I normally find the “x tactic was found out” trope to be lazy, but I do think there is a big element of that going on and Slot has found that his football doesnt have many answers of what to do when teams dont do exactly what we want them to. Now teams are not taking the bait and instead sitting back off us we’re not just more blunt and struggling to create much of meaning, but we have increasingly responded to that in ways that create our own vulnerabilities.
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No but I don’t think we’ve got bottom yet, so that will probably come. And even then, I don’t think the owners are going to make their decision based on the fans.
EDIT: If I used “will” instead of “would” it would have been clearer. My bad.
I wonder how the current team would react to been told this…
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Didn’t low itch his arse and then smell it?
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Repeatedly.
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Nose picking, eating what he picked, scratching his balls and then smelling his hand, you name it.
But hey, a fancy scarf meant he’s a gentleman.
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Yo Arne…
Pick it, Lick it, Flick it… GOAL..!! :0)
From my perspective, this season was always a write off after Diogo. You can talk about your colleagues and how quickly you recovered, but footballers at the top level have very small worlds, much smaller than most of our worlds.
Probably shouldn’t have flogged off Lucho and Darwin for some glamour puss shite from the Bundesliga who refuse to run, but we’ll see.
Makes me laugh to see people talking about Glasner and Iraola, because they both make me shit myself from boredom.
What’s Owen Coyle up to these days?
Wirtz and Ekitike to me arent the issue, Frimpong is having a set back after set back.
for me, Isak and Kerkez are the questionable ones at the moment based on CURRENT evidence…
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Reminder that we won the league in September but then Diogos death started to effect our performances.
yeah im not really wanting to discuss it at length, had to hurt and still be hurting in moments but just as an equivelance from a different era, our lads won the FA cup after the Hillsborough Tragedy and won the league the following season.
society has moved on from male stoicism and additudes change etc etc, but that team watched 96 (at the time) people perish…
maybe my point doesnt help…apologies if it upsets anyone… i wish peace be to everyone greiving DJ.
singing his song or saving him a seat shouldnt in my mind be a major factor in players onfield performance
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It’s almost as if grief is not as linear or as straightforward as, say, the Deutsche Bahn. Sometimes it arrives late.
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Lots of factors. But the top one for me isn’t really slot’s fault.
I was denying it to myself for the longest time, but it was to high turnover of players. And especially turning over players for whom we have no adequate bridging cover. Nobody to ride things through for a smooth transition.
- Diaz. Think it’s obvious. Whatever Gakpo does, he doesn’t possess Diaz’s abilities off the ball. And this season he’s also having a stinker on the ball.
- Nunez (yes). We should have pumped our transfer brakes HARD when Diogo passed away. We lost too much of our in-your-face identity.
- Not forcing through Guehi. Without Trent, the ball goes to Konate and our forward momentum dies. A lot of our patterns of play are dependent on timely and precise passes from the back. When Konate delays by taking 2-3 touches the players in front of him stop running as they can see the sequences they’ve practice fall apart in real-time. Guehi is a far better passer and teams wouldn’t be able to cover other players and dare him to make passes because he will.
- Rio’s ability to contribute has been wildly overestimated. He may grow into a Sterling at some point but he’s certainly not ready yet.
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I like that too but the problem is who can currently provide width from RB. Short term Gomez can fill in but, unless Bradley or Frimpong become much more reliable, we’d need another RB with the same physical attributes of Kerkez to play this properly.
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I think this has been a big factor. Jota was a feisty wee player. Diaz was a fighter and grafter. Nunez, while fucking frustrating at least gave the CBs a fight.
Isak, Ekitike, Wirtz are all better technicians but are naturally chilled. This has been a big part of our change in identity. With Macca’s drop off we don’t really have anyone, bar maybe Bradley, who gets properly stuck in
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I think Ekitike has that yard-dog mentality. I saw him really get stuck in against Bournemouth on his league debut. He has both the attitude and the physical attributes, which is why he started with such a bang!
It’s clear to see that him getting jerked around because of Isak and that general mentality malaise of the team has caused him to go into his shell a bit. Understandable as he is not one of the top dogs or a leader of the team yet.
I’m actually quite annoyed at how he’s been treated. I’m not entirely sure he should have been dropped for Isak in the Carabao cup. Isak didn’t look physically ready even against Southampton. I’d have started Hugo and brought Isak on as a late sub. He’s not been the same player since that red card.
Wirtz and Isak are not fighters by nature. They could grow into that over time, but certainly not in a malfunctioning team.
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They aren’t the issue - the way Slot is using them as an issue.
Kerkez was an attacking FB yet hardly crosses halfway line for us.
Wirtz is a roaming 10 but we haven’t played with a 10 for years so we need to let him do his thing.
Isak just isnt ready so how he is starting ahead of Ekitike is mad.
Maybe start Ekitike on the left and Isak in the 9 but Isak shouldnt be starting over Ekitike.
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