Other Games 10th April

[Crimson Dynasty]

I think Slot should have been sacked all the way back in November when we were in the midst of that losing streak that saw us effectively lose this season. Or at least shortly after that.
But those like me who felt that way and stated as such were drowned out by the "give him more time" crowd that insisted he'd right the ship and that once he got back some of our key players from the physio bench healthy, we'd make a run that would possibly even see us back in the race (despite the fact that by that point there was just too much ground to make up, and despite the fact that we were jeopardizing our potential Champions League place for next season.)

The Mancs and Chelsea fired their respective managers and both saw an instant improvement with their replacements - and although Chelsea have regressed again allowing us to catch them and pip them for that 5th spot which now matters because the Premier League gets an extra slot next year, the direction of our club relative to our rivals is still not good.

There's now been more than enough time and data points to let anyone with any ounce of footballing knowledge know that we are not going to be challenging for anything - neither the title nor any of the cup competitions - if we still have Slot in charge next season.

It's a challenge that's going to be even tougher with our best performing striker for this season now out for what will likely be a period extending into a good portion of next season; the departure of Mo (and possibly Virg - even though both were far faaar from their best this season), and Slot's inability/reluctance to intergrate the 'fringe' or young players like Rio.

My point is, if the club's decision is, as it seems it will be) that we're not sacking him this summer and are instead going to see how we start the season next frame.....- and with what will likely be a relatively quiet transfer window, we're told despite the desparte need to fix some positional issues - then if we do get to the point when we have to sack him sometime early next season, it should not be only him who gets the sack, but anyone else involved int he decision to keep him past this summer.

Keeping him past the end of this season is likely going to cost us potentially quality replacements - none of whom will wait out to see how our season goes, especially if any of them get good job offers elsewhere (which they will if they truly are quality replacements).

There's no Klopp sitting out there or who will be ready waiting to take over while taking a sabbatical from football if we get rid of Slot a third of the way through the season like we did Brendan, and if I remember correctly Klopp hadn't wanted to come right away but would have preferred to come at the end of the season after his year off from football after he left Dortmund, and it took a lot of convincing from us to get him to come to us mid-season.
That's not going to happen again.

So the decision to keep Slot will be impactful, affecting not just this coming transfer window and who choose to come here (if we can even get anyone or have the funds to), but also the entirety of next season and our competitiveness even for a replacement manager.


If he has to go then (and I believe he will have to. He just doesn't have what it takes), then Hughes and Edwards have to go with him.
Possibly the head of the scouting department as well.

[miller0863]

I stand by my comment that Diaz wanted out and not just because of money.

We had already started to drop off last season and our League Cup Final was alarmingly bad. More so than our first leg at PSG as we were playing in the back yard of an extremely good side.
The Final was against Newcastle and yet they were by far the better side.

[Steveo]

Could be - it’s very possible that as the season ended he looked at the squad and the setup and thought - things are going to shyte - and they won’t offer me close to the money I am worth…

But as with Guehi and missing out on him - it was penny pinching that drove the end result more than anything

[justme]

I think Diaz leaving was a good deal all round (apart from the team). It was good for the player he got a huge wage increase and the club got almost 70 million for a player knocking on 30.

[Steveo]

Yep made a packet - and we lost our left wing… and our right wing - as a knock on..

But the question is WHO at the club put Cody Gakpo on £250 a week while refusing that kinda dosh for Luis Diaz…?

[justme]

I doubt it was Slot. He won't do anything about contracts. Apparently he did want Diaz to stay though, But when it comes to deals, its Edwards and Hughes that are in charge.


Richard Hughes, was/is close to Bournemouth, That would explain the Kerkez deal. I think the Isak deal was mutually agreed.. We wanted the best forward in England, which was Isak at the time and we replaced Nunez.

Wirtz is a Slot signing.. (again i could be wrong).. I doubt Klopp would have bought a number 10. If we were going in for a forward. Be more of a false 9.. Jurgen never went away from the 3 main midfielders

And it was,what won us the league last season.. To me, we'll never win enough with Wirtz in midfield or on the left..

I know i appear to be harshly attacking Wirtz a lot. But i prefer our win ratio to be higher (who wouldn't) we'll always lose and draw games.. Every team does. But i do think with 3 main midfielders. or overall win rate will be higher.

[Insidious]

Just to add to that. I do think we still have the makings of a good team but we still need a DM and a winger one year on. And that's if we keep what we have. How do we add new signings without selling? We don't I imagine. If we sell off more players our squad will be totally depleted.

It'll depend on what system we recruit for, but I do believe there are ways that we could get good things out of the side - even with selling - if we -

- Sell intelligently
- Recruit intelligently
- Recruit for a main blue-print system
- Do so with a suitable manager for the above

How many of those four things we can get right just now.....eeeesh, it's uncertain, to say the least.

I do believe if we got Alonso in and recruited for a 3-5-2 (not that he is wedded to it) we can have a relatively cohesive squad without decimating our depth.

You create that new platform, then add to that in subsequent seasons.

Happy to lay out an approximation some time when bored, for the incredibly little that it's worth.