Blimey, I should have mentioned 4-4-2 diamond instead … which will solve everything and we will win every tackle and second ball just because it’s the flavor of the month.
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If you haven’t been seeing what Slot is saying to the press, he is literally blaming everyone else but himself and his coaching team.
I do not want us to get a spanking but ever since the CP game, everybody and their dog knew how to play against us…
New signings need time to settle, we have all discussed the summer transfers and their impact.
Form since we won the league in February has been quite poor. Despite winning at the start of the season, it papered over the cracks.
We have a horrendous injury list. Key players needing time to establish themselves have been out and stay out. Allison, Frimpong, Leoni, Gravenberch, Jones, Isak…plus MacAllisters slow start.
Lack of a clear tactical plan. This forum favours a diamond. Obviously Arne doesn’t read the forum.
Diogo Jota. Obviously the manager and players needed time to process grief on such a monumental scale.
Look, this season is absolutely written off. We had a decent chance to progress in the minor trophy and decided to bin it. Stupid move IMO. We have talented players, albeit some of them out injured, but we should have quality in the squad to replace them? We have questions on Bradley, Frimpong, Kerkez, Isak, Salah and MacAllister. Salah is particularly concerning. We know he is affected by losing his mate, but thats not all?
Re the argument over Diogo Jota’s loss. The club have enough experience, money, skills to have the proper grief assistance in place. Even in the cauldron of football. Lesser humans like us get on with it, in general. In some ways, the win for Diogo mantra was poorly spoken. Lets win 21 etc…I won’t underestimate the grief and its impact, but lets be honest it isn’t the only factor. As @Mascot acknowledged.
I think the next seven days decides Arne’s future. Three losses will be a monumental disaster. Whatever green shoots of recovery are there need to be evidenced pretty soon.
Beat Villa would be a start.
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What do you want him to say? What would you say after you’ve just been beaten, your blood is up, and some fucking prick trying to get a headline for clicks shoves a microphone under your nose?
I hate the fact that managers are obligated to do immediate post match reaction. It’s the worst time to get any kind of sense or objectivity out of them, but the most likely time they will come out with some ill thought out mad shit, which is probably why the broadcasters love it.
There is literally nothing he can say at this point that isn’t going to make a certain type or of fan apoplectic with rage.
At this point, for some fans, it’s personal, the anger is performative, and validation of the fact they they were underwhelmed when he was appointed.
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Whatever anyone thinks the club has to be seriously looking at options to replace Slot at this point. After the Palace match in the Carabao Cup it is clear that the system is the problem and Slot hasn’t any inclination to change it.
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He could just sound a little more humbled and a little more introspective and probably take the blame a little. This is probably what everyone wants to see and hear…
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I think he’s done that. He has acknowledged our poor form, he has expressed the fact that it needs to be better.
I just hope we take it one week at a time.
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But you can repeat this move only if there is an improvement of performance and/or results.
The next 3 fixtures will be very telling for us and his bosses…
There’s no win win scenario for Slot here sadly with the results in the last games. We would never know if the first team would have performed and got the result here. And if they would have, would it have then impacted the results in next fixtures. The Frankfurt midweek game didn’t result in us performing in the league so something is different here atleast.
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System as in the formation? Because he changed it last night. And I think it was “only” for last night, to try and beat Palace in 1v1 battles.
And of course that it’s only responsible to monitor the market, even if I don’t think we are actively looking at Slot replacements just yet.
Frankfurt at this point is a defensive mess…Conceded 18 in 8 BL games..That is horrifyingly bad…
This will all blow over after a Scott Parker masterclass, followed by a nervy 2-1 Satdee night.
Trust me.
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I’m at the closest I’ve ever been to jibbing this place off. Not as a mod - totally.
I don’t have the energy for another fucking witch hunt. I saw it with Rafa (unfairly) and Rodgers (less so), and I never want to put up with it again. The point where criticism starts to get personal, hyperbolic and performative, and where for many it stops being an honest discussion about football and become just any chance to boot the boot into a man they already all in on hating.
I want to talk about the team’s performance, I want to talk about where Slot is going wrong, but I want to do it in an atmosphere of rationality rather than febrility. To be frank, I could get the latter from Twitter.
And now I have to deal with people attacking me personally for calling for calm, and calling out a few of the more hysterical, personal overreactions . Accusing me of ‘bullying’, of taking it out on people (whatever it is), and (like last night) a lad on three days membership deciding to have a pop at a poster who has been part of this community for nigh on twenty years. Which is fine, apparently.
So yeah, maybe I’ll take a step back and evaluate. And maybe that evaluation will be ‘fuck this. I’m done here’
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I disagree because we are not even getting the basics right and we are already in November. There is no clear strategy, formation or game plan from our team and that’s down to coaching. If we continue with Slot, we are going to find ourselves in the other half of the table very soon. My opinion is that he will be gone if we lose the next three games, which is likely.
If/when our form begins to improve, the midweek respite opportunity of no further participation in the Carabao cup, allows us to work on specific tactics and bring some rest to our overworked players. It will be a welcome relief at a crucial time when we are battling on other, more important fronts of PL & CL.
The way the main squad are so disjointed at the moment, with differing levels of form throughout the players, was offering no more than a ‘scattergun’ approach to the four competitions.
The Carabao is done and dusted for this season, we move on with less distraction. The PL is still there to be won. We need to grind out results, we need to pick up points in whatever way we can… we need to pick up a draw if not a win… we need to turn recent events completely around…
Slot can’t be blamed for events out of his control that have impacted the players mental state… but he can be blamed for not reading the room properly and saying things in the media that would be better left unsaid… The last person we need to spook in our present situation, and make them panic, is AS himself. He is the only guy right at the moment to bring a return to our winning ways… I guess we will find out at seasons end what makes him tick, and whether he leaves us impressed as a coach, or not.
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What is happening on the field is clearly concerning but for those that are clearly leaning towards showing Slot the door I’d ask a couple of questions.
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Who woukd you replace him with?
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Do you honestly believe there’s a better option out there?
Honestly, I can only think of one person that could change the current mood in and around the vlub and he isnt coming back.
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Christ, yeah ok then, and lets just get in Gareth Southgate right after it.
The manager market is the absolute pits right now and any decent one at a club is either never leaving in a million years or plays an entirely different system to what we use.
Glasner, whilst probably the most talented available, isn’t going to make the 3 4 3 work with how low confidence is right now
Sometimes you get quality options that most like us outside the business don’t see at first.
Sometimes you get quality options that are absolutely there, available and most people want them.
I don’t think Slot is getting the sack for now, but if we continue losing a lot of games, it might have it’s limit.
And I feel Iraola (contract until 2026) could be one of the candidates.
Not at a club - Ancelotti, Zindane or Xavi the best out of a bad bunch. But still wouldn’t convince me they can get us out this mess.
At a club but may be allowed to leave - Glasner & Iraola. Only one of these has shown he can win silverware but plays a system we aren’t used to and the other has had promising leage form and 4231/433 know how but thats about as good as he has got to.
At a club but likely will not leave - Flick & Luis Enrique. Both fantastically talented managers and the only 2 of the ‘elites’ that might leave if we enquired