This seems the line up based on what we have got for the future and if we are anyways transitioning, might as well try this rather than going with the same set of non performing players and formation again and again. I might think of Chiesa instead of Isak till he can find his feet maybe.
But yeah, like you said ‘Slot will probably not do it.’ I thought when he finally dropped Salah that he’s not that stubborn but then he had Frimpong playing forward against Galatasaray. And then post that in league we are back to the same set of players.
Actually, I think we still can persist in the current formation but Slot needs to allow the full-backs to bomb forward out wide, drop Macca for Szoboszlai/Jones at CM,tell Gravenberch to NOT go forward too far up or and drop down the middle to form a high back 3 , get the forwards and AM closer to each other.
Last season he said the players weren’t playing the way he wanted them to.
He then let them go off on a holiday during the season. (That must have really pissed the other teams in the league off and not in a good way).
True, this. It shocked me at the time. It seemed arrogant and unprofessional and I found it poor and out of taste. And it didn’t better our performances, nor the team-spirit within the squad. We could see it then, and can see it now again.
We did a similar thing under Klopp at various times, so this is not something you can lay at Slots feet, but seems to be something coming from the club itself giving the players a bit of a break when the weight of midweek to weekend games eases up.
Perhaps this is something the English football needs to swallow their pride and accept the rest of Europe having a mid-season break is actually a good thing.
I get the historical importance of the Xmas/NY period for fans, but why do we not have a break in mid January for a couple of weeks? And not that half-arsed split week shite they tried back in 21/22 but a full 2 weeks off allowing the players the chance to get away have a full reset
Absolutely. I’d suggest that drop him completely. Tell him he can prepare for the AFCON and we’ll see him next year. Macca also doesn’t deserve to start games and we’ve been fucked over by palace re Guehi.
Flo is clearly our most talented player and he must be integrated so I want to see him starting. Personally I’d refocus the team around him. Grav, Dom, Curtis in midfield, Flo ahead and Hugo or Alex with Chiesa or Cody up top. Kerkez also deserves to be persisted with at LB and the question really is whether Conor is good enough at RB. I think playing Dom there has unbalanced us - a bit like when Jurgen played Hendo and Fabinho at CB - and the team as a whole is worse off.
Ironically Slot signing Wirtz and Isak could be his down fall.
He cannot have a player that all of Europe wanted stuck on the bench while the likes of Mo and Mac stink the place out week in and week out.
Did we really need Isak after we got Ekitike? Im not sure we did. Everyone said we needed a CB and we went out and spent £125m on another forward.
Ekitike on the bench is a joke. Been our best forward.
Salah is in terrible form, and he shouldn’t be starting, however he hasn’t looked like he has deteriorated physically to the point that he is done at the highest level. For as bad as he has been, Slot has done absolutely nothing to help him. On the contrary, by banishing him so far wide and leaving him isolated against 2 and 3 defenders in almost every match he has made things worse for him. Bradley and Frimpong also haven’t offered any decent passing, as they have stunk the place out.
Maybe, Salah starts getting better if Slot positions him closer to the box, closer to the No. 9 and the midfield. His only good game against Atletico came from there. Maybe Salah utilizes an overlapping full back better than an underlapping one. Maybe the whole team starts playing better with a plan and a structure in place. Because this isn’t a Salah phenomenon; this is happening all over the pitch. You have midfielders evacuating midfield areas. You have Kerkez virtually neutered by being stuck in his own half and/or being ignored by Gakpo when he does make a run, which also raises the question of how long Slot is going to put up with it. And you do have underperforming players like Salah and Isak starting ahead of more deserving ones.
Long story short, Salah has been terrible, he deserves to be dropped, but he isn’t the cause of what’s happening, he’s a symptom.
As expected, there’s been an incredible amount of criticism from all quarters about everything. Among other things, I wasn’t aware that Slot was vacationing with his family during the national break. Was that also the case during Klopp’s time?? That’s obviously not going over well now.
It’s a load of rubbish, but also not surprising now as people look for reasons and explanations absolutely everywhere.
The same characters will then criticise the football schedule on another day…
There was no serious reason for Slot to be at Kirkby during that break, even if you had a few seniors more than usually. And some of them weren’t even training or in full training.
What, he should’ve went into 1v1 sessions with Chiesa, tell him not to have the ball bounce 5 metres off him when he makes first contact?
Football is a job where you’re still busy regardless whether you’re in Liverpool or Dubai.
Yeah, John Gibbons is convinced Arne Slot went into complete off time in Dubai. And that is somehow connected to our performance and result yesterday.