Of course. He has to find his confidence and aggression to impose his game. Gakponwas God awful when he arrived, desperate to show what he could do. Lashing shots from anywhere. They settle down after a while. Gravenberch looked utterly lost under klopp. But nobody seems to say hang on gravenberch was only 21 and never played by bayern so of course hes going to take time. Hes now 23 and being raved about. I can remember koeman basically treating him like dirt on his shoe. Changed his ****ing tune1 Wirtz is 22. He won't be 23 till may. Kerkez is turning 22 next week. Ffs he's 21 and being given pelters left and right. Bradley is also only 22 and only turned that in July last. They'll settle but will make some errors. The more agressive they are about imposing their gsme the better. These players can only improve once thry take their chances and don't let the game drift by. That's why I was annoyed wirtz let himself be megged in their box then stopped instead of going after it with desire. Nobody talks about ekitike but he is only turned 23 as well. These are core players for the future to build up. Some dont make it. But the ones that do imo impose thier game plan on the pitch and cannot be ignored.
The futures bright when you look at it like that. And yes, I agree - I'd have liked Wirtz to go and put that right and take your yellow!
Once they do thier thing yes. I dont mind alisson's age at all. Then theres just vvd, robertson and salah as oaps. Szoboszlai arrived at 22 was excellent, dipped last year and this year he is the best I've seen in red since prime gerrard. Imo hes better than Henderson. He has just turned 25 and is an absolute beast. If all of these players deliver thst level of improvement that would be tremendous, not all will. Gravenberch is already astoundingly good. (Not alonso good just yet mind)
Look, Wirtz has been dreadful, let's not sugar-coat it. I don't believe for one moment that he's actually this mediocre, but I'm not going to pretend that, occasional flashes apart, he evokes despair every time the ball goes near him now. And no way do I believe that both he and Macca can be accommodated in a 3-man midfield. In fact, he shouldn't be in midfield at all unless he's head of a diamond in a 4-man set-up. Better still, give him Coutinho's role as an out-and-out no 10, even if that means playing with just two strikers.
It was always going to be difficult; we’ve tried to replace half the starting 11 ffs. Let the new players earn their starting position in the system he wants to play….I’m glad that he went back to basics at the weekend, it was encouraging to see. I think that Slot was a bit slow in accepting that but he did this weekend. the new players are all of good to great quality. They’ll be fine.
Or even 33yr old Salah, who would probably be better as an impact player these days when defenders are tired.
Dreadful is harsh. Some games he’s been poor - some games he’s been decent and with a firing front line would have a few numbers in the assist column to take away some of the noise.
Let's see if Everton can get anything out of the game tonight. They have a funny relationship with Sunderland, for some reason, so could get a bit feisty.
I would have included him in there but Mo was quality on Saturday so probably deserves to keep his place
If Wirtz was the only arrival, he'd be flying in the stats department. I think he's great and a lot of people will be eating humble pie in time
It is amazing. Arsenal will drop points, probably against unlikely opposition and who knows what to expect from city although I think that will depend on Haaland's form. We just need to keep going and improving as we go, Slot realising that he needs to make incremental and not wholesale changes.
Yes, I've said from day one that there were too many changes all at once for me. I mean, it could work - but it's a massive gamble, and I hope Slot sees that it's a gamble that hasn't paid off and sticks with the tried and tested and brings the new ones in gradually to slowly take over. We bought for the future, we should let it come about naturally.
One game doesn't mean he's "realised". I think he's a very single minded determined chap that will (arrogantly?) stick to what he believes, he won't be influenced by anyone or anything.
I think Slot is 10 x more pragmatic and flexible than Klopp. Whatever happens, he needs at least three seasons now to get this blend right and oversee the next big transition away from Virgil, Mo, and Ally. I'm convinced he'll get it right. But one thing I will say with 100% confidence is this: when you buy 7 or 8 new players in one window (including Marmaduke), not all of them will cut the mustard, despite the price tag. But neither did Keita, Darwin, and Lovren, really, but they were spread out over years rather than all crammed into one window. I suspect that if one or two don't make it, that's probably no worse a failure rate than a few players spread over four or five seasons.
