West Ham away. Sunday 29th Dec 515pm

[SB]

Coming thick & fast but thankfully just the 2 injured players missing & Dom Szobo suspended for the softest of soft yellow cards.

I won’t be surprised if Tsimikas gets a start here & most likely we’ll see Diaz for Nunez. Does Jones retain his spot or does Elliot get a start?

[S-RED]

Tsimi for Robbo & Diaz the only changes

[SB]

Tsimi for Robbo & Diaz the only changes

Curtis hasn’t played that much to be honest so should be fine.

[danperkins]

Reckon Diaz, Jota and Timmy will start this one. Jones imo will start with Dom suspended.

[SB]

Reckon Diaz, Jota and Timmy will start this one. Jones imo will start with Dom suspended.

So Jota down the middle & Diaz on the left I assume

[Doc_Piptorious]

Tsimi for Robbo & Diaz the only changes

Would be my guess too

Had Szobo not been booked I think Gravenberch might have been rested as he is only a booking away from missing playing against the red Mancs afaik.


Tsimi getting a start makes sense as it keeps Roberston rested for that Manc game.

[SB]

Would be my guess too

Had Szobo not been booked I think Gravenberch might have been rested as he is only a booking away from missing playing against the red Mancs afaik.


Tsimi getting a start makes sense as it keeps Roberston rested for that Manc game.

Might we see Endo then & rest Gravenberch with United in mind?

[SB]

In a way was Szobo’s yellow was a blessing in disguise ?

[Doc_Piptorious]

Might we see Endo then & rest Gravenberch with United in mind?

We of course might do as you suggest there, but Slot seems to like going as strong as possible in the league so I suspect the same three that started in the middle last night will start again at the weekend.

[Norbs]

The players look energised, there's no hint of a drop off yet, so quite happy with Slot continuing to go strong.

There were long spells in the game yesterday where we were just playing across defence and walking around, a big contrast to the effort levels expected under Klopp

[Doc_Piptorious]

The players look energised, there's no hint of a drop off yet, so quite happy with Slot continuing to go strong.

There were long spells in the game yesterday where we were just playing across defence and walking around, a big contrast to the effort levels expected under Klopp

Said something similar yesterday


Great game management by reducing our own movement whilst forcing Leicester to increase their own by having to chase the ball.

We appear to have a lovely knack now of being able to slow a game down to a trudge and then in the space of a single transistion up the pace to going flat out in attack and overloading a part of the pitch.

What you can really see now is how much Slot was influenced by Guardiola's style.

[Norbs]

Said something similar yesterday


Great game management by reducing our own movement whilst forcing Leicester to increase their own by having to chase the ball.

We appear to have a lovely knack now of being able to slow a game down to a trudge and then in the space of a single transistion up the pace to going flat out in attack and overloading a part of the pitch.

What you can really see now is how much Slot was influenced by Guardiola's style.

I think it shows that Slot is extremely patient and confident in his approach, I haven't seen the Guardiola influence, I'll trust your knowledge on that one

[Sus]

Another big game, would be another statement to come away with 3 points

Physical, awkward team that’s caused us problems before

[Doc_Piptorious]

I think it shows that Slot is extremely patient and confident in his approach, I haven't seen the Guardiola influence, I'll trust your knowledge on that one

Slot has mentioned it a number of times that one of his greatest inspirations/influences in terms of tactical style has been Guardiola and one of the hallmarks of almost every Guardiola team has been the ability to just pass the ball back and forth in midfield and at the back to force the other team to chase shadows and then spring a fast attack, often with an overload on one flank that is caused by a central midfielder stepping in there.

Look at how often Jones popped up on our right flank last night. We would be pressing and Jones was often the one out there interchanging with TAA and Salah was going even further forward.



It is not a like for like for a peak Guardiola team but the set up is very very similar and has a similar patient death by a thousand cuts sort of feel to it.


We are defo being set up closer to that style of team than we are to how Klopp set us up.

Think it speaks volumes of Slot's ability as a coach that in less than half a season he has implemented such a change, almost seemlessly, and gotten the players looking like they have played in that style for years.

[Buzzo]

Gary Neville’s post match podcast after the Spurs game was quite interesting. He credited Slot and the players with their ability to change tactics and styles of play within games. That the intelligence of the players and coaching staff to be able to facilitate this change on the fly was not like anything he’d seen before. He also due parallels to the winning machine mentality that he was part of at Utd. Early days but praise indeed.