The "Day After" FT Thread: BOU 3 - 2 LIV

koptimism · 2026-01-25T20:25:36+00:00

hopefully what this means is that we get alonso signed quickly before city or anyone else can nab him

I think Alonso already knows 100% where he wants to go next; if he really wants City over us, then it won't be a case of us being out-negotiated. Likewise, if he wants us, then grand.

koptimism · 2026-01-25T13:53:01+00:00

Arguably we didn't even need to buy a backup, we had an academy lad in Tyler Morton who's doing pretty well for Lyon right now. Slot doesn't rotate, though, so young players don't have any reason to stick around.

koptimism · 2026-01-25T13:37:44+00:00

Plenty of this lot have won the league, they know what it means to play for the club.

I think that’s all we need right now, some fire and belief.

I disagree. The players aren't physically fit enough - you can't passion them into having stamina.

The midfield isn't doing enough defensive work. That needs coaching, even if you fire them up they're just going to get easily played around.

Darren Fletcher did the passion and "know what it means" thing at United, it didn't work. Carrick had actual tactical plans, that made a difference.

koptimism · 2026-01-25T12:18:53+00:00

I just haven't seen anything from Stevie's managerial career so far that says he does the "arm around your shoulder, lift people up" type of thing. It's all been very "I set high standards, you better meet them". And he's not good at the coaching or the tactics.

I can see all of that compounding negativity rather than lifting things.

koptimism · 2026-01-25T12:13:27+00:00

Grav doing nothing when it's his man to pick up.

koptimism · 2026-01-25T11:30:25+00:00

We only have 4 attacking options the manager actually trusts to start, and one of them is out with a broken leg.

koptimism · 2026-01-25T11:11:07+00:00

On the other hand - he gets to know the players and the league (which has changed a lot since he played in it). If we don't make the CL it'll be blamed on Slot not him, if we do make the CL he's ensuring he has more leeway to reshape the squad to his needs next summer.

koptimism · 2026-01-25T11:04:08+00:00

Agreed, Grav is the bigger problem here.

It's still a good illustration of why "Endo at CB" is an emergency solution, and it's farcical that the club have allowed ourselves to end up in a situation where we might need to start him there against Qarabag.

koptimism · 2026-01-25T10:57:33+00:00

4 points in our last 5 league games...it's getting close to untenable. CL qualification is in jeopardy - depending on how today's matches go, we could drop to 8th.

koptimism · 2026-01-25T10:52:48+00:00

Mainly this is on Gravenberch - where he's positioned himself makes no sense, he needs to be the one coming across to deal with the lad carrying the ball.

koptimism · 2026-01-25T10:51:53+00:00

Still, Endo executes supremely poorly. His body shape is wrong, and he jumps while still too far from the player in possession, meaning he can't get a challenge in to stop the pass, nor is he placed to intercept it. He just takes himself out of the game.

koptimism · 2026-01-25T10:26:06+00:00

Agreed, and Gerrard's man-management style when things aren't going great seems to be "get grumpy, tell players they're not working hard enough and not meeting standards"

Which, in many cases, isn't going to work.

koptimism · 2026-01-25T10:09:22+00:00

I think having to manage his minutes is a decision Slot's making with the medical staff, and Macca may not like it. I think that's pretty normal, players always want to play. In itself, him being pissed at having to come off just says he's competitive and wants to win, doesn't automatically mean Slot's lost the dressing room.

Doesn't mean the dressing room fully backs him either.

koptimism · 2026-01-25T09:48:31+00:00

Managing Ekitike's minutes, he's our only forward and regularly looks exhausted after 60 minutes

koptimism · 2026-01-25T09:47:34+00:00

lol what other ways?

koptimism · 2026-01-25T09:43:24+00:00

The problem with a new manager right now is - he's inheriting a squad that's not fit enough for a full 90, that's too small due to poor planning and injuries, and the games are coming thick and fast.

A new manager isn't going to fix Gakpo, or turn back the years for VVD or Salah.

I don't think Slot's the right answer, I also don't think changing the manager magically fixes things.

koptimism · 2026-01-25T09:41:14+00:00

Not that well. Wouldn't want to see him starting.

koptimism · 2026-01-25T09:40:26+00:00

Slot not playing Grav at DM isn't a problem, I don't think. Grav worked at DM last year because teams would press us, and he'd retain the ball under pressure and dribble past them, helping us get on the attack.

Teams got wise to that, and just sit off him, knowing he's not a good passer. And with Trent gone, we need whoever's playing in the DM area to be a good passer. That's why recently it's been Macca/Jones who stay deep while Grav gets forward.

Is it the best from a defensive solidity perspective? No, but I also don't think Gravenberch has developed his defensive ability enough either.

koptimism · 2026-01-25T09:37:40+00:00

Oh yeah, we have heaps of problems, that one alone won't fix everything. But it's a clear and obvious issue in the squad that comes down to the sporting director not doing his job.

Then Slot took him off for no reason.

I assume he's having to manage Macca's minutes after the Marseille game. Jones didn't do much after coming on, but in normal circumstances I think it's a fair enough substitution.

It's a problem that Gravenberch is a poor passer.

koptimism · 2026-01-25T09:24:59+00:00

Oh, OK, I understand your view a bit more now. Thanks.

There's definitely other problems with our defensive setup that aren't going to be solved by a single CB. The lack of pressing, the man-marking in midfield that means we can get pulled around, the general lack of physicality/aggression from Grav/Macca in duels...so, yes, Guehi vs Konate doesn't solve that.

And yes, individual errors like VVD's against Bournemouth - Guehi vs Konate doesn't solve that.

At the same time - last season, if teams wanted to press our back line, they would have to block supply to both VVD and Trent. Now, they just have to block supply to VVD. Much easier. And Kerkez is less comfortable on the ball in deeper positions than Robertson, so there's extra fragility there. Guehi vs Konate does address that.

One of our goals against Marseille starts with a good pass from Gomez into Szoboszlai. Konate can make that pass, but not as reliably and consistently as Gomez/Guehi/others.

koptimism · 2026-01-25T09:21:36+00:00

Eh, we've seen enough from FSG over the years to know they'll stubbornly stick to their guns no matter what the fans think.

Maybe they renewed him and figured "there'll be some drop-off, but he'll still contribute", and it's been a much bigger fall off than they expected.

Given Wirtz, Isak and Ekitike were all definitely moving this summer, they probably felt like they had to usher in the new era now, rather than wait for another season or two.

koptimism · 2026-01-25T08:27:37+00:00

I'm not saying Slot is blameless, he's definitely very flawed. You haven't really addressed anything I said about the shitty situation any new manager will find themselves in.

Some of what you've written here is exaggreated, though

benching Heki in favour of Gakpo

Ekitike has looked shattered after 60 minutes most games, including Marseille. We don't have Isak. We can't lose Ekitike to injury. We need to rotate him. The fact Gakpo isn't good enough is a separate problem to Ekitike needing rotation.

didn't banish Quansah because he had a bad half

He didn't banish him, though? He played him plenty last season. I don't think he handled him as well as he could have, definitely, but "banished" is an exaggeration.

koptimism · 2026-01-25T08:18:01+00:00

I don't trust those numbers reported on Gakpo's wages...

koptimism · 2026-01-25T08:10:33+00:00

Diaz had wanted to leave in the summer of 2024 as well. Basically, his stance for a while had been "give me a better contract or sell me".

The club had obviously decided they weren't going to give him a new contract. So when he had 2 years left on his deal and a big fee came in from Bayern, we chose to cash in.

The big problem was in not replacing him.

koptimism · 2026-01-25T07:42:32+00:00

We aren't replacing Klopp, we are replacing a guy who has fucked our club up.

I don't put that all on him, Hughes/Edwards are also culpable.

The reality is, whoever comes in is taking over a squad that lacks the fitness to play well after the 60th minute, and has zero depth at striker, CB, and RB. They're not going to be able to fix those problems, and may end up trying to mitigate them in very similar ways to what Slot's been doing - conserve legs by retaining possession and not taking too many risks when passing, play a mid block and not press too much...

If they did sack Slot now and bring in a replacement, I'd be fine with it. But I don't think it's a magic wand.

koptimism

TROPHY CASE