Arne Slot - Head Coach

The Albert
2179

Slot still has lots of credit in the bank and I think talk of him being gone by Christmas is wide of the mark. Still, we do have some legitimate concerns and he does have a lot of work to do.

We made a lot of changes in the summer. @Hopeinyourheart was the only one I remember who was talking about that at the time, so well played that man.

My take is all the changes were justified, based on the circumstances we had. The one possible exception might be Diaz, and people are still sniping about that. The fact is he wanted to leave and we don’t usually stand in someone’s way if they want out. We either needed to pay him what he wanted, or force an unsettled player to stay, or sell for a good price. We chose the latter and it wasn’t an unreasonable choice.

We have various problems to address and one of them is Mo Salah. It almost feels wrong to talk about him, because he has been phenomenal for us. But for the life of me I can’t see him getting back to his best, or even near it, while at the same time we are also trying to fan into flame the new attacking talent we have brought in.

We won in midweek and played some of the best football we have played this season. Granted, the opposition was a bit nicer to play against than most Prem teams, and the referee was much better and refereed the game fairly. But with those caveats out of the way, we saw Wirtz starting to shine and run the show, while Salah was on the bench.

That should tell Slot something about one of the decisions he needs to make, although to be fair, making that decision would be easier if the likes of Isak and Frimpong were fit and firing.

I’m going to make an outrageous claim, in light of the current situation, but sod it, here goes:

We will win the Champions League this season. By the time the business end of the tourney comes around we will be peaking, and the new attacking talent will be finding its groove.

The flip side of that is we will stutter along in the Prem, hovering around 6th spot into Christmas, and we will see an upturn in form when Salah goes to AFCON and the newbies find their groove. We will finish top four but a title challenge looks beyond us for now.

4 Likes
2180

Diaz did want to leave, but we could have kept him. I think it’s that simple. A choice was made.

We should’ve replaced him. In hindsight, we should’ve spent the Isak money more sensibly. We signed two strikers, elevated Gakpo to becoming our key man, a 16 year old as his backup and Slot’s least favourite player in the world having to get some minutes.

It’s a bit of a mess. Neither Isak or Wirtz fit into the system we played last season, so we should’ve had a much better plan than this.

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2181

With individual quality and moments + defensive stability. Few games where we outplayed/dominated opponents.

Hate to say this but definitely looks like we’re missing Heitinga.

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2182

Wirtz played today and was fucking dreadful fluffed the best chance we had when it was 1 nil but he gets a free pass.

2183

Nonsense. He was asked if he’d ever come back to Liverpool and he said he has no intention to coach again, and he’s loving life currently, but Liverpool are the only team in England he would coach so ‘theoretically it’s possible’

2184

Thats your opinion it wasn’t but i think it was.

2185

So it was nothing to do with the coach but we’re missing the assistant coach?

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2186

What would you want him to reply?

2187

Don’t answer it back heel it away

2188

Yes he was under contract, but we know that he wanted a new one, probably 200k plus for five years, taking him well into his thirties.

There were stories appearing in the press that he felt undervalued, he wanted to leave etc. all quite light stuff, but to me it had the feel of something that could get a bit unpleasant had it dragged on.

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2189

It came after him singing Slot’s praises for 20mins

2190

Hey…it was only my thought and reasoning…I dont want it to happen …and it won’t…but everyone is entitled an opinion…

2191

I agree but for me its poorly timed at the stage we are at the minute.

2192

Klopp looked fucking exhausted at the end. Let’s not go there.

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2193

That team would have won the league with no manager. No tweaks needed. Form started going down the pan in February but neither City or Arsenal could put a run together to challenge.
This isn’t knee-jerk, I’ve said it for months. The extended jolly was unprofessional in the extreme. We’ve never recovered from it, the only 2 convincing victories were against truly shit teams.
We’re a laughing stock right now. I’ve been around long enough to remember bad runs, when nothing goes your way, bad luck. But this is something else.

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2194

Klopp looked ill I thought.

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2195

If we hadn’t won another game after 8th March we would have still been champions.

2196

Times like this I miss Cynnie (I have a few of my own that go by without remedy).

2197

Yep, you are seeing it straight. Wirtz, on the evidence so far, has not played as well as he can. There are various factors contributing, including settling in a new team and league, finding partnerships on the pitch, and hitting better form, all while the team is struggling.

One of the factors, for me, is that Wirtz is also struggling a bit with Salah on the pitch. Salah has been a main man for years. Lots of play goes through him, and for years we have seen him trouble defenders, score lots of goals and get lots of assists. In exchange for his incredible output Salah has not been expected to do much defensively, but he has justified it.

Not any more. The output isn’t there.

My view is one is on the way down the other the way up. The sooner Slot makes a big call, the better. This is going to be Wirtz’s team, not Salah’s. It’s in a transition period now so not everyone sees it, and some, like you, laugh.

I’m giving my honest football opinion. I love Salah for what he has done, but during this season I think we will see a transition as he decreases and Wirtz and the new breed increase.

In the meantime Salah will still make a contribution and I’m backing him to improve his form, but it’s clear to me that the die is cast and the transition is on.

2198

What stage…as I said in the game…up shit street without a paddle…no fight, no game plans, no urgency…we just keep playing backwards…