From today's cameo it seems pretty clear we need Wirtz in a deeper central midfield role.
Remedies
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WE’ve got no chance with the league. We have lost 3 already. We have to go in on the European Cup.
We need to just make sure our season stops imploding. That's all we need to do.
TBH after the third or fourth summer signing I decided that would probably be curtains for our chances of the league this season anyway, as there were simply too many of them to meld into a proper unit quickly enough.
I think if we can get our flanks operating better we will have a better base.
Our right flank has to offer more up and down the white line….Mo offers limited defensive help, and right now little going forward. So a Bradley and Frimpong combo I feel would offer so much more in terms of energy and desire down that side.
On the left, Kerkez is about 12 months too inexperienced to be starting for a title winning side, if Slot wants to learn a valuable lesson from his predecessor it is about the speed in which you launch a new young lad onto the front line. Robbo who he is here to succeed had to learn his paces on the training ground for a good 6 months before he owned that spot…as Arne complains about opportunities to work on the training ground as the games come thick and fast he could help himself by gifting a player like Kerkez time to learn his role without the exposure of live games. Robbo for me right now should be starting, with Frimpong playing on the other side who can and will drive behind lines we can get away with Gakpo starting, but ideally having sadly seen Jota depart this summer….keeping Diaz was the sensible option to maintain continuity.
Our right flank has to offer more up and down the white line….Mo offers limited defensive help, and right now little going forward. So a Bradley and Frimpong combo I feel would offer so much more in terms of energy and desire down that side.
On the left, Kerkez is about 12 months too inexperienced to be starting for a title winning side, if Slot wants to learn a valuable lesson from his predecessor it is about the speed in which you launch a new young lad onto the front line. Robbo who he is here to succeed had to learn his paces on the training ground for a good 6 months before he owned that spot…as Arne complains about opportunities to work on the training ground as the games come thick and fast he could help himself by gifting a player like Kerkez time to learn his role without the exposure of live games. Robbo for me right now should be starting, with Frimpong playing on the other side who can and will drive behind lines we can get away with Gakpo starting, but ideally having sadly seen Jota depart this summer….keeping Diaz was the sensible option to maintain continuity.
It wasn't an option though. In an ideal world I would also have preferred Diaz to stay, but he'd made his mind up to leave.
Money would have talked, had he been offered a salary that he was after, he would have stayed I believe.
After the terrible situation with Jota, his contract for me became massively important.
What’s he on at Bayern by the way? Can’t imagine it’s much more than 200k.
On that note our contract renewals seem to be our weakest aspect of recruitment. Last year was a drag on three contract renewals that played out in public, Diaz’s was yet another that needed addressing then….now we have Konate’s situation. We don’t seem to have a grip on things in our controls and that is somewhere we are failing.
He was on £2.5 mill.a year with us. Bayern are reportedly paying him £14 mill. Not a chance we'd have given him that kind of pay hike.
Hindsight is 20/20 but based on what we're seeing from Salah, his contract should have gone to Diaz
I'd be tempted to get Wirtz onto the ball a bit more and see if Isak and Ekitke can play together. Something like
Ali
Bradley Gomez VVD Robbo
Szobo Gravy
Wirtz
Chiesa Ekitike Isak
Never happen like.
Ali
Bradley Gomez VVD Robbo
Szobo Gravy
Wirtz
Chiesa Ekitike Isak
Never happen like.
Slot would rather aim for the iceberg than play that line up.
What's crazy is, that's my preferred line-up and I think it needs some money spending on it. After we've just spent £450M.
I still think the remedy is time. We are exactly where I expected us to be at this stage of the season.
That said, I am shocked by the goals conceded, by the form of Salah, Macca, and Konate (until today, when he was fine and VVD slipped).
We should absolutely take off the experienced players that are playing shit, but give the rest time. And, Slot deserves time to implement his new ideas. He is a victim of last season’s success.
That said, I am shocked by the goals conceded, by the form of Salah, Macca, and Konate (until today, when he was fine and VVD slipped).
We should absolutely take off the experienced players that are playing shit, but give the rest time. And, Slot deserves time to implement his new ideas. He is a victim of last season’s success.
Yeah and rightly so, we'd be a different flavour of fucked with that one.
Was worth every penny in hindsight, when comparing to salary and choice performance so far….
Diaz was no Mane, we all seem to be kept up in that, but he was a title winning player for us - able to ply across the front line (if he were here now you could play him on the right if you wanted to)
When Jota sadly passed, the principle hadn’t changed by the club - it was lose one or the other. We lose both. I’d have ploughed some of the substantial coin in keeping him here. 4 year contract until 32 big money - looks like Bayern are getting the best out of that deal so far.
Fair comment really. I think we all underestimated how long it would take to get this team knowing each other
We had two new outfield players. It was like the other 8 didn’t know who each other were.
That’s not quite accurate - we had two players who left and two today that replaced them, that’s a four player revolving situation.
Not only have you got to compensate for the 2 who left, you have 2 new players to fill that void on and off the pitch.
When you replace a first teamer….you have two challenges, not one.
This isn't all on Hughes et al though (not that you said that). We lost Diogo, TAA, everyone wanted Nunez gone and Robbo fell off a cliff. Frimpong is a backup not a starter so nothing wrong with strengthening the bench. Mama just replaced Kelleher. We did what was necessary. Wirtz the only 'luxury' signing but that is surely based on a tactical switch, necessary after the end to last season when we were starting to struggle.
I still think it will just take some time to integrate them and then we'll be fine - so your assertion that we would struggle to win the PL is spot on.
Excellent post. 100% this.
It is 100% accurate and is something pretty much every side does each year. One of the players “revolving” was on the bench. The other is either a brain dead donkey or someone who was never 100% fit. When you are spending close to £200 million on those two changes, it should not be a challenge.
Every change presents a challenge mate, this notion that money disguises that is nonsense.
It simply gives Arne a better hand if you like.
One of Arne personal challenges and is still so, his family does not live here. This job will consume him if he can’t goes ball deep and build his future with it.
Any manager at this football club who has achieved anything worth while has had their family with them. He’s needs to commit 100% to the challenge ahead, his family have to be with him. He and his family will benefit.
Sure, but it does not appear clear what Slot's ideas are.
You could even start doubting if he himself knows, as he is not playing to the strengths of the squad he has.
When you pay absolutely top dollar for something you need it to work and straight away. Otherwise you could have gone elsewhere and worked on something to build as part of a project. You don’t buy the most expensive house in the world and expect to do shit loads of work on it.
I completely agree on the family part.
If I was his family I'd be thinking yeah, so this is why I don't want to move. I think they're done with exams now so it's a perfect time for those sun obsessed fun lovers to head to the ceaseless grey damp of an English winter to watch everyone hate your dad and pretend it's for reasons other than he's losing football games.
The challenge remains the same whether you spend a fiver or £500m - of course the pressure ramps up if you have the latter. But the challenge remains the same, and of course for Arne, he didn’t have that challenge last year, he did however oversee similar ones at his previous club (massive turnover of players and win a title)
You are right though, at our club…when you spend that amount, he has to get a song out of this group, which he’s struggling with right now. I don’t think right now Arne knows his best 11 on paper let alone delivering on the pitch. And that’s a worry,
If you cannot convince your family to get onside - how the bloody hell are you going to get the players to commit.
And with all fairness to Arne, this summer was a perfect opportunity to solve that.
What we do know is successful managers and players at this club, have a family fully inbed to the culture of this City. Rafa and Klopp’s family wholly committed to the project - to the point where they love the City.
When you have bad days like we did yesterday going back to a lonely 1 bed flat isn’t going to be great, Arne needs his family and his family need him.
We are a family club, and as such we cherish love and support all of his direct family as he joins us on our journey.
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