20 Oct 2025 08:21:38
I assure you nothing is wrong off the pitch.
Coach has favoured a few players and there are couple of moaners and this is nothing new.
It is just that board is a bit bewildered as we have same group of core players and these performances are just not acceptable.
But the players have to adapt quicker.
I have to say in hindsight infact to his credit arne slot would have been right as he advised bidding farewell to vvd and salah last year when asked about his opinion but club decided to negotiate mega contracts. And hence the moaning.
Its almost impossible for the coach to put vvd and salah on the bench in fact he does not even have an option in players to replace either.
But if results continue board will have to accept the fact and stop the moaning and let slot decide on his first team.
{Ed078's Note - cheers Akira
20 Oct 2025 09:16:10
I would say that regardless of the contract and money nobody has a Devine right to be an automatic choice. VVD is simply because there are no alternatives in the squad.
Salah on the other hand, we’ve seen nothing at all from him this season whereas Chiesa has done well most times he’s been on the pitch. Salah might be the best paid player in the squad but he’s been consistently among the worst players and yet normally he’s never replaced or dropped.
For good of the team he needs to have some time on the bench, to show the squad that the team will be picked on performance not reputation. Yesterday again just about all our attacking play came down the left until Frimpong came on.
20 Oct 2025 09:25:07
Well he can drop Salah. Just purely in terms of the other players he has available. Fede could play. Frimpong could play. Could go with 2 up top on Szoboszlai right. Wirtz could even nominally play on the right.
Van Dijk is harder to drop since we only have Gomez and Konate. Although I think his form is less of a problem than Salah's.
20 Oct 2025 10:26:17
I am sorry but you as a coach cannot just drop a 400k a week star players like salah and vvd just because of 5-6 bad games
Easy for fans to say but say but coach will obviously be questioned about why salah macca suddenly don't fit his system.
And hence the moaning. It is certain that slot is favouring some players and trying to bed them in positions that just are not right for them just adding to confusion
He has tried stuff . it has not worked but so much time left in the season that coach can afford a few mistakes. It is always good to slip early in the season as opposed to late in the season.
I think fundamentally we understand what he is trying to do and its pretty clear what he wants to do he cannot use some players he likes - so he either changes style or changes players and we will see the answers soon enough.
20 Oct 2025 10:43:14
He could drop Salah and start Chiesa on the right, he can that spot and has done so in Italy if I'm not mistaken?
20 Oct 2025 10:58:11
You can drop a player, his salary doesn’t matter, a pile of money doesn’t kick a ball. if he’s not doing it on the pitch he shouldn’t be on it.
Nobody is bigger than the club.
20 Oct 2025 11:20:22
I disagree there Akira. I'm not talking about bombing Salah out entirely and making him train with the reserves. A strong enough manager (and I believe Slot is one) could drop him for a couple of games.
20 Oct 2025 12:12:25
Salah can and absolutely should be dropped. The whole point of a squad is for the supposedly lesser squad options to put pressure on the supposedly superior starters to maintain their levels or lose their starting place.
Chiesa has more than outperformed Salah this far this year with far less playing time to do so, and yet isn't getting a proper chance, that's not opinion, that's objective. Less objectively, Ekitike can feel aggrieved at not starting and given Macca and Konate's form Jones and Gomez have reasonable cause to feel aggrieved at not playing more often.
If I was in any of those players shoes, I'd be complaining as well.
Virg gets a pass due to lack of alternative options and despite his decline still being easily our best defender, worrying as that is.
20 Oct 2025 12:14:44
Can't blame Slot for his selections so far this season as he balances players who need the game time to get up to speed (Macca, Isak) and beds in new players (Kerkez, Wirtz, Ekitike, Frimpong) . But he's run out of time from a results perspective after the Utd game and it is now crunch time. He needs to play the players in form or more to the point stop playing those players out of form. Also, hopefully, Alisson is back as he saves their first goal.
{Ed001's Note - you can blame him, because he has dumped players in form for players who need fitness.}
20 Oct 2025 12:20:54
“Easy for fans to say but say but coach will obviously be questioned about why salah macca suddenly don't fit his system. ”
Sorry but absolute load of tosh that Akira.
This isn’t about fitting a system it’s about taking players out of the team who simply aren’t at the level we need right now.
As Jerry said, no player is above getting dropped if their performances don’t merit them staying in the team.
20 Oct 2025 12:21:39
So many changes to assimilate in a short space of time, let's see what Arne is made of cause this is his most difficult challenge to date.
Not sure why Arne would not want to keep VVD or Salah after how both were top drawer last season.
Salah without Trent, Nunez and Diogo seems lost, plus he has 2 big tournaments coming up - could this be the end of the kings reign?
20 Oct 2025 13:44:05
We have a lot of attacking talent who all know where the net is.
Salah had a rapport with players who for different reasons ate no longer at the club. These players have seen Nunez shipped out and are probably very aware they need to score to stay at the club.
Salah has been the main focal point for us for so long and now these young players are trying to make a name for themselves.
I know people are saying how Salah has been losing possession of the ball but the ball also seems to go more to gakpo on the left rather than Mo.
It has been a crap few weeks but when this team settles it will get back to winning ways. The premier league has just got tougher due to the so called smaller teams having money to spend on better players and coaches.
Nobody plays their way through a bad patch being benched. Mo didn't turn into a poor player overnight. We want to win every match but sometimes you have to go through the wringer until better days come along.
20 Oct 2025 13:54:12
Maybe one more loss and you will see what everyone is asking for.
Oh and as for chiesa LFC spent a whole summer finding a club for him and nothing worked. He will not suddenly become the favourite in any managers book despite being decisively better than all options. the plan is still to sell him.
20 Oct 2025 13:15:27
Surely that's a Catch 22 to a degree though Ed? Isak is not going to get match fit sitting on the bench.
{Ed001's Note - bringing him on in matches would surely do the job to get him close enough.}
20 Oct 2025 13:56:22
To be honest i have noticed a fall off on both VVD and MO
Both levels are way below what we expect of them . Look at the first goal how slow VVD was to get back! The second goal why did he not pick maguire we all know he is the danger man at corners?
MO could not beat an egg at the moment and the miss in second half would of put my house on him to score. Dalot is a poor full back he had MO in his pocket! Konate had half decent game for a change .
Take Isak out of the team and give him a six week preseason we have hugo to cover for him.
Fredie causes problems everygame he plays and he can play on the right in place of MO . I also these stupid international breaks are killing the performances of all the teams in premier league after every break the teams look exausted. YNWA.
20 Oct 2025 14:42:43
Frimgpong was on the pitch less than half hour he put in more crosses than MO who had 80 odd minutes all he did was missed a sitter. I think that clears the coach if he dropped MO .
The system we are playing is like Arsenal under Wenger get the ball to edge of the opposition penalty area then run out of ideas Van bronkhuirst played under this system when he was at Arsenal and i maybe wrong but tried to play this way at Rangers and was sacked not saying he has anything to do with our system
but the system has changed to last season. YNWA.
20 Oct 2025 21:19:52
If the LFC board are picking the team, then we really are in trouble.
20 Oct 2025 22:54:28
So, is the Board interfering with managerial decisions? I get the obvious pressure given the contracts and incoming, but it sounds like there is a mandate that he has to use those players. At least that's how I am interpreting this. I certainly could be co. pmetely wrong.
20 Oct 2025 23:28:08
I think Mo would benefit from time on the bench. Half decent left backs are getting the better of him. Frimpong looks dangerous and gets balls in the box. When we bought Frimpong German pundits said he is not an orthodox RB, more a WB. Salah I'm sure will be away for a couple months soon anyway in African cup. Frimpongs time to shine.
22 Oct 2025 08:57:32
VVD was imperious last season and players don't become rubbish in the space of a few months. The wholesale changes, big spend, price tags, new tactics and additional pressure on Slot and the club in general have accumulated into something more.
As for Mo, without the work rate of Diaz and Nunez and synergy with Trent, plus the loss of Jota seems to have hit him hardest.
All of this can be sorted with great vision and leadership. Over to you Arne.
My doubts arose since he started throwing players under the bus (apprently speaking frankly is a Dutch thing) and constantly moaning about the low block. Team spirit and power is not built through either of these things.
Without having any knowledge, it looks to me as if Arne is having to fit Edwards vision into a new set up and set of tactics that does not suit his preferred way of playing.
I honestly feel that paying that extra 5m for Guehi, who can play DM and RB would have made a lot of sense. He covers ground, wins duels and is consistent at what he does well.
22 Oct 2025 09:42:29
We aren't playing very well and that's clear to see, the worry to me is that the Team and Team spirit (which is the most important bit) seems to have gone, i guess its the change with all new players but that is what Klopp built. VVD looks like he doesn't trust Kerkez and so is out of position a lot trying to cover, When was the last time we played Diagonals into Mo, just doesn't happen anymore.
it will take time but the slow build up is the worst bit, everyone plays better when its slick and fast paced. it will come back hopefully but let's stick together. YNWA.