Love your sarcasm. Am I not allowed to give honest opinions and feelings on this forum then? Or maybe I should PM you each time I post to make sure my opinion is ok with you?
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Yes you should
Slot’s pre-match press conference and my misheard musings:
- Starting late again… lots of nasty comments about Slot on the YouTube chat from people whose names I can’t pronounce…
- 12 minutes in and the bald eagle arrives…
- Ryan trained with us. Others not fit.
- Squad depth after CP game. Squad, strategy and policy are all fine. Not all players have had a pre-season and injuries have hit squad. More difficult compared to last season.
- A lot of away games with little recovery hasn’t helped.
- Slot contract negotiations. Laughs. Side-steps and won’t discuss.
- How difficult to solve problems in season: Handle situation as it is. Alex is doing pre-season in-season and needs to play as much as possible when fit. Same with Frimpong and Bradley.
- We still have enough good players regardless of injuries. Dropping players midweek allows us to keep them fit.
- Focus is now on upcoming performance against Villa.
- Factors to stop current poor run: We have quality players and they are creating chances. Lots of positives going into this match.
- Physicality of our players: Defending against set pieces needs to be 100%. Conceding goals is poor.
- Long balls: Explaining that it is difficult rather than an excuse. Villa bring the ball from the back, but they are good at it. Set pieces are important.
- Open to adapt approach in certain circumstances. (didn’t hear question). Doesn’t see a reason to completely change playing style.
- Many teams are on similar points to us. (didn’t hear question again).
TLDR: Grav probably back. We play Villa tomorrow night.
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Shame about Jones. I was hoping to see a midfield of Gravenberch, Jones and Szoboszlai, with Wirtz coming inside off the right to create the box shape in possession.
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Laughing at the TLDR, not the post.
Quality. Muchas gracias.
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I find these pressers are like this. Most of it is Slot just saying the bleeding obvious, because the questions are essentially just answers in disguise.
The annoying thing is that the injury question is usually the first one and the stream isn’t always up and running by then.
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Yep.
I dunno how managers do it, to be honest.
How often do you hear a journo ask something and say to yourself, Good question!
Must be soul-destroying to front up and engage with their inane shit on pretty-much a daily basis…
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Arne, you must be disappointed with the result this evening…
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His reaction to the question on his own contract negotiations was priceless. He basically just laughed and looked incredulous that anyone would ask that in a public press conference. TBH I miss Klopp in these because he was the master of a witheringly philosophical put down.
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Klopp was usually personable and funny with them but didn’t give them any deference. A bit like his diary of a CEO interview when Bartlett was giving his lengthy opinion on United’s situation.
“Yes”, said Klopp, “But the thing is you don’t have a clue about football” [booming laugh]
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I think it’s fair to say that dealing with the press was Klopp’s least favourite part of management. He could barely conceal his contempt for the press at times.
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Think the must wins are over for a while, just about remembering how to play together now. I’ll
Be happy with a competitive performance. We’ve got a really good squad and a manager who knows what he is doing, just got to go through the process.
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We are in a terrible mess, we will get out of it. Been there, done that. YNWA.
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That’s also one of the main reasons why he won’t come back to club management. He’s had enough, understandably so.
I think the journos have been pretty soft on Slot during the pressers. There have been a few times where I expected some tougher questions to be asked of him, but all I’ve seen are softballs.
I’m not a fan of the midfield shape this season. We have shifted to far more of a double pivot, perhaps to allow Wirtz to play central and it’s played havoc. The worst part is one of the DMs being pulled out wide. In theory the other DM comes across and covers centrally but we have been badly exposed over and over again.
The most worrying thing for me is there does not appear to be a cohesive system that accommodates our signings and allows a midfield shape of three lines rather than a double pivot and one in front. Mostly because I don’t think Wirtz is suited to the Dom role of last season as he doesn’t have the legs.
Klopp came with a reputation of playing a double pivot but never really did in 9 years. I can’t really remember recent sustained success with this shape elsewhere either?
For those asking for a diamond, I can see the sense but have misgivings. It’s very rarely used and relies on the two in the centre of the diamond to be dynamic, would suit Dom but unsure who else.
Not the worst shout by any means, but it’s risky as can become unbalanced easily and we’ve not used it really since 13-14 with Rodgers.
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We were double-pivot under Klopp in his first season, he switched it immediately. Then tried it once or twice when we had balance issues (like autumn/early winter of 17/18).
We were also double-pivot by large last season, only in some bigger games in the second part of last season, Szobo (wasn’t creative enough for a while) played a little bit deeper and Mac (when he stepped up his form) got a little bit more freedom, so it resembled like more of a 1-2 shape.
So the midfield shape this season is nothing new under Slot, but the balance is obviously not there. We’re not compact nor aggressive enough. Defending from the front has issues, defensive transition, set-pieces + as teams scanned our start to the season, also issues in build-up.
And I agree with the last part, I’m not a fan of the diamond idea.
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We will have to agree to disagree. I didn’t see Ryan dragged anywhere near as wide to the right last season as I’ve seen this, Dom did that last year.
To me it’s a clear change.
Anyway would be keen for your thoughts @Zoran, what sort of shape were we thinking with Ekiteke, Isak and Wirtz plus ‘drive with the ball’ style full backs?
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I’m sure that Arne and his team will know the personnel, formation and tactics to see us through this game. COYR YNWA 
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