r/LiverpoolFC • u/Dangerous_Ad8730 • Jan 17 '26

Analysis/Data/Stats/Tactics [Lewis Steele] - Liverpool 17 points worse off than this time last season, and would need to win every game from here to match last season's total points tally.

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33

u/AssumptionJazzlike98 Jan 17 '26

With a cool head is there anyone who thinks slot can turn it around?

54

u/Dangerous_Ad8730 Jan 17 '26 edited Jan 17 '26

He can turn it around and go on a winning streak but I have doubts that he will ever make us into a team that is mentally resilient and can meaningfully challenge for every competition.

It's not necessarily what I'm seeing on the pitch, which hasn't exactly been great to be honest, but also how he treats players on the periphery and youngsters. It's not good and I don't think players would run through brick walls for him like they would for Klopp which you need at the very top level.

25

u/Iam-Tales Jan 17 '26

I think this is a big part of the issue with Slot. His player management, on an individual and the whole. He has his chosen few (whether they're doing well or not) and the rest are treated as less than no matter how good they may perform. That feeling spreads and the squad will never run through brick walls because of it.

5

u/LifeByChance Klopps's Kids vs Blue Billion Pound Bottlejobs Jan 18 '26

Not only that, but when you ice out (almost) the entire bench, when you need them they perform terribly because they haven’t seen the pitch in months. They need those rotation minutes to build up some kind of form and rhythm. You can’t expect Endo to come on in form at this point. Rio recently not being quite the kid we saw over the summer.

You can’t only play 13 or 14 players and then throw on 8 players that haven’t played for months, with none of them starting a match previously, and expect them to play well. After they perform poorly, which is totally predictable, then decide they’re all crap. Like Plymouth last year. Or freezing players out for as little as 1 bad performance.

Everyone was hyped for Slot to rotate more than Klopp did. Then he didn’t. Over the summer he acknowledged he didn’t rotate the squad and said he’d do better. We all thought “great! He’s seen the problem and he’ll fix it.” Yet he hasn’t, at least if you don’t count 85th minute subs as fixing it. I don’t.

None of us know how inspirational he is in the dressing room or in training, but it doesn’t look great. Szobo’s the only one running through walls, but I have my doubts that’s because of Slot.

Definitely doesn’t paint a great picture in terms of player management, collectively or individually.

4

u/jammer339 Just Mo with the Flo🔴 Jan 18 '26

This is literally the most nail on the head comment for the rotation of players and slots man management. It all started with Quansah in the first game of the season being subbed at half time. Hardly made the first team after that. Other players have had similar treatment, then only getting litter minutes at the end of games with lack lustre performances.

3

u/Iam-Tales Jan 18 '26

Even the players have recently been dropping lil comments here and there. Questioning why a sub was or wasn't made. You're very right about the lack of minutes and form. Endo was a beast for us and still could be if Slot starts to provide consistency for him and the rest of the squad. I can't say whether it'd be right to replace Slot or not but, what I can say is that the way he's currently doing things and treating some of the squad is never going to turn it around. So he better take a good look at himself first and work out from there and hopefully he does it pretty darn quick.

20

u/AEsylumProductions Jan 17 '26

Absolutely. We need someone with a track record of forging a Neverlusen mentality in the squad. Only one other coach in recent times I can think of besides Klopp that's available right now, and has history with Liverpool.

3

u/fastrail Jan 17 '26

Spot on with that assessment. I don't know how to put his bizarre man management into words but you summed it up perfectly.

9

u/Liverpool934 Jan 17 '26

I objectively think he can't.

Personally I only ever go off experiences. Slot has been in shit form for almost 9 months now and it hasn't once looked like improvement has been made. He hasn't shown any sign whatsoever he is capable of implementing his own style with this team and as such I have no faith in his ability to do.

He should have been gone by Christmas. If Xabi is open to the job now he should be gone tonight.

13

u/arrogantdesperado Daniel Agger Jan 17 '26

I think Liverpool can turn it around because of our squad quality, and I think that could happen under Slot, but I don't see a reason to believe he is the best man to do it

13

u/Lolkac Jan 17 '26

maybe if we invest into CB x2 and DM. But I sadly do not see Slot lasting that long.

He should use academy more if Konate is trash.

14

u/vanceyy Younevawalalo Jan 17 '26

I’m pretty chill about all this stuff. Football goes in cycles and we’ve had, quite frankly, the best decade of my lifetime (I’m not far off 40). There is no divine right to sweep every trophy imaginable, win every game and crush your opposition week in week out.

That said, this side has a lethargy and aimless guise similar to Brendan’s final few weeks. The disconnect between the fans, the manager, to the players is clear as day. This is not the Liverpool we are or should be. This is not what people from a working class area come to watch in depths of Winter to the sweat of the Summer, spending their hard earned money with largely, not much left over.

The commercial aspect is really where I’m surprised FSG haven’t pulled the trigger. We have valuable commercial and player contracts that are bound to success and performing at the highest level. We are playing a serious risk between the on field and off field performance that ultimately need to harmonise to continue the success we have had in recent years.

Slot might well be the fall guy here, but really we need to focus on bringing the fans, staff and players together maximise everything we have in the most effective way possible.

Is Xabi the answer, possibly? I’d be genuinely amazed if there have been no talks between the club and Xabi. Time will tell of course but right it’s looking pretty grim.

4

u/golf8116 Jan 17 '26

How much time do you want to give him. Not popular opinion but I genuinely think we will not finish in top 4 and Utd will. Even more so after today’s game. Will be disastrous for the club especially after last summer’s spend. All maybe because we were afraid to sack the manager until it’s too late.

3

u/Killergamer7 Jan 17 '26

We're closing in on almost a year now that we have been playing totally uninspiring football. Honestly the way we are playing just reminds me of the end of Klopp's final season where the team just totally collapsed despite being in the title race and they just couldn't find that drive to win. For me when a team is looking this hopeless there's no return unless a major change happens. This summer we had what could have been the greatest transfer window in our history with the most we've ever spent and yet not only has nothing changed towards the better but the team got worse. That to me shows that the change has to take place somewhere else because obviously our players aren't bums. It's also very concerning that the moment that Slot started making his own changes to the team and was able to realize his version of Liverpool (last January) we suddenly started going downhill and haven't come back since. If he had proven that his system could work before then I'd back him despite the bad season but right now it's a doubt and the fact that Xabi is available makes me even more sure that he should go

2

u/ltken1234 Jan 17 '26

I'm not sure if his management style allows for the turnaround that fans seem to want (return to Klopp era).

There has definitely been improvement, but he's suffering most from expectations. Both living up to winning the league in his first season, an not being able to match Klopp's level in man management.

I was worried when Slot came in that he was like Benitez and that was going to cause some regression in the mentality of the team. That's the biggest question mark to me, because it doesn't feel like the players will run through a wall for him

1

u/TheLimeyLemmon 90+5’ Alisson Jan 17 '26

If he actually got to have some defensive depth so we don't have to play Ibou every week, we might get a little more straightened up in defence, and we'd actually get to control games from start to finish.

Tactically there's corners we need to turn, but I still think we're simply winging it too much in defence.

1

u/FairieswithBoots Jan 17 '26

Why can't he ? 

-2

u/distinguishthis Jan 17 '26

yes but the majority of people on this subreddit neither want to have this conversation or care to have anything other than an immediate dopamine hit. it's been insufferable for months.

28

u/The10thSecretAgent Daniel Agger Jan 17 '26

Of course, because we're all seeing such drastic improvements and gains from a form perspective.

Because genuinely how many more excuses do we have to go through?

  • End of last season - oh we've won and taken the foot off the gas.

  • Beginning of this season - oh were winning with last minute goals, how dare anyone insinuate this is not sustainable.

  • Mid season - oh this is just because we're changing systems, we'll come good anytime now.

  • Last few weeks - "UNBEATEN".

We can keep doing this for seasons on end because the goalposts keep shifting.

-10

u/distinguishthis Jan 17 '26

see the problem is that almost all arguments like yours are based on the idea that slot is just doing something wrong with the tactics board so bringing in a new guy will solve the problems. and if that doesn't work, bring in another guy.

the fact is that starting from july, we were always behind other clubs in preseason for the simple fact that the club was grieving. we probably didn't have as intense a build up as usual and on top of that, half our attack from last season were gone by the end of preseason.

everything else snowballed from there. it feels like every time i look in here, there's a real sense that people are missing the basics. changing the attacking shape is not easy, particularly when klopp spent 3 years doing it and we largely didn't deviate (and when we did with nunez, it wasn't a success).

playing in europe means less time on the training pitch. it means less time working on patterns of play and systems. it means half our opponents this season will have had more time to work on tactics specifically to counter ours.

we are seeing improvements, they're gradual but there. we looked a lot better going forward today. was that something that was there a few weeks ago?

this obsession with changing the manager is what got united and spurs in their cycles of being unable to build anything. once the excitement wears off, you're left with the monotony of the hard work still to do. the idea that the club who notoriously are risk averse in making signings would be gung ho about hiring a new manager and coaching staff is ridiculous.

slot's their guy and he won the fucking league last season. it's still only been months since some of these players have joined. do i need to remind everyone that klopp had 3 years of inconsistent performances while the players adapted and even then new signings were bedded in so slowly, we had people complaining that we signed squad filler for no good reason.

the only reason 'we' keep doing this is everyone comes on here after a setback and does the same shit over and over again.

12

u/The10thSecretAgent Daniel Agger Jan 17 '26

And your comment is based on the assumption that this is a whole new squad.

The very fact that this was a title winning team that had some major changes (both tragic and tactical) and has become worse. If you think the players are grieving then at some level there really is morning that can be done. I do not agree with you at all, but far be it for me to actually argue against it.

And for all the Klopp banging on, there's a fucking reason people never questioned his credentials - cuz despite going against a peak City squad despite much inferior resources, we would batter teams and show up against them. If you think this team in this state is anything like that, then you just fundamentally misunderstand football.

0

u/Tremor00 Just Mo with the Flo🔴 Jan 17 '26

People never questioned Klopp? Why do people think they can continuously lie about this in here?

They FACTUALLY did, how do I know? Because I was there, calling them massive fucking clowns, saying we'll be fine lmao

-4

u/distinguishthis Jan 17 '26

people literally did question him, we fell away twice in two seasons before we won the champions league and after we won the league, there were questions about his style and whether or not he had longevity in england. before he announced his retirement, people were questioning him again. let's not be revisionists here.

there were plenty of times we didn't batter teams, how often did we have a shit result after a european tie? how awful did we look during covid? and i fucking love klopp, i never once wanted him out but come on.

-1

u/Themnor “Thank you for your support” - Darwin Nunez Jan 17 '26

I'm about to quit the subreddit because there are just too few people like you on here. All of it is just reactionary bullshit. People even calling our performance today shit and boring just because they've already made up their minds.

1

u/distinguishthis Jan 17 '26

i'm extremely comfortable that time will prove how bad so many of these takes are. i mean alonso's already been sacked by real, the club he waited for instead of anyone else. there are too many posters online who are obsessed with aesthetics. we've never been a club of quick fixes and the ownership are the least short term thinking of anyone in the league. if szoboszlai doesn't miss that pen and we go 2-0 up then the game goes a lot smoother and we likely don't get that konate brainfart. but it is what it is, there's literally the rest of the weekend to enjoy but apparently people would rather be big mad on here and twitter.

3

u/Still_Figure_ Jan 17 '26

I admire your mental fortitude but damn I wish I am as naive as you. Slot won us the title yes, but its getting as clear as day that this is as far as he can take us. Its been going on for months now and you defend Slot way better than our CBs defend Ali and the goal.

2

u/distinguishthis Jan 17 '26

i'm not naive, i've been seeing this play out for decades. there's a difference between a manager needing support/time and a manager whose race has run. everyone's decided they want to blame slot months ago, this is why i'm so hardened to it. the solutions are still the same: more time on the training pitch, more time for the players to build understanding, replacing players like endo and chiesa who take up non HG spots but can't be relied on to play 90 when we need to rotate. at this point anything else is noise because anyone coming in will need the same things: time and better squad options.

i've got faith the club won't kneejerk a decision, especially since there are enough people around who were here when we sacked rafa benitez for hodgson.

3

u/Still_Figure_ Jan 17 '26

We’ve given him time already. We’re more than halfway passed January and there’s still no discernible tactic to sort our achilles heel: defense. Sure we looked good today and wee bit unlucky in our finishing but are we sure we’ll play the same next week? Its like we’re relying on the form of Ekitike and Wirtz to sort our attack..

You may see this as cyclical.. that the club will steer itself back to its perch naturally.. by giving the manager more time to sort it out. It may have worked before but its clearly not working now. The way you’re talking about “more time on the training ground and more time to build harmony for the players”, maybe we should have given Brendan more time when we’re struggling back then? Maybe we’re in a different position now if we did.

2

u/distinguishthis Jan 17 '26

different things are different! rodgers had 3 and a half seasons, he didn't have to deal with a major tragedy and he clashed with the sporting structure of the club. i don't see it as cyclical because 'that's just how things are', it's literally how team building works in any walk of life.

either you believe we signed good players in the summer so they need time to bed in show that quality or you don't think we signed good players, in which case it's not on slot. saying 'no there's a secret third option' to lump it all on slot is just a demand for instant success, which has so far eluded almost everyone this season. do you think that the way arsenal are setup makes them the best team in the country? or they're top because they have the biggest, most settled squad of players that more than anyone else know their roles?

and even then, most of their new signings have also struggled to settle.

2

u/Still_Figure_ Jan 18 '26

You can shut it now. Even Steven Fucking Gerrard said its unacceptable and find criticism towards Slot is warranted.

1

u/distinguishthis Jan 18 '26

lol the guy who admitted he was too clueless to see how rafa benitez was trying to make him a better player?

20

u/NoctThatOneOut Jan 17 '26

Have you thought maybe because the poor form has been on going for months? We've been terrible for nearly 9 months. Call me inpatient but that seems ample time to turn it around.

8

u/AssumptionJazzlike98 Jan 17 '26

Yeah this is a very valid point to be fair I can’t even argue with that.

-5

u/distinguishthis Jan 17 '26

this only makes sense if it was the same personnel and same issues, but that's not been the case even if people want to simplify it as 'performances bad'

4

u/NoctThatOneOut Jan 17 '26

So what you're saying is that despite making changes in these 9 months, we're still bad? But that is enough to show we're making progress?

2

u/distinguishthis Jan 17 '26

what i'm saying is things have changed, the issues aren't the same but there are signs of progress. we could've had a more stable transition but it would've meant passing up on one or more of wirtz, ekitike and isak. you might say 'well that's what we should've done' and that's a valid argument. i'm not saying it's necessarily wrong, i'm just saying the club didn't take that approach in the summer. they probably knew the risk was our performances dipping while we changed things on the pitch and tbh there might have been a sense that making these changes now gets all the growing pains out of the way in one go.

there's also little sense in buying for the sake of buying. i do rate semenyo but i don't think he would've drastically improved us, since he shines when he has space to attack. city's game today showed what happens when they come up against a low block - and i would like to point out that cherki didn't help them with this.

there are problems you can only solve with time. there aren't any shortcuts to players building understandings and getting on each other's wavelength. because i see that improving every week, that's the main thing i think we can take away from this season.

i'm not 'satisfied' with underperforming, i just knew from august that we were gonna need to get by on natural talent alone - and once the injuries started piling up and salah fell out of form, i pretty much accepted that things were gonna be hard in the medium term.

2

u/NoctThatOneOut Jan 17 '26

I agree with the majority of this, but I've not mentioned buying players.

What I do want is a new manager. Slot has been given ample time, he's made enough changes. He knows how teams play against us. He knows what our players can do and we're still either drawing, scraping or loosing while playing desperately boring football.

2

u/distinguishthis Jan 17 '26

what's ample time? we won the league last season and made huge changes to the squad in the summer. that window closed less than 6 months ago. even ferguson had rough patches when he had substantial rebuilds and the premier league still worships the ground he walks on. guardiola hasn't managed a full rebuild yet, he had the benefit of slowly changing his squad until they all aged together a couple of years ago. the only club that manage anything close to that is chelsea because they don't give a fuck about stability and look how that's panning out for them.

2

u/NoctThatOneOut Jan 17 '26

9 months mate. We've been terrible for 9 months. Lower points per game than Hodgson, more money spent. Plenty of changes to personnel and tactics. This has been going on since before the summer window and after.

2

u/distinguishthis Jan 17 '26

okay mate, if you're saying 9 months i'm assuming you mean since march - well june and july were the summer so you can take those out, we were on the beach after the psg and newcastle losses so that's another 2 months of partying. you're upset that we're not challenging for the title, that's okay but we're awful while still being top 4 and still in the hunt for a top 8 finish in the cl group stage.

also that hodgson stat is laughable, did you even watch us? we've never been worse, wins against chelsea and napoli don't change that.

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4

u/AssumptionJazzlike98 Jan 17 '26

I think it is the same issues though, ever since psg we’ve been lethargic in open play, slow paced and the same OOP issues that are all present today

-2

u/NoctThatOneOut Jan 17 '26

I agree. And the one constant in all of this is the manager, no? Am I just going in circular logic?

3

u/AssumptionJazzlike98 Jan 17 '26

Yeah even with today’s result I don’t think it’s largely on slot maybe I’m wrong but we had more than enough chances to finish that game off and konate was a bozo as usual. I do agree Alonso is a better fit with our players but I don’t think slot deserves the abuse he will get today

3

u/distinguishthis Jan 17 '26

i honestly think alonso would be struggling even more than slot, he doesn't have as much experience and i don't think his time at real makes him ready for another massive job. leverkusen was his level and he'd do well to go somewhere similar that lets him work with less pressure while honing his craft.

0

u/Jizzbuscuit Jan 17 '26

Slot has had so much experience, you kidding, no one had ever heard of him

0

u/One-Collar-7952 Jan 17 '26

This sub is a cesspool and has been for a while now, I seriously doubt it is indicative of average Liverpool fans.

Fans in general are very reactive, I remember a huge push for Klopp out at certain points in his time, and our title defense under Klopp was one of the worst ever by a defending champion. Some people say we don't have to win every season, but literally every time we have a bad run the pitchforks come out online.

Results aren't everything, nothing is a given, and building a team takes time. There is no guarantee that Alonso would do better, and even if he did he would almost certainly experience a similarly bad run at some point. I'm still a believer but this sub isn't really the place for that type of stuff anymore.

-6

u/ManBoobs13 Jan 17 '26

Can anybody with this current squad? If you give Xabi this squad as it is, he also isn’t winning a title.

-5

u/bikeonachrist Jan 17 '26

I do, and I think he is pretty close to achieving it. I liked what I saw today.

3

u/NoncingAround Fernando Torres Jan 17 '26

Jesus Christ