Even with a Top5 finish and reaching the CL final Slot has to go. Him being sacked is long overdue and at any other big club he would be gone by now. Maybe that’s what makes us so ‘special’ as a club?
It’s a D- as a coach for him this season.
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My worry is a line from an article around December time. Can’t find it now but it was talking about all the issues we’ve faced this season and about patience being key. They then referenced Arteta and how long it took him to get rid of the old guard and build his squad. 5 fucking years of this?! No thanks.
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After this season we will only have Alisson, van Dijk and Endō aged over 30. Their contracts expire at the end of next season regardless of what happens in the summer.
Whether Slot is best positioned to build a new team is another matter.
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This is certainly my concern. This is my only personal parallel I have between Slot and Rodgers. But it also raises questions on last year’s transfer dealings, again. And for that matter, the year before.
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This would worry me. Arne was meant to be the continuity candidate and taking over a pretty good and competitive squad that was comfortably sat within the clubs financial structure. There shouldnt be any need for talk about him building his own squad in this context.
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Thiago and Matip leaving, Trent not signing a new deal, Robbo, Virg and Salah entering the twilight of their careers, Kelleher wanting a starting role, Nunez just not being up to scratch, Konate not looking like signing a new deal. That’s before you get to Slot making his assessment, rightly or wrongly, of players like Elliott, Quansah, Endo, Chiesa and Tsimikas who he clearly didn’t feel were players he wanted to work with.
As much as Klopp left us with a good squad it wasn’t without issues that any new manager coming in would have had to deal with in this timeframe. We’re essentially seeing the end of the core of that Klopp squad and so the continuity was only ever going to last for a couple of years at best.
3-4 new players a season wouldn’t be unusual at most big clubs. Over three summer and two winter windows that’s half a squad which I think you’d say constitutes a bit of a rebuild, especially if you only brought in one player in that first couple windows.
Now, whether he’s the right man to be at the helm during this transition is another matter. I’d argue not given none of the new signings bar Ekitike have reached the heights expected and everyone else’s level has dropped off a cliff. Nearly a season working with a player as talented as Wirtz and you still don’t seem to know his best role or how to get the best out of him is massively concerning.
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Agreed, again! I think Wirtz needs a certain midfield and front line set up, which we simply don’t have.
Makes me query our recruitment here a bit to be honest.
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I dont think that’s really the issue, better movement by other players would make a world of difference. Again, its more of a coaching than personnel problem as i’m sure he played off the left in a similar structure during Alonso’s final year at Bayer.
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Fair point.
I’m not doing too well in debating in this thread. I will say though. I’m a long way from being convinced that our midfield balance is right.
Something feels broken in there.
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This.
https://x.com/livescore/status/2042663904925422027?s=61&t=VxX1vHU3NOwwNhlbyICG-g
I don’t know where the stats came from so I’m open to this being wrong. But this aligns with the eye test. There was a period of the season where we could say we’re still pressing as much as ever just doing it poorly but that has stopped as became a lot more passive, seemingly by design. But still with a handful of player going through the motions of running after the ball leaving us too few players behind the ball to do an effective low block leaving the midfield too much space/too many players to account for.
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We haven’t a DM or other midfielders to defend the way Slot needs!
The plus 1 doesn’t help as it ends up +5 or -3 which is really strange and frustrating.
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Typo…sorry!
Easily observable. Look at the difference between any of the last 10 games and the Galatasaray second leg.
Ole Gunnar Solskaer first though…
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Exactly. Considering they all went on holidays after the Spurs game
Anyone know when they’re due back?
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Well considering the midfield being ‘rebuilt’ was one of the main things Klopp talked about when talking about why he decided to go and the fact that we were told we had gone for Slot as his replacement because he a) played in a similar way as Klopp and b) was happy to happy to work with, and improve, whatever players he had then I don’t buy this whole needing to get a whole new midfield.
If Slot decided that he needs to change the way he approaches the game after playing PSG last year then that’s on him. If he can’t work with the players he knew we’re here before he signed (and as the midfield had just been rebuilt he would have known that we had a load of other positions to refresh before buying another number of midfielders) then he should make way for someone who can work with the players available.
Ffs, I don’t know how many managers who we would actually be linked with who would be doing so poorly in the league as Slot this past season.
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