Not quite: I said at the start of the season that we would be the best team in the league, and that the only thing that would prevent us from winning it would be the refs.
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Five.
SIGN ALL THE PLAYERS!!!
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I can agree with most things, just not āMarshmallowā. Please, no.
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So we have 10 cup finals leftā¦ā¦err after that performance actually not. 10 league games!
I am not sure itās just fatigue. We have played that lack lustre way after decent gaps in games. But it did cry out for Endo and some more energy. Elliot never seems to give less that 110% and can drive the team.
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9 games.
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And the absolute maximum we need to do is win five of them.
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Easyā¦
Deserved defeat.
Newcastle always had the potential to be very tricky on the day, even with the few starters missing. Unfortunately, the combination of them having a quality day and us not being near our best proved to be decisive.
In the last league game against them, I thought they kept some aspects for the final. Credit for their set-piece work.
The ball was in the air a lot and I lost count how many duels and second balls they won.
We never truly got going and the biggest battle, the midfield one, was lost.
From deep, between defence and midfield, I thought it was actually alright. But then in midfield and then between midfield and attack, it was poor. We struggled to put sequences together, control, connect, create.
In that collective struggle, individual performances or aspects missing from players that were out (read: Trent), were even more obvious.
After less than an hour, one of our midfielders got subbed, one got pulled back into defence and the third one simply wasnāt visible enough, considering heās our most offensive of the three.
My point remains that this midfield has quality and potential, but itās not necessarily completed, that still might be an area for us to improve. Either internally with them, to reach new levels, or get new quality also.
That Jones shot straight at Pope (please Curtis, aim) was our little chance if that one went in.
Newcastle got two good goals in very sensitive moments, end of 1st and start of 2nd half. I thought it was all too much for us to climb. It was their little āMadridā, they werenāt going to let that slip.
The refs made an absolute meal of it in the last minutes of the game. I have to rewatch and see if Nunez couldāve done something with that ball in the box.
Itās always sad to lose a final/trophy.
It can still be a highly successful season for us if we win the league.
We have to make sure we regroup and donāt let some sort of insecurity creep in for the last decisive league games.
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Chiesa signed in summer itself. Selling him in days after he signed would have been sign of a great manager, isnāt it? Donāt know even if it is allowed.
We should have done away with Klopp as well because he didnāt use Robertson for 6-8 months. I really wonder how can people not understand what Slot and Klopp do is the right way how football should be. Not like other clubs where they are all treated as employees who should be thrown away in a month when someone new comes in charge.
And if Slot doesnāt trust them, that is fine as well. Big deal. Itāll be crazy if comes out and says that. Heās managing the squad the way he feel is fine and ensuring the team harmony, fitness and so many other factors. There are so many games heās got the subs right and we have changed things for good.
We lost the Plymouth game when we made many changes. So thatās again on Slot? Why didnāt he trusted the first team to play every single game? I mean thereās just no winning for him unless he gets the quadraple in the first season and every season from here.
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Fixed for Trump-like tantrum throwing.
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Thatās a straw man argument. No one is demanding the quadruple every season. But heās managing a club thatās participating in 4 demanding competitions. He has to utilize his squad, his entire squad accordingly. Otherwise, we get results and performances such as this one.
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Should we play our best available team in finals or not? We didnāt.
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That was my biggest frustration. And we kept going long and creating 50/50s that were more like 80/20s in their favour. Or heading the ball back upfield under no pressure.
Thatās why the Elliott shouts are a double edged sword. He would have been absolutely out muscled in those duels. On the other hand he might have helped get the ball on the deck and play football.
As soon as I saw Kelleher in goal I was pretty miffed for all of the reasons youāve mentioned above and as much as I like him for what heās done at the Club, he doesnāt hold a candle to Alisson in goal. Heās also one of those players that come along once in while that seems to draw unreasonably testy responses from the majority should anything negative be pointed out about him, which is weird, as his short comings are quite clear.
Poor decision by Slot to be honest.
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People were genuinely getting on Klopps back over the Fabinho signing, suggesting that weād signed a lad who he didnāt rate and we were going to ship him off as a busted flush.
Deep breath. Real football isnāt a computer game.
Yeah. He got fucking pelters for rotating in the cup game. You have to play your best team etc.
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No it really isnāt. If there is an agreement with Kelleher that he gets the domestic cup games, then Slot has to honour that. I donāt want a manager who reneges on deals like that. Itās important to establish a culture of trust and and that comes from the top.
There were people on Tuesday moaning that Kelleher would have done better on the pens than Alisson. So do we tell Alisson he canāt face the pens?
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Well I did complain about him getting those games, so there is that. My āhateā for him is that I believe in a cup final you should play with your strongest team.
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Thatās in hindsight because we had a bad week. These results could have happened even if we would have rotated week in and out. Thereās no guarantee that the squad would have been fresh and win the two games this week. On the contrary we might have lost quite a number of points in league given our rotation who knows.
We saw how Eliott and so many of our squad players sucked in the Plymouth game and how the squad looked absolutely disjointed given they havenāt trained together due to injuries or whatever.
Like I said, I do not deny that there could have been more rotation. But thereās no guarantee if that would have worked with the players he has that he just inherited. And we canāt be sure what factors were in play for him to not do so. If this keeps happening season after season then yesā¦ heās not learning from it. But, we can cut Slot some slack on this given heās definitely overperformed in his first season in the most difficult league.
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Good for them, thatās why I never claimed it was their opinion.
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Yes and no. Itās a manager creating a rod for his own back if heās in put himself in such a situation. The goal is to win, not to pander to some sort of ideal designed to placate a player who is surely leaving.