16 Mar 2026 03:25:23
Looks, guys, the players have obviously checked out. Half of the team just wants the season to end or something to change. It will be too late by Wednesday. You want to save the season you do the inevitable right now today morning.
Again I want to blame slot, but I can't just turn a blind eye to the players.
It's pretty obvious they have checked out off the club, which means there are zero leaders in that dressing room.
Unfortunately I can't absolve Salah, VVD, Macca and a few others, obvious one (yes you Gakpo), of the blame.
9 games conceding after 90min is a record and it speaks volumes about the mentality and physicality of the players.
16 Mar 2026 06:12:17
I honestly find it hard to blame the manager for that showing. Yes, I think we can completely blame him for the second half and how we didn't try to squeeze the life out of the game and really go for it, but in the first half, we should have been out of sight. Every Spurs player bar Spence and Richarlison looked like they were shellshocked. Somehow the players conspired to make bad decisions on multiple occasions and not put the ball in the back of the net two or three times on top of the free kick we scored.
I don't know what is going on with this team and why we look so inept in the opposing third. I've never said anything bad about Wirtz on here, but I don't know what he thought he was doing yesterday. Come on, lad, we paid 100m+ for you and you're one of the best attacking players in the world. Stop deferring responsibility when you're in a promising position. Take a chance and create an angle to shoot instead of always choosing the smartypants unselfish option.
Yesterday, in the second half, after wasting the first half not taking advantage and stepping on Spurs' throat, the players just looked like none of them wanted to step up and make a difference.
Rio, obviously, was given the responsibility of doing that the whole game long, but there's only so much he can do, and his final ball is still not there yet either.
Gakpo actually had a really good showing on and off the ball in a position he doesn't favour, but that terrible, terrible miss slicing across the ball and sending it into the stands just summed up our day. Mo did some incredible things but scuffed the stuff that usually comes so easily to him. Ekitike looked dead tired and sloppy. People saying Slot should have started him, maybe you can see he needed the rest? Robbo was awful defensively. Wirtz looks timid and lost again. The ball often got to Frimpong too late for him to do much with it. Macca and Grav were more than decent when we dominated the ball, but were suspect again when we were up against it.
That lineup yesterday was absolutely good enough to win the game in the first half, and somehow they didn't.
16 Mar 2026 06:30:18
Yes, Patrik, we've been good enough all season to win games with a great squad and the manager done nothing to remedy that. He's the common denominator.
16 Mar 2026 06:51:38
Frode, my point is that the game plan was good enough for us to win the game in the first half yesterday. It's easy for us to say the coach is useless, and yes, I think he has to take some blame for us coming out in the second half and looking less assertive than we did in the first half. The result is obviously deeply frustrating, and even infuriating, but the players themselves have to take some responsibility.
What I will say about Slot is that, in the second half, having failed to capitalise, we reverted to doing the press baiting at the back thing, and even when we managed to shift their shape a little and get through the front and midfield press, a lot of times we won't play a riskier pass through the defense and end up having to recycle possession or stall. That, in some ways, has to do with the personnel we have in midfield.
We all understand that; we might not have the players to see and make those kinds of passes early. But then, why do we keep doing that when we don't appear to be very good at it in the first place?
In the second half, we just didn't look like we knew what we were supposed to do. Were we trying to control the game, have them come onto us and then counter attack? Were we trying to push for a second? Were we trying to shut up shop? It didn't look like we were doing any of those things; we just looked like we were trying to waste time and hopefully get through 45 minutes unscathed.
I also don't agree with you that we have a 'great squad'. We have a decent squad without real depth in key positions, and certain key players whose form has fallen off a cliff.
16 Mar 2026 07:00:10
Fully agree on Wirtz. Jim Beglin said something similar, in that so often Flo will find himself in a decent position to shoot, and he will always lay the ball off to someone or play an intelligent pass. He needs to develop some greed in his game, some hunger to get more goals.
16 Mar 2026 07:13:00
Sorry, but I have to completely disagree that we should have been out of sight in the first half. We're lucky not to have conceded 2 from a Richarlison header and the Spurs chance at the back post on the stroke of half time.
Probably the worst performance I've seen at Anfield in quite some time.
Slot has lost the dressing room, it's clear to see.
Players should hang their heads in shame, also. The only player who looked like he wanted to try yesterday was young Rio.
16 Mar 2026 08:28:59
Henderson, Milner would have pulled this team up by the bootstraps, and, honestly, I expected Robbo to. VVD is useless as captain; it seems there is no leadership, just excuses.
16 Mar 2026 08:36:41
Watched David lynch on you tube and even he has had enough, said the same things that have been said on here, slots team has been bad since the end of last season and as ed1 has said he gives the players so much time off, I've never heard him this negative and we will probably struggle next year with so much to do.
16 Mar 2026 09:15:24
Patrick, you usually post balanced posts, but you're way off, imo. I don't know what game you watched, but we had zero big chances. Tottenham could have won; they had much more dangerous chances, and even our goal was a lucky goal considering how bad Vicario did.
I want Slot gone now. This is a squad filled with class, and we are looking like lower mid-table at best, mate. I think denial is starting to set in now. :(
16 Mar 2026 09:16:23
All these players have checked out; "players are the problem" was said ad nauseum about Utd's players. On here, they were written off as useless to a man.
Now they are above us in the table, getting results and looking so much better than they did under Amorim and Ten Hag.
So, maybe the coach was the problem?
16 Mar 2026 11:06:39
ArneSlotsBarber, that's halfway true. The truth is that we were always in dangerous positions to create clear chances, but the final ball and decision were bad, or the finish that resulted from the move was awful, just like it has been for most of the season this year. We do all the stuff we need to do to get in and around the box and get into dangerous positions, but then everything breaks down because we are so crap at putting the finishing touches.
A lot has been said about how badly we are coached, but I think that's only half true. We can do good, coordinated stuff to get into promising situations, only for things to collapse because of bad decisions at crucial times, passes going awry, etc.
16 Mar 2026 11:20:41
@Frode, there is nothing we saw yesterday that we have not been seeing for majority of the season. The only diff. is that things are getting a lot worse now than they were before.
The gaslighting can continue till the cows come home in a bid to shield this feckless manager from his responsibility, but we all know who is majority to blame for this.
Cos we all know that had the roles been reversed and we were flying and on our way to going back to back, not a soul would be giving most of the credit to the players.
Oh wait, now where have I seen this last part before? Ah yes, last season.
16 Mar 2026 11:59:48
Mcgoveb Man United play one game a week no Europe no fa cup no league cup let's see what happens next season!!
YNWA