Yeah, I cannot say he will never ever come to England, but he can be pretty picky (even though for all the great amount of CL’s won, he hasn’t really attracted a ton of interest since) and I think he has his eyes on the France job when Deschamps leaves after the WC.
He’s not being given money to spend, he’s not our manager, he’s our coach.
The money we spend is decided and negotiated by other people above him.
2 Likes
I think it’s the total opposite.
That he’d love to stay regardless what happens this season, but is aware he might not. And that is giving his all.
If he was putting “minimum effort” in, that would be seen by decision makers and he would be gone already.
1 Like
No…
This is my take
1, We win CL (almost impossible to imagine) - Arne stays.
2, We win FA cup and get CL place - Very likely he stays if we get a huge upturn of results to getting top 3. Otherwise, see point 4.
3, We win FA cup but no CL places - He will be gone by 25th May
4, No cups, we scrape into CL places -50/50 depending on league performance in May.
5, No cups, no CL place - He will be gone by 25th May.
The UCL money is very important for the club as shown by our finances in the last FY. Literally everything hinges in participation of the UCL for the next season.
Winning the FA cup banks the club around 4.27m GBP which is not going to move the needle in impacting the finance. Winning the UCL is going to net the club 140m euros. Just even purely participating in the league phase of the UCL will get the club more money than winning the FA cup.
I keep saying this, but anyone asserting any scenarios in which Slot is sacked as a result of him not getting CL, or not winning or something, is barking up the wrong tree.
He will be sacked if FSG no longer feel he is the right man to take the team forward.
And before anyone suggests I’m defending him, defecting or being devoted or any such fucking twaddle, getting Champions League football (which I think we will) does not change this equation.
1 Like
It is isn’t it?
Who’d have thought that’s what we’d need after winning the PL and spending nearly half a billion quid in the summer?
And yet that’s where we are.
Unless you’re happy to keep Gakpo, Salah and Chiesa. If you’re happy to watch Mac plod through another season and Jones continue to produce neat mediocrity. If you’re happy to watch Endo spend another year sitting on the bench. If you’re happy to watch Joe break down 5 or 6 times a season. Same with Connor Bradley. If you’re happy to watch Konate fuck up regularly as he dreams of his big move somewhere else.
Keep them all in that case.
I’m not saying we’ll bring in 8 or 9 players in the summer. Just that we need to.
Yeah, just a turn of phrase. I wouldn’t get my knickers in a twist over it.
1 Like
But not getting the UCL will make the decision very very easy for those in FSG especially when there is 2 free high quality head coaches available (where 1 is highly touted to be FSG’s first choice after Klopp’s departure) and there are a few head coaches whose contracts are very close to ending too.
2 Likes
I feel the remaining matches in the CL are actually the swan song for MO and his remaining time at Anfield. Playing him each PL game in the meantime, to me anyway, is just a way of keeping his engine ticking over. It is also a show of respect from the club, to one of its greatest players ever, for everyone can see, his present form wouldn’t/shouldn’t warrant a starting berth.
For the benefit of both parties he should leave in the summer. If he remains, and it is predominately his choice, then the loyalty of fans will be severely tested each and every time he has a bad game.
- Agree. Impossible to sack some one who wins the CL. After all, we are not Real Madrid.
- Agree. I think FSG would prioritize qualifying for the CL above everything.
- Disagree. I think FSG would see not qualifying as a sackable offence after all the money that was spent last summer.
- Disagree. I think he would he probably stay (see above). Although Edwards and Hughes might persuade FSG to pull the trigger if they’re not happy with the way the team is playing.
- Agree. In that scenario, I think he might offer to resign and his offer wouldn’t be refused.
I don’t think he has mentally checked out, but I think with his recent remarks about the football played in the PL, he is preparing the ground for an exit. I think he would be happy to get away from the low-blocks and the six-yard box free-for-alls of the PL.
Then again, I might be wrong.
2 Likes
Not very inspiring is it? I don’t think there’s one on that list that I would say suits us as a club.
1 Like
Many rumours swirling around that Tuchel is ready to quit England after the World Cup for another taste of club football again. To fuck over the FA is an added bonus.
Enrique has 1 year left in PSG and will cost around 15m GBP to compensate.
There is still Xabi Alonso lol…
Who’d have thought? Why, because spending a lot of money always results in the team and squad immediately getting better and better precisely connected to the exact of amount spent?
Doesn’t necessarily work like that. Some people who laughed at other clubs doing that and not getting it right or still needing time to make it all work have seen multiple examples of it.
This is not so much about our wishes, because we have 0 influence on it, but what is even realistic. What you said isn’t. And football issues are not all solved by simply transfers and more transfers.
And it’s not like some of these players didn’t provide in the past and now it means they’re totally finished here and unable to produce again in the future.
You never saw players in football have a bad period or a bad season and then return to a certain level?
I’d be happy or understand some of those players staying (not necessarily in the same role or playing as much), I’d be happy or understand some of those players leaving.
1 Like
I’m coming to view last season more as a culmination of Klopp’s 9 years rather than Slot’s midas touch.
I think we need to accept that a big rebuild is needed and it will take time. For me, Slot hasn’t shown me anything that he’s the guy for that.
I’d bring in Alonso on a 5 year contract. Reset expectations entirely. His remit is to oversee the phasing out of 3 major pillars of our success: Salah, Virgil, and Alisson.
Those are the 3 positions I would prioritise. Perhaps Marmadashvili is already the right replacement here, I’m not yet convinced, but maybe.
If so that would obviously make things slightly easier. So we then have Virgil (priority no.1 given the situation with Konate). We need a top quality, early to mid twenties, CB. Preferably left sided - Bastoni, for example.
Salah, we need a quality right winger. They need not be a huge goal scorer but they must be quick and creative. I’ve watched a bit of Olise this year and he’s dropped off a bit so I’d probably look elsewhere.
If we can get those sorted then my next focus would be CM. I’d love Anderson but I suspect he’ll go to City. Baleba is looking better each time I see him although still very raw.
Anyway, I digress.
Slot isn’t the answer.
5 Likes
You think Tuchel signed the new contract to f*ck over the FA?
And yeah, that’s what it says, Enrique until 2027. PSG obviously want to keep him and I know he wanted to work in England before (he rejected some projects in the past), but we’ll see.
The point is, it’s not as you presented that all those names are available for us this summer. More contracts are in fact expiring in 2027, but no doubt some of those futures will be resolved one way or another before.
1 Like
The culmination of Klopp’s period was the stuff we played from around mid 2018 to early 2020 lockdown and that near-quadruple 21/22 season. Those were our peak periods.
9 years is a hell of a lot of time in football, many things changed and were not linear. I’d both thank Liverpool and Klopp for getting us back on track and reviving some of our principles in that final season, but also not take any credit off Liverpool and Slot for last season’s success.
I have almost no doubt about Olise. I used to have a bit in terms of if he’d be a good fit for us before when we played with a false #9, but he’s convinced me he’s becoming a top player in his own way. He’s playing as one of the world’s best players and his new France role might increase his importance.
But a) I don’t see why he’d leave Bayern so soon and b) if he is, there would surely be multiple top clubs wanting him. Some people who are imagining or presenting this potential transfer like it would be easy (“just go and buy Olise and Diomande”) are not realistic.
3 Likes
I’m really not that much of a Tuchel fan tbh, but… I think he’s definitely not the type of person who would do something like that.
Perhaps the rumors are coming from those who would like to get rid of him.
2 Likes
How would any owner decide on whether or not the manager is the right man to take the team forward?
In the case of a massive club, like Liverpool, the right man would surely be achieving CL football with the squad available to him? Even if he achieved CL football, they might view his vision as being incompatible with theirs?
I get your point, but I reckon the criteria to be the right man requires both CL football and a clear vision of success in the next few years. I’m not certain Arne Slot has the latter.
1 Like