Same for Macca. Well before they scored Macca had tried dribbling the ball up the middle and was easily stripped of the ball once again. Grav is very good but not quick either and Jones is normally slow. We desperately need to inject some pace and some tenacity into mf before next season. Three of our back four this game included the "old men " Virg,Robbo and Joe who also were gassed by the wide open 2nd half . Remember when were able to manage the game and run down the clock? Nowadays we just hang on as long as we can.
I thought our new, slower game would allow us to use our dominance in possession to more easily close games out.... I'm definitely not in the 'arne out' crowd at this point. We're in the CL spots now and even in this topsy turvy form, I'll back us to keep in them. I'll back us to beat Gala and advance to the CL Quarterfinals. Don't see any reason why Slot wouldn't be given another go.
Once it got to about 60’ we tried to see out the game, playing under last year’s rules when we could have seen out a 1-0 from the 60th minute. Especially with Endo. This year? Hah! We can’t see out injury time.
We just aren't a very good team this year. It's the reason that - hope against hope - when folks say we can still win the CL (a la 2005) - it just won't happen.
Well, I have to admit that I’m happy I was busy today and didn’t watch the second half (I don’t plan to at this point…). I was listening to the play-by-play while driving, but luckily had to turn it off at the 83’ minute. Sounded like it is the “all too common” 2nd half malaise we’ve seen too often this year. Really disappointing on both the coaching staff, but honestly also on the players from what it sounds like. At this point I don’t expect anything from this Liverpool team iteration. Whatever we manage to get out of this season will be a lucky bonus if you ask me - and that is on both the coaching (which seems incapable of motivating our players and putting them in a good position to win) and the players, who frankly aren’t covering themselves in glory either. I fully expect that we will probably be out of the CL, if not by Wednesday, then at the next step. I also expect that we will probably manage to stumble into fifth place, but if we manage to do this it is because Chelsea and VIlla are at least as bad as us right now. FA cup? Who knows? I frankly doubt we will score against them, but Man City have been strangely inconsistent this season meaning if we get a lucky free kick again, then we might score… Could we manage to defend well enough to hold on for dear life to a 1-0 result? Certainly we’ve shown no sign of being able to score during open play these last weeks. Sigh…
We've seen worse games but this late in the season and there has been zero progress? Manager needs to be replaced.
Liverpool's next five Premier League games Brighton (A) - March 21 Fulham (H) - April 11 Everton (A) - April 19 Crystal Palace (H) - April 25 Man Utd (A) - May 2 Man Utd's next five Premier League games Bournemouth (A) - March 20 Leeds (H) - April 13 Chelsea (A) - April 18 Brentford (H) - April 27 Liverpool (H) - May 2 Aston Villa's next five Premier League games West Ham (H) - March 22 Nottingham Forest (A) - April 11 Sunderland (H) - April 18 Fulham (A) - April 25 Tottenham (H) - May 2 Chelsea's next five Premier League games Everton (A) - March 21 Man City (H) - April 12 Man Utd (H) - April 18 Brighton (A) - April 26 Nottingham Forest (H) - May 2
Probably unfair to Konate. But the match went about the way I thought. We weren’t going to score 2. Despite the possession and the amount of wasted shots. Then that last minute goal has happened far to often this season. A totally embarrassing loss of 2 points with a goal scored by that POS.
We're all seeing the same thing - the team and the manager have found their level and it only remains to see if the gods of football to grant us that bit of luck we'll need to scrape 5th. Then, the owners have to decide what (if anything) to give Slot for next season. We're currently on the "good" side of mediocre, can Slot do more?
In 19/20 we went on a historic run and crushed our competition to win the title. In 20/21 we needed our goalie scoring in stoppage against a relegated club to sneak into the CL. We were an absolute shambles that season. Nobody was calling for Klopp to be out. We shouldn't be talking about Arne out given we're in the CL places currently and should move onto the CL quarters soon. Both seasons had their challenges. Neither season necessitates a change of management.
I just wonder if the loss to City is so nailed on why Real Madrid (who are equally bad) are currently holding a 3 goal lead over Man City? And why it shouldn't be possible to take say 10 or 12 out of these 12 on offer before the tougher run of Utd, Chelsea, Villa and Brentford?
That to me is a problem. neither of those guys should be tired - so why take them off? I'd have taken off mac for Jones at 63. Just that. (But LFC wouldn;t match my 7M a year wage demand, so I'm not managing....
Despite that -- Ekiteke was a slick goalkeeping hand block away from scoring a great breakaway goal last Tuesday? (If he had scored that and we had drawn the same game tonight, the commentary would have been - why the fvck didn;t Ekiteke start?)
Like Hubba - I only watched the first half before needing to attend other business...but I knew that a one-goal lead at halftime was not going to be enough... The thing that really gets me this season is that it seems our players tire easily (too soon) and we give up these late goals - which, in my experience, are due mainly to mental and/or physical lapses With Klopp - I don't remember that happening...we were "mentality monsters" and could run just about every other team off the pitch...of course there was also another key component for most of that run: James Milner...and to an extent, Jordan Henderson Although those two in particular may not have possessed the skill and speed or even the technical ability of some of our current players - Milner, for sure, and to an extent Hendo, did have both the physical and mental toughness that some of the current players have not developed... I am so tired of hearing how Slot has "run these players into the ground" Play the best players in the positions where they do their best (that is not right back for Slob!) We do have an opportunity with the next few games, to set ourselves up for a top four/five finish...but we have to start scoring goals... Yeah...sigh...
Spurs outran us (like most teams do). You can say it's because we have a lot of possession - but I don't think that's it. They looked fresher at the end of the game than we did.
I am not Slot out yet (could be after Weds though), but there are some big differences between this year and 20-21. First 20-21 was itself a crazy year. Empty stadiums, postponed matches, covid protocols. I honestly think the whole world should basically be given a mulligan from March 2020 to March 2022. Plus the injuries, and then there was the whole Super League fiasco as well. But even if we ignore that it's still different. First Klopp got 3rd place place on 69 points. Yes he there was some really bad football that winter but by the spring the club had turned it around and was playing much better. If we do the same this season than yeah there's a case, but I don't see much hope for that on current form. And of course there is the case that Klopp had goodwill in the bank. Yeah Arne won us the title but Klopp took us from the 6th best team in England to the best team in the world in in five seasons. We'd seen him basically build this club up in his own image, so their was confidence he could do it again. Slot took over an 82 point team, he made us better and deserves credit, but don't know if he can build a team up, at least not under the glare of the prem. And so far this season I haven't seen it. My issue with Slot is less the results, and more the performances. I still have no clue what this team is supposed to be. We can't defend, especially late in games, yet our only offense comes from moments of magic. So we can't defend, we can't pass (forwards), and we can't score (from open play). But besides that it's fine.
my guesses are Not having Diaz, Nunez and Diogo is a problem (one that maybe a full season of 2024-25 Alexander Isak would have largely fixed. So, when we are/were dominant in games we weren't killing games off. Then there's the tiredness of later game periods and the cumulative negative effect of letting in so many late goals having been clearly dominant in games. Or not being able to claw back a goal deficit despite having the ball (man Utd game a good example) For me, the issue is macca and Gakpo and Salah are playing too much and not producing.enough. Part of this has been also driven by the injury to Conor Bradley and the unavailability of Frimpong, because Dominic and Frimpong could have (for me) been used a lot more as attackers instead of Gakpo and Salah
Good post - but one thing I am not sure about anymore - did Slot make us better? We certainly won the league - but we didn't really look very good the last 3 months of the season (I guess in some sense we shut it down once we knew we were winning). He certainly hasn't done anything this season on any level to show that we are getting better - at least at the player level. No one has gotten better - apart from Dom - and I don't think that's down to Slot.
This is the big thing for me. I'm not seeing any progress either with Slot. I don't think this years edition has become any better as the season moved along which makes me question his long term viability. Not only do I want a coach who plays exciting attacking football and brings success I also want a teacher . I want him to develop and build young players abilities and I'm not seeing that in Arne. I still think he's a good manager but perhaps just not the ideal Liverpool coach.
I think this is my line of think as well Speke Slot did well with a team coming off a high after Klopp left - and by this time last year, we were shutting down the league. What I have not seen this season is the scoring and the defending that marked the last few seasons with Klopp and the first six months with Slot...nor have I seen any promise in young players coming through the academy...I just read an article on the ESPN site about how Arbeloa is using the academy kids to revitalize RM (again)...we certainly have had some kids come through, but it seems over the past year or so, we have sold many more than we have played...and that is a bit frustrating too...especially with the promise we seemed to have with Klopp in charge... Yeah...
If they're not getting/ playing better, who does the blame fall to then? They are (or were) world class players. Too many players are playing like shite. If they don't understand the system Slot is insisting on, or have no faith in the system, then we get games like yesterday. If they don't think the system works, but the manager refuses to change it, then we get games like yesterday. There's only so much individual brilliance (Szoboslai) they can rely on to get results. Otherwise, they seem to be forced to play in a very rigid system that seemingly isn't working. I think Slot's system is dependent on constantly recirculating the ball waiting for the opponents to come out of their shape and make a mistake. And I think other teams are now wise to this and instead wait for us to make the mistake and then counter. Plus, it looks to me as I watch the games that our spacing is horrible, leaving huge gaps that leads to our midfield being over run, leading to our defenders overwhelmed. Under Klopp we pressed as a team, and it worked. Now we have the forwards pressing as individuals and as soon as the other team gets past that, we're effed.
As an outsider, it's hard to assess Slot. He did well last year without much activity in the window. He overachieved IMO because he got to a cup final as well. I'm not sure how much transfer saga was on him but I think Liverpool needed new blood. Good signings but also terrible luck with injuries, Isak (who I genuinely believe would have picked up form), Bradley, Frimpong and Leoni and definately Diogo Jota's passing. This has shifted dynamics but also the team played tired from overstretching themselves last year and it shows. Regarding rotation I'm not sure why Slot is rigid he tried this game and it backfired. But there is a question over whether he has a certain style of playing that he can implement or if he relies on individual brilliance.