18 Mar 2025 14:40:28
Hi all! Long time reader crawling out of the woodwork. I've seen statistics (the Times/ Sunday times) that states that Liverpool in the 23-24 Klopp season was the 9th best team covering distance and only the 20th best team under Slot so far this season. Further the team was 3rd best on high speed runs under Klopp, ant is 11th so far this season.
I love what Slot has done, but sometimes react negative on what I call an overly low tempo style, may be a to projected Netherland style of football. (That was my only fear when we first got Slot from Netherland)
Have we generally lost to much workrate/ tempo in this team?
18 Mar 2025 15:27:25
Erm, we're top of the league, lost in a cup final, went out on pens in the last 16 of the CL having finished top of the CL league.
So, my answer would be that, this season at least, Slot's style has very much been a positive not a negative!
{Ed025's Note - absolutely Zed..
18 Mar 2025 15:52:07
Redskin1, that is one opinion about it. In other interpretations I've seen, all your stats were seen as a positive for this team under Slot. Also unlike under Klopp last year, the amount of shots at goal and chances created against us dropped immensely (don't have the nos., really) . This is cos we have a team that is very intense and relentless to get back into our defensive shape when out of possession, something which has allowed us to be more solid and have a very good defensive record while at the same time having the best attack by some distance.
At the end of the day, you can find stats to suit your opinion while others can find some to suit theirs. All I know is whatever we have done right or wrong overall, have led us to being on the brink of No. 20, something majority of us never dreamed would happen. I'd rather focus on that. Lastly, Klopp did his thing. Slot is doing his thing. Credit to both of them.
18 Mar 2025 16:04:27
I feel like Slot will win a few Premier League’s this way at Liverpool. I don’t think he’ll get to a European cup final though.
2 different competitions and slots way suits the league.
{Ed025's Note - big call that at the moment LFC8, a lot will depend on who goes and who you manage to bring in for me mate, i thought you done well in Europe as well by topping the CL group and were a little unlucky to come up against a very good side in PSG so early in the knockout stage...just my opinion..
18 Mar 2025 16:20:37
Spot on ed25.
18 Mar 2025 16:34:59
Nah I don’t see us winning league next year. We got lucky this year no denying that not saying it’s not deserved like. The team needs 3 or 4 positions replacing if the contracts are signed if not we be in deep crap then too many players to replace and the way we act in the market we probably buy 2 and give a good dose of looking at others .
18 Mar 2025 16:39:28
I’ve been thinking about this and injuries lately, particularly with other sets of fans claiming we’re only top because we’ve dodged injuries through dumb luck. But is it really just that? Maybe Slot and his team have cracked something others missed. Asking players to run more and sprint harder comes with a risk of injuries. Doesn’t always work out that way, but the risk does increase. So what if Slot’s sorted a way to ease off the workload and sprints while still getting results? Klopp’s full-throttle approach paid off big time—except those couple seasons where injuries piled up. Topping the sprint charts is great, but not if your forwards are all nursing hamstrings from the physio room. From my eyeball evidence so far, Slot’s found a balance—reducing the risks without losing the reward, albeit at the expense of excitement in certain games.
18 Mar 2025 17:27:11
You'd like to think that Slot's more measured style will stop burn out and lead to more chance of maintaining competitivity on all fronts until the end of the season. He will need to utilise his whole squad though. Next year is our year!
18 Mar 2025 18:04:10
Stop burnout? Have you watched the games lately. Slot has run some of our players into the ground.
18 Mar 2025 18:45:07
Bloody hell, Man City were able to win a treble with about 16 players but ours are run into the ground by March.
18 Mar 2025 18:53:45
At the end of the day ywe should win our 20th with a new coach. Slot is not perfect but clearly he's doing bang-up job. Most teams fall off a cliff when an iconic coach leaves. The most obvious being Fergie amd man u.
18 Mar 2025 19:05:48
Thunderbird
Actually about 20 players that City used and 3/ 4 players that played 1 or 2 games. Still impressive tho.
18 Mar 2025 20:27:16
Only 1 stat that matters - league position.
All the others are window-dressing.
This has been an outstanding season for Slot.
It’s incredibly hard to win the league, retaining it would be an unbelievable effort.
City will be back next season, it’s going to be tough.
18 Mar 2025 20:31:44
I'm all for stats and advanced stats, but you have to use the data as part of the story not all of it.
Like, we can't on one hand bemoan how the team seemed to lose their energy over the last couple weeks whilst on the other hand point out that we're not running as much or as intense. They're not compatible points!
Had a bit of a deep dive and found so far this season 16 players have played an average 50mins or more per game.
This doesn't include the 9 players who have made 5 or less appearances.
Compared to last season?
21 players played average 50mins or more per game. Not including the 11 who made 5 appearances or less.
Another couple interesting comparisons is that so far this season we have 6 players averaging 80mins or more per game. Last season? - 3
This season Slot has 11 players who have played avg 60 mins or more per game. last season Klopp used 16.
It goes hand in hand with what Slot had said recently about having a core group of 14/ 15 players. And I am mindful of his comments about Chiesa before the final. He said that it's difficult for Chiesa to get chances to play because his training schedule is different to this core group of 14/ 15 so he doesn't get to train with them.
Moving forward, this is a concern for me and I don't see how it is sustainable to burden this kind of workload on 14-15 players.
Look guys, we're going to win the league. and my initial response to the OP was "we're top of the league" lol but I do recognize the chatter about the depth of the squad and fully agree that the squad needs attention.
My focus, after looking at these numbers today, just has me hopeful that this high trust in 14-15 players is more about Slot coming in first season as opposed to his preferred way of working. Because, I sniff danger in the longer term if this is his preferred way to operate.
Just basing my thoughts on what I've watched and the numbers.
thanks for following!
18 Mar 2025 20:43:12
Indeed, Ed25. It's too early to say cos there are way too many variables to consider esp. right now with the big teams needing a refresh. Us included, ofc.
And personally if you did not think Slot could win the title in his first season, I don't know how you could think he can win more in the next 3 years or so.
{Ed025's Note - things can change very quickly in football Oli..
18 Mar 2025 22:57:22
I was wondering the other day if the lack of injuries could be a reason behind the apparent tiredness of players?
Injuries force squad rotation and offers a chance to recover from both injury and fatigue.