Yet we’re top of the league. top of the Cl Still in the LC Inagine how good we’d be if we got some good players
Never said a thing about our first 11 not being good. Salah is 66% of our goals. Vvd and konate are the heart of the defence. Gravenberch and macallister are the vital heart of midfield Szoboszlai is the core of the press We've had good back up or competition from kelleher, Bradley when allowed and gakpo. That's not a 25 man squad all competing. BTW being top is tops but winning them outright is much better. We have to keep going to deliver some trophy if we deliver one so the wctual point being discussed was nothing to do with being top now but was about blowing up and the risk is that's exactly what we might do. We have an 11 that can do the job on any given day but to do the job on 50 days is very tough. We have 3 or 4 really good subs who push their team mates hard for a spot but then the next 5 or 6 are not there. I'd love us to buy 4 for the first team and really push on but in reality its fsg so we won't.
My concern is that Slot's doing incredibly well atm but he's not risked another combination of players other than the strongest available and I'm not sure if that's sustainable over a season. Quansah and Morton need to get some minutes if they are to develop into first team players and Endo should be used more to give some players a rest.
He's not wrong though. If a player can't really be relied on then you can't use them. Slot's style is 2-0 is a good win. He doesn't get too many chances to drop in a player he doesn't really trust before the game is won so players get 5 mins here and there. The best wins we have had were Bournemouth 3-0 we could make subs on the 60th and 70th minutes but only used 3 as it was early in season Leverkusen 4-0 we made all 5 subs. However 3 of them in the 80th minute and 1 on 88. Most of our games have been relatively tight then requiring control. I really see slot has having his favorites and his system so Diaz for gakpo is routine. Full back subs seemed routine. A player like Szoboszlai is later and less often. He's not had to chase many games or make a lot of changes which is great so far. But I think running in treacle was mentioned on here and is apt. Only time will tell. You need players ready to come in at a moments notice so the only way to do that is to rotate. I suspect he will do so only when he has the players he really wants at the club
It's easy to say he's not wrong when we're winning. He's taken no risks at all yet so we don't know how the team would play with a few unforced changes. The idea with the Academy was to get the youth playing the same system as the seniors so that a player could be dropped in occasionally and we shouldn't see a noticeable drop in the overall performance. Obviously the back up players and youngsters aren't the same quality as the players they are replacing but Slot doesn't seem to want to spread the load or extend the number of players that we can rely on. He doesn't seem to have faith in several players and I think Nunez' confidence has suffered under Slot. He's bought one player so far (with injury history) who's only played a few minutes. Was he a panic buy, a 'just in case' or a poor data based choice ?
At the same time. Because of that it’s not gung ho 100mph every game so in theory players will be able to cope more with the lower tempo for 90 mins than they maybe could under Klopp. Haven’t got the stats but I know when saw Salah’s pressing he’s making less high intensity sprintd, running less overall and his presses in final 3rd are all down. Thats not because he’s not trying but because we have the ball more so isn’t chasing it down more and when we have it it’s a slower build up so needs to make less runs behind etc. Id imagine if you look at distance covered individually and as a team we’re probably down on what we were under Klopp. So 2000minutes in midfield under slot requires very difference physical demands than 2000 minutes under Klopp. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t rotate and players won’t get burnt out, but the theory is they should be able to deal with it a lot easier as we can control that final 30 mins at our tempo rather than pushing till the end
I think there was enough chiesa chatter to think someone else lined up and bought him. Like someone had thought yeah we need a salah alternative but with flexibility and oh look he's really cheap. For me klopp took several years to get his team how he wanted it and longer still to not just play the same 11 all the time. We got 2 or 3 of the pieces of the jigsaw at a time and there were players klopp didn't want to know about. Slot is a midfielder and a Dutch midfielder obsessed with a certain game so imo he's got absolutely no use for Endo who is slow and technically limited. He's no time for morton either. He will want them gone and more bought. If I were any young player like McConnell who was unlucky to be out injured when the loans were available I'd want to get away ASAP to build my career. None of them are going to get a look in unless they suit the slot style which is two 6s and none of them are 6s. Clark got a move but it was an odd move and imo a mistake to follow linders. Bajcetic needs to be very careful and if he can stay fit he should.give a preseason and see if Slot really takes him in. Any sniff he's just going to buy 2 players and I'd be off as well. Danns needs to get fit now and get his loan out in the league cos again he was unlucky with the back injury. Nyoni came in to play, not to play u21s. He got a start but now Slot doesn't seem to have much interest in giving a kid a game. He's giving nallo and nyoni as recent signings a little taste but not minutes so that's about as useful to either as an inflatable dart board. The fa cup game will tell a lot. Southampton will tell a lot. What I am sure of is that while relatively simiar, the style of play and tactics have significant differences that are going to push young players aside and a lot of first team change is inevitable (and only natural) When I look at the u21s now. Keepers all need to go on loan. We are far too stacked. No new rb there really..we got bradley. No new lb really. Chambers is on loan. Scanlon got injured so he is not prospering CB? I don't really see it. Nallo is the one I guess Cm? No none will ever make a macallister or a 6. There's a few attackers but indo8bt they will get a shot. Forwards? As I said sent on loan or stuck or far too young just yet. The youths played and won a league cup and get nobody down but you won't be seeing a break through from nowhere here. I think we will see nyoni leave as well
I'm not really expecting any of our youth to get much of a try. There's a reason Slot sold a bunch, and sent the others off to other clubs on loan or has banished them back to the youth leagues. If you're not ready now, he doesn't want to develop you. He only wants to play players he trusts. Danns, Morton, Nyoni, Bajcetic.... They're all going to be sold, if we like it or not. We're switching back to a buy talent, not develop talent philosophy. If Danns gets a game now, it's because we have a major injury crisis, and not because we're preparing him for a future in the club.
It will be interesting to see when the CL restarts in Jan if there is more rotation assuming we have enough fit players to rotate
I tend to agree. The only other reason I can think for not using or trusting the youth is that Slot wanted to make a big impact straight away before getting around to risking the younger players. We don't really know him yet.
and to be fair can you blame him? It’s easy to say oh he should have given x y z a chance. But we know football and fans. If he’d have played Bajcetic Clarke danns in 5-10 games this season and we were currrntly in 6th 7th with city well off the pace and having replaced a fan favourite in Klopp, fans would be saying slot hasn’t got what it takes and theme would be no feel good factor. Let’s be honest we wants managers to do what’s best for the club long term but you also have to appreciate that slot isn’t going to be given 8 years no matter what results happen to develop some of these 18-19 years olds and he had to get off to a decent start (he’s gone even better then that to be fair). Klopp built up so much credit that he could risk bedding the youngsters with the caveat that if didn’t get the results he was doing good for the club and no one could doubt him. Slot has to come in fresh and had no credit in the bank so can’t blame him for going strong to build that initial foundation. I think he used and developed young players as feyenoord and I assume was a key thing for the owners so it’s obviously there and we may see it in a year or two time
Apart from TAA most of the other youngsters who got starts under JK were due to injuries leaving slots to be filled thats not to say that if they performed well that they still wouldn't be considered when the established player was fit but it would normally be from the bench. Having said that he really needs to use the LC to give some game time to them and the second string first teamers both for their sake and his preferred starting eleven.
Klopp used the cups to give the youngsters their debuts. Trent, Jones, Neco Williams and Elliott all debuted in cup games. When Klopp first came he said it was a dream to see Academy players in the first team. He also said something like he'd love to have a team of scousers. He was eager to develop players. Slot hasn't come out with anything about the Academy, as far as I know, so we don't know his philosophy in that regard.
Klopp didn't have the kids at the start. The whole club has to be developed l. We are investing massively in packing youths into u18 and u21 land will expect a return or the kids won't move to us in the future. Slot brought 3 along to girona. All bought in for us. We are hiring and loans manager. We might want 50 or 100 pro games in kids as a strategy. Nobody really knows unlike with klopp who a loan might have been seen as one foot out the door
