If you think that last 25 minutes was acceptable and endorsement of Slot getting us going in the right direction you are trolling.
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Think at this point he will let the season. After that? I’m not so sure
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Oh, I think there is - I just don’t see him doing it, unfortunately. Like in Rodgers’ case, I think he’s only delaying the inevitable by changing the system to mask some of the deficiencies - he can’t be farther from the type of football he was signed to coach into these players. We struggle badly under pressure and we shouldn’t even be put under pressure by the likes of the Leeds team losing 2:0 and nine-man Tottenham.
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I never made any comment about the last 25 mins against Spurs. Not sure what you are talking about there. Trolling? Ugh. Not my style, at all.
Talking football on the internet with fellow reds is a great escape from the daily grind. I played at a decent amateur level, coach kids football, and like many others on here I have had an enduring love affair with LFC for most of my life.
I will always give my considered footballing opinion. Trolling doesn’t factor into it. That seems like a kids game, or something that people who are up-to-no-good might do. That’s not me. I will be a straight-shooter and give my opinion, and show my working too, as needed. People might agree or disagree, in whole or part. It all adds to the rich tapestry as far as I’m concerned. Anyway…
Here is what I think about the last 25 mins in today’s game against Spurs:
Of course the last 25 mins were not acceptable. We lost control and played a panicked sort of game. We needed to pass the ball much better and be calmer, but Spurs were in the ascendancy. Not good at all from our end. Spurs should have been chasing shadows, dispirited because we were 2-0 up, keeping the ball, and making that extra man count. But we were not good enough to do that, even if I am glad that we got the win.
Here is what I think about the football overall today:
We were too ponderous and the football we played was not good enough. We need to improve it. Most of it was in front of Spurs and they were fairly comfortable, even with a man down for quite a long time. Overall we were not passing crisply or getting around them, or through them, to any great degree. Wirtz to Isak was lovely, as was the clipped finish. More of that sort of stuff is desperately needed.
Here is what I think about Slot:
The team is not playing well. Mostly that is on the manager, though there are numerous factors that have come together to add to the downturn. The boards on here have discussed it at length - Jota, grief and a hindered pre-season, not integrating lots of signings very well yet, form, injuries, and a lack of clarity about what we are actually trying to do.
Slot is the boss and it is up to him to get a tune out of the players. We have had a terrible slump, so bad that some fans would be happy to see him gone. My take is he has enough credit in the bank - just, from winning the league that he should stay in his position and we will see if he can sort it out. Obviously the credit is depleting, and it is not a blank cheque.
My guess is he will remain as manager while we are still in the range of finishing in a CL spot. If that goes, I think Slot will go. I also think that even if we do finish in a CL spot his bosses will be looking for a clear identity, and pattern of play, and right now we definitely do not have that. So for me, the jury is out and I am adopting a wait and see policy on Slot.
Most of us expected a transition season post-Jurgen, but we won the league at a canter. For various reasons this now looks like the transition season and I am waiting to see what we make of it before turning on the manager. Still, I’m not blind, and like everyone else I have my concerns, but thus far that has not led me to the point where I think sacking Slot is the way to go.
Peace to you sir! That is my sincere footballing opinion.
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Regarding the tactical plan.
Please explain why Bradley is tucked in and when Joe plays he plays high and wide and we look more of a threat, where is the tactics in that, how many more do we need centrally?
I see steps forwards then steps back, are we adapting to every team we play rather than forcing our style/play on them.
Just not convinced overall but I do want Arne and the players to pull through it.
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No we shouldn’t, but nor should the entirety of this be pinned on Slot. There is only so much he can say or do, and he certainly can’t legislate for a team of international players shitting themselves and failing to see out a game they should be over the hill and far away in
So I think this…
…is an an optimistic appraisal of the state of this place right now. There is an entrenched character to the opinion that I think you are overlooking, and having decided Slot is the issue, a lot of people twisting everything that goes wrong into his direct fault.
A thought I had during the game was this. Do we have enough leadership round the club to shake the players out of this mental torpor? Virgil Van Dijk is an experienced, international captain but by all accounts a pretty laid back guy. Mo Salah is really all about Mo Salah. Robbo isn’t getting his game. Who else is there? Ali? Mac Allister?
I think when the problems are so clearly and obviously mental you need you senior leaders in the team to really rally the players and make it clear where the standards are. For all people going on about Klopp and his man management, I think it’s overlooked that he had Jordan Henderson and James Milner as his lieutenants on the pitch, making it very fucking clear where the standard was.
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Hendo and Millie set the standard and it is very hard for players to lead when they are out of form themselves.
I do agree that we need more from the players to sort things out on the pitch.
Technically we were poor vs Spuds however spuds were worst. We seemed to be sound for most of the match, even if it was a tad boring, then suddenly we hit panic button and their 9 men looked like they out numbered us by 5 or 6 yet we had 11. I just can fathom how we can miss soo many opposition players. What’s wrong with us?
Why can we not just mark up win the ball back and play a few passes. Winning the ball back and hoofing it into the stands would be better than what we do. Oh shit we have to win the ball back first.
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This season especially, we seem to struggle against physical teams. The team general look more comfortable against continental teams than PL teams.
Relating to @Mascot’s point above, I attribute it partially to leadership and also renewal/recruitment - we could do with more tough cookies/snide players within our ranks. We have not replaced the mental toughness of Henderson, Milner, Fabinho, Mane, Diaz, Robertson, who would take no prisoners.Maybe Szoboszlai and to some extent, Bradley or Frimpong may cut it from our current crop, but that’s about it.
It might take a few years and more than changing managers or players to reset the mentality. My guess is the remaining old guard of VVD, Salah still command much of the dressing room. My sense is that their motivation to succeed is not as high as it used to be - not questioning their overall professionalism as there are factors such as gradual churn of players, age etc, which happens to all of us. The emerging players are finding it hard to impose themselves. Buying a Guehi or Semenyo may not solve the issue immediately. Neither does replacing Slot, though it might be possible with a Klopp 2.0.
Slot complained about needing wingers while refusing to use Rio and Chiesa 
. Both of them would have shredded a 10-man team.
I get that you feel Slot shouldn’t bear the brunt of all the critique but you say the same thing on this thread and then invariably across multiple match threads because that play has has become very much the norm. Again, that’s Slot’s job to identify and fix. Players need a plan and a template for every eventuality on the pitch. If you leave it to themselves to figure out or have shoddy training and sessions about it and chaos and panic will be the result.
You have to remember that playing posession football at 0-0 in the 30th minute is far different from being 1 or 2 up in the 80th. The opposition, especially if we’re away, will be bayed on by their support, the game becomes quicker and alot more frantic while the body will be feeling the strain of the game by then. That’s when conditioning, both mental and physical, becomes paramount and having a template for the players to work within becomes key to seeing it out.
For the same deficiencies to crop up is suggestive that management seems to be oblivious to this and seem to think, as you do, that they’re good enough players and should be able to sort it out and that is a major managerial defect. The difference between winning consistently is that extra 1 or 2% in preparation and the first millisecond of reaction time from a player and that is pure conditioning.
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I have no fucking idea too…Even for yesterday’s match, Szobo was central despite being the RB of the match once Frimpong went off…
Pretty sure that the Liverpool squad has the most international captains in the league. It’s not leadership that is lacking, it’s Slot’s preparation both physical and tactical that has been under par. This is a team that won the league a few months back and was defending set pieces as well as anyone. Now, it’s being bullied by all and sundry and panicking at the first sign of trouble.
This doesn’t happen on its own. A well-drilled, a well-organised team would never collapse so often and so easily.
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As things stand, given the performances and how I still think we’re Moments FC, my hope is we secure Champions League football, and upgrade on Slot in the summer with either an Alonso, Enrique, or Nagelsmann.
Another variable is Slot’s contract situation (18 months left), as given his family haven’t moved to Merseyside, I think at some point, he’ll want a commitment from the club about a renewal. If Edwards/Hughes pause discussions until the end of the season, I think Slot’s in trouble, but if we hear that we’ve restarted talks on a renewal, then I guess we know the club are satisfied with the current trajectory of things.
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If he’s thinking like that at the moment he’s loopy. No way we’re negotiating a new contract with him; that his family havent moved here is their own business and if they are hanging out, with 18 months still to run, for a ‘longer deal’ then they clearly don’t want to live here. The best he could hope for is looking to start discussions in the summer and I just can’t see the club looking for a really long contract at that point unless something very surprising happens plus Arne makes very modest demands. Regardless I can’t see the sticking point for his wife (and possibly kids) moving here being the length of his contract.
If I remember correctly, weren’t his kids (or at least 1 of them) still in school, and his wife stayed in Holland whilst they finished school?
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Yeah. Found these quotes from his first year with us (taken from several sources including Sky Sports, Mirror).
Slot told Sky Sports: "Both of them are doing their exams. So, it was impossible for them to come. I wouldn’t say impossible, but that wouldn’t be the right choice to bring them over.
“And let’s see how it works out this year for them, for me, and see how we will do things next year. But first of all, we have to keep on winning for me to keep this job.”
Anyone who is married and has a good marriage, I think I do, would like to see the children and the wife a bit more. My wife comes over for a couple of days every two weeks, the children unfortunately even less."
“She (Mirjam) finds that attention the hardest part of our lives,” the Reds boss added. “She already had that at Feyenoord. She also prefers to get take-out food instead of us sitting down together. She feels differently that she is being watched or judged.”
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That was my understanding. And presumably they didn’t want their kids to go through boarding school, which would be the other possibility.
I believe that Rafa’s family still live on the Wirral despite several jobs since. Family stability still counts for something.
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At least we are in a top 5 and 6 matches without a loss. But Slot needs to improve so many things.
That game against Spurs was so similar to our win vs. Newcastle. An early red card for the opponent /both times for fouls against Virgil/. And we did not play well and had no idea how to pass the ball around against a team with 10 players. It is so simple for the opponents playing against LFC this season. Play direct football, be more aggressive and sooner rather than later Liverpool will show their soft side. That was impossible to see under Klopp, but reminds me of Rodgers times. Now these type of teams are intimidating us - Leeds, Brentford, Palace, Forest.
I can’t see Slot improving the individuals - only Sczobosczlai is playing at a solid, constant level. Konate is shocking /since the start of the season/, Kerkez is not the same player who we watched in Bournemouth /still have to adimt that he looks much better without Gakpo in the starting 11/. MacAllister is a shadow of the player we watched for 2 seasons. Even Gravenberch made a step back from last seasons’s standarts. Salah is having the worst season of his Liverpool career, Gakpo also is nowhere near his best form. Wirtz and Isak are miles away from the players we watched in Leverkusen and Newcastle. Only Ekitite is playing at a very good level and still Slot prefered Isak over him at every opportunity.
Slot has his group of favourite players and he does not rely much on young players and still does not rotate enough. For example Ngumoha is not getting many chances, while the boy clearly has a huge potential and deserves minutes. Chiesa is practically not used, while having 2 PL goals and an assist for 162 minutes, for example Isak has the same stats for 511 minutes, while Gakpo has 4 goals and 3 assists for 1141 munutes. Players like Endo and Gomez were practically frozen out and Joe started to play when Arne had no other options and the lack of minutes led to an injury. Konate is playing all the time, inspite of the fact that this season he is absolutely shocking, for example last season Quansah was substituted after 45 minutes for much less.
And finally it is hard to imagine that after spending almost 400 mln. pounds there will be not enough depth and balance. We still have serious problems at the position of right back, practically no depth in central defence. Not enough competition on the wings and a top class defensive midfielder will also be welcomed, especially when other teams put us under pressure with direct football and more aggressive approach.
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There is a lot of that going about.