Arne Slot

[Doc_Piptorious]

I kind of agree with what you are saying but if I was an incoming manager I would like to get to know my players before decisions are taken about new squad signings. Maybe the new guy has a completely different point of view to Slot.

I say alonso but personally I would prefer Luis Enrique , as I understand he is not thrilled at PSG. Definitely do not go for an interim manager!! that would never work out for anyone.

Maybe in a "regular" season. But many might not want to come in and take over an underperforming team whilst it is misfiring as we are at present.

Easier and maybe smarter to let the current coach ride out that storm and let it only be associated with him. Different if a new manager was coming in with a lot more left in a season.

Or many might be at clubs that still have something to play for this season.

Luis Enrique would be an amazing get, even more so after I listened to him speaking english in an interview on tv yesterday, but have no idea how gettable he is. Then again we got a manager like Klopp in, so maybe Enrique is realistic to at least approach.

Do think a lot of managers would not need to be onboard for a few months to decide on what they think our team is missing at present. Think watching our games on a regular basis between now and the end of the season would tell them an awful lot about the stuff we are missing.

Yes being in early would get them up to speed about personalities and the like, but think what we are missing stands out a lot and that player types etc that are needed could be conveyed well in advance.

Plus by not coming in early it could be left to the higher ups at the clubs to be the ones to tell players (or more likely their agents) that looking for a move might be in their best interests rather than having the new manager be involved in that after he arrives.


I do have a strong liking for Inzaghi. Think he may well be the next up and coming top tier manager and is at an age where he could realistically stay six to ten years if he was a success and wanted to build an era that he defined.

He is not as proven as Enrique but think he has shown that he can go into a club and very quickly establish a playing style, very quickly get players onboard with every one having to work hard.

Enrique has of course shown he can do the same as seen with his time at PSG in particular.

[Doc_Piptorious]

I think at the signings that we have made have been good, as I said in the summer the problem with the squad isn't so much the players we have signed but the players we haven't. The squad isn't big enough and there are areas that needed strengthening that weren't.

I think Wirtz and Ekitike have been good signings and will get better, Kerkez has also improved massively as the season has gone on. I still think Isak was a good signing (and will be as long as the injury doesn't impact him), Frimpong has had injury issues so hasn't had a chance to show what he can do, same with Leoni. The questions about Hughes for me are about why we didn't bring players in in positions we needed or whether we moved people on too soon or if we tried to do too much in one window.

Yes but a lot of those are with the advantage of hindsight.

If Isak and Leoni had stayed fit with the same applying to Frimpong and Bradley, then we might have been saying different things.

Same with the likes of MacAllister and Konate seeing their form fall off cliffs.

Think the only position we really needed another senior player in as a necessity at the end of the summer was a CB and as already said we were a tantrum away from getting one in given the medical was done and the welcome to Liverpool/Goodbye to Place videos were recorded and done also.

Since the season begun and the brown stuff started to impact with the fan, we have seen a load of injuries and a lot of players underperform to levels that I do not think could have been predicted.

Take our midfield, do not think anyone saw the trio that bossed loads of midfield battles last season become a solo act in terms of good performances.

Again as mentioned before, I do not think anyone foresaw the drop off in Salah's Goal and assist return. Yes we could see he was slower and so on, but I reckon most expected a decent goal/assist return for this season and then he would ride off into the sunset.

VVD has dropped a level on last season imo as well. Still a very good CB but no longer capable of single handedly keeping teams out when his CB partner is playing poorly.

My guess is we saw our transitioning as taking two summers and that what we added last summer would be enough, when coupled with what we already had, to keep us competing until the summer of 2026 when we could then add to the centre and maybe the flanks.


Now we need the centre reinforced, the flanks reinforce but still need that senior CB and probably a second senior level CB along with maybe some cover/competition for RB.

Now a smart purchase for the 3rd choice CB could see us bring in someone that can cover LB to a good level and then we have that guy and Jacquet as break glass in case of emergency cover for full back along with Gomez being here for his final year.

[Friend of Moises]

Why?

Because....

1. He's overseen one of the worst title defences in living memory for an already established top club.

2. He's allowed us to have the largest wage bill in the league

3. He hasn't sacked Slot

4. He's allowed £400m of signings who don't fully replace the players we let go

5. We are at massive risk of not getting CL football which could costs us £100m+

6. Guehi debacle

7. Isak debacle

Bloody dreadful.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Because....

1. He's overseen one of the worst title defences in living memory for an already established top club. - He has. Guilty as charged on that one. Though Klopp oversaw one of our other worst title defences in living memory. Do not recall the same sort of bile from supporters at the time.

2. He's allowed us to have the largest wage bill in the league - So what? We disclose all our accounts whereas other clubs like 115 pay some of their staff through different companies so their wage bill "appears" lower. Plus unlike some of the other declared wage bills our's includes all folk paid by the club and not just players and coaching staff.

3. He hasn't sacked Slot - And replace him with who exactly? Curious as to who was available AND that you 100% know would have come in now rather than the summer.

4. He's allowed £400m of signings who don't fully replace the players we let go - We did not need like for like, plus plenty of supporters wanted Nunez out because he was "crap", plenty wanted Diaz out

5. We are at massive risk of not getting CL football which could costs us £100m+ - That is more on the coach and the players

6. Guehi debacle - On Glasnar. Terms were agreed with player and Palace.

7. Isak debacle - We don't know because of the injuries.

Bloody dreadful.

And just to add to the above bits, if Hughes is at fault for everything that goes wrong on the pitch, I take it that the suits were the ones responsible for when we were one of the best teams in Europe under Klopp.


Because if the suits are to blame for when we are ****, then they must be responsible for when we are great.

[Exiled_red]

Yes but a lot of those are with the advantage of hindsight.

If Isak and Leoni had stayed fit with the same applying to Frimpong and Bradley, then we might have been saying different things.

Same with the likes of MacAllister and Konate seeing their form fall off cliffs.

Think the only position we really needed another senior player in as a necessity at the end of the summer was a CB and as already said we were a tantrum away from getting one in given the medical was done and the welcome to Liverpool/Goodbye to Place videos were recorded and done also.

Since the season begun and the brown stuff started to impact with the fan, we have seen a load of injuries and a lot of players underperform to levels that I do not think could have been predicted.

Take our midfield, do not think anyone saw the trio that bossed loads of midfield battles last season become a solo act in terms of good performances.

Again as mentioned before, I do not think anyone foresaw the drop off in Salah's Goal and assist return. Yes we could see he was slower and so on, but I reckon most expected a decent goal/assist return for this season and then he would ride off into the sunset.

VVD has dropped a level on last season imo as well. Still a very good CB but no longer capable of single handedly keeping teams out when his CB partner is playing poorly.

My guess is we saw our transitioning as taking two summers and that what we added last summer would be enough, when coupled with what we already had, to keep us competing until the summer of 2026 when we could then add to the centre and maybe the flanks.


Now we need the centre reinforced, the flanks reinforce but still need that senior CB and probably a second senior level CB along with maybe some cover/competition for RB.

Now a smart purchase for the 3rd choice CB could see us bring in someone that can cover LB to a good level and then we have that guy and Jacquet as break glass in case of emergency cover for full back along with Gomez being here for his final year.

I agree about the transitioning over a couple of years, but I don't think it's all hindsight, we knew we needed a CB and tried to sign Guehi, given what we knew about Endo and Chiesa and the amount of game time we would like to have given them I don't think going into the season with just 4 CMs and 4 forwards + Wirtz (9 players) as starting options for 6 positions was sensible, even when there are a few backups (Endo, Chiesa, Rio and Nyoni).

Yes the drop off of certain players has been a factor that we couldn't account for, but for me the lack of starting options was something that needed consideration. I get the quality over quantity argument but I think alot of us came into the season thinking we were at least a couple of players short of what we needed. We talked about Rio and Nyoni as being first team options but the reality is they never were that was done somewhat to try and pad the squad.

[Doc_Piptorious]

I agree about the transitioning over a couple of years, but I don't think it's all hindsight, we knew we needed a CB and tried to sign Guehi, given what we knew about Endo and Chiesa and the amount of game time we would like to have given them I don't think going into the season with just 4 CMs and 4 forwards + Wirtz (9 players) as starting options for 6 positions was sensible, even when there are a few backups (Endo, Chiesa, Rio and Nyoni).

Yes the drop off of certain players has been a factor that we couldn't account for, but for me the lack of starting options was something that needed consideration. I get the quality over quantity argument but I think alot of us came into the season thinking we were at least a couple of players short of what we needed. We talked about Rio and Nyoni as being first team options but the reality is they never were that was done somewhat to try and pad the squad.

Last season we went in with Jones, MacAllister, Szobo, MacAllister, Jota, Gakpo, Diaz, Salah and Nunez. Nine players for the same six positions and we won the title.

We were just as thin with regards numbers after that nine. Endo, Chiesa, Elliot, Morton, Nyoni.

Numerically we are similar to last season.

What has gotten us in terms of quantity is at the back and even then a lot of it is down to injuries and massive drop offs in form. Not getting Guehi (or another starter level CB) was a blow but I think it is safe to say that Leoni would have gotten minutes had he not been injured. That is not saying he would have solved all the problems, but he would have been an option in place of a misfiring Konate for some games.

Same with the right back position with both Frimpong and Bradley missing time.

We also have the difficult to quantify death of Jota to factor in and I think the comments that were made by Caoimhin Kelleher shined a light on what is going on behind the scenes with regards to that loss..

[Doc_Piptorious]

And none of that is me trying to say Slot, Hughes, the players, the tea ladies the supporters etc are not to blame for anything, of course blame gets laid at the door of the coach for certain things, same goes for a hell of a lot of the players this year and maybe some is laid at the door of Hughes, Edwards or others behind the scenes if easier solutions were available to them with regards to players we actually wanted.

But there has been an awful lot of things that nobody saw coming and that nobody could predict the on pitch fall out from.

Jota's passing, loads of injuries, collective drops in form from certain players, Salah's tantrum and so on.

Still adds up to a mess of a season, but one that I think is not black and white with regards to blame.

Personally I am a fan of winning together and sharing losses as a unit. Think we as supporters need to think that way to when it comes to apportioning blame for the season to date. IMO no one person has caused this season. One guy might take the hit for it come June, but realistically we need to be looking at others too and many of those are on the pitch.

[Mark79]

David Ornstein on The Athletic podcast

[ame]https://twitter.com/i/status/2031784194322399421[/ame]

[Buzzo]

‘I don’t think’ is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in that update.

[peterbread]

Then why hasn’t he been given a new deal?

I never listen to this stuff because the club will always say this. They’re not going to let news out that he’s under pressure and his days are numbered. It will always be he’s the man until it’s pretty much done.

[Exiled_red]

Last season we went in with Jones, MacAllister, Szobo, MacAllister, Jota, Gakpo, Diaz, Salah and Nunez. Nine players for the same six positions and we won the title.

We were just as thin with regards numbers after that nine. Endo, Chiesa, Elliot, Morton, Nyoni.

Numerically we are similar to last season.

What has gotten us in terms of quantity is at the back and even then a lot of it is down to injuries and massive drop offs in form. Not getting Guehi (or another starter level CB) was a blow but I think it is safe to say that Leoni would have gotten minutes had he not been injured. That is not saying he would have solved all the problems, but he would have been an option in place of a misfiring Konate for some games.

Same with the right back position with both Frimpong and Bradley missing time.

We also have the difficult to quantify death of Jota to factor in and I think the comments that were made by Caoimhin Kelleher shined a light on what is going on behind the scenes with regards to that loss..

That might have been what ended up happening, but going into last season players like Endo and Elliott weren't so much back up players, for perspective in the 2023-24 season Endo made 43 appearances and 34 of them were starts Elliott 53 appearances 27 of which were starts. As a comparison last season Curtis Jones who we made 46 appearances 27 of which were starts, so those players were on a par with the extent of games/starts that Curtis got. Under Klopp these were players that were trusted and given a decent amounts of minutes. It is reasonable to consider those guys as regulars going into last season which makes that 11 regulars and Chiesa who we were expecting to play alot more than he did. I would argue that's 12 players we thought we had for those positions going into last season, this season we knew Chiesa and Endo weren't going to start and IMO that perspective makes a big difference.

Plus we were fairly optimistic about a crop of young players who had played in League cup final amongst other games (Clark, McConnell, Danns) plus Doak and Morton who had just come back from a good loan spell in the Championship. There were probably a group of 4 or 5 youngsters that you would be happy to start in league cup ties and maybe early rounds of the FA cup if you got a good draw.

This season we have those 9 plus 3 youngsters in Rio, Nyoni and Danns (we couldn't account for Danns injury) McConnell is back now but was sent out on loan for the season so we didn't expect him to be around.

To me it feels like there were alot more options going into last season than there were going into this season because of how players have been used (or not).

[Irishnev]

‘I don’t think’ is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in that update.

Hi Michael, David here
Any news on the manager
Ya, he’s **** and gone in the summer
Thanks

No way we destabilise things by leaking anything, it’s tow the party line until the summer

[SB]

I’m just going to throw another name out there & will probably get pelters for it but if Alonso was to turn us down or not be in contention has anyone considered Arbeloa? I know he doesn’t have the years of experience but he seems to be managing the egos at Madrid at present. Just a thought while I was watching them put City to the sword, I liked the press which reminded me of us under Jurgen but they also looked solid in defence, unlike us.

[Exiled_red]

And none of that is me trying to say Slot, Hughes, the players, the tea ladies the supporters etc are not to blame for anything, of course blame gets laid at the door of the coach for certain things, same goes for a hell of a lot of the players this year and maybe some is laid at the door of Hughes, Edwards or others behind the scenes if easier solutions were available to them with regards to players we actually wanted.

But there has been an awful lot of things that nobody saw coming and that nobody could predict the on pitch fall out from.

Jota's passing, loads of injuries, collective drops in form from certain players, Salah's tantrum and so on.

Still adds up to a mess of a season, but one that I think is not black and white with regards to blame.

Personally I am a fan of winning together and sharing losses as a unit. Think we as supporters need to think that way to when it comes to apportioning blame for the season to date. IMO no one person has caused this season. One guy might take the hit for it come June, but realistically we need to be looking at others too and many of those are on the pitch.

I agree that there is an awful lot of stuff that we didn't see coming, which you mention, things could have been somewhat different with better luck with injuries for example. That being said I don't think we have been that unlucky with the number of games missed though injuries etc I think that is probably fairly typical. I feel we needed to do more in terms of squad building to mitigate against a not excessive amount of injuries.

[Deano]

Yes but a lot of those are with the advantage of hindsight.

If Isak and Leoni had stayed fit with the same applying to Frimpong and Bradley, then we might have been saying different things.

Same with the likes of MacAllister and Konate seeing their form fall off cliffs.

Think the only position we really needed another senior player in as a necessity at the end of the summer was a CB and as already said we were a tantrum away from getting one in given the medical was done and the welcome to Liverpool/Goodbye to Place videos were recorded and done also.

Since the season begun and the brown stuff started to impact with the fan, we have seen a load of injuries and a lot of players underperform to levels that I do not think could have been predicted.

Take our midfield, do not think anyone saw the trio that bossed loads of midfield battles last season become a solo act in terms of good performances.

Again as mentioned before, I do not think anyone foresaw the drop off in Salah's Goal and assist return. Yes we could see he was slower and so on, but I reckon most expected a decent goal/assist return for this season and then he would ride off into the sunset.

VVD has dropped a level on last season imo as well. Still a very good CB but no longer capable of single handedly keeping teams out when his CB partner is playing poorly.

My guess is we saw our transitioning as taking two summers and that what we added last summer would be enough, when coupled with what we already had, to keep us competing until the summer of 2026 when we could then add to the centre and maybe the flanks.


Now we need the centre reinforced, the flanks reinforce but still need that senior CB and probably a second senior level CB along with maybe some cover/competition for RB.

Now a smart purchase for the 3rd choice CB could see us bring in someone that can cover LB to a good level and then we have that guy and Jacquet as break glass in case of emergency cover for full back along with Gomez being here for his final year.

Thats a fair assessment IMO