That's actually crazy. Something seems fundamentally wrong with this team this season, mentally and physically
Players
- Thread starter rurikbird
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Good to know that fuckface spent some quality time in Ibiza instead of working with the team, eh?
A little harsh on Marma, who couldn't have expected to be much better after a disjointed season at Valencia and the instant comparisons to one of the best keepers in our history, but otherwise nothing to disagree with.
Slot will take a disproportionate amount of the focus. No matter who's in charge there's no excuse for some of the shirking of challenges, lack of effort, lack of concentration and general shitness from so many of the above.
Ekitke has resembled a sparkler placed in an expensive barrel of shit.
Slot will take a disproportionate amount of the focus. No matter who's in charge there's no excuse for some of the shirking of challenges, lack of effort, lack of concentration and general shitness from so many of the above.
Ekitke has resembled a sparkler placed in an expensive barrel of shit.
There are a handful of players I would happily drive to the airport and tell them off ya pop, namely Robbo Salah Jones Gomez and Gakpo. Had enough of them for years now.
But make no mistake, our issues start and end with Arne and his cronies. The players have no understanding on the pitch and there is no communication from the touchline. His philsophy is bad enough as it is without all the extra negative traits he brings, such as his blandness.....even his voice fucking iritates me, his awkward laughs irriate me, his smug expressions irritate me.
I watch Arsenal today, they weren't great, but they were very well drilled and organised, every player knows his role. Arteta's football isn't much better than Arne's, but his personality comes through and he drills these players to play with motiviation, on the touchline he actually looks like he gives a shit.
But make no mistake, our issues start and end with Arne and his cronies. The players have no understanding on the pitch and there is no communication from the touchline. His philsophy is bad enough as it is without all the extra negative traits he brings, such as his blandness.....even his voice fucking iritates me, his awkward laughs irriate me, his smug expressions irritate me.
I watch Arsenal today, they weren't great, but they were very well drilled and organised, every player knows his role. Arteta's football isn't much better than Arne's, but his personality comes through and he drills these players to play with motiviation, on the touchline he actually looks like he gives a shit.
Just came across these (from this account https://x.com/adnaaan433) - images can be clicked to enlarge:
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View: https://x.com/LFCDgoat/status/1992535413177954414
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View: https://x.com/LFCDgoat/status/1992535413177954414
Yes, the players do share the blame, but when so many are out of form or look clueless, it is the tactics more than anything.
I do have a bunch of questions for our back-room team data nerds. How come we spent 300 million on players who lack pace, physique, and fire? I get that they are cleverer than the rest of us from the various self-congratulatory news articles you released over the summer. They even had the guts to insinuate that all poor signings and extensions were due to Klopp. That very well might be true, but the only reason they even dared to insinuate that was because they were safe in the knowledge that one of our greatest ever managers is too classy to respond.
I may lack the detailed insight that some data and football nerds have. Still, I do know that to succeed in the Premier League, you need pace and strength on the ball, physicality, and, as an attacker, that X factor of unpredictability. How come we have spent so much money on players who look like they belong to Serie A or La Liga?
I do have a bunch of questions for our back-room team data nerds. How come we spent 300 million on players who lack pace, physique, and fire? I get that they are cleverer than the rest of us from the various self-congratulatory news articles you released over the summer. They even had the guts to insinuate that all poor signings and extensions were due to Klopp. That very well might be true, but the only reason they even dared to insinuate that was because they were safe in the knowledge that one of our greatest ever managers is too classy to respond.
I may lack the detailed insight that some data and football nerds have. Still, I do know that to succeed in the Premier League, you need pace and strength on the ball, physicality, and, as an attacker, that X factor of unpredictability. How come we have spent so much money on players who look like they belong to Serie A or La Liga?
At least if we buy another club the needs will be able to sell some of the signings to someone
To be fair, who are we talking about here with the new signings? Wirtz I'll give you. Aspas would bully this little worm. Frimpong is rapid. Kerkez and Isak have been good in the premier league. Ekitike is one of the few that has done well this season...
I think signing two big name strikers has brought some problems, but quality and depth is what we all would have wanted. Isak is one of the best strikers in the league. If not the world. The signing made sense.
I'm not letting the data nerds completely off the hook, but the majority of the blame is with the manager for overseeing such widespread regression.
These aren't fine margins. We went from actually controlling games and pressing effectively, to competently edging games, to surviving some chaos, to lunatic games, to having no credible style of play. There's a gulf there.
In isolation, you can defend any of the signings. But in totality, we spent around 400 million, and none of them, except Ekitike, look particularly good. A big part lies with the manager. But there is also the fact that we don't have a single player in that 400 who can take the game and make a difference through sheer individual talent and willpower. You shouldn't be spending this much money on system players.
Frimpong may be rapid. But we are not in athletics, we play PL football. So far, he looks less of a PL right back than the great Calvin Ramsey, John Otsemobor, and Jon Flanagan. We spent money to find a poorer attacker and a poorer defender than Trent.
Isak - look at his goal compilations from last year? Do we really play like that? We don't put our strikers in situations that Eddie Howe put Isak in at Newcastle. He may be a great striker, but we haven't played with a classic number nine since Torres' days, except for the horrible Balotelli-Benteke experiment. And Torres was way more physical than Isak and had a lot to his game.
Kerkez - I am also perplexed. But he wouldn't be the first player to look classy with a lower-level team and unable to make the step up. Again, are we using him the same way Iraola used him? I don't know, as I barely watch other teams. But my guess would be no. He's definitely a poorer passer than Robbo and doesn't possess Robbo's playmaking abilities.
These are the kind of things that the data nerds should have picked up on. They are quick to take credit when things go well. What about when things do not go well?
They did it with Rodgers, with articles about how Rodgers bought Benteke against their advice. Great. How about Markovic, Moreno, and Aspas? Don't expect me to believe that Rodgers spent time scouting them?
A lot of articles over the last year about how Nunez was a Klopp signing, extensions where Klopp was using his influence? They did that knowing that Klopp was too classy to attack back in the press and took advantage of that?
They are good, don't get me wrong. But at the same time, someone should hold their feet to the fire for the summer outlay.
What are our tactics? The only game I can remember this season where we seemed to have a specific plan was against Real Madrid. Everything else seems to just be pick a side and hope for the best. We don't seem to be pressing anymore, or playing with a particularly notable intensity. We're not sitting deep and hitting teams on the break. We're not moving the ball quickly or anything. We just seem to plod. I agree with Rurik that a lot of the players - a disproportionate amount - have just gone missing this season. I don't know whether it's arrogance having won the title or the impact of Jota's death. Both could be an issue. But then what's Slot's answer to that? Play the same eleven, pretty much.
VVD's comments after the game seemed to hint that others aren't taking responsibility for the slump; I wonder if that's the general feeling in the dressing room. Certainly some players like Gakpo and Macca aren't offering anything like the same levels of intensity this season. I don't place blame on the new players - although Ekitike has looked really good, I put Wirtz's travails down more to the wretched form of Gakpo and Salah, especially the former who seems to have almost zero inclination to do anything but shoot. Isak shouldn't be near the first team; I'm all for building his fitness up but that needs to be done slowly and not at the expense of our one in-form striker. We knew full well when we signed him he'd missed all of pre-season and we still went ahead with the deal. Plus he's not getting any assistance from the wide players; in fact the only assist he got this season was from Chiesa. Who isn't allowed to play.
VVD's comments after the game seemed to hint that others aren't taking responsibility for the slump; I wonder if that's the general feeling in the dressing room. Certainly some players like Gakpo and Macca aren't offering anything like the same levels of intensity this season. I don't place blame on the new players - although Ekitike has looked really good, I put Wirtz's travails down more to the wretched form of Gakpo and Salah, especially the former who seems to have almost zero inclination to do anything but shoot. Isak shouldn't be near the first team; I'm all for building his fitness up but that needs to be done slowly and not at the expense of our one in-form striker. We knew full well when we signed him he'd missed all of pre-season and we still went ahead with the deal. Plus he's not getting any assistance from the wide players; in fact the only assist he got this season was from Chiesa. Who isn't allowed to play.
I don't disagree with any of that, per se, I was just mainly picking up on the fact that specifically you said they don't seem to have the pace, physique or power. I'd disagree with that as they have proven that they do have the physicality to play in the Prem as most have proven they can do it.
Isak would have been great under Klopp. He's quick, can dribble, can transition well, can score from anywhere and in any way. The problem is, when our build up is as slow and purposeless as it is under Slot this season, he doesn't have the space to affect the game. He's crowded out, hence why he's getting no service, as we don't move the ball with any kind of speed or purpose or idea. The fitness is also a problem. But this is on Slot with not knowing how to use him, or having a discernible attacking plan. It's just pass sideways slowly, then chase the game at the end and lob a load of attackers on and hope.
Kerkez at Bournemouth was an energetic, flying wing back, much in the same mould as early Robertson. However, for some reason, Slot doesn't seem to want him bombing on as much, preferring to have him keep possession and 9 times out of 10 lay it back to Van Dijk to continue the slow plodding build up again. On the manager for me as well this one. We're not playing to his strengths.
Frimpong has been injured mainly, but he is one I was a bit worried about. In any case, we don't play to his strengths either, which is quick, counter attacking football. He's hardly played, but it's not been a great signing so far and the one I was most sceptical about.
Wirtz has really disappointed me. Technically he looks great, but he definitely doesn't have the physicality to this league. Sods law that this season the league has reverted to a physical style of play for the first time in years. Still, I expect better. But again, not sure the manager knows how to use him.
Yes, you could argue that the players should be doing more. Definitely, in fact. But not many players are Steven Gerrard, Roy of the Rovers, deciding games on their own. It's the manager's job to come up with a plan and a style of play to get the best out of them all. He's failing massively. Even with Ekitike, I get the sense he's just thinking "fuck this" and doing what he wants on the pitch. You could argue we need more of that, yeah. But that's not their job. Their job is to do what the manager and the coaching staff are telling them. And that's precisely why we're in this mess.
It's the boss's job to get players up for the fight and winning their duels, which seems to be our most obvious problem.
There's also a lack of competition adding to the complacency. Konate and Mo (and Gravenberch and Mac) are undroppable because Slot doesn't trust the backups. I'm sure Wirtz, Kerkez and Isak were all promised they'd be starters by our DoF, so there's no external pressure on them to perform.
Then there's the tentative, pedestrian buildup when we have the ball. At first a bit more control helped Klopp's side become more solid and consistent, but as Slots plan has become more dominant, it just looks sluggish and naive, particularly when the league is becoming more physical again.
So for me it's all on the manager but I'm not sure a calm - boring, even - approach solves this. The hairdryer has always seemed more effective. Does Slot even own one?