DMAA

I just provided context to the numbers.

They shouldn't be forced to play without 6 of their starting 11, that is crazy. Unless the league has set rules that, if broken, you suffer the consequences.

Yeh milk turns quicker apparently.

Helander gets it for me. I thought he was excellent, he made so many blocks and won everything in the air. One or two of the blocks looked like they were certain to be goals. I actually thought Barisic was good too. He was denied an assist by Alfredo miscontrolling the ball in an excellent position and I thought he was our best chance of creating something all night. Barker wasn't up to much, just hassling and harrying. Kent was better but a bit of a standard Kent performance, looking dangerous and giving us an outlet with his pace but time and time again it ends with nothing. I thought Aribo was generally very good too. He did have a few blips but he stood out in the centre of midfield beside very average performances by the the other two. He again showcased his skill and strength.

Gerrard said those rumours weren't true. I still wouldnt' be surprised to see him go though. He is a handy player in Europe away from home but isn't at the required level domestically in my opinion.

Big achievement but we only have more than Celtic because we started in the first round so played more games, and they started in the UCL with tougher opposition.

1 in 11, in a 4-1 win against Hamilton.

Gerrard has said Morelos has had his head turned. I think he had no choice but to say that after that performance. He has been very poor in 2020 but worse since we came back.

Disappointed not to get a goal tonight, plenty of opportunities and unlucky on occasion. Great to get Helander back in the fray, I firmly believe he can play a big part this season if he stays fit. Good for Davis to get minutes too. Leverkusen were always going to be a step too far for us so we move on.

He was honestly so bad even in the first 15-20 minutes that he should have been hooked there and then. Stewart or Hagi would have offered so much more. I hope he doesn’t play again but it seems every game he plays his value is dropping because he has been poor for a long time.

On a more positive note, our best centre back, Helander, has been fantastic.

Hagi, Jones or Stewart would do. Kent can go on the last man if need be. Morelos has been awful.

He needs hooked now. But he won’t be.

And Helander! Bizarre stuff.

They’re too good. This isn’t Braga, they are a class above. Any positive result would be great here.

Given Balogun went straight into the 11 due to be being fully match fit I wouldn’t be surprised to see the same with Itten. These are good dilemmas to have though.

Well a big problem has been that nobody of consequence is left on the bench. Compare our bench to Celtic and it’s night and day. Now we have a bit of choice. I would say Roofe and Hagi at Ibrox but Kent has shown, and showed on Saturday, he is sometimes a better option than someone like Hagi. Whatever your view, we now have some options.

Yes Kamara is doing the sitting at the moment which is fine, but I'm sure he played alongside Davis often last season and I felt there was a contrast there when compared to Celtic in terms of the attacking abilities of the midfield. Yes I don't think Hagi can come back, I think he needs to stay behind the striker. It's ok when you are up the field and your RCM is at the half way line but it's a different matter when you are on the back foot and he is marking a a man on the edge of your box. It would lose us goals.

FWIW, asked a colleague who is a Leeds season ticket holder about Roofe and he said, My concerns on Roofe are the fee and injuries. 27 is a great age for the here and now but it's probably when a player is at peak value, in today's market it's like buying a brand new car in terms of depreciation. Now that he's signed though it's times to put those concerns to the side. If he can keep fit he could be a huge player this season. Our front three have badly lacked end product at crucial times (and yes I include Alfredo in that). Roofe could bring just the qualities we need and, crucially, walks into our starting 11.

I think Aribo is probably our best player, or will emerge as our best player this season. Where to play him is a difficult one but I think he should be one of the centre mids, ideally on the right side, so that we have players with attacking ability coming from deep too. One of the advantages Celtic have had over us against the diddy teams has been that they have McGregor basically where we often play Kamara. One creates and scores goals from deep and the other doesn't, it makes a big difference.

Sometimes I think Youtube compilations can be very good. You could tell from Aribo's one that he was a very good player with huge potential. I think number 9s are harder because Youtube shows you they can score strikers goals, but the best strikers aren't distinguished by the type of goals they score but how often they can do it.

It’s very hard to tell how good he is from the very little there is of him on YouTube. He does seem very much a number 9 poacher to me.

I’ve had a hectic day so haven’t had a look at YouTube yet but certainly on paper he looks like the target man type I felt we needed. Very exciting times. We needed upgrades in the attacking positions.

Looking forward to watching the interview. He better say that it was a “no brainer”.

I hadn’t heard about the Itten link when I posted earlier. On paper he looks very promising. The two of them coming in would be different, potentially very good. I hadn’t heard the Zungu rumour either. I didn’t see it with him but if that is who the management were set on then it is bad news for it to fall through.