05 Oct 2025 03:07:09
Upon reading a few comments and speaking to people. This seems like Slots real first bit of pressure during his tenure as our manager. I am still giving it all time, due to all of the reasons im sure others are too and can understand the team is very new to working together.
However, i think last week i could stomach but not today and Wednesday. That is possibly the weakest Chelses will be all season and Galatasary? Okay they dug in for a result but same for Chelsea, we made it so so easy for them and that it not like us.
I think at the minute its tough to be too harsh as some players are just really struggling to adapt but then also have been poor. There is a list i could use but i will use Mo.
Mo for years has exploited the space in behind opposition due to Trent picking it up in the half space or even opposition tracking our centre forward and being worried about the ball in behind. At the minute we don't have that option and that is where I think Mo is abit lost as he is having to change his style up. He has never been a winger per say and I think that’s what he is now more or less being asked to do, although to add i still think some of his all round play has been poor.
This is is what has had me abit worried as i can understand players struggling to adapt and i think Mo has here and its not all on him.
However, one i question is Gravenberch? Last season he was excellent at providing cover for the backline, whereas this season it’s like his free roaming in the middle. This then is what is making me think are the players struggling to understand what is being asked or is Slot asking off too much complexity from set players.
It’s worrying me the most how we went from being defensively assured last year to this year being completely wide open. Our attacking style of play should of changed but not defensively this much but again maybe this is due to adapting without Trent?
Ed01 mate your views or anyone elses? Do we think Slot is tinkering too much or is it just a case of some players having to adapt to a different style of play.
{Ed001's Note - I think it is a mix of lots of things, but the training is the biggest problem for me. You get injuries because you are not fit and flexible enough.}
05 Oct 2025 08:58:19
To be fair last night Mo got the ball exactly where he likes, being able to run at a defender and then cut inside the box to create or shoot. He just completely messed it up every single time, skying balls we've seen him get on target 95% of the time, or shooting when he should have passed. I'm not sure that we're really asking him to change his game, he might get the ball a tiny bit less than he used to, and Bradley/ Frimpong aren't helping him very much at all, but last night he got the early ball into his feet multiple times.
Mo is very badly off form, he is still our main main and he wants to be, a Mo on form gets you three points last night with at least one goal and an assist, when we're not playing well that's what our world class players are there to do.
05 Oct 2025 10:32:11
Slot hopefully has time to start putting things right now. I’d have started the season with few changes and bedded the new players in. Only Ekitike has made a difference so far.
05 Oct 2025 10:40:43
Cheers for the reply Ed.
PatrikBurgher i disagree mate, but do understand your point.
My reason is, i don't think we have ever seen Salah as nullified as he has been this season. Of course it could finally be age but also him having to play differently. Im not saying he is being asked to play a whole different position but a changing of role.
There was no doubt salah for years thrived off space in behind and so on. This year we aren’t getting that as Ed01 pointed out. Teams are no longer worried about the ball in behind as this was something we could offer having Trent, however now we don't so teams are pushing higher up which is causing Mo to be effected.
Salah if you watch him i believe since the 22/ 23 season has totally changed his game. I think he gradually is loosing his speed which is understandable and i think back then that is when he started becoming more so of a playmaker etc.
If you watch him now to when he first joined he doesn’t drive at defenders as much and have lightning pace to burst past. When he first joined he had that, now i think his game is totally different as to why he is struggling.
Maybe you won't understand or others what i mean. Either way i am not bashing him for the sake of it, more just pointing out why i think he has been so bad.
05 Oct 2025 11:15:54
The intensity is a massive concern. There is no first press, counterpress and winning of duels. There’s no lung bursting sprints or outballs.
Even though it was a full pre-season, we seem undercooked physically - much like the 22/ 23 season.
And with the international breaks and 3 game week, where is the opportunity to put it right?
I don’t like to bring it up given how much we spent in the summer but Konate’s now the player with most of the ball - that was a predictable problem with Trent gone yet we went into the season with it. That Endo is the only DM in the squad means there’s no hope of stabilising things up as his second touch is a tackle. And finally, Lucho was our first choice LW last season for a reason. We are now seeing Gakpo’s ceiling every week.
On the plus side, we are 2nd and have played some very difficult fixtures.
05 Oct 2025 11:53:06
People seeing Mo being “nullified” this season are what I’ve seen last season and in previous seasons until he popped up for a goal or a 5 yard pass for an assist.
05 Oct 2025 11:58:43
Pelican, Im not even sure we press cohesively at all and when we do, it is disjointed. Just look at CHelsea's first goal. Macca overcommits on the press, gets done BUT there was nothing behind him. No squeezing up the defensive line, nothing. I understand why they dropped off cos there were runners on either side of VVD and Konate BUT had we pressed as a team, we could avoided that goal. As many have said, it is prolly part of the bedding in issues leading to a lack of cohesive press. Or a preass at all, IMO.
05 Oct 2025 18:41:49
Agree on Gravenberch. He is terrific in receiving the ball and can glide past players for fun. But he isn’t a defensive midfielder that that world is trying to make him to be one. He is leaving far too much for Mc Allister to cover. We absolutely should have signed someone like Baleba / Wharton to sit there and screen the defense.
That being said last season our front 3 were pressing monsters. Diaz and Nunez in particular, the front three is your first line of defense and that’s been missing which is exposing our midfield.
I also don’t understand the science behind buying Frimpong. He was never good defensively in the first place.