27 Oct 2025 18:22:19
It is quite clear we a lacking physicality all over the pitch, particularly in midfield. Gravenbarch, Mac Allister, Jones, Szobozlai and Wirtz have all played the majority of their early years playing as attacking midfielders.
They lack the natural ability to spot and sense danger.
While they all have their qualities and strengths, they cannot all function together in the same midfield, especially when they haven't got a hard working forward line in front of them or defensive minded full backs.
Back to the drawing board for Slot unfortunately.
27 Oct 2025 18:37:37
They seemed to function just fine last season. It's the manager's job to sort it out. Let's see if he can.
27 Oct 2025 18:37:48
True that Jan. we need someone with your mobility in centre mid . Joking aside a Spackman or Whelan type would be a start although we don’t have a passing playmaker either really. It’s unbalanced for sure.
27 Oct 2025 18:59:45
Slot needs to get his head out of his Ar#e and coach the team better. He has the tools to do it but he is sticking to some utter cack style of play which does not work in the premier league.
27 Oct 2025 19:22:25
It worked last season until teams sussed us out.
Also last season we had Nunez, Diaz, Jota and Szobozlai working their socks off in front of the midfield and defence.
27 Oct 2025 19:47:50
I liked our summer business in the sense we bought in a couple of areas of the pitch at left back and centre forward where we needed a refresh, but there were always three key exceptions at RB, CDM and CB where we did nothing. Leoni was always for the future.
Of all of the buys I knew Isak and Kerkez and thought they would do well enough for us. Wirtz I’d only seen in glimpses and through highlights but his reputation was big and links with Bayern showed his pedigree, I wasn’t sure where he’d play in our system tbh.
If we’d bought Isak, Kerkez, Guehi, and someone like Wharton and a solid lower profile right back we’d be much more balanced for a similar outlay or in the money.
I’m not sure Wirtz or Frimpong was needed until Salah or Macallister was out of the picture, and Frimpong was probably thought of as a squad player in truth.
Ekitike has done well but could have been swapped out for a genuine wide left option if Isak was nailed on first choice. That would have left Gakpo on the bench as cover for both centre forward and left side if we’d bought a genuine Diaz replacement.
Now I’ve seen them all play it looks like we’ve either bought a team for a different system as Frimpong and Wirtz just don’t fit, and Ekitike doesn’t look like he can play left side, and we’ve probably succession planned for the squad but still neglected to strengthen three key areas.
Either way it’d be really interesting to know whose ultimately made these decisions. It’d also be interesting to know if any posters who watch a lot of European football thought Frimpong, Ekitike and Wirtz would come in and strengthen us from day one. I’m guessing everyone thought Wirtz would, probably not the other two.
27 Oct 2025 19:47:52
We have this tendency to view hindsight w rose tinted specs on. Last season was not always pretty or easy viewing. We won a lot of games by small margins and our form fell off a cliff the last 7-8 games. We put that down to the league being won and the players in cruise control going into the summer.
Well that form has continued into this season by scraping 5 wins. Then it was a case of starting to play better or "luck" running out.
Slot has got to sort this out. Saying he doesn't know how publicly is very concerning. Let's see what he comes up with.
27 Oct 2025 19:58:04
I think the template was set against us after Newcastle game in league cup final.
Get stuck into us in midfield and play to get set pieces and lorry it into box. We can't handle either.
27 Oct 2025 21:32:50
@Red_Flyer, without hindsight, in the real world, you seem to have a tendency to expect absolute perfection, without any comprehension or respect to the teams you seem to expect are just turning up to be hammered by Liverpool.
There also seems to be a general perception that real life is some sort of electronic game - couple of losses, press restart and start again and repeat the process until a solution can be found.
Life isn’t, and indeed shouldn’t be, like that. You face up to problems and you learn from them so that they don’t happen again. In the long run it’s the better (only teal) solution.
27 Oct 2025 23:03:28
Didn't we beat Newcastle the last time we played them?
28 Oct 2025 00:17:38
WDW, with hindsight, and also in the real world, please provide evidence to support your first paragraph.
I will add that Carra suggested Slot will not be in place next season. Clearly the club also have higher expectations than current results and performances have provided.
Your last paragraph is also enlightening; Slot doesn't seem to be learning and the same performances keep happening. In fact, they are getting worse. Arne said so himself just on Saturday. But thanks for the life lesson.
28 Oct 2025 02:02:29
The timeline for us "falling off a cliff" has been pushed back earlier and earlier. Previously, I saw someone suggest that we did so after the Spurs game, when we won the league. Then it was when we lost to PSG or Newcastle in the league Cup and most recently, it happened way at the start of the calendar year.
Tbh, I did not see any signs of us falling off a cliff last season at all. The four league games after the win against Spurs didn't worry people too much back then too since we were too busy celebrating the league win. Everyone agreed that the players had their flip flops out and were just going through the motions.