01 Oct 2025 11:05:57
Just thought I would give my 10p worth on our current situation.
It was clear at the back end of last season that we had a few areas we needed to strengthen. The first was in central defence as Konate can be hit and miss, Van Dijk won't go on for ever and needs a successor and Gomez is very injury prone. This means that as a priority, we needed to buy a centre back that was ready for the first team at minimum and ideally on top of that, one who is young and can be slowly introduced to the first team over the next couple of years.
Trent leaving meant we needed to sign a RB capable of starting or at the very least, rotating with Bradley. This is what I'm a little unsure about. Frimpong has predominantly played as a wing back, not as a full back and we do not play with a back 3 so he won't have the same cover here as he did at Leverkusen. I get he's a very good player but it looks like he's not suited to a back 4 like we play. It seems strange to sign someone that isn't great defensively when in our system, they really do need to be able to defend.
Robertson needed a successor capable of playing this season and Kerkez, at least on paper, seemed like a good option for that in both age, experience and ability.
What was also evident last season was that we had no rotation option for Gravenberch so having a player capable of rotating with him, in my opinion, would have been a priority. We also lacked a bit of "bite" at times, so someone with a bit of physicality would have been my choice. A Baleba-type player, if not him.
Now onto needing to replace Nunez, Diaz and sadly, Jota. In my opinion, we needed a proper centre forward in Ekitike OR Isak and two more versatile forwards in the mould of Alvarez (as the ideal type of player) . Throw into this that Salah is 33, I cannot understand why we have not signed a left-footed forward to share the load with him.
This isn't a moan and I have every faith in Slot to get it all clicking, but it does seem like we've signed players because of their ability, rather than what we actually needed. I get that some players are just so good you simply have to look at them, but it feels a little bit like we haven't addressed what we NEEDED first and are now looking horribly unbalanced.
What does everyone think?
01 Oct 2025 11:14:28
Dude we are top of the league, don't take winning for granted. You can't expect to win everything.
01 Oct 2025 11:33:00
We can’t sign every replacement needed in one window.
01 Oct 2025 11:45:37
All of us were saying that we "won" the transfer window when it closed and that they were happy with it. And yet here we are, a month later saying that we didn't do enough during the window.
Personally, I think we made a lot of changes, a lot of it was either forced or necessary. The only "luxury" signing was Wirtz and even then, it's not everyday that a player of his quality comes around and wants to join us. With these many changes, there's bound to be some teething issues as players get used to one another's playing style as well as the playing style of the team. I still think we would come good in the end but a lot depends on Slot and the coaches now too, to get the team playing well. We have seen it in flashes this season already so the next step would be to make those moments more consistent.
01 Oct 2025 12:14:42
No, you can't expect to win every game but you can expect, after laying our 450 million and signing the 2 most expensive footballers in British transfer history, to pkay at least one good game out of the 9 we've played. We can expect that.
01 Oct 2025 12:19:12
Just my view, to me it's no surprise that there are some growing pains right now. You can't expect to have that many new players and everyone be on the same page from day one. Especially since some did not get a proper pre season. It will take a little bit for everyone to click, but once they do the potential is HUGE. I won't lie, I have been frustrated at times, but if I step back and look at it rationally, there really isn't anything to worry about. We'll be fine. Again, just my view.
01 Oct 2025 12:20:07
I was just thinking about recruiting etc and when you are operating within your means, which all clubs should do, it must make the challenge of finding the right player to rotate with Grav that much harder.
Like who is that person that will come in to be a rotation piece? they'd need to be good enough to make it seemless, which would then come with wage expectations etc etc
anyways, not a critique, just a thought about building the squad.
Overall I think there is a risk that Slot and coaches over react and start tinkering every game. Rather than actually staying the course.
For example, we had 3 fit defenders capable of playing RB, yet he started Dom there.
On the weekend he started Wirtz at LW with idea of playing him central to flood the box
Like, it's just too much tinkering on the edges.
I actually think macca's lack of fitness has been a massive hindrance to us and Wirtz being able to slot himself into the team.
01 Oct 2025 12:33:23
If it's one good game that you want, I think we played well against arsenal. We defended well, kept them from creating through the middle or out wide, prevented them from getting anything through set pieces, scored a goal that we deserved. Unless you mean by playing well we're supposed to beat a team by three goals or more, in which case you and I have different ideas of what playing well means.
01 Oct 2025 12:33:38
We're top of the league, absolutely, but Stevie Wonder can see that we have some fairly significant problems.
01 Oct 2025 12:41:57
Same every year drac.
01 Oct 2025 12:42:21
jakedenney2 - If Arsenal win and we lose, we're no longer top of the league.
I'll give my own 10 pennies worth. As a team, I have long felt that we don't defend with anything like the appetite we attack with - this stems back to the later days of Klopp. You can tell Liverpool are going to concede a goal 5 minutes before it happens because the players start being silly with the ball and the opposition steadily increase the pressure - its almost as if the players collectively say, "Oh **** it" and give the opposition a goal just to reset and relieve the increasing pressure. Its actually quite pathetic how easy we are to attack despite the quality we have in defence and midfield. Liverpool can defend superbly when they have no other choice (Arsenal at home, Man City last season), but when they are definitively the superior team, many of downright lazy when it comes to keeping the ball out of our net.
As far as intensity goes, I cannot tell whether the lack of it is down to Slot pacing the players in order to be more competitive in the Champions League latter stages, or if is just how we play now. Either way, low intensity leads to sloppiness, which is how Liverpool concede most of their goals.
Fixture-wise, we've had a fairly difficult start. To illustrate, I wouldn't expect us to drop any league points post-Man City to Arsenal away in January given how straightforward-looking our run is.
Lastly, while the signings are bedding in, we just need to keep getting results. If that means new signings aren't in the first XI, so be it. We have 2 months of easier fixtures to enable to the signings to build up some form. Until then, just keep plugging away.
01 Oct 2025 12:51:54
There’s three things, at least, in play
1. We have Mamardashvili, Frimpong, Kerkez, Leoni, Wirtz, Ekitike and Isak - 7 new players - all to be assimilated into the match day squad, which is a substantial percentage of the squad all getting to know each other.
2. The influx plus the emergence of Ngumoha and the increasingly positive effect of Chiesa seems to be blurring a settled starting 11 selection. We haven’t played the same side in consecutive games this season.
3. Our most potent attacking weapon for the past. 5 or 6years at least isn’t playing well and I think part of it is that he isn’t necessarily the focal point for us anymore. When was the last time Mo didn’t start for us in the PL or CL, when fit?
We are like a sports car mis-firing at the moment. Slot has proved himself as a very good manager and the squad has too much talent to fail. It’s a struggle at the moment and confidence is failing but I think it’s something we can work through - after all we are top of the PL so it’s not quite panic stations just yet.
01 Oct 2025 13:22:31
Lot of changes to the squad
Some we had to make, i. e the 2 full backs
Diaz wanted to go and Gakpo out of form
Salah out of form
Konate been awful, if he had been more solid then bedding in a new fb on each side would have been easier but our defence is shaky now whereas last season it was usually very solid
Midfield tough too as they have to drop deep and help out the defence, Mac just not been the same player. Wirtz having to play deeper and cover a lot and is lightweight compared to the like of Szoboszlai in that sort of role. Then Szoboszlai himself being used at rb etc too so there is no balance in a midfield that was so steady last year
Isak not match fit, Ekitike looks good though
For me, I'd play Szoboszlai and Grav together and bring Mac on as a sub until he gets proper match fit
Chiesa would be on the left, Wirtz and Salah and Ekitike starting but bringing Isak on as a sub as he builds his match fitness too
Defence, obv VVD, there will be rotation between Frimpong and Bradley. Likewise Robbo and Kerkez dependent on opposition. I'd bench Konate for Gomez tbh, though we could well see him pick up an injury but surely he needs to play given Konate has been a liability?
01 Oct 2025 14:33:38
We look a real mess. The missed placed paces are so bad and the reason Hugo is now injured as he was stretching to get a bad ball. wirtz gave the ball away constantly and looks like a kid in a man’s game as do many others. We can’t control the game or even midfield at all so can’t feed the strikers. The defence apart from vvd looks like it’s a Sunday league team, Slow sluggish and don’t look fit. Confidence looks at an all time low and even slot looks like he struggling to find answers. Like others have said we have looked bad in all league games but just scrap though with last min goals when oppo is worn down. When we are bad all over the pitch it’s hard to imagine how it can be fixed quickly.
01 Oct 2025 14:54:58
Lowe ‘if Arsenal win and we lose we are no longer top of the league’?
Er yes, that’s how it works mate but right now we’ve won 5 and lost 1 and they’ve won 4, drawn 1 and lost 1 so we are top of the league by 2 points.
If they lose and we win we are 5 points ahead of them but it’s ifs, buts and maybes.
If my auntie had balls she’d be my uncle and all that jazz (unless she identified as my auntie. Or a tree, or a cat or then she could be non binary I guess, or both? Can you be both? I’m not sure) .
01 Oct 2025 15:04:42
I wasn't DR! Yes we had a fantastic window. I pointed out continually that I thought Diaz going was not good as it left us very weak on the left. I also pointed out that Hato could have been an astute signing especially for the £ as he covers LB and CB.
We can't odds the loss of Jota sadly, death is a factor of life regardless of the circumstances or how sad the situation. Did we need both Isak and Ekitike? Ekitike and a wide player that can also cover across the front! Preferably suited to the left.
We miss Trent and his vision IMO as no matter how shady his ethics he could pic out a pass.
I can't for the life of me understand why Chiesa didn't start on the left last night. Bench Wirtz and play with Grab, Szob and Mac! Start with Frimpong on the right as they did, Ekitike and Chiesa on the left. I understand trying Frimpong where he started as we need to rotate and rest players plus give them a chance.
The intensity has dropped as I think Slot is looking at the season as a whole. Heavy metal is great but it's a long season.
01 Oct 2025 16:22:15
The cup games have brought some our biggest problems this season, we lost Giovanni for the season, a red card for Hugo he missed the palace fiasco.
Last night we have now lost our two best players this season so far goalkeeper becker and top goal scorer Hugo, we have a WC striker to replace Hugo and a top, top keeper to step in for becker, who kept a clean sheet last night for instant credit.
For hopefully progress I would forego playing ye top eggs in any cup competition's for the rest of this season and totally save ye best eggs for the Premier League only, less games and less injuries were some of the main reasons we won it, hopefully a repeat prescription.
Better Tactics and Better Coaching is what is needed not extra games. For instance I watched Gakpo last night take two corners, the man is six foot three in height he should be waiting for the corner not taking it, ye don't need coaching badges to work that out just a tape measure from B and Q, I watched the arsenal game Wirtz was marking Gabriel there centre half from there corners, that's basic ye go like for like physically, they never had Gabriel marking Wirtz for our corners, shankly used big man marks big man, why because it's obvious. was Heitinga the secret, Ajax are currently third in the table but Unbeaten, is Van Bronkhorst the problem Rangers got shut of him in fact he was sacked. He was sacked by Besiktas for poor form also, is he the rotten apple in the barrel besides CON-ate, over to you Arne.