15 Sep 2024 16:38:42
Ed001, what do you make of our striking options this season? I don’t think Nunez suits Slot’s system at all and I’d be very surprised if he’s still here next season. I also don’t think Jota and Gakpo are out and out number 9’s.
{Ed001's Note - Gakpo is better on the left and should play there if possible. Jota and Nunez will be fine if we improve our final ball, though I do think there is a very real possibility that we are looking for replacements. It is hard for either of them to do anything when the final pass into them has been so poor. Jota is barely even getting to touch the ball at the moment. The system is geared around getting them into the box, than getting them involved in the play. That is more suited to Jota than Nunez but it does require the rest of the team to actually supply quality into whoever is up front. That didn't happen against Forest.}
16 Sep 2024 00:11:11
I think Slot knows his best eleven and that doesn't include Nunez or Gakpo. It's good that Slot seems to know that so soon.
I'll be happy if Nunez scores a hundred League goals for us but I just can't see him doing it. Gakpo was a pre Hughes opportunistic buy and he looks like a jack of all trades master of none type player. I can't see him starting two hundred games for us.
We have six senior forward players but I wouldn't be surprised to see us sign another, or others, in the next couple of windows. One or more will leave as well, obviously.
16 Sep 2024 01:47:58
Rigsby - you rekon Slot thinks about a best XI? I'm not sure any managers in the world think this way.
16 Sep 2024 02:53:08
It’ll be interesting to see what happens (if anything) when Chiesa is up to speed.
16 Sep 2024 06:26:31
Faith, I think Slot does have a preference as to who his starting XI are as he has barely rotated the team for the past four games. I think the only change he made was to swap Konate with Quansah after the Ipswich match but other than that, the team selection has been very consistent. Still, the sample size is very small (just four games) so it will be interesting to see how he uses the squad in the upcoming months as we would need to play 2-3 games a week fairly often.
16 Sep 2024 06:57:31
I still think Nunez has a part to play and can be our first choice forward. As ed says there was zero delivery against Forest, something we did well in all games previous l but we reverted to last year's bore off passing for the sake of passing on Saturday. Ed025 says we need a battering ram sometimes, well at plus 6ft, rapid and strong as a bull I'd say Nunez can do that and more.
16 Sep 2024 07:22:51
Faith, yes.
I'm sure a lot of managers know their best or 'go to' eleven.
Players will be rested or changed depending on the opposition but they will know their strongest side, even if that changes throughout the season.
Slot has made one change to his starting line up in four games.
16 Sep 2024 08:48:03
Rigsby i agree with what you're saying and i think with everyone fit managers will always have that best (cup final/ league rival) starting 11 they will want to go too if everyone is fit.
Pep and Arteta certainly do. I think its just the amount of games that players play force rotation.
Heard Friday night that in Slots first 4 weeks of the season we have played 3 games and in the next 3 weeks of his season he will see us play 7 games. Which when looking at it that way makes zero sense from a fixtures point of view.
It is a small sample size and players will get opportunities to play themselves into said favored starting 11.
One thing I've noticed though is apart from Konate and Bradley at Ipswich our subs haven't really been impactful when coming on this season with Sat being the biggest sample size.
16 Sep 2024 10:11:11
JK, Slot, or any manager, won't pick his best eleven week in week out, even if he wanted to.
I think it's refreshing that he seems to know his own mind and team so soon. He doesn't appear to be influenced too much by what Klopp did and reputations.
Regarding subs, he does like to change his fullbacks. It's not as though they bomb on and assist goals like they used to either.
I don't think we have a lot of strength on the bench. We have plenty attacking options but there's only Salah that you could say has to play. That's why I like Jota as a sub; he can look dangerous when he comes on. I don't get the same feeling from Nunez and Gakpo.
In midfield, Endo and Jones are hardly game changers.
Elliott does offer a bit coming on up front or in midfield but he's not a player that can't be left out or that I'm expecting to win us a game just yet.
16 Sep 2024 10:59:17
Same old, same old - even under Klopp, whilst this team was absolutely brilliant at times, there were games the team just didn't turn up.
That happened against Forest, it's happened before, no doubt it will happen again - the true test for Slot will be if he can get the team to pick themselves up and go again.
As annoying as the result was, let's not kid ourselves, we've saw that exact same performance before - no point us wallowing and saying we should have bought x, y or z, those performances happen unfortunately - they just got to pick themselves up and do better.
16 Sep 2024 12:07:32
Rigsby i think Elliot offers far more in midfield than he does at RW but with Chiesa now in the squad i wouldn't be surprised to see Elliot's RW days behind him.
I agree on Jota looking good off the bench and i might be wrong but apart from Newcastle i can't really ever remember Nunez or Gakpo ever changing the game from the bench.
16 Sep 2024 13:54:31
A manager picks his best 11, based on the players he has available for selection, something that varies from game to game and week to week which we all know is not and exact science in both cases.
16 Sep 2024 14:36:45
Interesting then that Slot has only made 1 starting change from a possible 44 so far in his tenure.
16 Sep 2024 14:53:23
JK_RED, the guy has barely played this season. Give it time before you shoot your shot and if Slot does not want him, we will all be here to see it, eventually.
16 Sep 2024 15:23:30
Id agree with that Bill. I read a piece on the game that said we missed Klopp as he was known for his in game tactical tweaks and his subs always made a positive impact.
That was exactly what Klopp used to get criticised for! He made subs too late and had no plan B if plan A was not working!
Our subs did well last season but that was an outlier in his 9 year reign.
The game on Saturday was very similar to the Fulham game at home last season. The difference was we scored a few screamers that day and won the game but it quite easily could’ve gone the other way.
Like many have said performances like that are nothing new but 9 out of 10 times we just about have enough quality to scrape through. On Saturday we didn’t.