Arne Slot

[Charly]

I think the problem is we have all been here a long time and seen these cycles, and the solution needed.

There is almost nothing right about the team and performances. Past managers are getting top performances from lesser players. Slot cant get a good performance from anyone at the moment.

He is out of ideas.

How exactly are we *trying* to play?

What is the genius Im missing?

All I see us someone who had sucess slowly divesting from Klopp's tactics to a style that is now wholey unsuited to the Permier League. Another centreback isnt going to change much. Maybe another 40 goal a season winger can carry the tean again... do we have one of those in the back pocket?

Its not all Slot's fault, but he has done nothing to help his cause this season.

The most obvious example is the change to Gravenberch's role. Has him getting further forward improved his own performances or the team as a whole?

[Doc_Piptorious]

I dont think people are angry at us losing. I remember when Klopp won us the league and the next season we went straight to hell. Can't recall many saying get rid of him or raging at the team. I remember a lot of confusion. This is way different. We're not even enjoying how they play even when we win. If you sit there bored throughout the match, any annoyance that comes gets multiplied, where as if you see them trying and it doesnt go their way you just say the other team was better and move on. I still remember a few games back where we were either losing 1-0 or it was 0-0, last 10 or whatever of the game left, and slot was yelling and motioning at the players to slow down. It was one of the few times I saw them actively ignoring him and playing full pelt and we ended up winning. I could probably look back and find who it was but I'm lazy.

I dont want him. His team is dull and boring. Dull, boring and not winning.

But nobody is forced to watch if they are bored or disinterested. Nobody is forced to get annoyed.

Just as no team or coach has to provide easy on the eye football.


The point about effort is an interesting one. For me it is the bare minimum to give your all in a sport or in anything important in life and if a person or team puts all they have into something then regardless of result or performance you cannot really criticise them.

You can encourage them, retrain them or replace them, but once they have left everything out there then they have given what they have to give.

However how exactly does a coach on the sideline stop players from giving their all once the whistle goes to start a game? You can say tactics this or tactics that, formation this or set up that, but if players want to bust a gut and try their best then they can do that within the confines of any set up or tactics. Players not busting a gut if not one a coach imo, it is down to the players themseleves, collectively or just a few individuals, to do so.

You can say they might do it because they do not agree with the coach or because they are mentally not right due to last summer or for a number of reasons, however it still boils down to being one of the things a player or group of players can control 100% once a game begins.


If a player is giving less than 100% out there, then that's not on the manager, that's on the player. Players that half ass things because they are sick of a manager are no better than a manager/coach that is not up to the task and they are even more of an issue imo because you can change a coach and bring in a better one, the players you are left with will always have that weak mentality sitting inside them if they decide they dislike a coach and they will know that if they take the cowardly way out and not give their all that the results will kill the career of the coach and that chances are they will still be there when the replacement coach comes in.

If things with us are at the point where players are half assing it because they want Slot out then imo our problems lie with those players as much as they do with Slot and I would want a number of the half assers rooted out right after we changed coach..

[memzey]

We are obviously going through a rough patch. Trying to pin the entirety of that on to Slot, when there are so many factors at play, is incorrect. He has made some mistakes along the way but he isn't the problem and, regardless of what the twitterati say, I remain convinced that Xabi isn't the answer.

The more I watch us play this season, the clearer it seems to me that the issues lie in a fundamentally unbalanced squad. Our dealings in the summer did as much damage as they did improvement in certain areas. The new players themselves, when assessed individually, have largely done well. The net impact of the players we have lost, and I would include Salah in this as he is not the same player he was, has left us much diminished from where we were. I don't see how anyone can dispute these facts. Nor do I see how replacing Slot addresses them.

If Slot is to be judged, it is as a coach, not as a squad builder. Hughes and Edwards take responsibility for that. Losing Diaz without a similar level replacement and not bringing in a cover/rotation option at DM were obvious mistakes at the time. Hindsight tells us we should have anticipated Salah's drop off. They didn't. Facht, as Rafa would say.

Slot hasn't been a perfect coach this season but that is an unfair standard to judge him against. Some will argue, and I confess to some sympathy with this point, that he has under utilised certain players. Let's look at this; On balance, I think he has used Rio correctly. It's not about this season for him, it's about the next ten. He is getting his minutes and making an impact but still looks like a youngster finding his feet. He should be much improved for this handling next season. Chiesa perhaps should have played more minutes over either of Gakpo or Salah but Slot and the coaching staff clearly don't think he is at that level. As much as I like the lad, if I'm honest, he has rarely shown signs of being worth a starting place when he has started, even taking things like rustiness and starting line ups into account.

I do think Jones should have taken more of Macca's minutes though, given their relative form. I don't know what else is at play there but, if it is as it seems to me, then that's on Slot.

If we look at the games we have lost this term, the majority of them come down to individual player mistakes. While one might say that coaches should coach the players not to make mistakes, there is no coaching that would have addressed some of what we've seen this season. On the other hand, we have rarely been outdone tactically by the opposition. Set piece play was our bane early on, until they sacked the SP coach and did it themselves. Slot and his guys are not bad coaches, regardless of claims to the contrary.

The players have a lot to answer for, no doubt and yet, I'd show them some sympathy as well. With all that has happened, this has been a season unlike any other. It does need to stop though. We must find our way out of this rut, PDQ.

We need to be careful and measured in our response to the setbacks we have encountered this year. Swapping the coach would introduce more instability and risk further divorcing the players from their responsibilities on the pitch. If you are interested in seeing where this ends up, check Tottenham's trajectory since they sacked Conte. Madness.

I want to see us qualify for the UCL next season and then fix our issues, deliberately and methodically, in the summer. Slot deserves the opportunity to see what he can accomplish with that balanced squad next term.

Slot in.

[Doc_Piptorious]

[danperkins]

So all on Slot and the suits for the on pitch stuff and nothing on the players themselves?


That's bull imo. The actual effort on the pitch, basic stuff like controlling a ball properly, not needing two or three touches, passing to someone in the same shirt and so on, that's on the players.

It's a collective series of eff ups this season imo, some of those being self inflicted by Slot, and compounded further by Jota's death, injuries and supposed top class players losing form.

Is some of that on Slot? Of course it is and he will be the one that bears the weight of it come the summer imo, but a chunk of the on pitch faults lie with the players too.

Does not mean that change is not needed, but it is not all on Slot imo.

Of course it's on the players too, ultimately it's almost always on the players as they are the ones out on the pitch. I've highlighted individuals multiple times this season with Mac, Grav, Mo, VVD, Konate but you can't sack all the players can you. At the end of the day, it is a title winning side plus €400m, you can talk about Jotas death, injuries, transfers etc. Jotas tragic passing side, every manager has to deal with injuries, form and bad luck, at this stage it's a weak excuse imo & pathetic considering the talent we still have at our disposal. Simply put, it is the managers job to get the best of the players... he has not done that for whatever reason.. end of. Ask yourself, do you think another guy could get more out of this squad full of world class players? If the answer is yes, which it should be then somebody else should be in charge.

[memzey]

Of course it's on the players too, ultimately it's almost always on the players as they are the ones out on the pitch. I've highlighted individuals multiple times this season with Mac, Grav, Mo, VVD, Konate but you can't sack all the players can you. At the end of the day, it is a title winning side plus €400m, you can talk about Jotas death, injuries, transfers etc. Jotas tragic passing side, every manager has to deal with injuries, form and bad luck, at this stage it's a weak excuse imo & pathetic considering the talent we still have at our disposal. Simply put, it is the managers job to get the best of the players... he has not done that for whatever reason.. end of. Ask yourself, do you think another guy could get more out of this squad full of world class players? If the answer is yes, which it should be then somebody else should be in charge.

No, not really. At least, not in a sustainable, material way, unless his name is Jurgen Klopp and that isn’t happening. Who do you think could come in and magically make this squad the world beaters you seem to believe Slot is preventing them from being?

[fidget]

Would anybody here be gutted if Slot ****ed off?
I very much doubt it which says all there needs to be said.

[memzey]

I would be dismayed if he were sacked. Very much so, as that risks setting us down a negative path that would be very, very difficult to back out of.

[Mark79]

Of course it's on the players too, ultimately it's almost always on the players as they are the ones out on the pitch. I've highlighted individuals multiple times this season with Mac, Grav, Mo, VVD, Konate but you can't sack all the players can you. At the end of the day, it is a title winning side plus €400m, you can talk about Jotas death, injuries, transfers etc. Jotas tragic passing side, every manager has to deal with injuries, form and bad luck, at this stage it's a weak excuse imo & pathetic considering the talent we still have at our disposal. Simply put, it is the managers job to get the best of the players... he has not done that for whatever reason.. end of. Ask yourself, do you think another guy could get more out of this squad full of world class players? If the answer is yes, which it should be then somebody else should be in charge.

Well we have to be fair and acknowledge it’s also minus key players from the title winning team too, Trent and Diaz in particular. And a huge chunk of the €400m in additions simply haven’t been available to him for the bulk of the season. Isak, Frimpong and Leoni all missing upwards of 60% of the games.

Between key departures and injuries, the players Slot has had at his disposal is definitely a net loss on last season’s in terms of strength imo.

That said, I do agree overall, he should still be doing better with what he has and yes I do think there’s got to be other coaches who would be capable of doing a better job with the same players available to them as Slot has had this season.

[RedReet]

Aimed at the social media post/social media types and not Slinky.


We really do have a fan base with a certain amount of bed wetters and entitled dick heads amongst the social media types in the fan base.


It is all looking backwards and why don't we have this or that as if we should just have the best all the time.

We in the past have slagged off other fanbases but now I think we are as bad as the worst of them. We laughed as Arsenal fans losing their heads over stuff, that's what we do!

All about wanting glory now and totally unable to handle any sort of bad period.

Football at a big club is cyclical. Glorious highs or almost highs followed by slumps. Rinse and repeat. For the most part we do not have a clue what it must be like to support a team whose high is simply to exist and for whom losing is the norm.


Unlike the supporters of other clubs we are fairly sure that at some point we will be back winning silverware again. All we have to do in the mean time is put up with a bad season, maybe two. If people cannot do that without running to social media to lament that the past is not the present and cry about stuff, then I don't know how these people deal with the real hardships that life can dish out.


Being down is what makes the ups feel better. The fall is what makes the comeback feel glorious. Adversity is what makes the winning feel earned.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Of course it's on the players too, ultimately it's almost always on the players as they are the ones out on the pitch. I've highlighted individuals multiple times this season with Mac, Grav, Mo, VVD, Konate but you can't sack all the players can you. At the end of the day, it is a title winning side plus €400m, you can talk about Jotas death, injuries, transfers etc. Jotas tragic passing side, every manager has to deal with injuries, form and bad luck, at this stage it's a weak excuse imo & pathetic considering the talent we still have at our disposal. Simply put, it is the managers job to get the best of the players... he has not done that for whatever reason.. end of. Ask yourself, do you think another guy could get more out of this squad full of world class players? If the answer is yes, which it should be then somebody else should be in charge.

Hang on was it not you that was telling me the other day we have a bang average team?

[danperkins]

No, not really. At least, not in a sustainable, material way, unless his name is Jurgen Klopp and that isn’t happening. Who do you think could come in and magically make this squad the world beaters you seem to believe Slot is preventing them from being?

I can say without a shadow of a doubt that considering that abundance of talent we have in our squad, Slot is a million percent not getting the best out of them.

[danperkins]

Hang on was it not you that was telling me the other day we have a bang average team?

We have been bang average this season, if we can acknowledge that we still have some incredible players in our side which we absolutely do... the question becomes, why have we been bang average this season with all this talent? It's not just the results remember, it's the performances too. Who's that ultimately down to? It's on Slot unfortunately, he's the boss.

[Doc_Piptorious]

We have been bang average this season, if we can acknowledge that we still have some incredible players in our side which we absolutely do... the question becomes, why have we been bang average this season with all this talent? It's not just the results remember, it's the performances too. Who's that ultimately down to? It's on Slot unfortunately, he's the boss.

It is on him, no doubt about that, but that does not mean it is all because of him. Think there is a distinction.

We do have some very good players in our squad, but we also have some of our former best players getting by on past reputations and I would argue a number of them would struggle, on form, to get into other top teams.

MacAllister, Salah and Konate would not get close to a title competing team on this season's overall form.

Gakpo could be added to that list and so could Gravenberch, though I would suggest the latter's form has been badly impacted upon by his midfield partner in MacAllister causing an overflow of work coming his way.

Injuries have then often put us in positions where we cannot replace some of those players without taking players from other positions, further weakening the team.

Though the flip side of that is that Slot has either been too loyal or too determined to try and let players play through awful form the times we did have replacements fit to take the places of some of those players. Though the only player I do not buy that about is Salah.

Nothing will convince me that Salah having that outburst and then coming back to be undroppable after it despite continuing to stink up that right flank is with the blessing of any coach. My opinion there is that Slot is being told to play the 400k a week man for whatever reason. Maybe it is to keep Salah sweet to make him more amenable to a move in the summer or something.

Though think the only option we had for selling Salah was the Middle East and not so sure Salah would want to move his family there this summer given the current conflict over there.

I do not buy into Slot being responsible for all of our ails, but I do agree if the axe is to fall that the coach is who tends to get all of the blame and pays with his job.

But if Slot is to go this summer, there is an onus on the next guy in the door to bring about a pretty big improvement and quickly given the man that replaces Slot, this summer or not, gets the luxury of not being the guy that replaces a legend but rather gets to be the guy that replaces the guy that replaced a club legend.

For me if Slot goes this summer he can view his time with us as a success despite this mess of a season.

Any coach can have a bad season, any coach can have an awful season, but not many win a league title and even less win a league title with Liverpool FC.

[memzey]

I can say without a shadow of a doubt that considering that abundance of talent we have in our squad, Slot is a million percent not getting the best out of them.

Strange. Considering how talented a manager would have to be, in order to turn our current group into a team of world beaters, I assumed I'd at least recognise his name. And yet, I'm not familiar with this one. Is there another world class coach, who fits our profile, would join us, make an immediate impact and is available now or in the summer that springs to mind? To my thinking there are only one or two compelling candidates who might do a better job with the current squad and neither of those are without there own risks and challenges. Not to mention the impact this would have on accountability in the squad.

It's just not worth it.

Yet.

I'm acutely aware that things can still get worse as well as better, starting most critically, on Sunday against Spurs. We do need to get that one right, otherwise things might quickly change.

It is on him, no doubt about that, but that does not mean it is all because of him. Think there is a distinction.

We do have some very good players in our squad, but we also have some of our former best players getting by on past reputations and I would argue a number of them would struggle, on form, to get into other top teams.

MacAllister, Salah and Konate would not get close to a title competing team on this season's overall form.

Gakpo could be added to that list and so could Gravenberch, though I would suggest the latter's form has been badly impacted upon by his midfield partner in MacAllister causing an overflow of work coming his way.

Injuries have then often put us in positions where we cannot replace some of those players without taking players from other positions, further weakening the team.

Though the flip side of that is that Slot has either been too loyal or too determined to try and let players play through awful form the times we did have replacements fit to take the places of some of those players. Though the only player I do not buy that about is Salah.

Nothing will convince me that Salah having that outburst and then coming back to be undroppable after it despite continuing to stink up that right flank is with the blessing of any coach. My opinion there is that Slot is being told to play the 400k a week man for whatever reason. Maybe it is to keep Salah sweet to make him more amenable to a move in the summer or something.

Though think the only option we had for selling Salah was the Middle East and not so sure Salah would want to move his family there this summer given the current conflict over there.

I do not buy into Slot being responsible for all of our ails, but I do agree if the axe is to fall that the coach is who tends to get all of the blame and pays with his job.

But if Slot is to go this summer, there is an onus on the next guy in the door to bring about a pretty big improvement and quickly given the man that replaces Slot, this summer or not, gets the luxury of not being the guy that replaces a legend but rather gets to be the guy that replaces the guy that replaced a club legend.

For me if Slot goes this summer he can view his time with us as a success despite this mess of a season.

Any coach can have a bad season, any coach can have an awful season, but not many win a league title and even less win a league title with Liverpool FC.

100%. It's easy to dream of how a new man might come in, be absolutely perfect and compare Slot to that imaginary standard. The reality is that simply does not happen. The squad is so unbalanced it's looking increasingly like we are part way through a multi year rebuild. When viewed through this lens letting Slot go seems incredibly unwise. It would also be incredibly unfair on a decent man and tallented young coach.