The slump continues…

Apologies for my absence recently troops, got some stuff going on in my personal life.

I’d hoped the international break may have afforded us something of a reset but our shocking slump in form continued, particularly the poor first half displays that have dogged us for a few seasons now. We’ve got away with it so many times but today it caught up with us.

It was the perfect start too, with Mac Allister showing what he’s all about in one goal. The physical side of his game is underrated due to his technical ability and diminutive stature but it’s often him who’s the one putting his foot in and winning the midfield battle. I bang on about the importance of upper body strength for a player and Alexis demonstrated that as he showed great strength to hold off the challenge, took a great touch and then finished with a rocket of a strike that Stevie G would have been proud of.

After that however, we pretty much capitulated. We were defensively awful and it says something when the only one of your back five who didn’t have a nightmare was a midfielder, playing out of position at RB. Robbo had an absolute nightmare, Konate looks like he’s believing his own hype at the moment – attempting Cruyff turns when 8 yards out, facing your own goal is nothing short of arrogant madness and Virgil was a mile off his usual lofty standards. I’d also be surprised if there were many fans left that feel Kelleher is the answer as a long term replacement for Alisson. Brilliant no2 but he’s not close to being the world class keeper needed when you play the risky style that we do.

As bad as we were, we still could have hit something from the game. Diaz well taken goal gave us hope and Jota should’ve done better with an early second half chance. The anonymous Salah was also guilty of blazing over from a good chance and his poor recent form continued and ultimately, while we huffed and puffed second half, we’d left ourselves too much to do from the first half and were resigned to our first away defeat all season.

It’s strange to feel quite downbeat at this stage of a season when you’ve won the league at a canter but it’s difficult not to. We went out the FA cup with a whimper and an embarrassing result but it was pretty much accepted by the fans, given we had the league cup final and CL second round to come but the manner in which we went out the CL and didn’t turn up for the league cup final is concerning and reminiscent of when the wheels came off last season and our campaign just fizzled out with a burp and a fart in the space of a few weeks. If City or Arsenal were hot on our heels in the league, I’d be worried right now as it’s been a while since I’ve felt confident going into a game.

It’s difficult to criticise Slot when he’s going to win the league in his first season but I think he’s made a right arse of the final third of this season, specifically in not using his squad properly.

There’s a phrase we used to use in the army…

“You can only piss with the cock you’ve got…”

To that end, even if he doesn’t fancy Elliot, Endo and Chiesa that much long term, it’s what he’s got this season and they are FAR from bad players, even if not exactly what you’re looking for in an ideal world. To compound the frustration of his stubborn refusal to play them, in the very limited game time they HAVE got, they’ve delivered but can’t get a sniff going forward. We’ve looked jaded for weeks, when the likes of Elliot and Chiesa could and should have been there to breathe new life into the team and give others a break. Klopp’s greatest strength was keeping everyone feeling involved and finding solutions to problems with the players he had at his disposal. Slot’s been the complete opposite of that and his man management style is concerning me a bit.

I wouldn’t have thought it at the start of the season but I think we’re in for a major summer overhaul this season. We’re reportedly in for a new LB but that’s the least of our worries in my opinion. We’ll need a RB with Trent leaving, Virgil’s future remains up in the air, Konate’s fluttering his eyelashes at PSG, Gomez was in the Elliot and Chiesa camp of not being able to get a sniff before injury…

Endo’s bound to be away, Elliot may dig his heels in for one more season and try and force his way into contention but if he feels it doesn’t matter what he does, the manager won’t pick him – and you couldn’t blame him one bit if that is how he feels, he’ll be off as well and then suddenly our midfield is looking light.

Salah’s future remains undecided and there’s question marks over all the rest of our attackers as well, with the exception of Gakpo.

This is a massive summer for the club and we’ll really see what Slot is made of when the core of this team are replaced and he has to build the project from scratch, rather than just take the reins from your iconic predecessor. Until then, just stutter over the line in the title race with as little fuss as possible please!! Walk on!