I was just having a bit of fun at your expense
.
Still it’s a coin toss which one is/was worst.
Anyone wishing either on the club is surely demented.
Post Suarez, Brendan was left with a pretty poor hand. The fact that his management style and personality grated with the fans means that he is not fondly remembered. But, for a brief while we played some scintillating football.
Give the Brendan the tools, and he’ll deliver👍
Yes for pacy forward ie Alvarez.
I dont understand the confusion about Gomez. Slot claims he said he needed to come off because after 20 minutes and a couple of sprints he was already at the point where he could feel it getting ready to pop.
That’s just where some athletes get to in their career after a succession of injuries, but it’s normally the 45 years olds refusing to hang up their pub league boots, not a handsomely paid 28 year old professional
I actually don’t think thats the case, perhaps in Europe but lets see what PSG do if they win again they are a cut above the rest, the PL however is hardly looking that brilliant.
Time for Slot to go and get someone in, who actually knows what he’s doing. That goes for his coaching staff as well. If we go into next season with him still in place, be prepared for mid table mediocrity or maybe even worse.
We should have replaced Heitinga with Colin Pascoe instead of van Bronckhorst. He was the real shorts brains of the operation.
I may have contributed to the confusion, in discussion with @Zoran
I questioned if Gomez was feeling something, or if its s convenient narrative for him and Slot to cover bad decision making.
The fact is, Frimpong was poor, Isak is unfit, Salah is already on…so Cody and Joe were the substitutes. I believe, and I could be way off the mark , I believe Slot knew he needed Rio, but was unable to decide who to take off. Putting Szoboszlai at RB was ridiculous at that stage. MacAllister was on fumes and was the obvious choice to go, in my opinion.
It was a stupid decision, and maybe it was neccessary if Joe "felt something ".
I’m just not convinced.
Sorry about confusion
It was a confusing sub and I get why there was a negative reaction to it. But Slot has since clarified it saying he was preparing to make a different sub only for Gomez to tell him that he was too big a risk to ask him to keep going. I think Slot has been awful in his public comments for most of this season, but I dont see any reason to question his explanation especially given of what we know of Gomez’s physical frailty.
I think some people are getting wrapped up in the “he wasn’t injured” part of Slot’s explanation, but it’s totally normal part of athletic competition to feel off and have to moderate what you had planned to do to match how good you are feeling. The problem is in a game you cannot calibrate your participation the way you can in training so the only options are to run yourself into an injury or come off. The problem with Gomez is how little he seems to be able to tolerate these days before he reaches that “its going to pop” situation.
That’s my point. Soft bollocks.
The day after and it all feels a bit meh. I’m not angry about it or even close, as I knew we were outmatched and didn’t expect us to advance. In its own way that tells the story of what needs to happen with Slot.
We can go over a few of the details as it’s what we do as fans. The Gomez sub, with what we now know about him feeling off, was understandable. Starting Isak was also understandable, as then you could manage his minutes without the uncertainty of extra time. Isak was clearly off the pace, but perhaps the calculus was that he is a really good finisher, so if a chance comes along, he might get us an important goal, but it wasn’t to be. I could keep going. Should Mo have started? Should Rio have started?
Over and above all of that, PSG were different class, and well worth the win.
I am hopeful that with a few good signings, the bulk of this group can be retained and shaped into something competitive next season, crucially under a new leader.
I dont remember being so non-plussed about an exit from Europe. I’m not disappointed. Im not upset. Im not proud. Im not hopeful for what is to come. Im just kind of “yeah, this is what it is I guess.”
For me, there’s no confusion about Gomez’s sub.
Initially, watching the game, I thought he must have picked up something as we needed 2 goals and he was more active that he normally would’ve been. Coming off the bench and with that need to chase it a little bit, the risk was higher than normal for him.
I don’t see why Slot would invent these things and lie in public on live TV.
It’s just normal communication from the pitch to the bench and vice versa. Happens all the time, especially since he was close to it, being the RB with us attacking the Kop in the second half.
It doesn’t necessarily mean Gomez told him to take him off or surrendered or whatever. It’s just being a professional and thinking about both himself and the team. Plus, what’s ahead in coming weeks.
It’s really the same as Didi Hamann not telling Rafa he has a toe issue (turned out to be broken) before his penalty in Istanbul.
Slot had a sub in mind, found out Gomez might get injured if he makes a few more sprints and adjusted to it, changed the plan.
Really not a big deal and no problem there.
No it doesn’t. Which is why many feel it’s unusual.
Yes, it does.
The bench communicates with the players on the pitch and vice versa, exchanging that type of information.
Yes sure we see it in every game players coming on for 10 minutes then being taken off.
It happens occasionally!
I said that the communication happens all the time, in my original post and then in my following one.
A player playing for a short amount of time (coming on and coming off) is rare, but we have the reasons why it happened.
Do you honestly think that its new information for some of us that players communicate with the bench?
Thats not what the discussion started about.
Anyone with any association with football understands that communications occur.
The point is, in my humble opinion it would be very unusual, in a crucial match that a player having one of his best games in months would ask to be taken off as a precaution after twenty minutes on the pitch. Again, in my humble opinion he would power on. Season nearly over, leave it on the pitch. What is he saving himself for??
And then following a strangest of substitutions, a narrative appears that he was “ferling something”.
Of course, I could be wrong. But lets face it, so could you.