About as strong a lineup as you could ask for considering Isak & Frimpong, etc. are out. Only thing you’d maybe change is Curtis in for Macca on current form, but Curtis is coming off an injury so it makes sense to not start him right away.
Yes, we absolutely need to fix the defensive issues but he has to have a long look in the mirror on his tactical setup & personnel decisions in order to do that…29 goals conceded from our last 19 EPL matches is a 58-goal pace over a full season. That is comfortably a bottom half of the table defensive record in any EPL year you look at. My entire point here is that we cannot stay the course; there needs to be fundamental change to a system that hasn’t worked consistently since February. He showed a willingness to deviate the shape against Frankfurt, but will he try again? Tomorrow will be interesting. We got it wrong against Palace in the first half a couple of weeks ago before course-correcting for a solid second half performance. I would think Glasner fields a strong lineup.
The midfield needs a progressive passer there, but the biggest issue is the OOP setup. The press is disorganized and 2 of the forward players do not have a pressing work rate off the ball (Gakpo/Salah) and Isak is the same when he plays. Szobo carries a ton of water. Slot has not done a man-for-man press because he prefers +1 at the back and teams have exposed it all season. It’s too easy to bypass and get in transition if you’re outnumbered and your pivot is stuck in too much space. He’s also been (willingly) using Kerkez as an inverted FB/third CB rather than a bombing/overlapping fullback which was his profile at Bournemouth and you see the results…
Ranieri was sacked in the season after he led LEICESTER to a title. Rodgers was sacked in the season after he was a Gerrard slip/Crystal Palace choke away from an EPL title and that was after we sold our best player(s) and gave him Balotelli to work with. Eternally grateful we won a title, but it was also a horrendous season for top contenders like Arsenal and City. There have already been reports that the Slot contract extension is on hold at the moment. I’m telling you if the form of the last 25 games continues, then we’ll be somewhere between 10-12th and hard conversations will be had at a club of this size.
If we’re continue to concede goals at the pace of Leeds and Fulham through the end of November and remain on a < 50% win rate (which is where we are since the first leg vs. PSG), then what’s your position? What encouraging signs do you see that we’re about to pop out of this when every press conference is moaning about set pieces and long balls and we rinse/repeat the cycle every week? 4 clean sheets in 26 matches is half a season of bad form — it’s not some three week spell of bad luck. Mo Salah seemed to use every ounce of magic to see us through February and the team has been (literally) mid-table since his output dried up. Why is it that all of our players are world-beaters when they represent their country but they look completely disjointed when they throw on the club kit?
Slot is gone before Christmas. 11 losses in 25 games. 4 clean sheets in 26 games. You can’t spend $450M and be this bad into November; we’re lucky that we scammed half-a-dozen results in the > 80th minute to start the year or this could really be a treacherous position in the table.
Golden is like a top 15-20 WR in the league in average separation score. Green Bay runs a “WR by committee”-type system where they’re constantly rotating personnel and varying targets. MLF has done a shit job emphasizing him in their scheme but he’s done nothing but get open and catch every ball that’s touched his hands.