To truth is that Liverpool were never going to have this big struggle this season. Their foundations - instilled by Klopp and their club structure - are currently too strong for a big drop off albeit I don’t think they’re good enough to win the title or anything.
Arne Slot | Liverpool manager (Posture Watch)
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I saw that. Such a pleaseeee loveeee meee answer
Plus, we're back on the inhalers so can have another tilt at it!
No amount of inhalers will make that happen this year
Reminds me of the start Ange Postecoglou had at Spurs. Favourable conditions and everyone was falling over themselves to declare him the messiah. Let’s see how he copes with a couple of choice injuries and a dip in form/confidence.
That just makes no sense - as if he thought they were asking him about Liverpool's best coaches. I mean, he's a huge Guardiola fan! Weird.
Don't like him, seems a right cnut.
Yeah they have a very kind start to the season. They almost tripped up against Ipswich - that first half was pretty bad but also really good against Brentford and us. Let's see - the depressing thing is Salah still looks really sharp. Couple of injuries at CM / CB and he's hosed I think. Literally two injuries (Konate / VVD) and Gravenberch will kill them. Quansah is a bit crap and gets easily bullied in the air. They have no other player who can play #6 in the way Arne wants.
Tbf, that is good management by the club. This is how you save 1 billion euros. Hire a manager who will play same system as previous manager.
We on the other hand did; possession manager, defensive pragmatic manager, more defensive counter attacking manager and now possession manager who decided to change his style to transition after one year.
Of course it is and I'm not saying he is a bad manager by any means. The wankfest over him is silly though. Give that guy our team and watch him fail.
They had the easiest start to league campaign statistically.
Made even easier by the fact Antony Taylor decided to sign for them
Well, he’s arrived then. Best compliment you can give a new rival manager
Its 3 games for God sake, and he is being treated as next coming of Jesus...Lol
We have seen managers coming and doing well in first half of the season only to be sacked the following year...
We have seen managers coming and doing well in first half of the season only to be sacked the following year...
Yep, added his name to a long list of them, Benitez, Rodgers, Dalglish, Hodgson, Klopp ,Souness and now Slot. cnuts.
Don't completely dominate a half of football = "almost trip up"
Please tell me this is sarcasm.
This dead cat bounce will make the eventual fall all the more enjoyable
I think that losing two key players from any team would have the same result. Take Rodri and KDB out of City, or Rice and Saliba out of Arsenal and it wouldn't be as easy for them.
I also think Quansah is better than people realise. I know he got subbed off early, but I think that he is just being taken out of the firing line and coached to play how Slot wants him to play. I can see him being a big player for us this season.
I still think their lack of activity in the transfer window will hurt them
God you're a touchy one
He was certainly on Liverpool's side last Sunday
Yep. Ten Hag somehow survived this well-worn path.
Don't completely dominate a half of football = "almost trip up"
You played 6 halves of football, so 1/6 is still a decent sample size. And it's not completely dominate - it was being outplayed by Ipswich totally. If they had slightly less crap attackers you'd have been in trouble. You can enjoy your form another 2-3 weeks but then the GW 7 - 14 fixtures will tell me how good Pool are. For now I don't expect anything beyond CL qualification - much closer in points total to 4/5 than 1/2. Actually even that will be exceeding expectations in a post Klopp hangover with Salah, VVD, Trent contracts still up in the air.
Clearly those key players are the likes of Salah, VVD, Trent etc. Not Gravenberch and Konate. Most teams can deal with one CB / one CM injury just fine and even in your examples I think both those sides will do just fine. Your squad's pretty razor thin, no getting round that fact. Arne's already being quite clever by preserving Trent / Robertson's legs already and not letting them play full 90s when the game's won but such trickery can only go so far.
Nah - it was just one half and it was at the beginning so it could happen but you were shockingly bad against Ipswich in that first half. Very fortunate that they messed up a few chances going forward - without the help of Anthony Taylor this time!
Sure. You must've watched a different game of football than me, I believe.
We weren't good but they didn't completely outplay us either, that's bollocks.
But I agree with the overall sentiment that it's way too early to tell, although still a lot better to have this kind of start than an average one with immediate question marks. Even taking into account the quality of our opposition.
Smug piece of s---. Cant wait to see him fail.
The time to offer a balanced and informed view of Arne Slot is when he:
- loses some of his top players to injury eg: Van Dijk, Salah, Allison, Trent and has to shuffle his pack and produce performance out of his second string
- experiences a few defeats, especially consecutive defeats and needs to raise the spirits of the team and get back to winning ways
- has to rescue a game after Liverpool go a goal or two down [they have not even conceded in the PL yet]
- comes up against Pep and Arteta who are also tactically competent
- is up against some of Europe's top sides in the ECL
The time to judge him is next season when they are cycling off the drugs
Think we have another season before that kicks in. Hopefully by then we'll have found another way to circumvent the rules.
Like signing Anthony Taylor
I think he's good. And dare I say a likeable character too.
The chance is there for him to keep Liverpool relevant after Klopp for the next 3-5 years.
However, the chances are also there that he fails despite being a good manager. The first guy after Klopp was always going to have the most difficult job, like Moyes after Ferguson. It also seems like at least one of Trent, Salah, and van Dijk will leave. It looks like they're selling Alisson as well, as they've signed Mamardashvili for next season. Those 4 players are all-timers in their position and have been carrying the team for some time, and they are impossible to replace adequately for Liverpool IMO. Thankfully they missed out on Yoro, the best possible VVD replacement currently out there.
Overall, even if Slot is a success for them, I don't expect his side to reach 2019/2020/2022 Liverpool levels, because their 4 best players all have uncertain futures at the club, and they cannot replace any of them if they leave. They also can't financially compete with at least 5 clubs in the transfer market, and I don't think Liverpool has ever had that pull and attractiveness that they should have, so first choice targets won't always be attained by them.
The chance is there for him to keep Liverpool relevant after Klopp for the next 3-5 years.
However, the chances are also there that he fails despite being a good manager. The first guy after Klopp was always going to have the most difficult job, like Moyes after Ferguson. It also seems like at least one of Trent, Salah, and van Dijk will leave. It looks like they're selling Alisson as well, as they've signed Mamardashvili for next season. Those 4 players are all-timers in their position and have been carrying the team for some time, and they are impossible to replace adequately for Liverpool IMO. Thankfully they missed out on Yoro, the best possible VVD replacement currently out there.
Overall, even if Slot is a success for them, I don't expect his side to reach 2019/2020/2022 Liverpool levels, because their 4 best players all have uncertain futures at the club, and they cannot replace any of them if they leave. They also can't financially compete with at least 5 clubs in the transfer market, and I don't think Liverpool has ever had that pull and attractiveness that they should have, so first choice targets won't always be attained by them.
I think how we respond to our first loss will be telling. Klopp was good at picking us up.
Why? They've spent several decades in trophy wilderness before Klopp made them relevant briefly. And that too, mainly as challengers to City with a few trophies here and there. Plus they're in Liverpool. It's a miracle they convince as many top players to go there as they do.
Maybe I phrased it incorrectly.
I don't think Liverpool are as big or as attractive as Manchester United, the two Spanish giants, and arguably not even Bayern too. And they're only more attractive than the Italian big 3, because of the significant financial superiority. And let's be honest, both Arsenal and Chelsea can beat them to a signing most times, even if the two London clubs aren't going through a successful period at the time. But on paper, they should be at least a top 5 biggest club, with a lot of players even outside the British Isles dreaming to play for them, because of the 6 CL titles and all the domestic honours.
However, what many people might not consider important, but it's crucial IMO , is that they won 80% of their major trophies just before football become a global phenomenon in the 90s, and it has been growing ever since. In this era of the last ~35 years, they only had 1 really good era, which lasted around 5 years: from 2017 until 2022. And even in those years, their "pull" was massively boosted by Klopp as undoubtedly one of the best managers in the world, who most players would love to work with.
Coincidentally, United became ultra-successful exactly in that period, and started a 21 year long era of dominance at the perfect time. That's why the club that knocked Liverpool off their perch, but has fewer CL titles, has a bigger worldwide fanbase, generates more clicks, plays in a bigger stadium, has more money, is able to maintain a larger wage bill if they want to (we've trimmed it quite a bit in the last 24 months, but usually ours is way higher, and I think that will be the case before too long again).
But I don't want to derail this thread to be a United vs Liverpool size comparison discussion, and one of the helping circumstances I just mentioned for Liverpool, actually also applies to United and all the clubs in the league: financial superiority being basically one of the only things making them more attractive than the Italian big three, because the PL has been the de facto Super League for a long time now. I just gave one example where a club in my opinion is the bigger club despite less European trophies, because of how much more successful they've been in the last 35 years, whereas with Liverpool it's the opposite. Also, does anyone think Liverpool would've been able to attain names like Di María, Pogba, Ibrahimovic, Mourinho, Casemiro, Falcao, Schweinsteiger, without CL football? I don't think so, even if it's not their MO anyways. And yes, I know they didn't work out, but that's not the point here. De Ligt is another example. Also some big names with CL football, that I don't believe Liverpool would've had a shot at: Varane, Sancho, Ronaldo, Maguire vs City, Sánchez vs City, Mount vs other English clubs. And funnily enough, Yoro, but that was mostly just a question of finances, however I do think we would've still got him if Liverpool matched our offer.
But what I've just said is obviously also true for many other clubs:
-Barcelona wouldn't be the second biggest club in the world (at least in my opinion) without the golden era of 2006-2015, where they had the greatest player of all time, and a few other all-timer players as well, most of them coming from their own academy, 4 CLs in 9 years, the greatest tactical pioneer of the least 40 years in Pep, etc. so their modern era peak is also crucial for their reputation today.
-Madrid wouldn't objectively be considered as far and away the biggest club in world football, if their CL drought didn't end in 2014, or they only would've won 1 or 2 in the last 11 years instead of 6, and if the Ronaldo era didn't happen, or was much less successful.
-The same goes for Bayern, they got their shit together around 2008/2009 after some bad years, and have been part of the European elite basically every season since than. If that didn't happen, or was a much less successful period, they wouldn't be the giant they are today.
-Atletico wouldn't be where they are either, if they didn't manage to build themselves up to a much bigger club status under Simeone in the last 13-14 years.
-Milan have 3 CL titles and had dozens of legends play for them, forming legendary teams from between the early 90s until the early 2010s. Juventus also really needed the decade of dominance in the 2010s and being the only real Italian threat in Europe. Chelsea being a London club and the 2000s team with Mourinho, Arsenal's late 1990s and early 2000s teams + Wenger, etc.
I only listed these examples to prove that it's not necessarily just my United bias conveniently creating a timeline where Liverpool's most successful era is not that important, whereas the inception of our most successful era is conveniently the period from where achievements start mattering more. All of these clubs needed the modern era success to become what they are today, not just United. And I feel like Liverpool's 1 PL and 1 CL title in 5 years was not enough to elevate them into a top 3/5 club in the world, despite having an all-timer manager and a few all-timer players at the club. If City weren't around, it would've been obviously different, as the post-SAF era in England would've been all about Liverpool and Klopp basically, or at least most of it.
Overall, Slot has a difficult job on his hand because I do believe most Liverpool fans believe they are a bigger club than they are in reality, and the finances aren't there either to compete with United, City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Madrid, Bayern, PSG, and maybe Barca eventually as well.
Sorry for the long post, it basically just agrees with yours and expands on it a little bit
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Was he? I actually thought bouncing back from a poor result was something Klopp struggled with, and I'm not sure I can think of another "top" manager who was regularly prone to prolonged periods of poor form
We then derailed you last season, with the draw at Old Trafford being followed by defeat at home to Palace, you did then win against Fulham, but that was your only win in five, as you then lost to Everton and drew 2-2 with West Ham (a game that you were winning 2-1).
In 22/23, which was a poor season by Klopp's standards, you opened the season with no wins in your opening three games (drawing with Fulham and Palace, then losing to us), drew 0-0 at Goodison, starting another run of three without a win (also drawing 3-3 with Brighton after winning 3-2, and losing to Arsenal), lost back to back games to Forest and Leeds, went four games without a win, losing to Brentford and Brighton, drawing with Chelsea, then losing to Wolves, had another four games without a win starting with a 1-0 loss at Bournemouth, followed by a battering at City and draws with Chelsea and Arsenal, and even the season by following a 1-1 draw at home to Villa with a 4-4 draw at Southampton.
In 2020/21 you drew 1-1 with West Brom, sparking a run of five games without a win and four without a goal (including defeats to Southampton and Burnley), then three games later you lost at home to Brighton, sparking a run of seven games in which you lost six (five at home), and your only win was against Sheffield United.
In 17/18 you lost 5-0 at City and followed that with a 1-1 draw at home to Burnley. You did then beat Leicester, but followed that with another three games without a win, culminating in a 4-1 defeat at Spurs. Later in the season you drew 0-0 at Goodison, sparking a run of one win in five that ended with a defeat against Chelsea, almost costing you a place in the top four.
In 16/17 you went on a run of seven games with just one win, sparked by a 2-2 draw at Sunderland (a game that you were winning 2-1). This run saw you fall from 2nd to 5th.
In 15/16 you lost to Newcastle, had your famous 2-2 against West Brom (a game you were winning 1-0), then lost 3-0 to Watford, lost 2-0 to West Ham, drew 3-3 with Arsenal (a game you were winning 2-1), then lost 1-0 to us. You then did win 5-4 at Norwich, but that was your only win in six as you then lost 2-0 at Leicester and drew 2-2 at Sunderland (after leading 2-0). You then ended the season with one win in five, in a run that started with you drawing 2-2 at home to Newcastle after leading 2-0.
It's really only 18/19 and 19/20 that you didn't have any sort of significant blip under him.
I want to see how Slot responds to the team conceding a goal. It’s been so long. Seems like we were always coming back to win matches under Klopps final year. The comeback king.
I seem to remember reading somewhere that we rarely lost back to back games under Klopp. We had that awful run in 20/21 and 22/23 was a dreadful season, but losing back to back wasn’t common.
Yet also so much … information. As Greg Focker would say.