10 May 2026 11:01:03
A question for ED 01 if you got time please.
Assuming we've got a new manager do you think wirtz could play the Bobby roll if we buy 2 wingers like Diomande, backed up buy Rio and gakpo. Szbo playing 10 with a robust 6.
I've not been impressed at all with Isak, I can't see us operating a high press with him there. Everyone says he missed pre season but he's a senior pro who should have kept himself fitter if he was applying himself.
{Ed001's Note - it is possible he could be moulded into a false 9, but it is not really his position.}
10 May 2026 13:02:15
Just play him as a 10, just make sure you have a box to box and a proper DM in midfield.
10 May 2026 13:19:31
Said it a few times. I always found the Wirtz purchase weird when we already had Dom who is a better player for this league. An absolutely huge improvement is needed from him to justify the hype and price tag. I really hope he does it because for me there's too many ineffectual performances, easy passes made a mess off and tame shots hit straight at the goalie.
As a fan, I really, really hope he becomes our David or Bernardo Silva, but I can only say what I see as a fan watching and I have been underwhelmed. He's a little grafter, I'll give him that, but that's not what we bought him for.
10 May 2026 13:37:07
No, not really. Wirtz needs to play the 10 role with the other players around him that are on his level. The same when we bought Bobby, he was on a different level, so the passes and link play wasn't there for him, so it made him look ordinary.
10 May 2026 13:48:36
Coulred, exactly. Wirtz's brain works way faster than any other player we currently have. He will come good, fantastic little player in my opinion.
10 May 2026 14:23:11
Firmino was badly misused by Rodgers, similar to how Wirtz is now badly misused by Slot. Didn't Rodgers once try to use Firmino as a right back because he had no idea what position to play him in?
10 May 2026 14:25:04
Wirtz is having to run everywhere to fetch the ball as we cannot progress the ball in Slot's setup, whether it be over the top, through the centre, or wide. We just can't progress the ball. It's a waste of Wirtz's talent, as it is for many others in the team.
10 May 2026 14:27:49
He's a number 7. Isak as 9 and the new wingers each side. 2 proper combatants beside/behind him, and off we go.
10 May 2026 14:30:24
Wirtz will come good, lads. On that, I have absolutely no doubt.
10 May 2026 14:38:46
So how should Wirtz be used? And has he been played there this season? Again, I can't stress enough how much I want him to come good, but is Ekitike or Mo not on his level? And has he not played in the 10 many times with them? And then the question that leads to, which is it, are these players good enough that we should have walked the league, or are they not at the level required to play with Wirtz in the 10? Because it can't be both.
10 May 2026 14:50:33
Florian, you need to get the ball to Wirtz earlier. Slotball does not do that.
10 May 2026 14:50:39
Need a manager who uses a Number 10. Or else he's useless.
10 May 2026 15:03:24
We may not have walked the league FM, but we could have given it a shot at winning it if our manager wasn't so bloody incompetent and arrogant and stubborn. Slot Out.
10 May 2026 15:11:42
Maybe FPF, but I guess I was just expecting a lot more. And I think a lot of people, if they are honest with themselves, would admit the same. Hope he becomes a little legend, but I think when other players are being blamed to justify his performances, it says it all.
10 May 2026 15:34:04
The same goes for Mo btw. He does not receive the ball early enough.
We knew what Trent offered the team, yet we did nothing from a recruitment perspective to replace his deep progression and made no attempt to change the tactics to suit the players we have.
A collective failure, that it's difficult to blame any of the players for.
Slot & Hughes have had a stinker.
10 May 2026 15:36:35
And I agree with you again on Wirtz FM. I was expecting a lot more too. Sometimes players have to just prove themselves irrespective of what's happening around them. Hopefully next season he will be a star.
10 May 2026 15:41:02
Wirtz has had some poor moments, which is down to lack of confidence from not settling, but he is quality, there's no doubt about it. There's 2 main issues, though, one is Slotball, obviously, no explanation needed. The other, which is just as significant imo, is that we're not looking for him. I don't know how many times I've seen Wirtz make some excellent off-the-ball movement with a little step to lose his man and free up space, only for the option to pass to him be snubbed because we're slow to make decisions and often greedy on the ball.
Wirtz is exceptional when his teammates look to play through him, he's fantastic at creating, but needs quality link-up play and off-the-ball movement from those around him, something that's just not happening this season. The addition of Alonso and 2 quality pacey wingers could be very transformative for Wirtz.
10 May 2026 15:42:29
Slot's tactical gaslighting continues, I see.
Van Dijk, a two time league winner and CL winner, is awful. Ditto Salah. Isak, with a better than 1 in 2 scoring rate for Newcastle, can't get a kick. Gakpo, who scored 18 goals from LW last season, is apparently the worst player ever to live, and now one of the best young attacking midfielders in Europe isn't doing enough either.
I can basically name the entire squad, with the possible exception of Alisson, here, lads.
For the millionth time: If an entire team of quality players aren't performing, might wanna look at the manager instead of the players.
10 May 2026 15:23:11
Ed001, after yesterday's performance and the reaction from the crowd, have you changed your opinion on whether or not Slot will be back? I'm believing more and more that he won't be, personally.
{Ed001's Note - why would that change my mind? I said I think he will probably leave to go home because he is unhappy in England. I can't see why being booed would change thst?}
10 May 2026 16:02:00
Or just maybe Something, could it not be remotely possible that it's been the manager and the players have been bloody poor? Like, seriously, let's totally disregard poor performances after poor performance and put it all down to one man on the sideline. ? We're in this position because of a lot of men, and Arne Slot is but one of them.
10 May 2026 16:05:17
One day, SR... one day, mate. It will sink in.
Probably next season, when Slot is still manager, people will see the light.
Personally, I hope they see it sooner.
10 May 2026 16:12:29
I'm sorry, but if you don't think Slot is to blame for that utter rubbish we all have endured all season and think the players are to blame, it makes no sense. The majority of that side have been at it year in year out, and to see them so unfit with no intensity in their play when we know they can do that is barmy.
The culture has changed under Slot and not for the better. Fact.
10 May 2026 17:06:18
appreciate the response Ed. have a good one and look forward to the next youtube video
{Ed001's Note - I worry for you if you look forward to them! ?
10 May 2026 17:40:19
What do you mean? They are classic! Absolute must watch.
10 May 2026 18:30:16
Florian, for the players to carry a portion of the blame worth talking about, we have to believe that the majority of them (not one or two) woke up one morning in the summer and said: "Yeah, I think I'm not gonna bother anymore. I get paid anyway."
I think it's far more likely that Slot's views on training periodisation (or whatever it's called) that are resulting in more days off worked last season because the players carried over a higher level of fitness from Klopp's time.
The reduced training days whilst they still had this higher level of fitness resulted in fewer injuries (we had relatively few last season), and their fitness didn't noticeably drop off as a result of less training until April. Now that they've been training like this for a year and a half, they're not as fit, and consequently we look like a team with absolutely no legs whatsoever.
What should the players do? Disobey Slot and train on days they're told not to?
11 May 2026 00:27:46
Fitness goes a long way to a player's performance, FM.
I was semi-pro at one stage of life. I was one of the best players in the team but always the most unfit for one reason or another.
I was a one-half player... I can still remember being one of the best players on the pitch for 30-40 mins, then becoming one of the worst.
When your fitness is not up to par compared to those you're playing against, nothing works.
I'd play bad passes, would get feet tangled when trying to take someone on, couldn't win 50/50s, etc. It was so bloody frustrating.
I can see the same with our players. The PL is the most physically demanding league in the world, and our players are very unfit compared to the other teams. Slot's shortcomings + very poor fitness + clearly losing the dressing room is not a good combination.
11 May 2026 12:33:36
"Maybe FPF, but I guess I was just expecting a lot more. And I think a lot of people, if they are honest with themselves, would admit the same."
None of this is Wirtz's fault nor is it any of his business. You'all going crazy and overboard is what you did, so take that responsibility and leave the poor boy out of it. Cos many of us were happy yet aware of the him needing time to adapt. You getti never made such choices nor "expected more" and that is none of Wirtz's business.
Cos even I knew the PL is a diff. beast and he would struggle in a new league but that with time and a good system/platform from the manager, he would improve.
Now if you sign such a player, you have to play a platform that suits his strengths and gets the best out of him and his team mates in unison. The manager has shown that he is out of his depth in this area from game 1 to game 35, so leave the Wirtz out of it and focus your energy on holding the manager you make excuses for accountable as to why he has failed to get the best out of any player this season, let alone Wirtz.
11 May 2026 12:35:28
"What should the players do? Disobey Slot and train on days they're told not to?"
Yeah, SR, because clearly, the players have the power to do this.
Seriously, the lengths some people will go to in some roundabout way, defend this manager or deflect his own managerial ineptitude to the players, is becoming pathetic.