Will Arne Slot have ‘balls’ to snub Liverpool man who ‘hasn’t done sh*t nearly nine months’?

Liverpool won and now the pressure is on Arne Slot to stick with that team v Brentford. Does he have the cojones?

We also have mails on the brilliance of Arsenal, the flaws of Tottenham and more.

Send your views on anything football to theeditor@football365.com

Liverpool win but…

Thank goodness for that. We started the game so well and then suddenly conceded so there was a certain sense of deja vu.

That said the fight back was excellent but the most important conclusion to take from that game was the incredible control we showed in the second half. Chiesa led a press that has been non existent this season and it really made us strangle the game.

Slot now has the really difficult moment; he’s rotated and the understudies have shown right now they’re better than the first choices. Everyone today earned their keep and they all deserve to start on Saturday. Does Slot have the balls to bench Salah and Mac Allister again? If he does he might upset them both but he sets a standard and shows everyone can earn a spot and then own it based on performance. If he doesn’t he might just show no matter how well you do you’ll never break through if you’re not one of the boys.

I hope he sees that tonight this team played like he coached them last season and I hope he sticks. If he twists and fails it will show he learnt nothing from losing 4 games in a row.
Minty, LFC

READ: Liverpool crisis still on as Isak flops again, Wirtz stat pads and greedy Salah returns

…Curtis Jones, Szoboszlai and Gravenberch is our midfield. Mac Allister is light weight and wants Real. Let’s steal the money.

Jones need to start more. Mac Allister hasn’t done shit nearly nine months.

Szoboszlai should be captain. And Virgil should be dropped. Once so he stops being lazy.

Salah either needs to move central or they play Bradley or Gomez behind him.

We’ve stopped playing fast and going to Salah. He’s not out of form he’s not being served.

The Georgian goalkeeper I won’t attempt to spell is a downgrade from Kelleher no relax he could throw it in himself.

Slot deserves time. Hes not inspiring confidence with his team.
Ivor Rice

This is not a Liverpool crisis

I was having a look yesterday and noticed an interesting thing about Liverpool’s results this season against the same fixtures last season

Bournemouth H 3-1 became 4-2
Newcastle A 3-3 became 3-2
Arsenal H 2-2 became 1-0
Leicester A 1-0 became Burnley 1-0
Everton H 1-0 became 2-1
Palace A 1-0 became 1-2
Chelsea A 1-3 became 1-2
Man U H 2-2 became 1-2

So in those 8 games last year we scored 14, conceded 11 and got 15 points and in the same 8 fixtures this year we scored 14, conceded 11 and got 15 points.

As far as crises go, being exactly where we were from the same games a year ago isn’t exactly disastrous. Don’t get me wrong, we’re clearly not playing well and aren’t getting the best out of our players (and seemingly cannot win second balls) but the idea that we’ve collapsed doesn’t stand up to much.

Obviously if we lose to Brentford (need a 2-0 win to stay on track) the wheels will be fully off and we can have a full blown meltdown.
Tom, Andover (Rice’s deliveries are absurd, but think Gabriel might just be the best defender in the league right now. He’s amazing in both boxes)

Slot’s first season not all luck

Like many Liverpool fans, I’ve found myself asking whether Slot was just lucky last season. Salah having the best season of his life definitely carried the team at times. But, actually looking back on some of last season’s games can give some perspective.

One of the hallmarks of Slot’s first season was great second half performances. When things weren’t going well, his halftime team talks galvanised the players. He was frequently praised for his game-changing substitutions. These are significant indicators of a good coach.

Things are going off the rails right now for a number of reasons, including Salah’s poor form, new players, the effect of the loss of Jota, and seemingly low morale. Slot is another factor, as he’s going through a period of poor form himself, making the wrong decisions and letting emotions take over. Klopp went through similar at times, so did Fergie, and even Pep last season. Reactionary calls of “Slot Out” are natural when emotions are high and it’s easy to form narratives based on selective evidence. But Slot’s first season was not just luck and I have hope that he will turn things around in time.

Time will tell if he has what it takes to do so, but let’s try not to come to overarching conclusions in the meantime.
Josh, Johannesburg

Liverpool failure is not grief

Can everyone please stop blaming the death of Diogo Jota as an excuse for Liverpool being awful?? It’s gotten beyond ghoulish now.

Yes it would have been upsetting for them, but people die all of the time. Fathers, mothers, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents. People you’d be 100x closer to than a team mate/colleague.

His death was horrible, devastating even, but using it to try and claim this is why Liverpool are awful is rotten to the core. Wirtz didn’t know him, why is he so terrible? Nor Isak, or Kerkez. Both awful as well.

Grow up. Sometimes the football just leaves the players, especially when you offer them megabucks retirement contracts.
Weldoninhio, BAC

…Gary, condolences on your family loss and best of luck with your own battles. But to compare your own intimate grief with the passing of some chap you worked with is frankly , bollocks.

Liverpool were not suffering any grief for the first 5 games they scammed wins. Added to the fact that they have added 5+ new squad players and moved out similar, it’s hardly an empty seat at Christmas dinner. Any idea that they are ‘grieving’ is preposterous.

Professional footballers are for the most part, inherently selfish…that’s what’s gets them to the top.

They are just playing shite…end of!
Colin, Dublin AFC

How good is this Arsenal side?

Longtime reader of F365 here.

I just need to caveat this email- lifelong Arsenal fan originally from London but living in Cape Town. I’m caveating this mail by completely acknowledging that we have won ZERO yet and we clearly need to get things over the line BUT what on earth do we have on our hands here with this current Arsenal side and squad?! From where I am looking on, the potential of this set up is absolutely frightening.

I’m not sure where to begin? Perhaps we can work backwards- No Odegaard, no Havaertz, no Madueke. A bench last night including Trrossard, Merino, Califiore to name a few. I can’t remember us ever having a squad as good and as deep as this even taking into account the peak Wenger era.

Everywhere you look in the line up there is quality. Gyokores has, for some reason, been given a bit of a tough time in the “media” but has a solid few goals to his name already and his hard work has added a whole new element to the side. Rice, Zubamendi,Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Raya all world class.

I’m not going to ramble on- I’m sitting here actually quite dumfounded this morning. What has Arteta created here- help me?!!
Dan Green, Gooner, Cape Town

Arsenal not Rory Delap FC

For goodness sake, it isn’t just Arsenal with the long throws, we are all Rory Delap now it would seem. Who’d have thought Stoke City would have been such innovators.
Nicole, West London Gooner (you do the hippy hippy shake)

The problem with Spurs

A quick one for you, as I’ve got a shedload of work to get done. But I thought your navel gazing coverage of Spurs at the start of the week was unusually s**t. Have you been reading Nietzsche or Sartre? You seem to have become preoccupied with a club having lost its purpose and reason for being. Go back to basics – the brilliance of you is in your specificity, it’s 16 conclusions, a focus on who is going to have a big weekend. Not in ethereal soul searching. This is what’s wrong :

• Already 9 players injured. Hello darkness my old friend. It already feels like the dark days of Ange’s winter. Archie Grey is going to play CB in the cup next week isn’t he. Poor lad
• Bergvall and Sarr should never both start on the bench. And while we’re at it, neither should Richarlison at home
• Odobert before Johnson is a madness. He’s picking the wrong players
• Tommy Frank has found a great counter attacking system away from home but it really isn’t working at home. He needs to change it fast. Turn up like that against Chelsea and the natives are going to start getting restless. Bentancur + Paulinha isn’t dynamic enough. Why’s it always the midfield with us? Ange couldn’t pick the right midfielders to save his life
• The stadium is too nice. It’s just too slick. Like a spaceship landed on Tottenham High Road. Give me the hard edges and right angles of White Hart Lane any day. It could be a lot lot worse (Hi WHUFC)…but away fans love it…it’s a very unintimidating place to come.

That’s what’s wrong. No one has temporarily misplaced their soul, and compared to what some new managers in the Barclays are trying to work their way through, it could be a lot worse.
Andrew, Woodford Green

READ: Mikel Arteta only third in Premier League manager rankings for 25/26

Dyche another day

I’m always here for the arbitrary nature of lists like mood rankings and crisis clubs. I can appreciate they’re all a bit random and silly and (to most) harmless shenanigans, and thus try not to get too annoyed by them.

You can’t just go shoving in a manager yet to actually manage a game above the likes of Slot, Emery, Hurzeler, and Howe in Manager Rankings though? What on earth is that based on? He hasn’t done anything yet. Save him for the next article. Come on!?! That’s a nonsense. It’s like you merged mood rankings with manager rankings and just decided he might be alright. (I don’t think he will).

Farke at 18 and Parker at 9 is an interesting take as well. Are the expectations of them that wildly different that the one sitting a point above the other deserves to be 9 places lower? Slightly high on Andrews as well there perhaps? Although I’ve thoroughly warmed to the fella.

I’ll give ya the top 4 – just not in that order.
Gary AVFC, Oxford (unsure of why this has irked him so. It’s maybe because I’ve never been a fan of Dyche).

In defence of CBS

I’ve read and heard some criticism aimed at the CBS Sports Champions League post-match show (both from friends and online randos), and I think it’s time to offer another perspective. The show isn’t a mockery of football analysis — it’s a reflection of where football culture is now, and how it’s evolving for a new generation of fans.

What many of the critics miss is that this format — the playful banter, the meme-friendly moments, the social media interplay — isn’t accidental. It’s modern football storytelling. Gen Z and younger Millennials consume football differently; they live it through clips, reactions, and personality-driven content. CBS has managed to bridge the gap between traditional punditry and the digital age — without losing the essence of the game.

The pushback often seems to come from older fans who grew up on the stoic, studio-heavy format of yesteryear — the same ones who probably once dismissed YouTube fan channels or podcasts as unserious. But culture evolves. As The Mandalorian proved for Star Wars, you can innovate and modernize without betraying tradition. CBS has done the same for football coverage — they’ve simply swapped stiffness for spontaneity.

In an era where engagement matters as much as expertise, CBS’s crew — Kate Abdo, Micah Richards, Thierry Henry, and Jamie Carragher — have struck the right balance between insight and entertainment. They’ve turned post-match discussion into appointment viewing again.

So perhaps the real question isn’t whether CBS is “too playful” — it’s whether traditionalists are ready to accept that football media, like football itself, has entered a new era.
Gaptoothfreak, Man. Utd., New York (And yes, Big Meeks is actually my favourite in case you were wondering)