Flight

We didn't sack Heitinga. He left in the summer to manage Ajax. He left them by mutual agreement last month so he's available. Van Bronckhorst is probably a significant part of the problem. The players got on really well with Heitinga as well.

Wouldn't be surprised if we sacked off Van Bronckhorst and brought Heitinga back. Might even make a positive difference.

Just had to google her for my old man brain, then did a Mr Sulu.

We did this from August to November. Mo had his poorest run of form since he joined us. This run didn't start when tragedy struck in the summer, it was months before the end of last season so I'm not convinced it's down to grief. What's getting missed in this debate is we put three goals past Leeds. We didn't miss the win because Mo didn't start, we missed the win because Konate is a b******s and Slot made poor substitutions. Granted Mo or Chiesa should have come on instead of Endo.

What I think is happening : Given Edwards history with Jurgen there is no way he comes back unless transfers are a strategic decision which Hughes has the final say on. We're part way through a full rebuild of the team back to front. Over the next 12-24 months practically every senior player at the club will move on, Mo first. Hughes will be happy with discontent in the club because it's the perfect environment to move on senior pros and disrupt the player hierarchy. We're moving to 1 or 2 up front, with a traditional 10/playmaker and more width from full backs/wingbacks. Which by the way practically every big club in the world has moved to in the last year or two. This season was always going to be a write off given our transition. Given all that : 1. Hughes et al are probably surprised at how poor Slot is outside of his tactical comfort zone and how bad his man management is. Although Slot was never their plan in the medium term they'd prefer him to see out the season. Possibly more important to Hughes than CL qualification. The above issues aren't going away no matter who they bring in. 2. Some of the players need to wind their neck in. Mo is bang out of order throwing a strop and going public. Nobody has earned a place on the pitch for what they've achieved in previous season (and he's off for two months next week and still earning 400k a week from the club). His time at the club is over and Hughes will be happy to sell in Jan if possible.

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Kerkez biggest strength is getting down the wing and putting crosses in - and he puts a good ball in. He's overlapping time and time again. Another one of the mysteries at the moment is why Gakpo refuses to pass to him every single time he does it. Kerkez bombs past him into loads of space and Gakpo will every single time try to get some space and shoot and if he can't get a shot of he's squaring it into the middle. It's part of why Kerkez isn't seen to be being more effective. Chiesa is one of the hardest working most skillful players in the squad. How he's not getting a game ahead of Gakpo is just bizarre. Anyway, the main thing is Isak and to a lesser extent Ekitike need balls into the box and I believe Kerkez and Frimpong were both bought to do that.

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The players we bought last summer aren't suitable for 4 3 3. We bought wingbacks, forwards who need service from wingbacks and Wirtz. One or two up front and Kerkez and Frimpong bombing down the wing. That's almost certainly where we're heading. That we're in such a big transition tactically is one of the problems we've had since summer. I'm fully onboard the Ancelotti wagon, but obv he isn't available until after summer.

Is his book out yet about how he transformed Man City ?

Gakpo for Endo ??? Closing up shop and inviting them on while we were on top ? And no reason why Ekitike had to come off. He's had plenty of rest.

Abysmal game from the manager. Subs and tactics shockingly bad. f*** off trying to close the game down.

Sozaboj !!!!!!

Something to think about. Load of young lads in the Sunderland team came to our gaff for the first time. Slot pretty much played for a 0-0. One of our two forwards spent large portions of the match near left back even when the ball was in the opposition half. They've gone away wondering what all the fuss is about Anfield.

I haven't heard any of the players big up the manager. Have I missed it happening ? I have heard that the players don't feel they are being coached adequately. Can't remember if that's just hearsay.

Mentality doesn't explain our poor tactics. Home against a team as poor as Sunderland, the ball is in their half and one of our two forwards is no further forward than our box covering left back. A lot of it is down to grief though. We were playing quite well for the first 20. When the crowd started chanting our heads went down and Sunderland came into the game. A graphic came up on the telly box showing the first 20 was all us then it was mostly them for a good while. I reckon Slot is homesick for his wife and kids. It's possible he doesn't want to be here - doesn't seem like he does. Van Bronckhurst isn't up to the job. Mag to grid.

So if it's true that Hughes is overruling the manager in transfers - and we probably expected that given Edwards appointment and their history with Jurgen - then one of two things is true about this last summers transfer business : 1. Edwards and Hughes are idiots and know nothing about football tactics; 2. It was the first part of a major rebuild towards a new formation and this season Hughes/Edwards decided to put up with an unbalanced squad. I suspect the second is true. Most of the big spending teams have moved to two defensive midfielders (we aren't even playing one). City, Real, Arsenal, Chelsea are all playing 4 2 3 1 / 3 4 1 2 with 2 CDMs. PSG are playing 4 3 3 but they still play with 2 capable DCMs (Zaire Emery and Neves) and their full backs switch from full back to wingback and are very attacking minded (Hakimi and Mendes) - very Frimpong like. Up to now I've been thinking the summer was a stinker because we didn't buy players that suited our system, when maybe we should be thinking what system do we need to move to. Alongside that we've had dreadful injuries, the players on the pitch are underperforming and their attitude stinks. They need to get over this Billy Big b******s attitude. f*** the coffee bar off where Konate seems to be the daddy and introduce some discipline. Slot has shown he has neither the tactical nouse we need or the balls to sort the players out. Short term we need to change managers to stop the season spiralling downwards. There's an obvious person who is just what we need in the interim. Expect more big buys, big names leaving and a new playing system moving forward. Maybe Hughes does know what he's doing and we just need to suck it up this term.

If we get a new manager in now who is our back four, considering from Wednesday we've got 6 games in 17 days ?

I'm not sure this can be turned around with the squad we have. Robbo is the only reliable full back we have and he's 32 soon. Konate is a joke with his head in Madrid. We don't have a number 6. We need to adjust tactics and shore up the back. I don't know if we have the players to do it and I don't know if Slot has the tactics and nous in his locker. Summer transfer business was terrible.

In Jurgens last season City and Arsenal got 91 points and 89 points. Last term City got 71 and Arsenal got 74. We scored and conceded exactly the same number of goals both seasons and got two points more. I'm not sure we were better last season than Jurgens last.

Gravenberch has been superb and a key part of winning the league last year, but he is not a traditional 6. There were games last year and more so this year when we needed more defensively in that area. Tactics have caught up with where we have been. It's time to move on from our 4 3 3, especially to build around Wirtz. City have been playing 3 2 4 1. I don't know where we need to be but we spent over £400mill on players that don't suit the system we've been playing. Jury is out on whether Slot can take us where we need to be - of course we stand by him while he does his best. Has he played other formations with other teams in the past ?

It depends who has identified what the team needed. Who made the call on what and who we needed. Half the money we spent was on Ekitike then Isak. Bad decision unless we're planning on switching to two up front. While the defence was spent, Mo is nearly 34 and off to the ANC in a few weeks for two months and we've needed centre backs for years. Massively bad call to let Konate stay into his last season. Sell him or bin him if he didn't sign should have been the call. And criminal to not bring Guehi in. Mad IMO to let Diaz and Nunez leave on top of the tragedy of Jota. Every player we brought in was signed for what they can add to the attack, without a thought to how they fit into the existing team and play style, let alone how they can defend and press. Hughes and whoever made the big calls has a lot to answer for, whether it's the manager or whoever else. We spent a fortune and got a lot wrong.

Wirtz in the hole behind a front two is the way. We might see this when Mo goes off to the ANC next month.

Last night's performance and result should be ignored. The first teams problems haven't been progressive play or attacking, it's been that the defence keeps folding/f***ing up. Huge mistake to not move Konate on and bring in Guehi. Mamardashvili is looking ordinary. Our full backs are at best mediocre right now. The biggest thing is we still don't have a defensive midfielder. On top of that we are very short on leaders all over the pitch. Summer recruitment was naive at best. Every player was brought in for what they could bring to attack, while defensive contribution and leadership potential were ignored. Wrong time to bring any new manager in right now. The squad is too unbalanced. Give Slot a couple of months. Drop Mo - he's off soon for two months anyway (ANC is early this year). Verging on Champ Man but I'd switch to 4 3 1 2, Wirtz as a 10, Curtis, MacAllister and Sozaboj as the three to help cover the defence . Ekitike and Isak up front, with Gakpo deputizing for Isak. Even then we need Virge and Konate to discover some form.

I could be wrong here, but doesn't this suggest that evidence proved their wrongdoing a fair while ago and all Boehly has done is say there is historical financial deals that haven't been documented ie they already had the club bang to rights and Boehly has just tried to get ahead of it. From what I'd seen in the media I assumed Boehly had been key into bringing things into the light and starting the discovery process but the investigation has been going on for years. Seems like a lot of spin in the media trying to put the new ownership into a positive light.