Arne Slot sack inevitable as he has ‘no idea how to fix Liverpool issues’ | OneFootball

Liverpool fans either think Arne Slot has to be sacked or believe that the Reds have been incredibly unlucky. Where do you sit?

Let’s get through this international break together; send your views on any subject to theeditor@football365.com

Why Liverpool should sack Arne Slot

Whether or not I like Arne Slot, I think his time is numbered anyway.

Not because since winning a title he’s almost lost more games than he’s won.

Not because in his press conferences he basically says every team has better tactics and he doesn’t know how to combat it.

Not because he’s the exact opposite of inspirational.

But because the owners gave him all the players he wanted (bar Guehi) to play the way he wanted (a system of carrying the ball across defensive lines and using short passing – every player bought is built for that style) and he is failing to succeed with his own tactics and system.

He can’t get a tune out of literally any of the players bought for him and the only decent performances we’ve had have been when he reverted back to Klopp-style tactics and Klopp players. And that’s if we ignore that the decent performances came against teams who played into our hands.

Your job as a manager is to solve problems and win. Pep does it. Klopp did it. Fergie did it. Arteta does it mostly as well. Slot has failed to solve any of this season’s problems and instead blames the other teams, fitness, long balls, throw ins…actually he blames everything except his own tactics. Which are 100% the reason for our poor performances.

Also when you spend £400m you should not be meekly surrendering any competition.

If I were the owners I’d be looking at the ejector seat button because he seems to have no idea how to fix the issues – and that’s a problem for a team wanting trophies. Lee

Peddling the Liverpool transition season narrative

Obviously gutted by the City result but the better team won, which is easier to take than a smash and grab.

It’s still fairly early days, but barring some madness from City or Arsenal they’ll be battling for the title.

It was always a transition season for us, not helped by reinforcing an attack that was decent enough at the expense of covering the obvious gap at centre back.

The Guehi transfer failed due to unforeseen circumstances and injuries haven’t helped, but there’s no way we should look so disorganised with the money spent, or because of it.

Things could always get better with Wirtz coming into form and Isak finding fitness but top 5 and a decent cup run is the height of my expectations.

Which was the same as the start of the season…and even after being lucky fkrs in the first five games.

Anyways, it’s only a game [I tell myself while a single tear falls down my cheek]. Aidan, Lfc (IATA)

Liverpool bad but also unlucky

For what it’s worth, I agree with the tsunami of opinion that Liverpool were bobbins on Sunday and to have taken anything from that game would have been a travesty of Joe Marler/Traitor proportions. But a quick recap of the game shows how desperately unlucky Liverpool actually were:

“Penalty” was extremely soft – VAR given after City had also had at least two attempts on goal directly afterwards – what happened to playing advantage or has that disappeared?

Haaland’s goal – he knew absolutely nothing about it, Konate (having a ‘mare) flicked it straight into his coupon.

Virgil’s “goal” – Lino took 13 seconds to decide it was offside. VAR didn’t interfere with that, which begs question if they would have done anything if the goal had been given. All of which makes me wonder A: if a Lino standing quite a fair distance from the goal is a better arbiter than either the Ref or the VAR – in which case: what is the point of Lino’s anyway?

Second City goal –  a massive deflection off Virgil.

Second half and the same City player spoons the ball over his own bar from the six yard box, had no idea where it was going, got desperately lucky.

Minutes later Gakpo misses an open goal.

Then Doku scores an absolute worldie – deserved it, but nevertheless he probably wouldn’t be able to do that again..

So in conclusion, Liverpool: abject but also unlucky. Dan (and Orient got hammered too, great weekend) London

Liverpool lost and so did fairness

I’ve read your 16 Conclusions from the City Liverpool match, and honestly, I don’t know what’s got my back up the most – either the refereeing, or the way so many people in football, including your writers, are normalising it, – the refereeing, once again was a shambles.

The first utter stupidness was the penalty, the ref had a perfect view, saw the (non) coming together, and waved play on, nobody thought it was a penalty. But sat miles away in a booth, Michael Oliver decided that the on-field ref had made a “clear and obvious error”. Clear and obvious? It was soft, subjective, and barely even appealed for, it was the kind of incident VAR was never meant to intervene on. What was clear and obvious was Doku’s assault on MacAllister season before last.

But thankfully, we have a big Georgian in the stick and he served justice when he saved the pen, but that’s not the point is it? Oliver on his VAR throne had already made his mark, undermining the referee, shifting the momentum, and once again tilting a tight game in City’s favour.

Then came the Van Dijk goal. The referee on the pitch gave it as a goal and was absolutely correct. Virgil wins the header, the ball’s in the net, and Liverpool are level, but oh shit we have Oliver, again from his little booth, spotted something nobody else did. He judged that Andy Robertson, standing several yards away from the goalkeeper and not blocking his view or making any attempt to play the ball, was “interfering with play.”

That’s what apparently qualifies as “clear and obvious” now for Oliver, a full-back existing in the penalty area. Robertson wasn’t in the keeper’s line of sight, didn’t touch it, didn’t make a run at it. Yet somehow, Oliver decided that his mere presence was enough to overturn a legitimate goal. It’s laughable if it wasn’t so infuriating. – almost as infuriating as the FA and Premier League not noticing his yearly excursion at the behest of the city sportswashing group – £20k to ref one game hhhhhmmmmmm, not at all suspect, nothing to see here, move on!

And the thing is how can these be honest mistakes? They’re patterns and these patterns always seem to favour the same team, you know the ones who have Oliver on their payroll, shit no sorry its nothing do with City, its Monsour’s brothers wife’s dogs owners sisters company so all good! The interpretation of “clear and obvious” has been warped beyond recognition, and VAR has become a safety net for bad (corrupt) officiating. It doesn’t fix errors; it creates new ones.

(The problem with all this is that it was not VAR who disallowed that goal; it was the assistant referee Stuart Burt. What VAR did was not overturn that decision because it was not a ‘clear and obvious error’ – Ed)

Then here we are, when fans dare to call this out, we get complete jokers like Gary Neville mocking the fans and more rounded coverage which will be coming in the next few days live on air, even though after the replay of the disallowed goal had been shown, Neville was still sneering that “Liverpool fans will be whinging about this all week” and then saying they have nothing to whinge about!, this is a joke, predicting fan behaviour in advance and mocking this behaviour which hadn’t even happened yet! Is that his job now? I pay over £160 a month for Sky, and instead of analysis I get provocation.

He then admitted the goal should have stood, please step back and think about that for one moment, this guy literally accused a fanbase of whinging after confirming that the call wasn’t even correct! That’s not insight, that’s contempt and if neutrality matters, then he shouldn’t be anywhere near Liverpool games. Broadcasters shouldn’t also allow a Liverpool legend to call United matches with that level of disdain, and I do think both he and Carragher should be fired off punditry and just have their own podcast, although at least Carragher does offer good tactical insight on games.

And then, when the dust settles, we get Football365’s “16 Conclusions”, where you mention the “iffy” calls in passing, then go straight back to talking about Liverpool’s lack of control, City’s dominance, and the “inevitability” of their performance, Jesus wept you even wrote that you “struggled to accept” the disallowed goal, then treated it like a footnote. How can a disallowed equaliser, in a match decided by fine margins, be reduced to a sentence in conclusion number 10 – once again joke!

Meanwhile, Manchester City continue to benefit from the kind of leniency nobody else gets, both on the pitch and especially and more crushingly off it, this is a club still facing over 130 alleged financial rule breaches, yet they play with impunity, win with impunity, and are talked about as a “model organisation.” Meanwhile clubs like Everton and Forest (much bigger clubs before the sportswashing begun) get hammered instantly for minor accounting breaches, but with City it drags on for years while they keep sweeping up trophies.

What also gets right on my tilts is the absolute lack of self-awareness shown each and every week by City fans, they have no humility and just think they’re the bestest ever, but before the sportswashing, they were a proud local club, respected, even liked but now they sneer at anyone who questions the legitimacy of their empire and act like success is purely merit-based, as if it’s all down to Pep’s “genius” rather than a decade and a half of state-backed spending that’s distorted the entire market.

And listen I’m really cheesed off with the game yesterday, Liverppol were bad, but we could have gained some momentum at 1-1, and as far as the game goes you can call me salty, that’s fine.

But when talking about the City Group it’s not jealousy, it’s fatigue and the exhaustion of watching the same pattern repeat, City dominate possession, VAR protects them, referees crumble under pressure, pundits pander to them, and fans of every other club are told to stop moaning.

Football is supposed to be about competition, not compliance, but right now, it feels like the sport is governed by double standards, such as officiating that favours the powerful, a league that turns a blind eye, and pundits who mock the paying public.

If Football365 still wants to be the voice of fans rather than the echo of broadcasters, then stop skirting around it. Stop writing 16 paragraphs of half-hearted “analysis” while the credibility of the league falls apart in plain sight. The issue isn’t just that Liverpool lost, it’s that fairness lost. Again.

Thanks. Lee, formerly of Blue

Where’s Salty Minty on Liverpool?

I see Minty bottled writing in after the Liverpool game…

His hilarious Arsenal email just shows how rattled Liverpool fans are right now. Genuinely amongst the worst fans of PL clubs.

No doubt there will be twists and turns to come. The season has only just started.

Much love Simon Cochrane (thanks for the Stewie warning)

Taking issue with Stewie on Arsenal

Arteta literally won at Real Madrid’s ground this year, so to say he can never get a win at a big away game is just factually false. He’s literally won at the ground of the world’s biggest team.

This is almost as foolish as your take before the start of the 22/23 season that Spurs would challenge for the title with Conte and finish above Arsenal 😂

Or using 22/23 Dortumund as an example of a team with bottle (a team that Arsenal should aspire to) just before they drew their final game of the season at home to Mainz and lost the title 😂

Or when you used to say early in the 23/24 season that Havertz had no G/A against big sides even though he literally assisted the winner against City in the home game, which was very early on in the season.

If you’re gonna troll and rant, at least be factual. Izzy (pessimistic Arsenal fan, who thinks City may win it)

…I am the Anti-Griffin sent from all Arsenal managers past and especially present to retort the ramblings of the oh so edgy SG. The poor sod tries to be but would probably achieve greater edginess with all non arsenal supporters if he calmed the roids on the emoji’s and American political statements (thats getting really confusing) – but as I suspect this is not the original and real Stu Griffin – this is likely a 12 year old troll – judging by the standard of comments in the diatribes produced under that moniker in the last couple of years. The change happened about the same time as covid so can only assume the real Stu either expired due to that or went bonkers as many of us did!

To answer his ramblings and attempt to educate the poor sod on what he actually thinks he knows about – SIGH!:

Why all the American political language – could you just talk in legible terms about the actual game and the football played as your whole mail is drivel.

No one rational believes in conspiracies apart from the people who talk about them constantly… oh…. that’s you – now I understand the weird bent of shape stuff – why are you obsessed by Republican MAGA infiltration into The Arsenal hierarchy as a theory – you do go on ABOUT it lots??? But to what aim poor stewie – we are but a football club – oh I see you thought we were an American political party and not a football team – of course – easy mistake to make – I can see from your writing that you are used to making many of them….

Yes Stu – man gets asked a question – man answers question – so convenient for you to formulate your opinions but leave half the equation of the conclusion out?

Please come back to the football Mr Griffin – focus – yes injuries are part of the game and it grinds when they happen due to the time scales involved, the effect on other dependent factors with in the ‘football’ team (any football team) – and yes we all complain about them and yes it can/will have an effect on the outcomes – but thanks for clearing that up Stu – another pointless point.

Ah so you mention another team that plays football and you are on literal first name terms with their manager – does he call you Stu or Stewart – or does he call the police?

How big are your Crystal Balls Stu – do you actually see the future – any chance of some lottery numbers instead of the weird coaching session you dive off into in this para – Arteta – held in the highest esteem by his PEERS – so you now think you are on his level of coaching – delusional at best and embarrassing – you couldn’t wipe his arse! (PUN INTENDED)

You are not one of his PEERS and frankly you sound worse than the worst years of AFC TV – you must have run that as you would fit right in – in fact we should all start reviewing their videos to see if we can spot Stu.

The rest just warbles on – it’s so boring and really odd the way you close your own circle – and could you please explain the Ashtray comment as no one gets it and to persist with a presumed joke that no one else gets is exactly what it sounds like…. Mikel Wenger (the Anti Stewart Griffin – vowed to slay the warbling nonsensical bore fest one stinking mail at a time – or until F365 stops using him as a Troll – also fully expecting not to get posted as have sent retorts to this Stewart person several times but never get posted)

Howe will it get better for Newcastle United?

Another weekend away, another loss. If the hope was from Eddie Howe and co that ‘easier’ Champions League games midweek would inspire better performances away he now has two concrete examples after the Benfica and Athletic games that this doesn’t work. Has to be time to try something else.

I’m not saying ‘Howe Out’ – if there was a body of evidence to say he couldn’t turn this around I might, and no doubt he’s under some pressure in the media but not so much from the fans, but we are still winning at home, going well in the Champions League and have a home tie in the next round of the League Cup. But something has to change either formation or personnel wise, or both, to snap out of these turgid performances. We’ve not even been great at home. Our best performance of the season came against Liverpool and we lost.

We have to see that Burn at left back is an obvious target for any winger with a modicum of pace. I love the guy, I would have him ahead of Botman at centre back right now, but we’re asking to be targeted if he’s at full back. He’ll have a one match ban after yesterday and thank goodness Hall is back, but we need another left back in January if there is Isak money left as Hall is too unreliable fitness wise.

The midfield seems shot to pieces. When I wrote in last week I said Away Bruno is like a whole other player, an imposter who drugs and conceals the real Bruno before they board the coach/flight to wherever the next away game is. Yesterday was the same. One moment summed it up in the 2nd half – Bruno had passing options left and right on the edge of Brentford’s box, he slowed play up, dawdled and lost the ball easily, I think that might have been the start of the move which ended up with Burn sent off and the penalty given away. He wouldn’t hesitate like that at home, so why away?

Woltemade – there is such a good player there but we are not playing him in a way that works. The Harry Kane comparisons are rubbish IMO – Big Nick is more skillful in tight areas and is all about one touch passes or flicks to those around him, whereas Kane has better range and vison across the pitch and is deadly around the box too. Woltemade needs to either be the deeper forward in a two up front, or have much narrower wide forwards ahead of him coming central. We have those players – we have oodles of pace, but so often the ball comes central then wide and there’s no-one in behind nor in the box early enough. Then we see this tedious passing from side-to-side without any incision, it’s easy to defend and teams are happy for us to have the ball.

I know we are lacking another centre forward right now but we have other players who could be the pace up top alongside Big Nick – a 4231 with Nick as the 10 with Gordon/Elanga/Barnes/Murphy/Osula ahead and wide of him would look quite tasty in theory. Ramsey and Willock can also play wide. We have energetic and strong midfielders who can be that double pivot protecting the back four and breaking ahead when possible. We have good full backs (when all fit) who offer width. We also have, on paper at least, strength in depth to rotate those positions.

At the moment Howe’s preferred 433 has nothing to offer in attack and isn’t really offering much by way of defending either, and we’re playing the same bodies like we did the last time we were playing in the Champions League, and wondering why they are leggy.

All very easy for me to say having played a lot of FM over the decades but if Howe buries his head in the sand and thinks repeating the same line-up and style of play will come good eventually the evidence isn’t there.

Last thought – if the pattern under Howe is one season on fire followed by an exhausted slog of a season where we go back to square one, and I am genuinely concerned that it is, it may be time to consider if he is the coach to take us from also rans to consistent qualifiers in the top 6/7. I fear the run after the international break until January will tell us. James, Leeds

Stirrings of life at London Road

Results and performances were not great; the chairman made a decision and Darren Ferguson left the club. He has been synonymous with the Posh for a long time and (relatively speaking) oversaw much success. I know the EFL Trophy won’t register with most people but continuing a record of never having lost at Wembley is huge for a club like Peterborough United.

What has just happened is the very definition of a new manager bounce. A 1-0 win in the FA Cup was a good start for Luke Williams, but the next league match looked like a real harbinger of what’s to come. A 5-0 win at home is welcome at any time but the performance was excellent. The body language of the players was way more positive, the passing more crisp and incisive and the finishing more clinical. Williams seems to have communicated his ideas clearly and the players seem to be on board.

I’m not predicting a play off push or anything, but if performances continue at that level, any relegation fears will soon dissipate and Posh can look up.

Harry Leonard will be the next forward to leave for big money, looks like a fine prospect. A young team thrives on confidence and this will hopefully really kick start that,