Trent Alexander-Arnold

[danperkins]

Or maybe Slot is fine with the trade-offs?

I find that very unlikely

[Doc_Piptorious]

Whether TAA is currently playing well, badly or somewhere in the middle, it really does not matter as we have nobody available to come in and replace him.

All our cover options are either out injured (Bradley, Gomez) or needed elsewhere on the pitch (Jones).


Quansah I do not include as cover at RB as I think he should never be played there and looked a fish out of water whenever Slot tried him there.


Tomorrow night will be interesting though. Will Slot try the 4222 and gamble on being able to cut out the wide threats Newcastle have, or will he return to having three attackers and three midfielders in front of the back four.

Newcastle have widemen that like to cut onside rather than go down the touchline and an inform striker that can do a bit of everything but who really thrives on through balls that inverting wingers can provide or help to set up.

Not sure I would want to give Gordon the same licence to roam that we, as a unit, gave Doku.

Gordon, unlike Doku, is good enough that he becomes a goal threat himself when given a bit of extra space. Doku for me is more a provider whereas Gordon can be used as a provider or a proper goal getter in his own right.


Murphy being another that likes to thread clever through balls and that has become a bit of a late bloomer in terms of being a goal threat/provider at PL leevel.

[baitman]

Or maybe Slot is fine with the trade-offs?

No chance. You can often see vvd's frustration and anger at trents poor positioning, can't be arsed attitude.
At least in the city game he didn't go missing, but he still didn't close down and block out doku when needed.

[DerKrampus]

Setting up has nothing got to do with 1 vs 1, sure it got so bad that Ibou and Mo had to do the donkey work to cover. Of course Slot knows strengths and weakness and Trent does get a hell of a lot more freedom than most fullbacks.

There are plenty of fullbacks that have similar or better production than Trent this and even last season who are better defenders and don't take set pieces to bump up numbers. He used to be an anomaly, as did Robbo but they are just not stand out anymore with regards to production and performance. We used to be able to forgive Trents defensive errors as he was putting up insane numbers, not so much anymore. Him and Robbo have been brilliant for us and Trent does have a magic wand but imo it's very evident than we need upgrades on both the right and left sides of our defence.

Or maybe Slot is fine with the trade-offs?

[DerKrampus]

Luckily on a couple of occasions Salah dropped into the RB position and covered him, made a couple of nice blocks for Doku’s crosses. Great teamwork but really highlighted Trent’s weakness.

Interestingly, different players covered Trent at different times. We're really conserving energy well here!

[danperkins]

Or it isn't because of the way we set up. And I'd like to think that Slot know what TAA's strengths and weaknesses are and is happy to work that way - how many right backs would deliver the ball to Salah the way he did?

Setting up has nothing got to do with 1 vs 1, sure it got so bad that Ibou and Mo had to do the donkey work to cover. Of course Slot knows strengths and weakness and Trent does get a hell of a lot more freedom than most fullbacks.

There are plenty of fullbacks that have similar or better production than Trent this and even last season who are better defenders and don't take set pieces to bump up numbers. He used to be an anomaly, as did Robbo but they are just not stand out anymore with regards to production and performance. We used to be able to forgive Trents defensive errors as he was putting up insane numbers, not so much anymore. Him and Robbo have been brilliant for us and Trent does have a magic wand but imo it's very evident than we need upgrades on both the right and left sides of our defence.

[kingfunk]

Luckily on a couple of occasions Salah dropped into the RB position and covered him, made a couple of nice blocks for Doku’s crosses. Great teamwork but really highlighted Trent’s weakness.

[DerKrampus]

Getting dribbled by 12 times in key areas is a real problem imo. The only reason you can say it's not a problem after the fact is because by some bizarre turn of events, nothing came of all 12. It would be a different conversation if City scored from some of them.

Or it isn't because of the way we set up. And I'd like to think that Slot know what TAA's strengths and weaknesses are and is happy to work that way - how many right backs would deliver the ball to Salah the way he did?

[danperkins]

Yeah I think that the criticism of Trent was a bit harsh too, the stat is mad but if you are letting a guy dribble past you down the outside and at best throw crosses into the box which our defenders can deal with comfortably I don't think that's a problem. Despite the stat Doku was largely nullified by being kept in areas where he couldn't do much damage, for all the times he might have got the better of Trent he didn't create anything his xA stats were really low I believe, that being the case you could argue we defended well against him inspite of the stat that's quoted

Getting dribbled by 12 times in key areas is a real problem imo. The only reason you can say it's not a problem after the fact is because by some bizarre turn of events, nothing came of all 12. It would be a different conversation if City scored from some of them.

[Exiled_red]

Yeah I think that the criticism of Trent was a bit harsh too, the stat is mad but if you are letting a guy dribble past you down the outside and at best throw crosses into the box which our defenders can deal with comfortably I don't think that's a problem. Despite the stat Doku was largely nullified by being kept in areas where he couldn't do much damage, for all the times he might have got the better of Trent he didn't create anything his xA stats were really low I believe, that being the case you could argue we defended well against him inspite of the stat that's quoted

[baitman]

Although Trent got dribbled past loads, he wasn’t really caught out of position much and generally did enough to slow Doku down. This gave our CBs enough time to get into position, ready for the inevitable cross.

Trent also did play the pass before the assist for our second goal

Very true, maybe the Captain has told him

[rudedog]

Although Trent got dribbled past loads, he wasn’t really caught out of position much and generally did enough to slow Doku down. This gave our CBs enough time to get into position, ready for the inevitable cross.

Trent also did play the pass before the assist for our second goal

[red g]

Yip, Arne has more or less said he has already identified the positions that need strengthening and I’d be very surprised if Hughes et al were not already putting in all the background work for 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices for each position. I reckon we will see 3 top signings similar to the year we signed Alisson, Virg…

Think we will push bigger this year. For once strengthen from a position of strength.

200m Spent this summer. Imo.

[Buzzo]

Yip, Arne has more or less said he has already identified the positions that need strengthening and I’d be very surprised if Hughes et al were not already putting in all the background work for 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices for each position. I reckon we will see 3 top signings similar to the year we signed Alisson, Virg…

Yeah I think 3, 4 if Trent leaves also

[Cerbie]

Yip, Arne has more or less said he has already identified the positions that need strengthening and I’d be very surprised if Hughes et al were not already putting in all the background work for 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices for each position. I reckon we will see 3 top signings similar to the year we signed Alisson, Virg…

If this happens and City get dumped out of the league for any period, we could be back in 1975, with a period of domination ahead that no sovereign wealth fund could buy. Backroom strategy, on-field talent and tactical adaptability would be v hard to match.

Some huges 'if's in there I know, but I'm a bit giddy at that even being a remote possibility!!