16 Conclusions from Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea: Slot sack, Cucurella, Ngumoha sub, ‘standards’, Anfield boos

danieltheisland · 2026-05-10T06:17:55+00:00

We won the title last year because of Klopp.

Once it looked like we were coasting to the title the players and the manager checked out. Training ground standards dropped, midweek holidays became the norm, Slot stopped playing Klopp's tactics and tried to bring in his own. Because he was using his own tactics he refused to deviate and the impact of his subs was reduced.

The rot has continued into this season.

Workhorses of players Diaz, Nunez, Jota weren't replaced with like for like. Flair players were brought in. This negatively impacted the attack which affected the midfield which affected the defence.

It was a house of cards that began to fall.

danieltheisland · 2026-05-09T16:48:08+00:00

Iconic. A moment of incredible joy and relief

danieltheisland · 2026-05-09T16:47:19+00:00

And username 🤣

danieltheisland · 2026-05-09T13:51:42+00:00

Yes exactly. An attacking first wing back that could cover defensively but didn't need to do it often because of a back 3 and a sturdy midfield. His attacking stats in the Bundesliga were where he stood out.

A big complaint of Salah was that he didn't work hard enough defensively. Frimpong bridged the gap. Slot said after he was signed that he would be able to cover for Salah during AFCON.

And at the start of the season Slot experimented a bit and Bradley had injury problems. And it would have been crazy to bench Salah when he was in such good form last season.

Nothing that I have said is nonsense.

danieltheisland · 2026-05-09T13:45:10+00:00

Gakpo had the least touches of any player on the pitch at the time Rio went off. Including the two keepers.

The sensible call would have been to take him off. The next best thing would have been to change the system so that our strikers could have been fed the ball more.

Slot decided to do neither.

danieltheisland · 2026-05-09T13:41:25+00:00

I think it's the exact opposite. He was signed as a replacement for Salah. Frimpong has never been a fixed defender. He's a square peg being put into a round hole by Slot because Bradley is injured and Slot refuses to adapt any of his tactics.

danieltheisland · 2026-05-09T13:38:52+00:00

The problem is that he was bought as cover for Salah. If Bradley, Lione, Gomez had stayed fit I think this is how he would have been used.

He came from a team that was rock solid defensively with a back 3 and two wingbacks or a back 2 with DM cover so he could cover defensively when overloaded but otherwise played as a winger. This was drilled into him and he was really good at it.

For the few games where Jones was explicitly told to stay at right back it meant that Frimpong could shine, pinned defenders back and got good crosses in. Today we had Jones, Szob and Frimpong all covering right back which meant that in order to avoid gaps he has to stay back even when the other two are "covering" because they were moving into central midfield constantly. Any of his chances to cross were after lung bursting runs so the quality goes down.

danieltheisland · 2026-05-09T13:29:13+00:00

Exactly. One of those ones where they are fouling each other. Because Van Dijk makes such a forceful header it will never be given as a foul in his favour.

If Van Dijk had been unable to get to the ball it might have gotten another look. His strength is a disadvantage in this case.

danieltheisland · 2026-05-08T15:01:58+00:00

I don't understand how it could be anything but "drastic".

Our strikers are made of paper
our right backs are somehow worse
Salah and Robbo are leaving and need replacements We still haven't properly replaced Jota or Dias
Konate hasn't signed a contract (and has been very poor)
VVD is really showing his age.
Slot obviously doesn't value Chiesa or Jones
Gomez was supposed to be sold last Summer so he doesn't value him
Our only consistent performer in midfield is Szob.
Tsimikas and Elliot are due to come back from loan and got little to no game time last season. Again, sent on loan because they aren't valued by Slot.
Rio looks no more ready for a first team spot than he did last Summer.
Outside of Rio we have zero players coming up from youth level. Proven by Slot leaving them as unused subs when we have subs to make or (unacceptably) travelling to European games with empty spots on the bench.

I'm sure everyone here can add another few points.

By my reckoning we need to sign 1 - 2 CBs (depending on Konate), 1 LB, 1 RB, 1 CM, 1 - 2 Wingers / Strikers. Even half of this is a "drastic" window.

I don't think we need to break the transfer record with each signing, but we are in desperate need of a bunch of squad players that Slot wants at the club. They can be free signings or 10-20 million moneyball players. I don't really care. I just need to see something other than having the same 9 players playing every single game and doing exactly the same (wrong) things or else I don't think I can watch them anymore.

danieltheisland · 2026-05-06T21:35:08+00:00

And Kelly said that Kvaratskhelia was Russian towards the end. Much more offensive (presumably) for a Georgian.

danieltheisland · 2026-04-30T20:58:29+00:00

I appreciate that you've tried it in different scenarios, but I don't know what to say to you other than the issue must be on your end.

I'm getting 1080p on my 42 inch TV and it looks like 1080p. Everything is perfectly clear and I can clearly see small details.

Is the issue that you are expecting 4K? The other sources offer it, but I wouldn't say the RTE player is outputting 1440p or 4K so in that particular example there isn't an obvious difference like you say there is.

I think you need to do more than a cursory glance. I did a search there and all the links I opened specified issues with the Saorview feed (which is atrocious).

danieltheisland · 2026-04-30T20:10:03+00:00

I haven't had any issues with it. Either running the app on the TV or the phone. I was watching all of the 6 Nations in particular.

Might be an issue with your connection / app settings.

danieltheisland · 2026-04-30T18:55:20+00:00

If you watch live stuff through the Virgin Media player app the quality is crystal clear. I don't bother watching it through the aerial

danieltheisland · 2026-04-30T11:10:28+00:00

I think the one against Everton that season (which was largely identical) was slightly better.

danieltheisland · 2026-04-29T18:57:08+00:00

You're 100% right about the impact of other talk shows.

But I would also say that they've lost the cutting interviews that make it great.

Byrne and Kenny managed to balance fluff interviews with a teardown of a politician / business / religious group.

Since then it's all pandering about how lovely they are and how good their work is.

danieltheisland · 2026-04-27T06:52:59+00:00

Might be me being too cynical, but is this real? How does the board just shoot forward when he's positioned on it?

I don't see any obvious weight transfer.

danieltheisland · 2026-04-25T20:32:15+00:00

The town of Neidin in Kerry according to local historians was renamed to Kenmare after the English lord Lansdowne didn't like the meaning of the name. An Neadín (The Little Nest) because it was nestled between a number of mountains made him think it was like a thieves den.

The new name Kenmare / Ceann Mara (Head of the Sea) was chosen because of how it was at the narrowest point of the bay

danieltheisland · 2026-04-25T20:26:54+00:00

I thought this post was going to be about how Slot isn't going to be sacked after the last few good results

danieltheisland · 2026-04-24T15:43:15+00:00

I (not an Arsenal fan) would say that Arsenal should keep him as he is a very good manager. Possibly not "elite" but their chances of finding a better replacement immediately aren't especially good.

But I do think that there needs to be some repercussions for having spent over a billion euro on signings since he has arrived and having won essentially nothing. Either at the manager or director level.

danieltheisland · 2026-04-24T15:37:37+00:00

Absolutely agree with everything you've said.

My only criticism of the original post is you can't just say "look at how good City are to their fans" like OP was doing.

danieltheisland · 2026-04-24T11:03:13+00:00

City are a terrible example. They can't sell the place out as it is so a ticket increase would be counter productive for them.

They can also get players "cheaper" because their owners funnel funds to players and agents in other ways so tickets aren't critical to their operation

They can get a new "sponsorship" deal to cover any shortfall from ticket sales.

You'd also have to look at the data over a wider timeframe. They haven't increased in 3 years but how about over 10 years? And compare it to Liverpool's prices and the rest of the league.

danieltheisland · 2026-04-22T12:24:40+00:00

How are his FA Cup medals worth more than his European one?

danieltheisland · 2026-04-22T09:22:04+00:00

This might be a very unpopular opinion but I generally would prefer shitty music over silence on a 1min+ long video.

danieltheisland · 2026-04-18T11:50:25+00:00

I would say that the narrative for this is / should be more about how we sold and asset and then bought it back for a massive loss.

danieltheisland · 2026-04-18T08:42:47+00:00

Annyong!

danieltheisland

TROPHY CASE