26 Oct 2025 08:21:49
Morning everyone!
Grim waking up and knowing we lost again yesterday, incredibly frustrating to watch as if genuinely looks like we are both out of ideas and motivation when we go behind in games.
Saw this online:
Liverpool's form since March.
Played 28
Win 14, Lost 12. Draw 2.
Scored 49 Conceded 40
That’s nowhere near good enough for a team like us. I was absolutely buzzing last season and it was a magnificent achievement that Slot had won the league in his first year but I have to say more and more as time goes on you do get the feeling the achievement might had been down to the team already being so good and how Jurgen left it.
It looks like and basing it off of those figures and the way he talked about it that after we played PSG Arne became obsessed with their tactical set up and wanted to replicate it and for us atm we look like a pound shop version at best.
He was backed to the hilt by the owners and sporting directors and they brought in some of the best talent in Europe. I understand it takes time to bed in players and teams can have blips, but the lack of an ability to change our setup and teams targeting us with long balls and being direct is incredibly worrying.
The most frustrating aspect is we can see the issues but Arne keeps going with the same setups for most games, I think if he wants to save his job he needs to seriously go back to the drawing board and revaluate the setup, the way the league is going this year the meta seems to be that physical game that focused on set pieces and counter attacks, hence why Arsenal are sitting top of the league.
You never want to see anyone losing their job, but this is Liverpool football club and every year we should be in the mix for the big trophies, and if things don’t change soon we could be out of reach before Santa comes.
Interested to hear everyone’s thoughts on the matter as to what you all think is going wrong? ?.
26 Oct 2025 08:44:15
I have seen that Slot says that he wants to replicate PSG's set up but to be honest, what has he done to do that tactially or even in the transfer window?
PSG play with a flexible and REALLY FAST 3 on top, a industrous midfield 3 and a back 4 where the full backs tend to bomb forward.
Now look at Liverpool, we bought two no. 9 who don't rely that much on pace and who cannot play as typical wingers (may drfit to the sides but cannot interchange like PSG) . We bought Wirtz, which diminished the steel in the midfield. And the full backs, well, who knows.
So, who knows, maybe the difference between tactics and what Slot wants is part of the issue?
26 Oct 2025 09:04:48
KingKen77 - it’s grim form to be fair, and the fact that we win the league and other sides in the Prem were off for form kind of masked it.
There just seems to be a lot wrong - signings that don’t seem to fit Dlit’s system, players out of form being picked regularly - 2 RBs that he clearly doesn’t rate, a LB who was arguably the best in the PL last season now playing CB, 2 CFs who cost a lot each but really only one spot as CF, Van Dijk going back to throwing his arms about when his firm is awful, a reserve keeper who can’t save or pass out from the back, a porous midfield, a lack of intensity and a lack of ideas
It’s that bad
And not being “that bad” usually requires radical change.
{Ed001's Note - two centre-forwards isn't an issue, we needed two. We lost the three players who played up front for us last season.}
26 Oct 2025 09:06:06
For me, the four main issues are the two new full backs are not playing well enough, I will hold on a while longer to say they are not good enough. This is unsettling the CBs, who don’t seem to know where the FBs are positioning themselves, this is shredding Virg/ Ibou’s nerves and making them look like they have lost their way.
The shape of the team is wrong, trying to find a place for Wirtz means one less of Grav/ Dom/ Mac, which makes the midfield porous and puts the backs under more pressure at a time when they are not a well functioning unit.
The forwards, again are not functioning as a unit. Salah was always greedy, it used to drive Mane mad at times, but he was a magnificent goal scorer. Now he is trying to hard to remain relevant so he is shooting when he needs to pass and his passing, when he does, is abysmal. I understand why LFC wanted him to stay, what club wouldn’t, but it now looks a mistake, if another offer comes in from SA in January, it would be best to thank him for his service and let him go before his reputation is damaged by an appalling season.
Lastly, that work ethic which Klopp instilled seems to have waned. Maybe that was inevitable when the first team was diluted by so many new signings at once. A single, or even two players can get a kick up the arse but the other 9 if they are not performing, but with 5-6 newbies in the team, that is more difficult.
In relation to Isak, I think he is a fantastic, world class striker, but he just may not fit into this team. In Newcastle, the was the focal point of all attacks, that is not the way Liverpool play. MC were able to change their style of play away from the collective responsibility for scoring goals, to accomadate a single striker who would score, but that is Pep and Haaland, I’m not convinced Slot/ Isak can achieve same.
Looking back at the summer, and I am as guilty as everyone else for being giddy when each new star was announced, the drawn out saga with Isak, and the price paid, looks to be folly. And, I did feel at the time, LFC should have paid the full asking for Guehi early in the summer, by delaying, CP were put in the position of trying to get a replacement last minute, and rightly from their viewpoint, dug their heals in. Had they got the money in early summer, CL probably would have been more confident of getting in a new player and let Guehi go.
I know hindsight is 20:20 and no one expected this degree of collapse, but we went through a torrid season with Klopp when signings were obviously needed after the CL loss, then came back stronger the next season when signings were made. This season is going to underwhelm, but by next season, hopefully we will be back on track, with or without Slot, hopefully with. You have to have something about you to win the Premiership, he hasn’t lost that, he just gained lots of new players that he has to integrate.
{Ed001's Note - the centre-backs have lost their way, that is nothing to do with the full-backs. Konate should have been replaced in the summer, he was the weak link all last season too.
The midfield is not porous because of Wirtz, the midfield is porous because as soon as we get the ball they all run up top and vacate it. Two of them should always be sitting.}
26 Oct 2025 09:34:40
@Dominican, I've seen that going around as well BUT I don't believe that for a second cos it makes no sense. Here's why? PSG don't play a CF whereas we have two that we deliberately signed this season. Secondly, they don't play with a no. 10 either and we just signed one for 100M in cash also, this season. Thirdly, we don't have the type of midfield profiles they do either. I can keep going but you get the point.
I sincerely think that Slot does not know what to do with this team and has been taking advice from his assistants which aren't working. Afterall, it was Van Bronkhorst who proposed the giant doghnut in midfield vs Utd (something he used to do at Rangers, per Ed01) for the disaster it was vs Utd. PSG don't do this either, btw.
So if he and his assistants don't know what they're doing, what are we expecting from the players, exactly?
26 Oct 2025 10:55:47
I disagree Ed001, the full backs are very much a problem, and it would be mad to think that wouldn’t affect the CBs, who are being stretched and are unsure of where the FBs are. I do agree Konate is a very big problem, he is injury prone, clumsy and seems to switch off. That is why LFC should have paid what was necessary early in the window for whomever they identified as his replacement, it seems Guehi was their preferred option.
Of course the midfield is more porous because of Wirtz, he does not defend, so it’s two out of three of Dom/ Mac/ Grave when Wirtz plays along with a front 3.
{Ed001's Note - that is not down to the full-backs. Kerkez has barely got forward, how can his positioning be the issue? The centre-backs and lack of midfield cover are the key issues.}
26 Oct 2025 12:12:26
Ed, do you think Grav being given the licence to go more forward (even though he's missed a few games now) hasn't helped our back 4?
{Ed001's Note - it is leaving a huge gaping hole in midfield, so yes, it has not helped at all.}