Hoping a New Thread may fix the posting issues.
The reality is this is the new reality of football, at least until the next tactical trend takes over. Even Liverpool have now adapted, borne out with them seeing more goals from set pieces than any other team since Jan 1st. Slot had to adapt or die.
Personally I would hate to see City win it again, go Arsenal!
Have you logged out for a month, Liverpool are the setpiece Kings.
Win by a few Tuesday night and we go 3rd. Villa and Utd on paper have tougher matches Wednesday.
Must rotate heavily in the cup, the likes of VVD and Grav play every minute.
United and Chelsea both play Newcastle and Villa this week
On paper seems nice for us that it worked out that way
Only nice if we beat Wolves! Not an easy game, they have really improved.
Away to a Wolves team of a Tuesday night, with absolutely nothing to lose and on a bit of upturn in performances, is the bananiest of all banana skins!! I've bad feelings on this one 🙈
Fkin Brighton away in the early KO after the midweek champs league
I don't see us winning both games away to them. I suppose the W on Tuesday is more important.
My feeling is that Wolves beating Villa is a double bonus to us. I'd rather us going in to the game playing them as a genuine threat, rather than the bottom of pile team who then catch us off guard. Whatever they've done to pull off that win (and the draw with Arsenal) I hope Slot and Co. have the team drilled to handle.
I was in the Kop myself. Atmosphere wasn't great, but wasn't too bad either. Was more patches, or areas, of the Kop that were trying to create something. Great to get a bunch of goals scored that end, apart from the WH goals that is.
Just to update this a month later; he's now at 3,510 minutes for the season having still played the full 90 in every game outside the Carabao Cup. That's more than anyone listed above other than John Terry, with still an absolute minimum of 1,170 minutes remaining in our season (that's if we get knocked out of both the FA Cup and CL in the next round). It's a ridiculous load being placed on one player yet he's shown himself to be well up to the task.
I hate the 12:30 kick off. Ruins the day
Not sure if it's more important, I think at this point securing top 5 is high likelihood and a draw perhaps would not be a disaster, however FA cup is a legitimate shot at a meaningful trophy which would be a very positive way to close out the season and build some good vibes leading in to next year.
From a momentum and fan perspective though there seems to be a much higher onus put on the league performances than anything else this year, so perhaps the team will be much more motivated to perform well on Tuesday, and do a rotation for the cup.
I do think though that winning both games should be the expectation.
I was in the Upper Annie myself. Atmosphere not the best, but nice smatterings all the same.
I think a lot of people around me were clearly frustrated at the crap nature of football. 5 goals is nice but not many good passages of play worthy of being excited at. 5 of the total 7 goals in the game were down the Kop end too.
Always good to see a victory at Anfield though. the winning by 3 goals margin continues!
Atmosphere has been dire since Covid. It's such a shame but that's what happens as you expand the stands and sell more and more hospitality tickets
Fair comments...
We were a little more workman like last season compared to previous years I'd have said.
Up to sides to combat it and enforce their own style.
On Virgil…
(Brighton away last season, after the league was won, was the one, in case you were wondering!)
I hope this doesn't put a jinx on him!
No such thing as a jinx. Now, I must go and wash my lucky socks before tomorrow
While I’ve not been Slots biggest fan at times recently, his absolutely spot on with this!
Never in my life have I flicked off as many live games as I have this season. The Everton UTD game last week was the absolute pits, I was obviously hoping on hope that Everton got something before it, but after 90 minutes of watching them, I was nearly glad UTD took all 3 points!!
I pretty much don't watch any football on TV any more that doesn't involve Liverpool playing. I can struggle through Liverpool matches cause I at least have a vested interest.
It’s a love hate relationship for me: love it when we win and then can relax following the rest of the games and hoping for the right results. Painful when you loose though and can’t enjoy the rest of the days matches then.
Yeah same for me, I don't struggle though I genuinely enjoy watching Liverpool
But I'm beyond having interest in other football matches on tv, feel there's a better use of time
I really hope we don’t go down the path of simply following the current trend leaders on this.
I think there are very obvious ways around this current style without joinging the dinosaurs. A big part of it is having pace in the team, and sadly we’ve lacked a lot of that this season. Frimpong could be vital for us if we can keep him fit.
You need fast, wide players who can stretch the pitch, take on their man, and get to the byline. That forces these compact, central block teams to defend wider areas instead of crowding the middle.
Basically, you have to keep these teams honest. The reason so many teams show no fear against us now and really go for it is because they know they can commit numbers forward. We don’t have the pace to punish them. Even if we break through their central blocks, they’re confident they can regroup and get back into position against us.
We have to change this.
We were not following the trend earlier in the season and it cost us a lot of points and games, and that's what prompted slot to switch to the more boring conservative football. Ultimately from what he has spoken about in the interviews and press conferences he clearly wants to move to a better style of football in the longer term.
Totally agree though, and what is also expected is that the first teams to be figuring it out will have an advantage. Arsenal figured out the set piece game early and have reaped rewards (although not trophies so far…).
On that, I think you can see glimmers of how we can put those teams to task with the combination play between Wirtz and Ekiteke already. Not that they have blistering pace but they work really well at getting in between and behind the lines which punishes teams. As you say, get a fit Frimpong going, continue to bring Kerkez along and we have some of the pieces there. So much needs to be done in the Summer to sort the CB positions out but Salah needs replacing and Gakpo needs real competition.
I have found myself watching quite a few games as a neutral this year, and while games are fine to watch for the most part, I feel that set pieces are absolutely awful to watch, in particular the set ups for the long throw, and the shenanigans that go on before corners are taken. When the ball goes out of play in the final third, it's just a sinking feeling, even as a neutral. Awful stuff, and I honestly think something needs to be done about it.
Salah has been a passenger the past few games. He's in semi retirement mode at the moment and needs to move on in the summer.
