Arne Slot - Head Coach

[Zoran]

But Kerkez is a defensive full back, I think a lot of people got the wrong impression what we were getting with him. Perhaps the assists against City and Tottenham grabbed too much attention.

Does that mean he should be tucking in as the 3rd CB when we build up, not necessarily. But we’ve seen him used in a few different ways; tucked in, released higher and wider and more let’s say classic (like recently). On the ball, I see a very limited player.

His dad (not that I view him as a football pro) said a few days ago that he doesn’t understand the shouts about Kerkez’s attacking game (like it’s something that needs to be unleashed). In his words, he’s not someone who will go on to beat players, but he’s exactly that - a defensive full back (in his opinion one of the best in the game and defensively the best in the game, of course he’s highly subjective as a parent) who’s best skill or pride is not being defensively beaten.

Fine if you ask me, I just want Kerkez to play a simple game and not complicate too much. Calm down a bit, be less aggressive and use his brain.

It took me our first season friendly when I felt like he was our “Kyle Walker” move. Perhaps wanted to have Bradley and Frimpong attacking more on the right side and Kerkez or Robertson being more reserved on the opposite left.

We did drop Ekitike a few times instead of Isak and yes, I didn’t like it. I understood he “had to” start Isak here and there, but the examples against United and Forest I didn’t agree with.

Wirtz was playing closer to our midfield at the start of the season yes, but with time has been moved further up and off the sides in half spaces.

We lost one of our key players on the right side and it’s hard to predict the future. We agree 2 more years with Salah and you never know when the drop might arrive. It can be unpredictable, sudden and rapid when it does. It’s easy giving out new contracts (fans also have to realize that not all players can get new deals and not at the same time).

For me the issue is that we’ve added a bit too much in terms of moves, keeping our special player we protected in Salah, but then adding more ‘protagonists’ that either cannot offer that balance soon enough or actually are the future special ones who will be protected like Mo is.

[rab]

@Hephaestus

• Used Kerkez as a defensive fullback, which limits his strengths. Not suitable at all.
• Dropped Ekitike and played Isak when Ekitike was basically carrying our attacks.
• Played Wirtz too far away from the opponents’ box, limiting his skill set.
• Messed up the right flank and wasted Salah’s strengths.

I kind of get where you’re going but I think you could also make a completely reasonable counter argument to all these points and that probably points to us all not really having much idea what’s going on.

Kerkez - as @Zoran points out, Kerkez isn’t a flying fullback as some might think. He’s also still extremely young and still learning the game. He may have more of that attacking ability in his locker but it needs nurturing as it’s not his natural way.

Isak - Lot of people aren’t happy with how he uses his squad and we’ve a £120m striker who needs game time. We have to accept some kind of rotation based on fitness rather than form and it’s far riskier injury wise to bring Isak on that it is for him to start. Well, muscle injury wise anyway.

Wirtz - I think he’s largely been fine but the whole team hasn’t been on the same wavelength. I genuinely think it’s less about his positioning or use and more about the wider issues within the team not allowing for him to excel.

Right flank - we lost Trent. Not really anyone’s fault but Trent’s. So now we have to find a right back and hope he gels with Salah on that side. We have two decent options but both have struggled with fitness and now Salah is away. Szoboslai has had to be shunted around and Macca is woefully short of form so the whole flank is disrupted, not just Mo. That’s very different from 5-6 years of a pretty set pairing of TAA and Salah.

There’s just been a lot of change in a short amount of time and then pretty much every player that’s come in has also had some kind of injury issue along the way. And that’s compounded further by missing out on Guehi who might well have been trusted enough for Konate to be dropped when this bad run started.

I think my point here is that these things are rarely the fault of one person or one error. Some will want to blame the manager, some will point fingers at players, others will want Hughes’ head on a stick for the recruitment we didn’t do or doing too much of it and there may even be one or two very optimistic ones who’ll think we’ve been unlucky with injuries, decisions or some fine margins.

Ultimately there’s an element of all those things at play. Did we really need to sell Quansah and Diaz? Why did we leave the Isak and Guehi deals so late and spend £200m on CFs but leave Gakpo as our only senior LW. Why has the team been so open and why are we so bad at set pieces? Why hasn’t Slot been able to get more from Wirtz and Isak or dropped under performers quicker? How unlucky are we that our right backs seem to be alternating injuries and two of our four CBs got injured at the same time, one of whom is done for the season in his first game from an innocuous incident.

Little things add up. They eat away at confidence and conviction. We can all point the finger whichever way we see fit but there are errors and mistakes all over the place and they’re all feeding into the mess that is this season. The big question is whether Slot can overcome them, and his own shortcomings this season, to keep us on track for a CL spot next season and do a sufficient reset in the summer.

[Mascot]

@Sportbilly1966

Our players on the bench, if they do come on and perform, just don’t have a belief that they have a chance of starting the next game as Arne doesn’t seem to reward meritocracy, he just goes back to his favored players, how can that inspire them to want to make a difference?

Which regular bench players have made a compelling case to start games?

[Sportbilly1966]

How can they, they don’t get chances?

And when they do in Joe’s case he is overplayed as he isn’t used to game time and that can be said for Endo, Chiesa and Elliot.

[Redbj]

yeah its a bit of a loaded question.

i think the frustration is less about the rotation of who starts on match days, but the use of subs and rotating through the players

prime examples would include playing Gakpo and Salah into the ground, not trusting Joe Gomez, Endo maybe deserves more moniutes ( or, more acurately..) Endo should be able to deputise in the middle of the park and rest Ryan, Chiesa, as shit as everyone here seems to think he is, never gets enough time to play himself into a game…then you have Rio who seems more than capable for 20 minutes plus.

everything really seems so reactive, unplanned so to say…

then you have the whole otherside of the coin, where players can stink the joint out for games on end and know they arent getting dropped…

so yeah, Salah’s fingernail might be better than Chiesa, but drop him for a game and see if we can spark something, Endo for Gravenberch, even Pop Robbo at CB for a game, see how Konate reacts. Give Rio a start over Gakpo ( prior to injury)…

theres so many more reasons to rotate through the squad than just a player for player improvement.

[Zoran]

Quickly on his Fulham selection, pre-match when I saw no Ekitike, I wondered whether it would be double false #9’s (even if in those roles I wouldn’t like Mac) or Gakpo up top.

But in the end, he surprised me by pulling Mac deeper alongside Gravenberch, Szoboszlai inside right, Wirtz #10, Jones inside left and Gakpo up top, but more in the left channel.

Wasn’t happy when I saw that. Think especially without Ekitike, it would’ve been better to start Frimpong (actually anywhere on the right). At least coming on sooner than he did and already at HT, I would’ve pulled Jones back to his deeper role to get the ball moving quicker.

Even if we actually managed to gain some initiative in the second half, but that was a game in which the final result was fair.

Fulham did a nice surprise by changing the formation to 3 at the back (even if it was very asymmetrical, Castagne playing deeper than Robinson), for only the second time this season. Probably thought it was a good move with the players out and us struggling to break down against a back 3/5 in recent weeks.

In 14 games against Marco Silva sides our record is 6-6-2.

[Lynch04]

Good post! Reading your responses to @Nikola and the questions you raise are pretty much how I see it.

As you said:

@Mascot

Personally I think it’s looking increasingly like everyone involved (and you can include Slot in this) in the planning and strategy started getting high on the smell of their own farts after the title win.

I would like to include us ‘The Fans’ in this. It was a massive revamp, big money spent with some big signings. Strolling to the League (due to the hard work put in), in hindsight created a lot of complacency with the Management, the Players and the Fans. We forgot to take into consideration the variables we couldn’t control.
Such as no right back for first few games, the poor form of the reliable Salah, Konate and Macca (the first 2 maybe as a result of the RB issue) - The long diag. To Salah, with a RB in support has been an important part of our game for years and now this is missing
Bedding in Wirtz, the late signing of Isak and the pressure to get him in the Team.

@Mascot

Liverpool FC cannot be a serious football club if the only way we can be successful is to have a messianic figure as the manager.

Exactly. It is annoying, using a Ex-relationship analogy it is like people are hanging onto Klopp as they would an Ex-GF/BF//Partner - ‘Klopp would have done this/was so good/etc’. People forget that Klopp had his faults also, but like in an old relationship, they look back and forget about this and make excuses for this. Like an Ex, you have to remember the good/bad times and move on and try not to keep on comparing things.

@Mascot

Either the summer strategy was a failure or it’s the first act in a bigger process, but in leaving Slot to front all the questions and scrutiny on this Hughes is looking much more in self preservation mode that Slot.

I would say that the Summer Strategy hasn’t gone as anticipated but is definitely a stage of a bigger process.
As you say RH should shoulder a large part of this. As the Sporting Director, it is now common place for them and his team to decide on the clubs style of Football and identify the Manager and Players to carry this out successfully. A Statement of reassurance in regards to the clubs direction would take a lot of pressure off Slot.

@Mascot

Personally, I think it’s really odd that a ‘manager’ who has previously used pacy wide players wherever he’s been finds himself with a lad who just wants to cut inside, a lad who’s pace has gone, once who was never good enough, and a 17 year old he doesn’t think is ready. It’s impossible to know who we ended up like this, but I’d be staggered if Slot wasn’t saying “OK, but can you just get me one?”

I personally believe we are looking to use our Full Backs as Wingers and to provide width - which is why we signed Frimpong and Kerkez - and implement a PSG style of play, with a couple of tweaks. Gapko/Salah will definitely not be here next Season. I also think we would be more serious in signing Semenyo (a player I thought we would sign in the Summer) if it wasn’t for Rio.

I wont lie, we have been very flat/frustrating this season, easily exposed defensively and recently mentally fragile, however, we are 4th.
Two of our main rivals, Teams who have improved over the last few months and shown direction have just sacked their Managers and Spurs are under pressure to replace Frank.
Arsenal Fans were calling for Arteta to be sacked numerous times, even as recently as the Summer and yet they are likely to win the league this Season.
If anything this just highlights the importance of believing in and following through on Strategy.
To sack, blame a Manager, who delivered a Title in his first season - when a lot of us were wondering how with were ever going to cope post Klopp - and after spending/investing heavily in and at the same time losing a number of Key squad members is something I would expect from the Teams we mock. Maybe our Fanbase is not so different??

[RedArmada]

@Lynch04

To sack, blame a Manager, who delivered a Title in his first season - when a lot of us were wondering how with were ever going to cope post Klopp - and after spending/investing heavily in and at the same time losing a number of Key squad members is something I would expect from the Teams we mock. Maybe our Fanbase is not so different??

First, there isn’t another fanbase that would have stayed this calm if it had been served this dross for a period that is now approaching a full year. We’ve been mediocre/downright bad for longer than we’ve been good under Slot.

Second, the title buys Slot time and goodwill, not immunity. Slot shouldn’t keep his job for what he achieved in the past, but for what he can offer in the present and the future.

[legalalien]

I think you won’t have to worry about Tuchel replacing Slot. It would not be a surprise to anyone if he got the Utd job.

[Flobs]

@Mascot

Which regular bench players have made a compelling case to start games?

Which regular starters have?

[Basankayis]

@Flobs

Which regular starters have?

[Hope.in.your.heart]

@Limiescouse, good post above, thanks!

@Mascot

Liverpool FC cannot be a serious football club if the only way we can be successful is to have a messianic figure as the manager.

Messianic is a bit exaggerated, but if we are serious about wanting to stay a top club, then we have to have a manager who is truly top class on all registers, including the capacity to motivate players, and to give squad- and youth-players enough confidence and trust to allow them to give their best / to develop properly. If Slot isn’t top class at that, then he isn’t good enough for us.

Please note, I’m not saying that I’m convinced that he isn’t good enough, he showed enough last season to deserve time and support to get back on track, but right now, there are definitely question marks. Imo, Slot has the rest of this season to convince everyone, owners, Edwards and Hughes and the fans, that he is a top class manager indeed.

Top class managers can’t avoid occasional disappointing streaks of games, but they always manage to steady the ship and get back on track with strong performances. Klopp did it several times, and if you think about other confirmed world class managers (ie. Ancelotti, Guardiola), they too do that. That’s mainly what Slot has to show us now. If we don’t go back on track with some really strong performances before next May, then I’m quite sure that he’ll be gone. But I’m convinced that he has it in himself to make a strong come-back. Fingers crossed!..

[Bekloppt]

@Hope.in.your.heart

disappointing streaks of games

I’d argue we’ve been on this streak since PSG.

[Hope.in.your.heart]

@Bekloppt

I’d argue we’ve been on this streak since PSG.

Apart from the games against Newcastle and at Fulham, we won every game until the Tottenham 5-1 win, including the derby. The rest was a row of dead rubber games, and can’t really be judged imo.

However, this season is something else. No top class manager stays in such a perfomance slump during a whole season. Slot simply has to get us out of there, even if Edward’s and Hughes’ responsibility in our current predicament should be closely monitored too imo.

[Mascot]

@Flobs

@Mascot

Which regular bench players have made a compelling case to start games?

Which regular starters have?

[Mascot]

@Hope.in.your.heart

Messianic is a bit exaggerated, but if we are serious about wanting to stay a top club, then we have to have a manager who is truly top class on all registers, including the capacity to motivate players, and to give squad- and youth-players enough confidence and trust to allow them to give their best / to develop properly. If Slot isn’t top class at that, then he isn’t good enough for us.

The original point was that Klopp made Phillips and Williams feel ten foot tall, and questioned whether Slot could do that. Klopp was a managerial unicorn, definitely around man management and motivation. If we need one of them we’re going to be waiting another thirty years for a title.

Van Dijk and Konate shouldn’t need to feel ten foot tall to get through games. Right now I’d settle for them feeling 6’5” and 6’4” respectively.

I think Slot is a top class coach, albeit one that’s presently in a funk, but unlike Klopp he isn’t generational. But that’s OK. We have to find a way to succeed with a coach that is merely really good as opposed to once in a lifetime.

[Bekloppt]

Ooh la la. Frenchies in the house.

[Noo_Noo]

I did fear that whoever followed Klopp would struggle to live in the shadow he cast. Admittedly I did not think that shadow would be over 18 months long and still no sign of it ending.

[Quicksand]

Ferguson’s shadow still looms over Old Trafford

[Basankayis]

@Noo_Noo

I did fear that whoever followed Klopp would struggle to live in the shadow he cast. Admittedly I did not think that shadow would be over 18 months long and still no sign of it ending.

The first nine months didn’t seem too bad…