goodrobotusses

I mean, yeah. After Otte, I think he's the second club coaching hire who arrived at the same time as Slot but not as part of Slot's original coaching staff. Presumably a Hughes/Edwards find. Not great, Bob.

You're gonna make his pelvis tremble?

The bits after “neither was Rafa” are supposed to reflect the fact there was a cult of personality around him despite his not being particular charismatic haha

Yeah, Hulshoff is Slot’s right-hand man. Makes shouts that it’s all down to Heitinga going seem dafter. When the time comes I think the feeling around Slot will be quite unanimous because there isn’t such a cult of personality around him. He’s just not the type who inspires that sort of thing IMO. Although neither was Rafa, but we were desperate for success then, a bit less spoiled, and he gave the impression of having all the answers. On your last point, do you mean Rafa/Hodge? Shouldn’t have even taken four months. Catastrophic decision from that prick Purslow.

Not sure if it was Pearce that mentioned it, that Slot relies more on VvD and Robbo as direct go-betweens. Did make me wonder about Mac Allister and Salah’s form. Won’t be the main thing, or at least it shouldn’t be because they’re professionals, but Salah talking about broken promises and the like suggests there was at least some disquiet for some reason or other. Though maybe he thought he was getting the vice-captaincy. Ah, ignore last post. Thought Mac Allister was part of the group, not Gakpo.

I really hate this reversion. I'm sure it makes logical, tactical sense to exploit these opportunities, but we were really spoiled by the football that came after Guardiola took over at Barca. Really hope this direct stuff is only temporary and teams figure out how to nullify it.

Like clockwork. And it always comes just before they fall away.

Also seems a bit like leaking "LFC are interested in Kvaratskhelia" when PSG had the deal pretty much wrapped up.

I would take him, and reckon he will want to try his hand in the PL. Not much more to do at PSG. But I think City will be probably taking to him already, they'd be mad not to be.

I'm more than happy to talk negatively about the manager and our performances, starting with the tepid first halves, the overall bloodless football with full-backs stationed narrow and deep and only passing back to the CBs, the unwillingness to use squad players he doesn't trust 100%, the fact there seems to be almost no pathway to the first team for academy players compared with how things were under Klopp… Those were my criticisms last season, when we won the league. Things have obviously gotten a lot worse since then. Yet I'm willing to entertain the possibility that what happened in the first half of this season might not be terminal, that shouts such as "literally anyone would do a better job" are patent nonsense, that winning unconvincingly to get out of a rut of defeats is acceptable, and that the forum having a meltdown during and after those wins is just a bit weird when we're no longer losing and climbing the table. Not saying results can't or won't collapse again, only that it often reads as if we were still losing games, when we're not. But yeah, I'm as guilty of exaggerations as anyone, that's true. Maybe that's my natural response to perceived OTT reactions in the other direction, even if I also think we're not playing well and need to improve drastically.

What a weirdo. Not you, Hass.

Also not sure, as I also don't think this football is sustainable long term. But I think if performances tick up in the last months of the season and we don't have another collapse in results, he'll still be here next season. I actually think we'll finish third this season still, just a question of whether the football improves because we can't stay in firefighting mode forever. I think the big X factor moving towards summer is the potential availability of Alonso. I can see a world in which Slot achieves top four but the club lets him go to secure Alonso, as unlikely as that sounds.

How long would you be willing to wait for that if we continue only to grind out results?

I'd take 14.

I was only half joking the other day when I said the language of the internet is only in superlatives, but have seen some cracking examples since yesterday. The best examples ever, in fact.

It was weird how apocalyptic this place was after that game. Almost as if people are worried Slot will get us into the CL places and keep his job, and that that's the real problem because nearly everyone has already made up their mind that he has to go no matter what.

Macster Blaster! He hit the post, and then Villa lost 2-0. He’s defo English football’s flavour of the month and you can’t convince me otherwise, unless of course we sign him. Then he’ll be the second City academy graduate I was against signing in large part because he has a s***e goal celebration, and in fairness the first turned out pretty good.

Need to replace the coaching staff with Heitinga, Buvac, Ayesteran and Bergues. We’d be unstoppable no matter who the head coach were. We already started the process by getting Xavi Valero back to replace the mope who replaced that bigger mope Achterberg.

Two points per game on average should be our minimum target until the end of the season. We achieve that in the last 20 games and we'll finish on 72 points, which should be enough for CL qualification. Annoying to be thinking in these terms as current champions, but needs must.

I reckon they’ll finish fourth, but mostly on account of Chelsea’s legs falling off post-CWC.

I reckon they still have it in them to s*** the bed.

39 points?

Need to lose a few on the spin so we can jettison Slot and end the needless suffering on this forum. Heartbreaking to see this time of year.

The whole team generally looks unfit. The combination of a disrupted preseason, late incomings and poorer bench options compared with last season has us trying and failing to manage our load within games. We had plenty of turgid first halves last season, but I don't remember any second halves as bad as the ones we've been seeing this season. It's like we can play passively in the first half and maybe we can then rally in the second, or we can play with a bit of intensity in the first but then collapse physically in the second. Once the forwards run out of steam, we become very easy to play through, and there's not much on the bench to rectify it. Just need to keep results coming at this stage and maybe they can play themselves into some kind of rhythm as the season progresses.

If Semenyo goes next month could Bournemouth find themselves in a relegation scrap? They seem to be sinking like a stone.