goodrobotusses

His car was hit and dragged by a train at a level crossing. Horrible.

Defo needs to learn how to play on a cabbage patch while smoking 40 a day.

I think it’s worth reading through even if it’s a bit jargony because it does explain a lot: why we’re so passive and have no intensity late in games, why Frimpong has gone from an ever present to having hamstrings made of cheese, why they always seem to be on bloody holiday and the consequences of that, why our subs and backups hardly get a game and play badly when they do compared with how we rotated under Klopp, why the likes of Chiesa and Isak have never really gotten up to speed. Klopp’s methods saw a lot of players burned out by 30 but Slot’s have just killed us on the pitch, in the PL especially, and have led to injury problems of a different kind. The more this season has gone on the more I’ve come to the conclusion that in the first half of last season they were still working off the fitness base they’d had from the Klopp era, and that has eroded with time. I think if we go into next season with Slot we’ll see most of the same issues because his training methods are fine as a dominant team in the Eredivisie, but they’ll get you killed in the PL. P.S. @smithdown my Rangers supporting mate said the same thing happened after Van Bronckhorst’s first season when he got a pre-season for the first time.

Guarantee you we'll go into next season with Gakpo as our backup No9 until Ekitike's return. Written in Michael Edwards' stars.

All of Gordon's appearances against us in recent times suggest that lad is not stable. Can't be arsed with him tbh.

I agree. If he's happy to come as a squad player, he'd be a decent option to have around on a free.

Is the last link this? Really interesting if so. Thanks for sharing.

And in the bit about Slot himself, he comes more across as, in the best circumstances, they would like to keep Slot, but things can change between now and the end of the season and results will be the deciding factor. My interpretation at least. Think it's all a dance. They're not going to make it publicly known he's even potentially for the chop when they aren't doing it mid-season (for whatever reason and whether anyone agrees with it or not), so it's all a holding pattern until the end of the season.

Was just listening to Ornstein on that Athletic podcast and he trotted out the same "according to my information" and "what the club is currently saying" about Eddie Howe and Newcastle.

He always says "according to our information", as in "all they've told me so far is the same thing". That information could be an email from October or just whichever club source flogging the party line like a dead horse. And that line can change anytime, probably towards the end of May. Aye, this.

I don't think they will do. Don't see him staying beyond the end of the season, no matter what they tell journalists.

Looked lost in the first half frenzy, which is an issue if we ever want to play quick transition-based football.

Looks terrified every time he gets the ball into feet. Looks like he has been told just to get rid as a consequence of that.

Don't think missing out on Guehi is that big a deal, assuming they see Jacquet as potentially elite. Signing Guehi is like getting Gary Cahill. Solid pro for the squad but not a game-changer (not that every signing has to be one of those).

I think if Konate re-signs, we'll be okay with VvD, him, Jacquet (assuming he's good) and Leoni (assuming he's recovered), but I'd like us to have a full-back option who can also play centre-back. Basically a like-for-like replacement for Gomez, whose injury-proneness means he can't be relied upon when you need him to play, no matter how good he is when fit. Could be someone like Geertruida or someone else entirely, but I'd feel more comfortable with another defender to cover multiple spots. Having back-up full-backs who can't cover another position or the other side as a full-back is a bit redundant when you have a definitive first choice.

Lallana defo much better in small spaces. Szobo is at his best with open grass to run into. In tight spaces he still has the tendency to give the ball away with daft flicks and blind passes or at best pass it backwards, although he has improved in this area from last season. I loved that Lallana, Gini and Hendo midfield. We were probably too open with it but so much fun to watch.

Of course, but if the trend line is going up that’s a good sign. Can see him being on a par with someone like Valverde. But he needs to cut the occasional nonsense out of his game and stop acting like a b*****d.

Wasn’t sure about Szobo until this season but he’s shown he might have it in him to become a top level player. But someone needs to cuff him round the ear and tell him to get his head straight because he’s showing signs of believing his own hype. He’s not a great player yet, he only could be.

Transition is a real thing, not denying that, but usually positive outlines of what is to come are mixed in with a bit of inconsistency and errors. We’ve been consistently s*** all season, barring the odd game against pliant or out of form opponents. The “give me time” argument only works if you get the sense that, over time, things have been improving and will continue to improve. But we’ve been getting worse as the season has gone on, apart from an “unbeaten run” in which we ceased trying to play football, which everyone admitted wasn’t Slot’s long term vision. Sorry, but in Klopp’s worse seasons he had found a way to play well and win by the spring. Even Rodgers found an uptick for a spell in his last full season. We’re spiralling under Slot.

When he can dive full stretch he has made some great saves, just not sure he’s saved anything when he is required to bend his arms because the ball is closer to his body. Jury’s out, so having him potentially replace Ali this summer is a big risk. If Ali stays another year, Mama can still expect to get games, so I’d rather we do that and see if he kicks on in a (hopefully) more coherent team.

That’s out of context. In the full quote Konate is saying the manager has to come up with a plan to turn the tie around, it’s not a criticism or anything.

Yeah, bit of a rewriting of history going on here. Judgment is still out on Hughes, and Edwards’ second tenure, from my point of view. Think I’ll have a better idea come the end of summer though.

Another bloody-minded winner gone or going from the dressing room. Hendo, Milner, Mane, Salah, Robbo… there’s more to these players than their ability alone, and that thing cannot be measured by a statistical profile when you’re replacing them.

His insistence that his teams play attacking football has been nonsense from minute one. At our best last season we only played exciting attacking football in bursts. The rest of the time it was mostly passing between FB and CB. I mean, it’s fine to play that way. No rules against it. But Slot talks a bigger game than he plays, probably even as far back as his goading Mourinho when Feyenoord played Roma.

Been saying for months: If the plan was to be like PSG, as was widely briefed, we had no business signing Florian Wirtz because they don’t have anyone like him in midfield or attack.