Thin or really thin. Alisson kelleher jaros davies new keeper?? Trent bradley Davidson. loan stephenson Robbo, tsimikas loan scanlon and chambers Quansah konate pinnington Vvd gomez nallo, tried to buy yoro Macca endo. Will sell morton Gravenberch, jones tried to buy zubimendi Szobo, Elliott, sold.carvalho, selling clark Salah selling doak loan for gordon Jota nunez loan koumas tried to loan danns Diaz gakpo no really good lw kids. Kone Doherty. Klopp would have a 3rd string and play them Slot seems perfectly happy to have 2 per position hence my thoughts that he is going to get a shock when the full intensity of the prem hits home. Nallo and nyoni arrived last summer neither qualify for Europe as a result. We could have injuries and a thin bench ineed this year
And when you take into account Jota and Konate are injury prone and Robertson had quite a few injuries last year. Slots press conference earlier made it sound like transfers in are going to be unlikely. I think we need a CB possibly a LB, a midfielder and a forward if we are planning on letting Salah go next year would be nice to give his replacement a year to settle in.
Not that I listen to talksport (by all accounts, it's rubbish) or know anything about any of the presenters but we've had the first 'Slot won't last the season' from someone on there. I haven't listened to it, nor will I. These pundits can't help themselves can they.
Call me old fashioned, but I prefer to let someone do their job for a while before deciding whether they are any good at it. This is probably why I would be a rubbish pundit or influencer, I don't actually know what the last one is supposed to do just trying to be down with the kids!!
A lot of pundits have us down to be 3rd and imo if that's all slot delivered bar a least 32 in ucl then fsg would be well happy. For thr record I think a blind 3 legged dog should get to last 32 of the ucl this season.
It is ridiculous to judge him before a ball is kicked. I don't listen to talksport but knowing them I'm probably fine to assume that they don't know Slot's Job description and are judging based off our transfer window.
Opinion after game 1. He is his own man. That wasn't Klopp tactics. We were poor in first half and he successfully tweaked us to be good in second half. That's good. He doesn't smile. We score a goal after 60 mins and a poor first half, he acts like he is playing poker. That unnerves me a little... I wonder what the players are thinking of his cooler approach to the game... He didnt seem to have any personal rapport with any of the players, which, neither did Rafa and he won us silver, but it's stark change from what a lot of these players might be used to. He strikes me as all focus and business on the sidelines, which has its benefits but it does mean a higher chance of losing the dressing room if things did go bad at some point.
The focus on a progressive midfield is an interesting one for me. Klopp preferred a more workmanlike midfield, with the progression from deep coming through Trent. It was a risky approach that reaped rewards. Slot seems to intend to minimise that risk by introducing the deep progression into midfield, so Trent doesn't have to vacate RB as much - the cynic in me wonders if this is in preparation for Trent leaving. That approach does introduce it's own risks - in pre season we lost possession close to goal a fair bit. Although we were poor in the first half we at least didn't cough up many major chances from losing possession.
I think slot may just be showing his ruthless edge and there's no harm in it. Old loyalties are thrown out, old ways are irrelevant. If he wants near daily.l meeting amd to spend 4 hours reviewing training so he can tell people they were not putting everything into some aspect then work away. Don't be shocked that not every player responds to it. New broom sweeps the place clean but the same broom has to realise the intensity and amount of football coming and hit try too.much personnel sweeping too soon without replacing.
Honestly I like it. I like that he’s not like klopp in that way. He’s obviously just like that which is all good but also doesn’t make it look like he’s trying to be klopp (not that if he celebrated well I’d think he’s copying, just it’s a lazy comparison). He’s a different guy and I think everyone needs to stop trying to compare his football, his style, his personality to klopp. Moyes has the issue that was constantly compared to Ferguson and it can’t help the new manager. Yes he needs to earn the fans respect and love, but he also deserves to be treated in the way that any new signing does. With excitement and a clean slate. One of klopps best traits was his enthusiasm and I think that went into the team and his teams played in his mould. All heart at times. I wouldn’t say tactically klopp was up there as the best - not saying he wa a bad as he managed to change games with subs but I gathered it was more pep that did the tactical stuff? Slot seems more composed and tactical - like Rafa which means we may win games more on out thinking the opposition, but as you say when things going bad, needs to be able to up the players and get them going. We’ll go through a bad spell so will see how he deals with that
I mentioned in the match thread, there were no handshakes for players or clapping the travelling fans. We know he's not Klopp and will do things his own way, the last thing we want is him trying to replicate Klopp's fist pumps etc. Just seems strange after the exuberance we became accustomed to. First game so I'm sure we'll get used to it after a few more.
Klopp was more of a leader than a boss (though he had his ruthless moments). Slot is much more the latter, and is nowhere near as warm. Having said that, he seems reasonably involved and approachable in some of the training sessions I've seen.
Slot shouldn't try to replicate Klopp. The players would think him a phoney as would the fans. He has to be himself.
The players seem to get on fine with him. The latest training video put out by the club's official channel shows Slot instructing Trent on how to curl a ball into the goal from an 'impossible' position. Slot does it twice, no problem, Trent manages it on the third attempt. So the signs are he is a hands on coach - minus the handshakes obviously
