Sorry boss, I’ll do better next week 
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It was a bad decision, but it was one he felt forced into because he was boxed in with no good ways to get out. It was less complacency from him (maybe from those in the midfield and attack not working hard enough to give him more/better options) and more Fulham very effectively pinning back one of our least technically clever players and then exploiting that likely turnover.
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I don’t think its an exaggeration to say that we have several starters who on the decline at this point of their career.
Robertson clearly is a massively downgraded version of himself now, and I feel he knows it too, while guys like van Dijk and Salah are, these last few weeks, looking like they can’t physically handle playing as often as they have this season.
In an ideal world we would phase the three of them into more rotational roles, Robertson as a backup while van Dijk and Salah would still be first choice but with more rotation. Can we afford it though? Probably not.
Seeing van Dijk physically dominated the last couple of games brings up big question marks to me about how he will look in a year or two.
We are wringing every little but out of these guys. If it gives us another league title its been well worth it and I think that’s a perfect time to reset and restart the building process.
I don’t this squad being capable of going again at league winning pace.
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Once we beat the hammers next week this will be forgotten.
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I’ve already forgotten about it.
But it’s not a when, it is a if, that attitude saw that first half display today.
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If you can change the whole complexion of how a team performs from 1 manager to another, I’m pretty sure you can change the balance of play too.
We turn up to most games at our best for 15-20mins and spend the rest of the time coasting like it’s a training exercise, that comes from the manager.
Just watched Slots press conference, said we played well 1st half and put the result on individual mistakes. Worrying if he thinks that we played well 1st half, guess he’ll play the same team again next week then.
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Well he’s been playing the same 13-14 players all season hasn’t he (except the Accrington, Plymouth and PSV games where he wasn’t arsed either way about), difficult to consistently ask for 8+ out of 10 performances every game.
Every team in this league + the CL pose a different challenge, you need a proper squad of players to be able to adapt to those threats and neutralise them whilst also playing your own game.
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I am pleased we don’t have a manager who throws his players under the bus in public.
He will speak to them where he needs to: in private.
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Sorry - no post match. Didn’t even watch it. I’m in the Netherlands on a kids football exchange. Not arsed about the result, and since I’ve just had to play a coaches game, and feel fucking wrecked, I’m in no mood to criticise any football team.
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We are 11 points ahead in the league.
Slot is doing something right.
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Salah does this every year…drops off after Feb.
Vvd starting to look a bit creaky.
Robbo should be back up.
Its been ok this season but another 12 months down the line the title will be a lot closer and we cant afford for players to drop off so dramatically.
As it stands and if the club replaced them properly and didnt try to do it the cheap way then id have no issues if the club let them go in summer.
Sounds harsh but im just thinking another 12 momnhs of intense prem, cl and international football might take its toll.
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Of he is but he doesnt trust a lot of our players. This ismt the dutch league.
He has to rotate more.
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Not many teams go through a season without a bad patch. We are fortunate that our bad patch is a point in the season where the likelihood of it hurting is is low but of course, it’s something Slot had to address whether it’s a loss in form or an inherent issue.
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Chiesa getting game time?
2 months? Let’s not exaggerate here. He’s been mostly a 6 or 7 out of 10, but has shown that he can do exactly what you were referencing re Bradley.
I’m really disappointed with that.
We score then suffer a severe lack of concentration and common sense.
We needed some leadership out there.
No. That’s entirely speculation, and the supposed need is only the case if you assume that Alexander-Arnold is leaving.
That’s an absurd take, considering that the only real needs absent any movement by Alexander-Arnold are really for a Robertson replacement (the most obvious issue), a Salah replacement (although that seems to be Chiesa and/or anyone coming up in the ranks), and a van Dijk replacement.
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He’s done very well so far, but there’s always room for improvement. The point gap has allowed for a lot of the recent troublesome performances to be swept under the rug. We’ve lost 3 out of the last 4 and the performance levels have been generally dropping since the turn of the year. That’s directly attributable to Slot’s insistence on playing the same players to exhaustion.
Today though, it was first and foremost the players’ fault. I don’t care how jaded, or tired they may be, they gifted Fulham 3 goals and it cost us 3 points. Title or no title, these performances are not good enough and everyone needs to do better.
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