I vented my thoughts in another topic, but I think it warrants discussion.
To get us out of this rut we need better tactics etc and a few players need to up their game etc etc. But, I was thinking back to the days of Stevie G when he used to pull our asses out the fire time and time again while playing with some of the worst players ever to wear the shirt at times.
Is there anyone in this squad who is likely to pull a massive performance or 2 out of the bag and be the catalyst for recovery? The sort of performance that Beckham did for Ingerlund against Greece springs to mind, or the afore mentioned Mr Gerrard in the game against (insert match here). Not just someone scoring a winning goal or mama saving a penalty or something. But I’m talking someone stepping up and going several levels above everyone else on the pitch, full beast mode! Somebody needs to say to themselves ‘I’m not fucking having this anymore’ then the others will follow and everyone’s game will go up a level and we recover.
This player is not and never has been Mo Salah (as great as he is, he’s not Steven Gerrard in terms of really digging in and running the game) - I just struggle to see it to be honest. Based on what we’ve seen so far maybe Dom is the only one who is likely to go into beast mode and put in a world class performance or 3 over the next few games and almost single handed, pull us out of this by sheer desire mixed with talent. He’s not in the world-class bracket but this season he’s shown real grit at times.
We have some top, top players in our squad, but I just want someone to suddenly flick a switch and put in the performance of a lifetime. Anyone think this is likely to happen soon with any of this squad?
That kind of attributes are generally expected from the leaders. In our case VVD the captain, Robertson the vice-captain, and our remaining long-standing stalwarts. Mo is one of them, and we have seen him turn games around in the past, with a couple of magical moments. VVD and Robbo usually have that grit in themselves. MacAllister, when in form, is the kind of player who refuses to be dominated. For different reasons, these players haven’t shown that lately, but it’s a question of time imo.
Otherwise, some of our younger guys (ie. Gravenberch), or some of our new summer signings might have that potential too, but it would be unfair to ask this from them right now.
Regarding Mo, you’re spot on about him changing games with a moment or 2, which he can still do by the way! I’m not talking about someone turning a game by scoring a goal, I mean really, really grabbing the game and saying ‘we’re not going down like this’ and putting in the best performance of their life so we all look back and go 'do you remember the games against Villa, Madrid & City in 2025 when we thought Arne was toast and x-player played like he was possessed and won us those games on his own…amazing to think that Slot might have been sacked if it wasn’t for him and we’ve ended up winning 3 leagues and a champions league under Arne since.
Do we have anyone that is going to do that? It needs to happen NOW! Against Villa at the weekend, because I am struggling to see us win that without someone finally saying enough is enough and stepping up like we haven’t seen for sometime! We have amazing players when we’re playing well but I just feel it’s time for someone to go above and beyond now that we’re playing like shite!
Hmmm, that is a difficult question to answer… if something like that happens, and we remember it years afterwards, it will have been a really exceptional moment, a revealing one. Maybe one of our new players will reveal himself at some point by doing that? Wirtz maybe? As said, it’s unfair to expect that from him or someone else among our newer players, but it doesn’t mean it can’t happen.
I’ll just say that before our losing streak, we won games in extremis, because some players took the game by the scruff of the neck and transformed it. You rightly cited Szobo, but there were also other lads who saved our collective necks during our early winning streak.
So, who knows? But it’s a good discussion topic imo, and one which can be also revisited later on.
What I’m driving at is that as a collective (including coaches/manager) it’s going down the toilet very quickly! Do we have that Steven Gerrard figure who over the next 3 or 4 games can raise his and everyone else’s game because nobody else looks like they can or will? I sadly don’t think we do, but I really, really want to be wrong!
Obviously nobody could ever be Steven Gerrard again, but I hope it’s clear that’s not literally what I’m getting at.
But it’s a good discussion topic imo, and one which can be also revisited later on.
