nevertheless it struck me how fast he is, one of his bursts (where he didn't get the ball) he just left his defender stranded who couldn't catch up with McCormack.

I'm really looking forward to the first match of the new year! As our allocation was sold out, I had to buy ticets among the home supporters. If we score and you see someone cheering lively among the home supporters and then getting beaten up, please pray for me!

In my opinion Bacuna is an awful passer. He can strike the ball quite hard now and then, but he is not a good passer. He doesn't pass the ball to his team mates - he kicks it to them.

I was thinking the same thing. He doesn't need to throw everything up front already in the 60th minute, but why always wait until the 75th minute before making the change...

It was a short resurgence from Bacuna - then back to himself. Allthough he didn't do any of his trade mark stupid passes or throw ins he still looked like an accident just about to happen. It also really annoys me that he still does his silly arm-pulling all the time, and then looks surprised every time the ref give s a free kick against him. I don't really bother about him answering that he would be up to join a champions league team, I just think he is a crap player (albeit a crap player who can run and occcasionally strike the ball quite hard).

Grealish played as a second striker in the first half, would have been the perfect position for McCormack, as he showed in the second half. We should be building the team around him. Kodjia as the main striker and McCormack in a free role behind. The only worrying thing is that they don't seem to go very well together. I don't know how many times now I have seen McCormack make frustrated gestures and been screaming at Kodjia because he didn't pass - and quite rightly so.