Slot machine
- Thread starter keniget
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It's not like we could play much worse.
When Roberto Martinez took over Everton, he had them playing nice football and finishing fifth. I remember discussing this with an Everton supporter that summer, who emphasized that he was still unsure of Martinez. The reason was that Moyes had left an excellent defensive structure. When Martinez introduced his attacking emphasis, it was on the foundation of Moyes's defensive coaching, which the players had drilled into them, creating a nicely balanced team. As time passed, Moyes's defensive tactics were being unlearned and replaced with more or Martinez, and you could see Everton move down the table.
I cannot help but wonder if we are seeing the same in reverse now. In our first half, Slott introduced a bit of calmness into Klopp's attacking tactics, and the results were terrific. As time passes, Klopp's attacking tactics are being unlearned, and you see a different team that has lost its attacking identity.
That is not trying to downplay what Slott has achieved. Deliberately or accidentally, he has stumbled upon a formula that has gotten close to delivering the league. Get us over the line, and he would rightfully take his place among the LFC managerial greats. At the same time, I can't wonder about his effectiveness if the perfect storm of conditions is not available—Salah and Van Dijk's performance while acknowledging that his tactics contributed to Salah's resurgence, City and Arsenal collapsing, the benefit of attacking tactics from an all-time great still fresh in players' heads.
I cannot help but wonder if we are seeing the same in reverse now. In our first half, Slott introduced a bit of calmness into Klopp's attacking tactics, and the results were terrific. As time passes, Klopp's attacking tactics are being unlearned, and you see a different team that has lost its attacking identity.
That is not trying to downplay what Slott has achieved. Deliberately or accidentally, he has stumbled upon a formula that has gotten close to delivering the league. Get us over the line, and he would rightfully take his place among the LFC managerial greats. At the same time, I can't wonder about his effectiveness if the perfect storm of conditions is not available—Salah and Van Dijk's performance while acknowledging that his tactics contributed to Salah's resurgence, City and Arsenal collapsing, the benefit of attacking tactics from an all-time great still fresh in players' heads.
An interesting point. Not sure what I think of it yet but for certain we'll have a better idea after next season.
This season has surpassed my greatest expectations but I have not been impressed by Slot in the slightest over the past two months.
I'll be honest and I look at this view as trying to force a narrative. In Klopp's final season we scored 86 goals in the PL (2.263 p.g.) whereas this season we are on 72 to date (7 games to go) so virtually identical (2.323 p.g.), therefore we are on to emulate that. I think it's likely we won't quite match it but maybe by only by a couple of goals. Over the Last 10 games we've scored 22 so 2.2 per game, not exactly slowing down and those 10 included some of the toughest games of the season. The only time we've scored less than 2 in those games was this week against Everton. Overall that's currently 15 goals more than City and 16 more than Arsenal.
For balance we've conceded 30 goals (4 more than Arsenal and 5 less than the next lowest - Palace), 0.968 p.g. vs 41 in 2023/4 or 1.079 p.g., again virtually identical though I think it more likely we'll concede no more than maybe 36-38 this season, looking at the remaining games (4 at home).
We all knew Slot's style of football before he arrived so we knew that his teams try to exert more control. However, even if the style of football is undergoing a metamorphosis, the attack and number of goals scored hasn't suffered. What is interesting is that the possession stats for the Top 6 teams are massively down this season compared to last (though ours are down less, 61% to 58%) so maybe that's to do with a more competitive PL (Forest, Villa, Newcastle, Fulham etc.). City have the highest possession this season, at 61.2%, but it wouldn't have made the Top 3 last season.
Now we can say oh that's because of Mo. and Virgil but for every team it's the same story, top scorers have a major influence and ditto top defenders. If Arsenal didn't have Saka and Saliba they wouldn't be 2nd, if City didn't have Haaland and Dias they would be mid-table, where would Forest be without Wood and Milenkovic or if Newcastle didn't have Isak and Burns where would they be? Chelsea have the goals spread around more but then they've scored 18 less than us whilst conceding 7 more and what if they were without Palmer and Ceicedo?
It's easy to take out the best two players and say ... what if. When Haaland has a great season City win the PL. If Mo. had say only 18 goals (placing him joint 3rd with Wood in the PL Top scorers list this season) instead of 27 would we still be top? Possibly because we'd still have the highest Goals Scored in the PL and with a GD still 3 goals better than Arsenal's.
Yes Slot inherited a far better team than most on this forum (inc. me) gave them credit for - but he has forged a title winning team by virtue of becoming a little more defensively sound (those 3 goals yesterday really hurt our stats and the perception) allied to continuing to match last season's goal tally.
The Summer is going to be VERY interesting this year (I can already see BB, Bino and Moran salivating at the prospect) and it will be even more interesting to see how the team professes / regresses next season when Slot has had a full pre-season and a few of his own players, at his disposal.
I think thats giving Slot a massive disservice in all honesty. He has taken over a team without signing a single player to fit his style of play and still had us top of Europe, a cup final and soon to be champions.
I'd rather say it has shown us what a remarkably good manager he is, and that we'll from next season see is more of a Slot team which will evolve further when he adds the pieces he needs.
The old Ross narrative that managers aren't important have been proven wrong.
He hasn’t found a solution to the opposition tactic of tightly stick to Salah and press the hell out of us because the ball won’t stick up front.
Give salah the ball is our main tactic, so its worrying that he's struggling
It's worth remembering that, at the start of the season, we acknowledged that in terms of experience, Slot was more comparable to a Rodgers-type appointment than someone like Rafa or Jurgen. There wasn’t a standout candidate for the role or anyone we were desperate to bring in, which meant going with someone who was always going to need time to adapt. The man has never played or coached outside of the Netherlands. We shouldn’t let the fact that he's now on course to win the Premier League cloud that perspective or start comparing him to managers with far more experience.
That said, one fair criticism is that, despite studying our campaign last season, Slot has repeated some of Klopp’s missteps. Klopp went full tilt at every competition. He did rotate, but he wasn’t willing to sacrifice any trophy. Slot was more pragmatic and willing to let go of the FA Cup, but has failed to rotate enough across the season. The approach may marginally differ, but the outcome is the same: a first eleven that looks worn out when it matters most.
In fairness to Slot, though, the fact that even Klopp made those mistakes shows just how difficult it is. Every manager, no matter how good, has blind spots and makes errors. And when you look at the level of abuse Pep and Arteta sometimes get from their own fans, it's clear that the criticism managers face is often completely out of proportion to their achievements, their ability, and what they've done for the club's.
Slot now has a tough job in the summer to liven up the first team and also the bench. He simply has to build a squad he trusts using and fully appreciate the demands of playing in the Premier League. His methods of keeping players off the injury table have worked, but there's very little that can be done to prevent cumulative mental and physical fatigue over a ridiculous football calendar other than rotation. Ultimately we need to cap the amount of minutes our first eleven players play and share those minutes around more. We'll see if those lessons will be learned by December/January.
I will say that I would rather start very strong and finish poor, rather than vice-versa, because we are less likely to be under any illusions about the work needed in he summer. If we had finished as we started, FSG would give us a pot of beans and tell us to go again. Proactivity in squad management has not been a strong point of our leadership and management, so hopefully Slot has a mandate and a budget to do what he needs in the coming months.
That said, one fair criticism is that, despite studying our campaign last season, Slot has repeated some of Klopp’s missteps. Klopp went full tilt at every competition. He did rotate, but he wasn’t willing to sacrifice any trophy. Slot was more pragmatic and willing to let go of the FA Cup, but has failed to rotate enough across the season. The approach may marginally differ, but the outcome is the same: a first eleven that looks worn out when it matters most.
In fairness to Slot, though, the fact that even Klopp made those mistakes shows just how difficult it is. Every manager, no matter how good, has blind spots and makes errors. And when you look at the level of abuse Pep and Arteta sometimes get from their own fans, it's clear that the criticism managers face is often completely out of proportion to their achievements, their ability, and what they've done for the club's.
Slot now has a tough job in the summer to liven up the first team and also the bench. He simply has to build a squad he trusts using and fully appreciate the demands of playing in the Premier League. His methods of keeping players off the injury table have worked, but there's very little that can be done to prevent cumulative mental and physical fatigue over a ridiculous football calendar other than rotation. Ultimately we need to cap the amount of minutes our first eleven players play and share those minutes around more. We'll see if those lessons will be learned by December/January.
I will say that I would rather start very strong and finish poor, rather than vice-versa, because we are less likely to be under any illusions about the work needed in he summer. If we had finished as we started, FSG would give us a pot of beans and tell us to go again. Proactivity in squad management has not been a strong point of our leadership and management, so hopefully Slot has a mandate and a budget to do what he needs in the coming months.
Is that true? @King Binny I can't find any attacking stats by area (Left, Centre, Right). It would be interesting to see. I don't feel we favour him though I do feel it goes astray more often when fed into him.
Not stats but something indicative I posted in the PL Opposition thread
Dated 26 Feb 25
Liverpool’s right-sided long passes towards Salah have become unstoppable
Liverpool’s tactic of playing long passes towards Mohamed Salah is a basic approach that follows the most important rule in football: getting the ball to the best player on the pitch.
Under Arne Slot, Liverpool have been increasingly using Salah as a direct outlet (article dated 26 Oct 24). The Egypt forward’s immaculate ability to receive long balls in the most uncomfortable situations is only bettered by his threatening runs behind the opponent’s defence.
However, that rudimentary approach is complemented by multiple solutions to get the best out of the Liverpool players, while making them harder to predict.
This season, Slot’s side have been using an up-back-through move (dated 26 Sep 24) that starts with a direct ball towards Salah, before he plays a pass backwards while a team-mate attacks the space, with the final aim of finding the third-man run.
Thanks Binny!Not stats but something indicative I posted in the PL Opposition thread
Dated 26 Feb 25
Liverpool’s right-sided long passes towards Salah have become unstoppable
Liverpool’s tactic of playing long passes towards Mohamed Salah is a basic approach that follows the most important rule in football: getting the ball to the best player on the pitch.
Under Arne Slot, Liverpool have been increasingly using Salah as a direct outlet (article dated 26 Oct 24). The Egypt forward’s immaculate ability to receive long balls in the most uncomfortable situations is only bettered by his threatening runs behind the opponent’s defence.
However, that rudimentary approach is complemented by multiple solutions to get the best out of the Liverpool players, while making them harder to predict.
This season, Slot’s side have been using an up-back-through move (dated 26 Sep 24) that starts with a direct ball towards Salah, before he plays a pass backwards while a team-mate attacks the space, with the final aim of finding the third-man run.
That info graphic was dated 19 Mar 2025 though. 😛 (When I saw Bournemouth's left, I wondered if Kerkez could be the "answer" to our attacking threat after TAA is gone.)
People are blaming coaching, players, tactics etc.... Players are leaving one important factor out. Only people in this forum knows of his power, I don't think he is aware of his capabilities. We have not won the title yet, and we get threads like "Where would you rank the 2025 LFC Champions" and "Is Slot the now the 6th best manager we’ve ever had?"..
This person has history of derailing our season with his jinxy post.
He can rectify it by posting something negative @Dreambeliever
This person has history of derailing our season with his jinxy post.
He can rectify it by posting something negative @Dreambeliever
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