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And still no DM Sean. Crazy.
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I think as Carra pointed out, we kept buying nice technical players just as the league was getting ever more physical. FSG you’d think gave the recruitment team more power to ensure the team was correctly balanced. So whether you give the manager full say or the recruitment team full say, both can still go wrong. It needs to be a balance between the two.
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I think 5 of our starting line up have only been at the club for one year or less. Very few long serving players bar Van Dijk & Alisson. New manager, more new players to come in. Very much going to be a transitional season.
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There’s a reason why the bigger clubs tend to wait for a player abroad to join a premier league team before buying them – to see how they perform in it – even if it means paying more. Not landing Semenyo, particularly given he’s already worked with Iraola, is deeply frustrating. If you are to buy directly from abroad, I think they have to be physically strong. Even though he didn’t cost the earth, someone like Minamino was always going to struggle in the league for example. I think Wirtz has had to really bulk up this season – we’ll see how next season goes. Given Diomande is pretty strong by the sound of it, I have less concerns here about him should we sign him.
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I think a good thing about Iraola was his decision to leave Bournemouth. He knew he’d taken them as far as he could and is clearly ambitious – not willing to just sit comfortably in the same job again. His demeanour also seems one of confidence in himself, calmness but also a cheerfulness about him which I think helps.
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As someone said, it was very similar to the England vs Italy Euro final some years ago. England got the early goal and then just tried to sit on it with Italy then coming back into the game as it went on. You can’t go into a final with that mentality. The top sides don’t settle for one goal, they look to get more to finish and win the game.
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Yes makes sense given the club wanting to maintain the recruitment structure at the club under a head coach not manager. Iraola clearly a very good coach with premier league experience who plays a more pressing game. An improvement I’m sure. But how much of one, particularly with managing greater expectations, remains to be seen.
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Romano now saying it will be Iraola.
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Does this mean Salah’s staying now?
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Wow. Bit surprising given recent talk. Iraola will no doubt be cutting short his Leverkusen talks.
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I suspected there would be a big drop off this season as the signs were there last season but just assumed with the recruitment last summer they knew what they were doing. Obviously not. Much more balance needed in the squad particularly defensively which will make a difference but not enough of one I don’t think to get anyone excited for next season. Very little signs of any galvanising effect from the coach this season which is of a major concern.
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Yes I think Slot will probably be staying, the main reason being he is a product of the recruitment team of Hughes and Edwards and rumour has it they still believe in him. Or else the club will have to ride roughshod over them all which wouldn’t make sense unless they all leave.
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If the club are basically saying that Slot needs certain players to deliver then it:
1) begs the question why such players weren’t brought in last summer? And
2) is a concession that he is not a top coach. Top coaches deliver even in difficult circumstances. It’s like when you have a so-called world class player who is said to be not delivering because they’re not being played in the right position or in the right system. If such a player can only deliver under a very narrow set of conditions then they ain’t world class.However, better players can still make a difference though before everyone jumps on me yes I know the coaching is the fundamental problem. We’ll just have to hope for the best if Slot is staying.
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Alonso’s record at Leverkusen was impressive but not extraordinary for me. They got panned 5-0 by Bayern in the season after in the CL. As for needing big club experience, that’s not necessarily true but a manager should show outstanding ability in both domestic and european competitions if they’re to make it at a big club for me. Iraola may be better than Slot but I don’t think he’ll be extraordinary. I’d be moving heaven and earth for Enrique but don’t see FSG doing that. Think the upcoming few seasons may not be great ones.
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I agree with Threeps. This modern idea of buying players under a separate recruitment team and then installing a head coach to develop it all is just trying to extrapolate the Ajax way into the much bigger and competitive premier league and so is just a pipe dream that I don’t really think has worked out anywhere. I think it sometimes comes about when a club can’t find a top manager and so tries to think it’s protecting itself by installing a checks and balances system on recruitment.
Thing is though, the only top managers around now for me are Luis Enrique and maybe Tuchel. I personally wouldn’t be looking at Iraola or Glasner – I just think it’s a different kettle of fish managing a top club. See Potter joining Chelsea, etc. And tbh, the more I think about the now Chelsea bound Alonso – and this genuinely isn’t sour grapes – the more I think I was just getting moved with the emotion and hype of him. He obviously did well at Leverkusen but did he really set the world alight? Yes there’s lots of player power at Madrid, but the best managers still find a way.
So how gettable is Enrique? Should he win the CL again at PSG, would he not want another challenge? Just couldn’t see FSG even approaching him though. Given that, I do still wonder if the club will try and rectify the situation via a summer transfer window as Slot has alluded to. I’m afraid I think this is still the most likely course of action as I don’t see the club dismantling the entire recruitment setup in one fell swoop for a top manager coming in. And I don’t think an Iraola type appointment would make a massive difference. So they might still give Slot another roll of the dice.
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It’s a far cry from mentality monsters…
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It all starts with the right manager at a club. Slot clearly had the fortune to inherit a good Klopp team and whilst he did help make us more calmer and rounded last season, that looks more by accident as a byproduct of him transitioning us from a Klopp side to his side. And ever since we’ve looked more like his side from the end of last season, it’s just hasn’t been good enough. You just have no confidence in us holding on to a lead. Though Bizarrely, had Alonso come in to us last season instead of Slot, we may not have won the league but maybe the long term future would have been better.
As for Alonso himself, granted it’s early in his career, he has so far only succeeded at a smaller club in Germany where there weren’t massive expectations on him. He then moves to a club where there are massive expectations on him, along with managing big egos, and it didn’t work out. You might argue we lie somewhere in between those two clubs so it may work out ok. Alonso has obviously played in the premier league – so he must know of its physicality and intensity. We desperately need more steely players. A German coach would worry me a bit more in that sense unless they are exceptional like Klopp who obviously demonstrated outstanding domestic and European records.
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Time to get the plane out in that case Bingo 😜
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I think the journalists are basically reporting things as they stand. I think up until relatively recently, the club wanted to give Slot another season. But even they must now be realising this is untenable. Obviously they wouldn’t want to broadcast that they’re talking to other managers whilst there are still 2 games of the season to go.
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