25 Nov 2025 07:35:21
Hello everyone
Question for the eds
Out of curiosity did Slot get his old team playing like this before he came to us? If he did . we can't complain can we as we are getting exactly what he was doing .
But if he, as it seems fundamentally changed the system . can't Edwards (believe he's charge of football matters) or indeed arne boss . say something like . what are you doing ya silly sausage . this isn't what we signed up for .
On a separate note . if Alonso did become available. do you think slot would still get the season? As carra suggested he is likely gone at the end of this season .
Also . any ideas why naglesman failed at bayern? . was it board politics . player power . Big players not liking him? . notbsure he feels me with confidence . not sure why though .
I'm on a roll . GvB been offered a job? Can't seem to find anything on it .
Thanks for the feedback whilst having a morning coffee . treat yourself to a bacon sandwich too . a lot here
Cheers fella
Ps. Ed25 . you must be having a right giggle this morning. above the reds . well done!
{Ed001's Note - 1. His team played a more aggressive version of this. This is because of a belief that the team ran out of legs and that is what cost us against PSG. People keep talking about his obsession with PSG, thinking it is about copying them, it's not. It is about his obsession that we lost to them because we hit the wall physically. So he is trying to play a more controlled style to ensure we are fresher later in the season. However, imo, he has not factored in that we ran out of legs because the training was too soft and the players were losing basic fitness. He would be better giving the players a day off training when they are in need of a break, rather than trying to play a style to avoid burnout. All he is doing is ensuring it doesn't matter how fresh we are, as we are going to be nowhere near close enough to challenge.
2. Alonso's availability might change things, he was the first choice replacement and his issues at Madrid are down to players not liking hard work, rather than his failings as a manager. Bunch of divas.
3. Nagelsmann is a bit of fool. Took up with a female journalist, she was getting all kinds of exclusive info and access to the players, which caused serious issues. She dumped him right after he lost the job, unsurprisingly. He was also incapable of coping with egos and made bizarre subs. I would avoid.
4. Indonesia have him on their list as potential manager for the national team. He has not been offered anything.}
25 Nov 2025 08:27:42
Thanks fella
It does seem to me everything has gone wayward since that PSG game . i don't think he wants to copy them . are they not the opposite of slow sideways football . more direct with pace and press more akin to klopps earlier style .
I just don't get what he thinks is happening. He is obviously an intelligent man . up to that game . tactically astute making changes both personel and tactically during a game .
He just seems the opposite of what he was . almost like he seen ETH play this way at utd. seen it was a disaster. and thought . yeh . that's a bit of me. its not working . but you know what. let's keep doing it .
By any chance has ETH had surgery to look like slot and in fact our slot is being held captive in a basement somewhere in Holland
Let's start a movement. free Arne Slot!
25 Nov 2025 09:06:36
The way eth had united playing is completely different from the way Slot sets us up though. So not sure where the comparisons came in. The only similarity they have is that they are both bald and Dutch.
25 Nov 2025 09:18:38
I never really watched utd .
BUT speaking to a man u fan and he said . slow . passive . empty midfield . no pressing . no pace . no fight in the tackle . no fight when go behind . easy to score against .
All sounds familiar to me.
25 Nov 2025 09:18:52
Irony about burnout is he is still playing Szoboszlai and Gravy (when not injured) every single minute, even in the only game we won 5-1.
25 Nov 2025 10:09:24
Ed, Slot got the better of Alonso twice. Does that make you doubt him as an option, or does Alonso still hold the edge in your opinion?
{Ed001's Note - because of 2 matches? No.}
25 Nov 2025 10:13:33
Slots' logic is flawed, what is the point of preserving energy now, to prevent burnout later in the season. We are the defending champions already out of league contention by November and these tactics will see us fail in all competitions.
.
According to Slot, this system will keep the players fresher but the team will have nothing left to play for by then. All teams will use the same proven tactics to bully Liverpool to defeat.
25 Nov 2025 10:28:41
Kind of ties into what I assumed the plan was this year. Heard him talk about winning the UCL is a preference, so I just assumed he’s planning to get this team ready for around February when it kicks off proper and where we usually burn out
But this upto now is just pathetic.
25 Nov 2025 10:31:32
I thought the PSG home game was one of the best performances of our season. We did get progressively worse though performance wise after that game.
25 Nov 2025 10:37:19
I think the fact that you said you have not really watched them under EtH speaks volumes though. For starters, they usually play with their FBs providing width and their two inside forwards cutting in. Their midfielders also don't vacate the middle of the field and push up, leaving space for Bruno to do his thing further up the pitch. And they also usually play with one dedicated cdm. Their main issue was that their cdm was extremely unfit and immobile, and their players all had poor attitudes. The culture at Utd was extremely toxic with players constantly throwing their managers under the bus.
From what I have seen so far, our FBs tend to invert into the middle of the pitch and our wingers are meant to provide width. Our midfielders also push up and vacate the middle of the pitch. It's completely different from the game plan that EtH had even though the end result is the same; we still end up looking like rubbish and losing.
25 Nov 2025 11:07:47
Surely it’s a number of things going wrong though. Alison out of the team after a new defensive line can’t be easy. No way to gain confidence when the back line keeps changing. Virgil must be like man I’m having to do my job, konates job, babysit kerkez, some respite with robbo but still to slow to get back, all without the confidence of having the main man between the sticks.
Then you’ve got now fit right back with multiple games and when they do they get injured so there’s no consistency and Bradley is young and frimpong is new to the pace of the league and got injured early on and you lose the output of Trent, which is a huge loss, not just for creativity and the moments of utter brilliance and filth. but because no one has the telephathy with salah so it’s also effected his game.
Midfield has been unsettled with Dom being played out of position so you lose the bite in midfield when you move him to RB, Macca has looked goosed, I personally don’t think he’s good enough but plenty still do, wether it’s positionally or not is up for debate. Then you add Wirtz, who I think really is an unbelievable talent and we will see it, might not be this season with the team playing how they have been but it’s in there and he will come good IMO but right now, needs to settle and trying to fit him in is unsettling the solidity of last season but I don’t think he deserves the level of criticism at all, as too many others have been terrible and I’m talking about the players who haven’t just been added and know what it means to play for Liverpool.
Then on top of that you bring in Isak who didn't play all summer, comes back and gets injured and also in a team that just isn’t gelling at the moment, this is what happens when you add too many in one go, the lack of cohesion, the undersranding runs, knowing telepathically whwre your team mates going to be. You can see it. there all trying to play a style of football and have no clue were to be positionally, hence they keep running into each other or getting in each others way and stopping a chance or a ball through.
Am I convinced by slot, not fully. Yeh he won the league in his first season, it was an established side, solid and strong side, creativity from Diaz and Trent and chaos in the press from Nunez, I never thought I’d see the day I miss watching Nunez but he did bring that chaos an chased evrutijh down. also jota. I don’t think we just miss jota from a perspective of his passing but the guy was a boss footballer and I used to love watching him play, pressing and goal scoring ability we miss him not just off the field but on it.
There’s a lot going on right now, do I think the manager is fully to blame not a chance, but I do think he got a lot of luck last year, Man City were no we’re near it, arsenal weren’t great. I never thought out performances last year were upto it either tbh small wins, edgy stuff but we knew how to defend and keep a clean sheet and see games out. But we had a more complete defence and even when you lost Alison, kelleher was a very good back up.
Things will get better but it really is time that’s needed, to have a fully fit and firing squad, some player cohesion, players knowing there duties, manager knowing his actually first 11 and having them available week in week out, it’s the only way you build that consistency.
Just my opinion but this team is too good to not work out.
25 Nov 2025 11:26:32
If we 'ran out of legs' against PSG, it's because we played 4 games in 11/ 12 days, including a Cup Final, and barely rotated, even in the PL game. I think Nunez came in and that was about it.
That's the lesson. Not 'completely change your tactical approach'.
25 Nov 2025 11:44:59
Dracred, eth played exactly the way Arne has us playing today look back on man utd videos
YNWA.
25 Nov 2025 11:49:10
Slot put too much emphasis on end of season fatigue, and has missed the core issues. In my opinion, another example of him trying to be too clever.
Jurgen's team was feared the world over, now we are limp.
25 Nov 2025 12:09:57
We can have all the energy in the world come the end of the season but it won't mean a thing if we've nothing to play for. It has to change now.
25 Nov 2025 12:34:23
Maybe I do need to watch again how united played under eth, albey. If what you and Mighty said is correct, then it is completely different from how I remembered it to be.
25 Nov 2025 17:17:06
Hi Ed, is that in the know information?
I'd quite like to read the reports on his training preferences and what the PSG game did to him!
{Ed001's Note - he has a tendency to overthink defeats - you only have to look at his constant harking back to the first Forest defeat last season. It bothers him and gets in his head, hence the decision to look at players to deal with a low block in the summer. It is not a problem when he takes the right lessons, but I am not sure he has.}