02 Jun 2026 13:53:13
Just an intellectual musing: Why is slot fired but Richard Hughes stay?
Didn't Hughes contribute indirectly to defensive frailty regarding Marc Guehi?
02 Jun 2026 14:04:15
We love a sacking, don't we?
02 Jun 2026 14:16:06
It's called accountability, Florian. As you've said all year, this appalling season isn't all down to Slot.
02 Jun 2026 14:34:20
AAR91, absolutely. Add on the under-performing of pretty much every one of the players, but, of course, players are never sacked.
02 Jun 2026 14:46:43
Hughes and Edwards sold Slot down the swanny. Arsenal signed Eze but kept Odegaard. They signed Madueke but didn't sell Saka. They signed Zubimendi but kept Rice. They signed Mosquera and kept Saliba. They signed Hincapie but kept Lewis-Skelly. In other words, they supplemented the squad and had two quality players for each position.
We bought more expensive players, but sold more, so the overall squad depth was weaker. Slot deserved to go because of results and style of football, but last season's mess wasn't totally down to him.
02 Jun 2026 14:54:05
If the players were letting him down, he could have grown a pair of balls and dropped them and played some of the kids. Is it better to lose trying or lose by not trying? Him being sacked is on himself, no one else.
02 Jun 2026 14:56:13
I see that Leek is already back.
02 Jun 2026 15:10:04
We had two players for every position; just because Slot failed to use them is on him.
Left back Robertson, Kerkez.
Right back Frimpong, Bradley.
Cb Virgil, Konate, Gomez, Leoni.
Midfield Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Jones,
Szoboszlai, Endo, Wirtz.
Forwards Salah, Gakpo, Isak, Ekitike, Rio, Chiesa, that’s two players every position, that squad is better than the one that won the league.
Endo, Chiesa, Rio had hardly any game time, players' fitness levels were nowhere near the levels needed, especially the ones not playing all the time.
Hughes made the massive mistake of not sacking Slot in November, but the players that came in were nearly all, apart from Frimpong, upgrades on the starting 11.
Rio for Diaz, no, but Diaz was not the starter on the left; Gakpo was, so the money received for Diaz was good money with age and contract length left.
02 Jun 2026 15:16:10
The window to change the Sporting Director will be after the summer window has closed as the recruitment plans need to be seen through. I expect he will be off to his dream Saudi job on from 1st September after the window shuts.
Agree with Kemlyn that Hughes' recruitment has not helped Slot though.
Both should go.
02 Jun 2026 15:18:41
John, I was glad to see the back of him, but the players have been s**** all season as well. It was never the time to just chuck kids in.
02 Jun 2026 15:27:43
Just looked at Arsenal squad compared to ours, they had 1 extra attacker but apart from one of the most overrated players in the league, Saka, please tell me one of their attacker options you would want.
And what person in the right mind, after the season before, would choose Saka over Salah, and as poor as Salah was, and God was it pointed out, think he still had more goal contributions than Saka in less games.
So for them to have the better, deeper squad is far from the truth, just a manager that was committed and obsessed, but we had a manager who was not 100% in and was only committed to getting away as fast as he could get a. ✈️
02 Jun 2026 15:38:58
I'm with Grino, I really don't get the hate for Hughes. He gave Slot a squad that is more than capable of challenging for the title.
He replaced the players that left with better players (apart from Frimpong, but we had Bradley anyway).
I also don't understand why he's being blamed for Guehi. He did the deal but Palace pulled out whilst he was in his medical. How is that on Hughes?
People say he left it to the last minute. He didn't. Palace were being awkward so he took a calculated gamble that Palace would agree the fee eventually because they knew they had to sell. And it worked until Glasner chucked his toys out of his pram.
Hughes is getting criticised for overpaying for Wirtz and Isak (which I don't believe he did) and then is getting criticised for trying to get the best price possible for Guehi. He had to pay more for Wirtz and Isak as both had longer contracts and both were the stars for their respective teams and they didn't want to lose them. Even then he managed to pay less than Newcastle and Leverkusen were asking for.
So what do we want? Do we want someone who just pays the price asked so we get our man or do we want someone who negotiates and risks losing the player to get him for a lower price?
It seems, whichever way Hughes does it, you're not happy.
02 Jun 2026 15:39:57
Rome, I agree. Kids should not have been chucked in like that, it could destroy their career.
The players were not good enough, and the leadership group should have stood up to Slot and said these days off are destroying us.
I really don't think Virgil showed himself as any type of leader.
I can't imagine Souness, Gerrard, Henderson, Milner would have accepted that level of professionalism.
Salah didn't, and the likes of the spitting tramp of Sky were quick to jump on Salah.
I never saw Gerrard have a go at Salah for it, because he knew it was wrong.
02 Jun 2026 16:02:13
Let's see how we get on this transfer window. I'm liking the players we're linked to.
02 Jun 2026 16:02:52
Nyoni has played before, Endo could have been used, Chiesa could have got more than the last 5 mins to hunt for a goal, McConnell could have had an odd game as could Ramsey. No, it's all on Slot.
02 Jun 2026 16:06:44
"They signed Zubimendi but kept Rice. They signed Mosquera and kept Saliba."
These players were never replacing nor starting ahead of Rice nor Saliba. These two players are the pillars of Arsenal's team. As for us, we had the players/bodies in the squad.
And @Grino75, I agree. We have the players in our squad to offer the depth we needed this year.
It is Slot who plays a RB at RW (Frimpong), a no. 10 on the right or left wing (Wirtz) and plays our best mid. in Szobo and Jones at RB.
All while freezing out Endo, Chiesa and pushed out Harvey and MacConell. Slot did All of that all by himself.
02 Jun 2026 16:00:34
Anyway, I forgot to add that it's ironic that you used the words "intellectual musing" when all you've ever done is troll on here. We still have not forgotten or forgiven you for making light of Jota's passing. One of the rare posters I'd actively call out and advocate a permanent ban for
02 Jun 2026 16:31:18
It's funny when ppl still blame the players, all of them were below par. Not a coincidence, is it, that the man who picked the side, tactics n training has gone. I could understand it if it was 1, 2 or even 3 players, but 20 of them.
02 Jun 2026 16:36:08
Riosstepover
It wasn't Hughes' fault that Palace pulled the plug on Guehi at the last minute. But he should have been back in on 1st January as soon as his New Year's Eve hangover had subsided and tied up the deal. He decided to wait until the end of the window, trying to save a few million.
In the meantime, in mid-January, City picked up two long-term injuries to Dias and Gvardiol. Suddenly, Pep needed a centre-half. If Hughes had gone in early in January, we wouldn't have had to compete with City for him.
02 Jun 2026 16:48:23
Olired, the point I was making was that Arsenal signed 5 players to cover positions where they were weakest if they picked up injuries. The star players were never going to leave. The previous season, their title challenge was derailed when they got injuries to Odegaard and Saliba. Last season they had Mosquera and Eze to come in. Liverpool spent big on two attackers, but let Diaz and Nunez go. With the Diogo tragedy, we were one down straight away. With Isak's problems, we were two strikers down. You can't rely on Chiesa, who should be nowhere near a top side, and Rio, who is nowhere near ready to start every game.
They said that they never replaced Diaz, so as not to block Rio's path. That was a big mistake. Arsenal not only had Saka, but they signed Madueke. They weren't bothered about blocking Dowman's path. They knew that experienced cover in key positions gets you far in the big tournaments. Liverpool never had that luxury. Players were shoved all over the place to plug holes in positions that were not their best. Although Slot deserved the sack, he was badly let down by the recruitment.
02 Jun 2026 17:12:42
Scouse John, the players you mention would have us mid-table before we know it. When will people realise that Chiesa and Endo are nowhere near good enough to play for Liverpool. Chiesa in particular would not get a start in any other Premier League team, including the three who went down. Nyoni is a good prospect, but that's all. He needs to bulk out before he gets more minutes.
Ramsay couldn't get a game on loan at Wigan, Preston, Bolton, and Kilmarnock. What makes you think he is good enough for Liverpool? McConnell is not a bad player, but not Liverpool level. He will be sold or loaned out in the summer. If you were in Slot's position, fighting to keep your job, you wouldn't rely on any of those players, who are really not good enough, too.
02 Jun 2026 17:39:37
Well said, Kemlyn.
02 Jun 2026 17:45:19
Endo was injured, wasn't he?
02 Jun 2026 19:22:42
Kemlyn, if you're saying Endo shouldn't have been playing, then what about Gravenberch n Macallister. They might be better players, but they duck out of tackles n swan round like they're prime Gerrard. I'd get rid of both of them. Endo should've played a lot more games than he did bfr his injury.
02 Jun 2026 21:28:22
Kemlyn, they don't have to play every game or all at the same time. It's no use making excuses for Slot, no matter what way you look at it, he had options. Same as last year, when players couldn't buy a game from him. Even Gomez was overlooked at rb for a midfielder. So, the question was, would you rather lose trying or lose not trying.
03 Jun 2026 02:34:15
Arsenal absolutely have a deeper squad than us.
We had 2 fully fit CBs for pretty much the whole season.
They can mix and match their attack amongst 7 players before they even need to think about their teenage prodigy.