Slot's answer on kelleher today is imo his best media comment to date. Absolutely nails the big club answer while not bussing the player.
He said the only problem is if a player said he doesn't want to play. Said kelleher always turns up ready to play and has quality. Also said alisson is no 1. The usual stuff about squad and quality and such but he's dealt with that question without hanging kelleher out to dry
Simple answer is hmmmmm. The single minded unwillingness to kill a game off is going to haunt us. The defensive side of it is fine. The shape is fine. But the active unwillingness to go for a goal is maddening. Take no risk, come back out. Play 40 yards from goal. The palace game was so so poor. I've never seen a side I'd expect to be easiy mid table so lacking in confidence. They were ripe for being put away and then putting our feet up. We ended up backs to the wall almost for a half. Far more energy expended digging in. A lot of the games are going in the same way now, the results are getting tighter as sides figure out they can take a it more of a risk as we won't go for it. I'm disappointed we shut down after 1 goal when you just have to play the same game you started with and get that 2nd goal. I used to say the same about mourinho and other managers though. (Tuchel) 1 goal is enough merchants who can point to their trophy pile
Really? Hmmm? I don't think we could really have asked for more! New manager having to follow on from a club legend, no signings (apart from one who has barely played) and we're top of the league, with 10 wins in 10 games. He's had a better start than any manager in the club's history!
Yeah, but I'm talking style and approach not results. We have seen enough games by now to see the pattern. The midfield structure is very secure, the one touch passing when the team do it well is very good. These tactical changes I totally agree with and have said for ages under klopp the balance was off. That i am saying is it's dull as dull can be watching players not trying to score or trying to walk it in then come back out and go all the way back out rather than try to beat a player etc. Most of all though what I am seeing is a certain level of adaptation to our tactics starting to happen. We will be very hard to play against structurally but teams can retain possession as long as thry pass it well and make the ball move faster than our players are willing to press. I am seeing that we will let sides stay in the game and hang on and are happy to do so now. We beat ispwich after a strong home showing for a half and a lot of adrenaline. We got the two goals. Brentford then was routine, ideal for slot I suppose. An early goal but then nothing til 70th minute so they were in the game. Then an easy win v utd by targeting casemiro. Great tactically. Then another nice easy win v Bournemouth. Ideal for us. Forest after international break. Nightmare where we would never score but they score off one single shot. Then wolves game is 0-0 and we score then give one away then get a pen. We hang on. Then we have palace where glwe get one. Fail to do anything and let them get a bit of confidence and hang on. Then we have Chelsea where we get one and sit on it again and they score and then we score. Again we had a clear tactic for them of going longer and punishing their high line. And it worked. But we hung on again. Chelsea game imo was the one that shows slots game more than the others. We should win every game against the lower half teams really. We did very well against Chelsea but again we held on while they huffed and puffed. Those subs by arsenal made no sense really. Total formation change. It'll be boring imo
There's two sides to it though. I'm a lot more comfortable watching us with a 1 goal lead than I was under Klopp last season. There's been two games where we scored quickly after conceding too so we can shift gears when we have to. Ultimately we ran out of gas last season, and that was despite having some pretty laboured games early on in the campaign - particularly in the europa league - where we were doing game management. The hope is that Slot's style gets us results but allows us to keep up the level for the whole season.
Yes the structure puts bodies in good areas. I have no issue with that at all. I didn't like pochettino or tuchel as managers are both are safety first types, same as mourinho. 1 goal will do. Get a lead and hold it stuff. I just think slot is starting to look like that's just fine by him too.
Ok. Slots been around long enough now and we've played a title contender now, so despite not winning today (and Arsenal looking the slightly better team) I feel Slots been around long enough to give a fair verdict: He's a good manager and FSG made an excellent call in signing him.
I'm at the cautiously optimistic stage. It was obvious when Klopp came in that he was a perfect fit. He embraced everything about the club from minute one. He didn't need to win the fans over, we accepted him immediately. Slot is very different which isn't a bad thing. He's had a brilliant start and is growing into the club week by week. I think in his last but one interview he said "us" for the first time, sounding like he's finally shaken Feyenoord off. I'm liking his interviews more and more and enjoying the games. Just stop the tippy tapping between the keeper and the CB's
