Arne Slot

[Catrin]

Anyone else feel the drop-off after winning the league last season was a bit small-time? Small teams raise their game, big teams don’t have to. As soon as we didn’t need to raise our game we stopped doing it. It isn’t ruthless to be partying in Ibiza with Dean Gaffney at Wayne Lineker’s bar when your team still has three matches left to play.

[The_weatherman]

Please, I can't take anymore of this ****, he needs to go. Gerrard or Xabi in, or Jay Spearing. Its like he wants to be sacked at this point, tbh not impressed by Edwards either, seems he's still trying to be too clever.

[frank the tank]

The trio to Ibiza was a bit cringe alright but the drop off after we won the league was ok in my opinion. We lost away to Chelsea and Brighton. We drew at home to Arsenal and Palace. It was disappointing that we were ahead against both Brighton and Arsenal in those games. And he made a few changes.

There is an argument that Slot was proved right in those games that the likes of Elliott, Endo, Chiesa and Tsimikas are not good enough because they got the nod in those games and we didnt win any games. So for.me, people giving stats including these games in an argument against Slot is disingenuous in my opinion. Those games were dead rubbers.

I think what will possibly get Slot the bullet are:

(1) results.....obviously
(2) player engagement. Some of the senior players look checked out. MacAllister being the most obvious for me. A manager like Klopp would be given the backing to bomb these cunts out but Arne won't be given that. But the club bigwigs will want to nip this.
(3) style of play. Linked with results but there is a scenario in my view where Arne gets to the top 4.and still gets the bullet because the football is garbage.
(4) his unwillingness to trust young players. Slots argument could rightly be due to the fact that we've been so crap that he hasn't had a chance to give the likes Ngumoha and Nyoni minutes. And he is right. When have we had a game genuinely safe with 10 minutes to go this season?? However, if they start missing out on top young talent because they feel that they will get more opportunities elsewhere, then it wont take long for the club to act imo.

[frank the tank]

He ain't helping himself by spouting actual verifiable bull**** like that PSG comment though

[Kenneth]

We lost to Amorim's Man Utd at home. That should be enough to get anyone sacked.

[memzey]

He started the season with that squad. For me, a January window should be opportunistic but not necessarily out of necessity. Like when we signed Diaz for instance. It was with the following season in mind really.

Slot might be right to some extent to be fair. I think they put a lot of their chips on Isak for instance. Whether that was primarily driven by Slot, Hughes, Edwards or a combo of them all (it was the latter) they essentially held hands on that and went balls deep. Some keyboard warriors here warned against it in a big way, some had a mental wank about it. But it backfired big time. The club decided to sign a load of players and a lot of fans were all horny at the thought of doing what PSG did last season and simply blow teams away, win the league by valentines day and have a go at the quad. Some pointed out that the squad was imbalanced in a big way and expressed concern.

I thought the Quansah sale was brilliant business (and probably done to inflate the Wirtz fee in the media.....there is no way that he was worth 35m - especially to a German club) because I didn't think Slot was ever going to use him anyway. I thought that the Diaz sale was crazy because he was our last bit of pace on the wings. Yet some folks thought that was great for a 29 year old (in his ****in prime ffs) and he was a deprecating asset.

But Slot was at the wheel. If he came out and complained about the squad depth at the end of August, then he might have a point. But he didn't. And guess what, there are a load of players that he had available that he hasn't used. And no matter what he says about squad depth, we have better players than Leeds (twice), Sunderland, Burnley, Bournemouth.

I believe that he is a very good manager. I also think that he has been left down by the players in a big way. Although some of the football has been ****e and monotonous, he has been ****ed over by some ****e errors in games by individual players just being crap. Nothing to do with tactics. We have been total ****e but the margins are small. But if he goes full David Brent then there might be no coming back for the guy.

Can't disagree with any of this, especially as I was one of the main "keyboard warriors" warning about Isak and raising alarm about our balance.

The only thing I'd add is that recruitment/squad building isn't really down to Slot who, let's remind ourselves, is the Head Coach. The club were very clear about this appointment not being a Manager. If the makeup of the playing staff is not where it should be then responsibility for that falls primarily on Hughes and Edwards IMHO. What Slot does with that squad is on him.

Having said that and, assuming Hughes and Edwards are as good as they are touted as being, I'm beginning to wonder whether what we are seeing is the lull in a multi-year squad rebuild operation? If so, a quiet January makes more sense as we will see many more comings and goings this summer.

[Kenneth]

Can't disagree with any of this, especially as I was one of the main "keyboard warriors" warning about Isak and raising alarm about our balance.

The only thing I'd add is that recruitment/squad building isn't really down to Slot who, let's remind ourselves, is the Head Coach. The club were very clear about this appointment not being a Manager. If the makeup of the playing staff is not where it should be then responsibility for that falls primarily on Hughes and Edwards IMHO. What Slot does with that squad is on him.

Having said that and, assuming Hughes and Edwards are as good as they are touted as being, I'm beginning to wonder whether what we are seeing is the lull in a multi-year squad rebuild operation? If so, a quiet January makes more sense as we will see many more comings and goings this summer.

I'm not sure you can conclude that with such confidence. I expect that the conversation went along the lines of "what do you need to improve the team/win the champions league next season?". Slot says he wants a better finisher than Nunez, fullbacks with more pace and a replacement for Jota etc, then the club identify individuals and bring them in. "Do you need Harvey Elliott?" Etc. And if it isn't that delineated, then the collectively talk about all of it. Obviously we can't know, but that seems far more likely than Hughes and Edward going on a shopping spree and telling slot good luck.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Can't disagree with any of this, especially as I was one of the main "keyboard warriors" warning about Isak and raising alarm about our balance.

The only thing I'd add is that recruitment/squad building isn't really down to Slot who, let's remind ourselves, is the Head Coach. The club were very clear about this appointment not being a Manager. If the makeup of the playing staff is not where it should be then responsibility for that falls primarily on Hughes and Edwards IMHO. What Slot does with that squad is on him.

Having said that and, assuming Hughes and Edwards are as good as they are touted as being, I'm beginning to wonder whether what we are seeing is the lull in a multi-year squad rebuild operation? If so, a quiet January makes more sense as we will see many more comings and goings this summer.

Made similar comments to the highlighted bit. A multi window period to transition our style of play and squad profile.

Get the players in over a number of windows for how we hope to set up under the current manager and also the next few managers.

Think they may realise how lucky we were to get in a ready to go generational manager like Klopp and that trying to replicate what Klopp did and who he was would be futile.

We are back to having a coach or manager now that is going to be "only" good or very good for a bit and we are cutting our cloth to suit that.


That's not to say we cannot get lucky again at some point and either find a generational manager in the future or have someone develop into one whilst with us, but looking around right now there are no such managers/coaches out there other than the handful that have already been there done that and that are heading towards the twilights of their careers.


Is actually a bit mad. Think if you asked most people who are the best managers/coaches in the game right now that the majority of answers would be guys who are past their best but who are legends in the game.

Certainly no obvious young Klopps, Guardiolas, Ancelottis etc etc

[memzey]

I'm not sure you can conclude that with such confidence. I expect that the conversation went along the lines of "what do you need to improve the team/win the champions league next season?". Slot says he wants a better finisher than Nunez, fullbacks with more pace and a replacement for Jota etc, then the club identify individuals and bring them in. "Do you need Harvey Elliott?" Etc. And if it isn't that delineated, then the collectively talk about all of it. Obviously we can't know, but that seems far more likely than Hughes and Edward going on a shopping spree and telling slot good luck.

As ever the truth is probably somewhere in the middle of the two extremes.

If Hughes and Edwards were not primarily responsible for selecting the playing (and coaching) staff then the question naturally arises "what are they doing then"? The club made it absolutely clear that we had transitioned to this new model of Head Coach + DoF/Recruitment Team when Slot replaced Klopp. Stating that as a fact is not in any way revisionist.

This is not to say Slot is not consulted or involved. I didn't say it was all on them, just primarily, and I remain convinced that is the case.

Slot has made some mistakes this season and might not be the empathic passion monster some of the players have become accustomed to. But guess what? Neither is Xabi who many are feting as the answer to all our problems and he has made mistakes in his career too. Compared to Klopp I don't think many managers are as passionate and, if the club really wanted that type of manager, why did they sign Slot in the first place? It looks more like a deliberate change in direction and as such I wouldn't be surprised if the board are more understanding of our struggles than one might assume.

I hope he turns it around and gets us playing the attacking football his instinct seems to orient towards. Every poor result or performance is difficult to stomach but it is still possible IMHO.

[memzey]

Made similar comments to the highlighted bit. A multi window period to transition our style of play and squad profile.

Get the players in over a number of windows for how we hope to set up under the current manager and also the next few managers.

Think they may realise how lucky we were to get in a ready to go generational manager like Klopp and that trying to replicate what Klopp did and who he was would be futile.

We are back to having a coach or manager now that is going to be "only" good or very good for a bit and we are cutting our cloth to suit that.


That's not to say we cannot get lucky again at some point and either find a generational manager in the future or have someone develop into one whilst with us, but looking around right now there are no such managers/coaches out there other than the handful that have already been there done that and that are heading towards the twilights of their careers.


Is actually a bit mad. Think if you asked most people who are the best managers/coaches in the game right now that the majority of answers would be guys who are past their best but who are legends in the game.

Certainly no obvious young Klopps, Guardiolas, Ancelottis etc etc

[Doc_Piptorious]

Think it is going to come down to you and I vs the horde, memzey.

[Norbs]

And we all know who dies in that fight

[Doc_Piptorious]

Nah this is the never before seen directors cut

[Norbs]

Nah this is the never before seen directors cut

[Doc_Piptorious]

Here we come.





See? Memzey gets his shots off and then gets to cover, meanwhile I am just shooting the **** out of Norbs for ****s and giggles.


and yes our faces somehow changed. Almost as if it was another film