21 Oct 2025 11:07:58
I'm not going to bash Slot, his system or the players. I'm not claiming to be a master tactician or have any great insight into the nuances of the greatest game on earth but if I was in charge I would be building a team around the new signings.
To my untrained eye the squad looks ideally stocked for a 4-4-2 diamond.
In Bradley/ Frimpong and Kerkez we have attacking full-backs that love to get forward and get the ball into the box that will give us attacking threat on both wings (I include Robbo in this too but I think he only has the legs for 30 mins) . If 1 goes forward the other tucks in to make a 3 and if both go forward Grav drops a little deeper into defence.
The midfield would be a diamond. Grav at the base controlling things and helping out the defence when the fullbacks are flying forward. Macca and Dom would be in front of Grav in what is (in my opinion) their best position. Then at the point of the midfield you have Wirtz in his natural position playing as a proper 10.
Up top we go old school with 2 centre forwards in Isak and Ekitike.
There will be many reading this and saying "you can't not play Salah"? My question is why? I have seen reasons such as his wage and his past performances over the last few seasons but let's be honest. At the moment it is like playing with 10 men with him in the team. I have no problem with keeping him up top and him not helping out defensively if he is offering something at the other end of the pitch but at the moment, he is not. The other big loser would be Gakpo. I do feel a bit for the guy but he would be a sacrifice to the formation change. He looked dangerous on Sunday hitting the woodwork 3 times but he also missed a sitter and nearly missed the tap-in he did put away.
It would leave us with a strong bench with players capable of being brought on with minimal disturbances to the team (Jones may require a bit of a midfield reshuffle depending on who he replaced) . The likes of Chiesa, Salah and Gakpo are all comfortable playing in the CF role but can also be brought on on the wing (Rio too) to change it up and offer something different if required.
Basically what I'm trying to say is that tomorrow I'd like to see:
Mama
Bradley - Konate - Virg - Kerkez
Grav
Macca - Szobo
Wirtz
Isak - Ekitike.
21 Oct 2025 11:26:23
I championed the diamond in pre-season after we signed Wirtz and were looking at Isak, although I had mo and Isak up front at the time. It definitely suits the players we have, and even Gakpo (who I love) could play as a 2nd striker or number 10. At the moment, it would be Ekitike for Salah, because he's definitely off-form and Hugo deserves to be playing.
My only problem with it now is that it's not been drilled in pre-season, so would take a while to implement fully, and we can't really afford to drop more points while it settles in. It's a conundrum and one slot will have to figure out sharpish, because we're definitely struggling at the moment.
21 Oct 2025 11:35:12
I actually agree with that. I wanted to see us try that against united.
21 Oct 2025 11:36:07
Everyone can see it Shipley. Why can’t Slot?
21 Oct 2025 11:36:55
I agree that we could play a 442 diamond - although I would argue that Gravy is not a controller for the base but rather one of the two 8s. We are short of that controller and the closest thing we have to it is Macca.
The big concern is that Slot is trying to build from the back and wanting his fullbacks to be part of the construction by creating overloads in the first phase.
Will he abandon that?
I am not convinced that a 442 diamond is anywhere in his thoughts at any point.
21 Oct 2025 11:50:24
Salah can play as one of the strikers definitely as can Chiesa and Gakpo. I’d have the same team just Jones and Frimpong over Mac and Bradley.
21 Oct 2025 12:14:20
Wouldn't playing chiesa, Gakpo or Salah be similar to fitting in square pegs into round holes? They can play there but it isn't their best positions. Similar to how Endo, Grav, or Szob can play at CB but it isn't their best positions too.
We don't have the players to be able to play two up top. Just in a thread down below someone pointed out that we can't play Gomez at RB even though he'd suit it since that would mean we'll be playing all our 3 available CBs at one go. That same argument can be applied to us playing Ekitike and Isak at the same time as well since we'd be playing with our only two available STs together.
I still think the best formation for us would be a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-2-1-3.
Mama
Bradley Konate Vvd Kerkez
Grav Szob
Chiesa Wirtz Gakpo
Ekitike
Get rid of the horseshoe crap and just play simple and effective football. Let the FBs be FBs and the CMs be CMs. We have shown in spells that we are capable of moving the ball quickly so do that more often instead of passing it slowly from side to side with no intent or purpose. So many times players made runs on Sunday but the pass wasn't made.
21 Oct 2025 12:35:14
I like Dom rightback I think he's the closest we can get to a trent replacement. The issue is we then lose legs in the midfield. We should be building this team around Wirtz and that means the other 2 midfielders need to be much more disciplined and hold their position or we need someone with more legs in there like a baleba. I also think we need Mo to track back and if he's goosed at 60 bring on chiesa.
He is not the long term plan and needs to sacrifice himself for those that are - Wirtz and isak. I think eketike can play on the left and be mane esque. Or rotate with Isak. If kerkez is going to be the attacking fullback then gakpo or whoever is on the left needs to use the overlap and not ignore it.
21 Oct 2025 13:01:57
I want to see grav and szbozlai to drop deep with macca slightly ahead.
21 Oct 2025 13:21:33
I’m sure Slot can see it LFC8 but what he also sees is the players in training. Every day. They will try different formations, different patterns of play with the actual players in front of them.
What he also sees is the physical and technical data. The analysis of every match and even training sessions.
He also talks to the players, has meetings, tactical discussions. Hear’s their views, knows how their family life is, how they’re settling into their surroundings, their new homes, the new area.
There is so, so, so much more to it than just saying why can’t we play that way? Why can’t he see that? That will definitely work.
Your way might make the problems worse. He might have already tried it in training, in behind closed doors games.
I sometimes wonder what people think managers and coaches do all week. Do you think they just sit in their office playing candy crush and then just throw the team together an hour before kick off? They have so much more information than we do. So much more expertise at their disposal than we do. They are so much better at picking teams than we are.
We all have our opinions and that’s fine, it’s part of the allure of the game but to sit there in your armchair and say with such certainty that you know better than the current premier league champion’s manager is a bit of a stretch.
We tend to simplify the game too much in our analysis because we are just fans. We don’t have the knowledge or expertise that a top level coach or manager has.
It’s like a nurse who’s stitched up a couple of cut knees watching a brain surgeon and saying why is he doing it like that?
21 Oct 2025 13:44:21
Chill out robboslostlegs I don’t think anyone is claiming to know better. The frustration is we are seeing the same issues game in, game out, so everyone is venting their frustrations and possible solutions.
The reality is we have made several changes to personnel, many new signings haven’t hit the ground running and many of our reliable players last year just aren’t in form or shape.
I think we will turn the corner because as bad as we have been we could have easily won that Utd game and the previous two defeats could easily have been draws too. This team has quality in adundance I just hope they click before it is too late.
My biggest concern is actually the two new fbs, I am not sure either are good enough.
21 Oct 2025 13:48:49
He might hear all that but it doesn't mean he's going to implement something outside of his ideas.
21 Oct 2025 13:57:21
People obsess over the 'numbers' on the formation too much imo. It's not much good playing a 442 diamond if 3 of the 4 midfield players vacate the midfield in possession again.
Slot's preferred starting shapes of 433 or 4231, as well as 442 diamond, can work just fine as long as the DM doesn't go walkabout, or everyone around him pushes up onto the opposition's back line.
21 Oct 2025 15:04:56
I'd like to try the 4231 that many have talked about. I have no idea if it has been tried or not.
Mamardashvili - Frimpong, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez - Szoboszlai, Gravenberch - Salah, Wirtz, Gakpo - Ekitike.
I know Frimpong is a weak link defensively, but I put Szoboslai behind him on his bombing runs. And that allows Salah to cut inside towards the center which has always been his game. Same with Kerkez. Allow him to run forward as that's his game and tell Gravenberch to keep an eye on the space he leaves empty behind. Gakpo too likes to cut inside all the time. We need to work with the double pivot because we are simply far too open to counter-attacks.
I left Isak out. Purposely. He can work himself into form in training and that's it. I don't give a damn if he's the most expensive player in the club's history; we're on one of our longest losing streaks in the PL era, and we have to put a winning streak together asap. Ekitike does far more and until Isak gains form, he should be coming in during second halves. I don't want to wait until the second half of the season when Isak recovers his finishing prowess, which he was bought for.
21 Oct 2025 15:10:10
Grav won't be playing tomorrow night and maybe a couple more games after that, surely Macca and Salah should be dropped, both are way off form, we seem to be carrying about 4 players who are playing badly and should be rested,
Can't see us winning tomorrow night, Eintracht beat Galatasaray last night 5 1, its going to be a difficult game for sure.
21 Oct 2025 16:52:02
Frankfurt are 7th in the Bundesliga and have conceded more goals than any other team in the whole league. They are more porous than we are.
It should be a high scoring game as they do score a lot too, scoring 19 and conceding 18 in the Bundesliga, Athletico put 5 past them in UCL but then Frankfurt put 5 past Gala in the next fixture.
21 Oct 2025 20:59:17
I’m not a fan of the term ‘transition’ but in our case this season is, in my opinion, actually a season of transition. We have brought in a large number of new players into the first team match day squad in one window - more so than in living memory at the club.
We have a coach who exceeded expectation (but perhaps not wishes) in his first season and the second season - particularly with the major squad overhaul - was always likely a bit of a ‘return to earth’. We look like a bunch of strangers on the pitch at the moment and there are players who seem to not be playing their natural game - Bradley and Kerkez, as have been mentioned seem particularly so. Collectively, the team seem unsure of themselves - what they are and how they are supposed to be doing it and it’s impacting confidence.
I think we (fans) need to take a step back and stop fretting about the scoreline. The coaching staff and players need to focus on how they want to play and then use the undoubted vast amount of talent they have to play to their chosen system. Once that happens the results will come.
From my perspective I’d love to know what Slot sees as his starting team if he had everybody fit and available, I suspect we haven’t seen it yet and it’s a concern, to me at least, that he might not know.
21 Oct 2025 21:56:40
We play just like the Dutch national team and how much have they won in the last 30 years or more! The Dutch are all trying to find the football they had years ago. Arne will have been brought up on that football and believes he can get us playing this way .
That is why we signed the new players we have today so it may take a few weeks to find our feet then some team will get a good thrashing Believe Reds Believe
YNWA.