It was a strange one how it went down in the end. Lots of people were calling for Slot to be sacked early on. Probably more again were wanting to wait and see, as a league title puts a lot of credit in the bank. That’s where I was for a long time.
But at some point it became so obvious that it felt like a change simply had to be made. But then the owners didn’t do it! And it dragged on a bit.
Mascot gave Slot the benefit of the doubt for a long time, which to my mind was laudable. My memory of it toward the end was that Mascot was saying that we should not be so wrapped up in a certain outcome that Slot would be replaced, because it felt like the owners were going to keep him on.
Then all of a sudden, presumably after an internal review/debate - we don’t know the details of how that went down, but we do know the outcome, and when the hammer fell, it was swift.
Slot hasn’t spoken about us since (unless he did a courteous short statement on leaving) which tells me we were watertight with his pay-off coming with the requirement to keep quiet.
All that’s now water under the bridge, but I got a laugh at the PTSD comment
Absolutely right, putting aside the fact that he is Mascot’s love child…He has his rightful place in our history but it was right to move him on. No further disrespect needed.
We are not disrespecting him, we are just saying, it didn’t work out for him.the way it should have. We are very grateful we got the 20th title from him.
Arne Slot confirms that he has spoken to the KNVB about the position of head coach of the Netherlands national team, but denies that he withdrew from the talks following protracted negotiations over salary and contract length. According to the manager, it never reached that stage.
‘Over the past few weeks, and particularly in recent days, various reports have appeared regarding the vacancy with the Netherlands national team, suggesting that I had withdrawn from the process following protracted negotiations, including on salary and the duration of the contract,’ Slot said. ‘That speculation is incorrect. We simply never reached that stage in the discussions.’
Slot does confirm that there has been contact with the KNVB. According to him, this was limited to a brief exploratory phase. ‘That’s only to be expected when you’re approached for an important position and want to get a better idea of the role and what’s expected of you.’
Slot soon came to the conclusion that his future does not lie with a national team for the time being. Within a week of the initial meeting, he informed the KNVB that he wished to continue in club football. That decision is primarily down to the way in which Slot currently wishes to shape his coaching career. ‘At this stage of my career, I’d prefer to be out on the training pitch with my players every day. That’s simply not possible in the same way with a national team.’
According to Slot, that is also the only reason why the process with the KNVB was brought to an end. ‘And why I chose not to continue the discussions and not to enter into negotiations on what a potential contract might look like.’
Slot emphasises that his dealings with the football association went well. ‘I have enormous respect for the national team and for the KNVB, and I can only speak positively about the professional manner in which the discussions took place that week. For now, I believe that club football still has a lot to offer me.’
With that, Slot is not closing the door on the Dutch national team for good. ‘It would be a great honour to represent my country as national team manager one day. It just wasn’t the right time for me.’
In my very not elite level management experience, I have found that trying to change up to counter an opponent is usually not a good idea. It usually de-emphasizes your own strengths and they are usually ready for your counters. It feels like a great idea and then 15 minutes into the game you’re 2-0 down and can’t do anything useful at all.
Go with your strongest team, play the players in their strongest roles and focus on what you do best. One or two small tinkers to the team is fine but you’ve got to keep your own identity.
There is a way to adjust what you’re doing without losing your north star. Both Pep and Klopp, two of the most committed ideologues there are at the top level, both did it. But for it to work in your favour it tends to need to be no more than a variation of a theme, with the core of who the team are still very evident and with a lot of muscle memory to call upon.
Slot tried changing us in that second season. If you believe the reporting, he saw a change in how teams were playing us over the last half to third of the season, didnt like how well equipped we were to deal with it and so wanted to make changes to get ahead of it. I think that by itself was a source of confusion, possibly related to a poor implementation on the coaching side. And of course, likely impacted by the players’ lack of readiness for that sort of change given their state in the immediate post-Jota state. Was Slot’s attempt to change what we were doing falling on deaf ears? But what is almost certainly true is the ongoing attempts to rectify how badly it started just kept making it worse, and introducing more and more confusion of who were were. That sort of shift is a million miles away from the problems that caused by asking Dom to play as a double 10 in a one off game in a strikerless system to combat something specific City do well
