Arne Slot - Head Coach

I’m all for fall guys if it fixes things. Just being pragmatic. And I largely defend Slot and hope he can turn it around but I don’t want to deny that sometimes sackings are a solution.

I don’t think a lot of the recent performances are the result of bad coaching actually. And I think a difference has to be made between whether the situation is largely of Slot’s making or not. And I don’t think it is.

Nobody is coaching them to switch off or panic… it is just the mental strain or a lack of confidence. The players are lost now and doing the same (unfortunately) is not going to convince them even if it could be the route to improvement. No one believes we have someone on the bench who can come off and save us or that we can be rock solid defending because everyone also knows that the RB we have has only played the position for weeks.

We are still good at scoring from open play and now improving dramatically at set pieces. I was critical of not having a new dedicated set-piece coach appointed but I stand corrected.

Against Man City, having a proper RB would have probably seen us win the game. Even signing Guehi (though he is a CB) might have given our depleted squad a confidence boost.

Having said all that, while I don’t think many things are Slot’s fault (some of course is)… but I do think a change could be a big part of the solution. A big part is rebuilding confidence and so if axing Slot makes him the fall guy for collective ills (Hughes, etc) then unfortunately the “a little” unfair might still need to be done.

It won’t change the fact that we lack defenders or could use a decent winger but a nice reset and new manager bump might be what we need to get going again.

A new manager symbolizes a fresh start which could be the invigoration the players need regardless of whether he was the problem or not.

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I do think if he finishes out of the CL places and doesn’t win it that will be it for him. I think will say yes we can have a season out of it and reset but we can’t risk a second year without some improvements.

The team and what we know it can play like isn’t bad and that’s the issue, so much of it is underperforming, now with injuries that’s an excuse but its not been performing for some time.

Having only 2 fit CB’s is not an excuse for 0-0’s against Leeds and Burnley at home.

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Can we pretend that the round table (I haven’t watched it) is a vote of confidence in a roundabout way?

I am sad that it has come to a point where I am hoping for a vote of confidence.

Whats this nonsense from Dom King, we dont have Chelsea or Manure to play agin this season, nor Villa, but we do have Everton. There also only 9 games left.

We do…

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We’ve finally found someone posting from further in the future than @GermanRed

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We fucking do :rofl:

It’s so disappointing that we’re here. Seems like every time we look to have turned a corner, we’ll trip over ourselves, kill our self-belief, and find ourselves asking whether a new manager is needed.

I’ll say this in defense of Slot - unlike a few months ago, I do feel as though injuries and lack of rotation have really harmed us. I think if we had Frimpong and Isak, even, it would have made a significant difference, let alone Bradley and Leoni and Gomez. That our wingers are letting us down again and again hurts us even more, as Slot doesn’t have the options to rotate or to play an effective alternative formation.

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Slot has players on his hands, he just refused to acknowledge their existence.

(Okay, that’s hyperbole. :wink:)

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However when he had the players available we slipped up to the likes of Burnley and Leeds.

Effectively about 10-12 points that that team gave up over that period.

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So, where are England on the table this season for 5th spot in CL?

England -- 111.797 coefficient points

Italy -- 96.446 coefficient points

Spain -- 90.484 coefficient points

Germany -- 87.331 coefficient points

France -- 78.927 coefficient points

We did have Calvin Ramsey, a natural RB on the bench that Slot simply refuses to use at any league matches at all!

In fact, we have 2 natural RBs and 1 RWB/RB/RW in the squad.

And he still manages to use 2 CMs on RB! That is bonkers!

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In terms of the performance of the team, they have been in almost a replica of this situation in 2020/21, the last time we went into a season as champions. There is a good chance that the powers see this as a replica as well. You and I might not like it, but if the owners see the improvement that suggests there is a bounce to take into next season (not a lot of evidence of that yet), Slot is a genuine chance of surviving regardless of the CL outcome.

One area where the situations are different is that Klopp’s job was never under threat by even the fans, even though his record of 12L, 13D was abysmal that season. Will the owners see a strong finish as being something the players and managers can work with going into next season? Along the lines of ‘if it worked in 21/22, why not 26/27?’

Alonso’s availability may change the balance a bit, but IMO I don’t think we fans should be as confident that he’s shown the door, even without silverware this season (the results must improve though).

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With all respect, I don’t think any manager will play Ramsey. He hasn’t played for the last three years, is mostly injured, never has top league experience, and failed on loan too. Does anyone here think Bajcetic could return to our lineup now? Expecting Ramsey to play for us is 100 times harder than that.

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Right on point, don’t recall us playing 90 mins all season, players stuffed and the bench gathering splinters.
What is going to change now? Want something to, but?

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He played against Palace in the Carabao cup game and was one of the better players, but hasn’t been seen since.

Being one of the better players and with the injuries we have had a RB, should have seen him get minutes if some sort of meritocrisy was in place.

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Slot publicly all but said he’s not good enough as well, let’s not forget.

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Good motivation there.

How is the lad supposed to get experience if he never gets a chance? He’s a right back on our books, getting paid by the club. Why not give him a try instead of playing literally anyone else there? He could have got minutes against Qarabag for example, ten minutes, see what he looks like.
Maybe he’s terrible. If so, why are we paying him? He didn’t look that bad against CP.

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Hmmm…we did use two young players that is clearly not at our level and still got us third…I wonder who is that coach back then…

Both Nat and Williams did play a full season on loan before that, while Ramsey only played like 10 senior games last 3 years. And Klopp did play Henderson and Fabinho before them and only actually used them when he had no other choice. Szoboszlai is surely a better RB than Ramsey, and I’d say most coaches would rather play Szobo or Jones before Ramsey. Of course, if he could contribute, it’d surely help us, but for me, it’s a fairly tall story based on his player profile.

Slot’s made tons of mistakes this season, but not using Ramsey isn’t one of them :blush:

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