It’s really concerning, that Arsenal game aside (where I thought our game plan was really good and worked) we have looked so easy to play through all season. The amount of times we’ve ended up with the other team attacking and 20 yards of space in front of our 2 cb’s is shocking!!! Our midfield is the biggest problem in my opinion (tactically) it’s absolutely all over the place and adding very little creativity going forward as well as no solid defensive structure coming back towards our goal. I actually think we need a proper Mascherano style defensive midfield player in there who just sits and then Grav can play further forward or defend as the game dictates as he is such a good footballer. The 3rd spot could be Witrz if he reaches peak level, but currently Dom. I almost wonder if Endo needs to get a run as he’s the only specialist player in that position. Slot doesn’t fancy him though and he’s looked pretty average to be fair. Obviously DM is a priority (along with CB) as and when we can sign someone suitable, but from the current squad - who else can fill in. This is where we don’t have a James Milner type who can do a good job wherever he’s told to play (remember him doing quite well playing an entire season at LB?) We don’t seem to have that sort of player with the mentality and physical attributes to do that job on a temporary basis.
Thats the worst Gangnum Style dance I’ve ever seen
No not Endo.
Our biggest problem is our press.
Then our defence that retreats at an alarming allure.
Noone in midfield who works to slow the opposition down. High lines work well when you hunt in packs.
Well that’s the defence.
In possession we force it too much or pass it around at the back slowly. The number of times you see a defender look see the pass but instead of passing he looks away before turning back and playing the first option pass far too late and the opposition is in position for it. Absolutely crazy.
Talking about pressing it is very hard to do so when the opposition launches it at every opportunity and then their tactic after is to win the 2nd ball.
I watched the Adam Cleary analysis and it showed a graphic of their keeper, it showed him playing 1 short pass all the others were long and they only won the 1st ball twice which was out wide. They weren’t really interested in winning the 1st ball just the 2nd.
This is the textbook response to dealing with a team who presses high so is entirely on us to deal with. Under Klopp we actually adapted to the pressing really quickly, but were terrible at dealing with this response to it, and that was why he made a priority of Matip in his first summer.
I’ve seen Slot take some criticism for his comments about Utd playing this way. I genuinely dont think he means it like that. I think he is just ok talking about what he saw during the game and does it with Dutch frankness and when he’s talking about a game we lost it is far easier to interpret it as a Wenger like criticism of teams he sneered at for only being interested in defending. But this is where football management becomes a perception game. Eyes are now on him and people are desperate to find evidence of the pressure getting to him or him refusing to own his own mistakes. The “he’s cracking up” chants come up even without real reason, but it tends to only happen to people who are legit under pressure, and it becomes a reinforcing positive feedback loop. He needs to be pretty careful about how he talks about how other teams play over the next few months if he doesnt want this to snowball
Nice to see nothing’s changed in all this time I was gone.
Still people panicking at every single opportunity.
Let me just point out that everyone seemingly agrees we’re completely lost, don’t know what we’re doing, etc. yet on our current PPG for this season we’re on par to equal City from last season.
We’re literally 1 point behind City, 4 points behind Arsenal (having beaten them already), and apart from losing to this United team, we haven’t otherwise done that much different compared to the corresponding fixtures from last season.
If this is our slump, then we’re in a ridiculously good position for a slump. The simple fact is that if all the shots that hit the woodwork (not to mention that Gakpo header) went in against United, we’d be talking about a lucky but deserved win against them. Fact is, United were lucky to come out with 3 points. We need to improve on things, no doubt, but acting as though this is some massive catastrophe is overblown.
But that’s what everyone is saying. So what’s your point? 
My point is that I’ve seen a lot of drama, that acts as though we completely can’t play football at all, that pretends like we were comprehensively outplayed by United or Chelsea.
It makes it out as though we’ve deserved to lose every single game so far this season, as though our record so far this season hasn’t been 7 consecutive wins (no mean feat) before the 4 consecutive losses.
We weren’t sparkling prior to the losses; we haven’t been dire since them. We need to stop giving up silly goals, we need to work on positioning, Salah needs to figure out what on earth is up with his shooting, and we’ll be better again.
We also always struggle a bit after an international break and Manure took advantage, dirty buggers.
Losing to them at home though you have to expect some reaction.
Also we need to talk about something. If everyone was Mascot we’d be bored to death by now!
What have I done now?
Well you keep going on about last season when I want us to win the league this season by Christmas. 
There is an element of truth to that, but I think it is also correct that when a side like us starts the season not living up to expectations with the quality and buttoned upness of the performances then it is expected that the reaction to that gets more negative the more it goes on even if we’re not actually getting worse. But I do think it is more than that and that we have got worse over the last month or so. Sometimes it does have to get worse before a new approach clicks, but sometimes something gets worse because the solutions you are using to try to fix something are not working either.
I’m not calling for Arne’s head or anything like that, but I think we need to be honest about there being a real challenge ahead of him now
some of those 7 wins in row weren’t very convincing though,
but i’m sure Slott will get it right soon,
I actually think the criticism has been measured and fair. We’ve spent 400 million on a title winning team and have just lost 4 on the bounce, it’d be weird and almost cultish not to acknowledge how poor we’ve been recently.
There is also the problem that prior to those four losses, we had a stretch of wins where the side looked shaky, and prior to that a fairly unconvincing period at the back end of the PL campaign. I leave aside the matches after the title was secured, but it has been quite a while since we have played like a genuinely strong team.
It is puzzling and unsettling that Slot seemed to get his team to make adjustments seamlessly in early on in 24/25, but has not seemed to be able to deliver that performance level since.
According to him, the second half of last season and the first half of this season are similar, the difference is set pieces.
There were lessons to be learned tonight. Let’s hope Arne learned them and takes the appropriate action in the next league match.
Salah and Macca should not be starters on present form.
Chiesa offers more than Mo right now.
Ekitike is in better form than Isak.
Dom has to be in midfield. He’s on fire and a credit to his shirt number.
That’s how to use Wirtz.
Arteta is almost six years at Arsenal, without a PL to his name.
Slot has one, in one year.
His “transition” year is now, building his own team.
We really should allow this new Liverpool team time to settle, blend and become a coherent force.
Losing four in a row is dreadful.
And in honesty the previous few were mediocre performances for the most part, despite winning.
But we need to afford time and patience to Slot. He surely deserves that much?
It is actually kind of admirable that Arsenal has stuck with Lego Pep for this long in this day and age.
The media 100% drive agendas to sack managers. They fucking thrive on it, and once they smell blood in the water they usually get their man.
Don’t know why we need to even compare ourselves with Arsenal, simply a different case, timing and story. Arteta survived a poor period at the start of one of his seasons. From then on, they improved and are now trying to make the last step. I personally think in that period, they did the right decision by sticking with him (it won’t last forever and he also might wish to try something new, if they keep failing to win).