This also happened (to a lesser extent) with Klopp. As soon as there is a bad run of form it gives us all the opportunity to latch onto whatever has pissed us off about the boss, and make that the reason for the dip. It’s human nature.
We had these spells under Klopp people would start throwing out the grievances - he is too loyal to the players, he should have binned more off and built from a position of strength, he runs them too hard and that’s why they look tired. He doesn’t have a plan B. He persists with the Brexit midfield.
I don’t have any problem with Liverpool fucking off the last four games of the season because the title was done. They were clearly knackered and they had every right to celebrate and recharge. But if that pissed you off, then you are waiting for the first dip to claiming the two are somehow linked.
I don’t know if we’re talking past each other, but this isn’t about the team’s trip to Dubai at the end of last season, but rather about the fact that Slot was in Dubai during the break and wasn’t training with the players who stayed behind in Kirkby, etc.
Edit
Or maybe it’s just that there’s too much Dubai involved and that just seems really dubious when things are going really badly.
Of the guys who remained at Kirkby, who was even fully fit to train with some of the kids that were not on international duty? Chiesa? Even if there were 2-3 more than usually, it’s no big deal.
The difference will have to be made when everyone is there, in training (not a lot of training time though) and games.
We had the summer we had, with some issues, a tragic event, certain transfer moves happening quite late. Not even gonna imagine how things would be if we had took part in the CWC. Even without Jota’s passing, who knows if things would’ve been better so far.
Now we have to find a way of raising our performance and go back to winning games. This season, it’s gonna take a little bit more than figuring out the “Diaz up top” move from around this time last year, when things really started clicking with some big performances and wins.
From my personal experience with Dutch people, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s exactly what happened. Although not in the “literal sense,” of course.
But I assume that the players are aware of this by now.
Yeah, certainly any conversation about him being at risk are way too reactionary, but we need to be honest and understand that this is a situation can spiral quite quickly if the right decisions aren’t taken. And by that I dont mean that he takes too long to make big changes in our approach but more than avoids the temptation of the Rodgers style being out of ideas so throwing shit at the wall and running for a few weeks with whatever sticks. I get the attraction of wanting us to see us do something different, like 3 at the back or a diamond, but when those changes come from the start of the game that will be the point I see the writing on the wall.
Sorry to come up with this again, but it was in part unnecessary. Elliot, Tsimikas, Quansah were ready to stay, but shown the door. Diaz could have been kept with a little bit more money put into his contract. It’s not as if Bayern are Real Madrid. These four players could have been kept for a while yet, and would be really useful right now. Slot and the recruitment team wanted new toys instead. Coupled with other departures and arrivals, the result is that the squad chemistry, carefully built up by Klopp over the previous years, has gone out of the window in one summer, and needs to be rebuilt.
For me, it’s both related to the above and to the below.
Jota’s loss was a massive hit, no doubt about that. A horrible, heart-breaking incident. However, we need to ask ourselves at which point Jota’s loss becomes a convenient excuse to hide behind for the players? This is elite sport we are talking about, and the players have to be honest with themselves about everything if they want to stay at the top. If some players feel that their performances are diminished because of their mourning, they have to tell the coach. That’s also why the club has a large, expensive squad, and a lot of talented youngsters waiting in the wings. If they don’t tell him, then it means that they think they can perform at their usual level. In that case, Jota’s death can’t serve as an excuse.
I don’t expect a change of formation, nor do I wish it.
A change of midfield shape like we already showed last season, sometimes playing a more classic 4-2-3-1, sometimes playing Szobo a bit deeper (especially in bigger games), in what looked more like a 4-3-3 (narrower centre midfield). That yes. But none of the 3 at the back and diamond shouts.
The rest (and main part, regardless of the formation) will be down to improving different phases of the game, some of which have been problematic since pre-season. Pressing from the front, defensive transition, set-pieces. Now we also see some issues in build-up and control in midfield at times.
And of course, there might have to be more changes of personnel in the team that starts regularly (certain rotation needed of course). I don’t expect him to bench half the team. But it’s clear that in some positions, we are searching and trying to find the winning formula.
Had Slot used Elliot and Quansah last season you’d have a point. But they didn’t get a sniff of any football.
It’s massively disrespectful to people at the top of their profession to say they just wanted new toys to play with.
We are clearly missing Diaz, but I don’t think he was ever going to stay. It would have involved upping his salary beyond 200k and giving him a deal well into his thirties. Never going to happen.
We always going to move on Tsimikas or Robertson, once we signed Kerkez (and everyone was in agreement we needed a left back.
Nobody at the club will ever say that it’s an excuse, but I don’t think it’s reasonable to suggest discussing it is looking for an excuse. It’s a bit unpleasant, to be honest.
My point is that there is no precedent for what they are going through, and we can’t possibly know what it’s like trying to play football with that cloud. Football can’t even become an escape, like it can if they’d suffered a bereavement at home. Jota’s presence is everywhere, Everytime they go to work - a constant reminder that they’ve lost their mate
To be honest, once the initial shock had faded from Jota’s death, I wondered if it would mean winning the title might be beyond us this year.
BOF!
I hope he at least did some homework by watching videos of us whilst having his head waxed.
I mean a coaches job goes beyond shouting from the sidelines. Looking at tactics, movements and trying to understand what’s going right and what’s going wrong is the minimum.
Watching some Manure games to see what they might be up to, catching up on Eintracht might also help at some point.
The work doesn’t stop after pre season!
I think Elliott also pushed either for more game time or a move. And the calibre of players in his positions… we couldn’t guarantee him more. It was time for a change. I don’t think he would’ve been part of difference makers in this side now.
There was no need to do anything of the sort to keep Diaz. From a financial perspective, if we accepted he was not going to sign a new contract then the incentive was to sell him that summer at the peak of his valuation. But the consideration then is maximizing return at the expense of losing an important cog in last year’s success whose continued presence would help the transition into a new side. That is the sporting consideration that needed to be balanced - maximize return now vs take a bit of a financial hit at the benefit of getting more value from the player on the pitch for one more year. Yes I get your argument that “we dont keep players who want to leave” except you have massively idolized that. I mean, we did with Diaz himself last year. Either way you slice it we made a decision to let him go, and it was taken in the context of there already being considerable turnover in the squad to manage.
For me to make sense of the decision to let him leave when we did, especially in the context of us still being interested in Isak even after Hugo had arrived and uncertainty over what Wirtz’s role in this side would be, seemed to indicate he had has been signed to play on the LW. Obviously that isnt happening so brings the Diaz decision back into focus. Unfortunately, it does raise another question about just how buttoned up and aligned our strategy and planning was this summer. Slot is certainly approaching matches like he’s inherited a team he had no say in putting together.
Slot just went on holiday during the international break. I’ve no problem with that, at all. His life is busy and he saw an opportunity for a break with his family. Good for him.
Now, if there were no staff left at the AXA to run training sessions and keep the remaining players going, Slot going on holiday is a problem. But he’s the head coach, not the only coach. So others in his team could have easily handled it. I would imagine there would have been fitness work and limited training sessions for the remaining players - limited because so many first team squad players were away on international duty.
The break towards the end of last season was a bit different, and I see both sides of it. The players won the title, with a few weeks to spare, and it was a reward for them. Ideally we would have kept on winning so there was no complaint, but we lost a few - we had it to spare - and so the seeds for future complaint were sown.
This season, the way we are playing is giving some cause for concern. We probably didn’t deserve 5 wins on the spin at the start, given the performance level, and we probably didn’t deserve three league losses on the bounce as we haven’t been quite that bad either.
So all in all we are about where we should be, but there is plenty of work to do.
I do not advocate a back three, but I do think we should go for a midfield diamond with two up top. It’s the best way to utilize the attacking talent we have brought in. In particular I want to see a little triangle come to the fore, with Wirtz behind Isak and Ekitike. When that starts to click, we won’t look back.
And Slot doesnt even lead the training. I think people have ideas of the manager getting Chiesa into shape by spending hours doing shooting drills with him, which just obviously wasnt going to happen even had he not gone on holiday.
These guys are working 12 hours a day 6 to 7 days a week. If there is an opportunity to get away and recharge with your family everyone is benefited from the manager taking that.
