Arne Slot sack inevitable even though 10 Liverpool problems not his fault

There’s lots more on Arsenal but attention now turns to Liverpool and the unlucky Arne Slot; nothing is going his way.

Send your views on anything – Cole Palmer, maybe? – to theeditor@football365.com

The new Spursy?

The only thing funnier than Arsenal bottling this season would be them finishing third in what looked like a one-horse race.
Sanjit (Lads, it’s Arsenal) Randhawa, Kuala Lumpur

Anatomy of a Bottle Job: Eight factors to separate the true choke from a mere collapse

Arsenal are actually pretty good

Dear God I have read some reactionist nonsense recently about Arsenal. Yes, they lost at home to a rejuvenated Man U and yes, they are still going to win the league. They are by far the best team in England and to read that they would be “the worst champions ever” nearly made me laugh out loud.

I don’t understand how football fans can separate competitions in their head – Arsenal’s Champions League form is excellent and would suggest that they are in fact a very good team indeed. To be jeered off after one defeat was laughable. The team may deserve to win the league but it’s questionable whether their fans do.

Moving on to Liverpool and it clear in my mind that Slot has to go. Chris Sutton was scoffing at any Liverpool fans who want Slot gone because he won the league last season. So what? Their title defence has been miserable and I read recently that he has a worse PPG than Hodgson over the last 15 matches.

Liverpool have been wretched since about March and in football you are only as good as your last few results – Slot cannot live off past glories forever. Missing out on Guehi was a huge mistake and with Alonso waiting in the wings it feels like the writing must be on the wall.
Jamie Bedwell, Cheltenhamshire

…Arsenal will likely drop another 12 points this season (at the current rate)

But City will definitely drop more than 8 points with the way they’re playing.

Villa are slightly harder to predict, but probably the same as, or worse than, City.

Arsenal will still win it on the strength of the first half of the season.

Just saying, relax and have some perspective people…
Suds (I hope Stewie didn’t choke on the froth forming at his mouth)

Did Raya make an error?

Am I the only person who noticed that Cunha’s winning goal was a massive goalkeeping error by Raya?

Long way out, not hit with ferocious pace, I couldn’t work out how it went in so easily, and not right in the corner either. Answer, look at Raya’s positioning when the shot is taken. He is miles over to his right side of the goal, leaving an enormous gap on his left. Good hit, but a massive positional error.
Paul, London

Man Utd just brilliant, actually

Lots of chat since the Arsenal v Utd game about Arsenal bottling the league. People seem to be forgetting just how good Utd (my team) have played over the past two games.

Nobody in the league would have beaten us on the day we played City. The energy was still flowing against Arsenal, and we needed some luck to get the win. We beat the teams in first and second – these games shouldn’t be taken in isolation. It’s an indication of how well we’re playing right now, not about those teams themselves.

We’ll see how it goes against Fulham – almost certainly a different type of game to the one this weekend, and we can’t keep these efforts up over the remainder of the season, once the new manager bounce fades, and against teams who don’t play the way we want them to. But fingers crossed.

Both Arsenal and City lost to us in the past week. Arsenal lost by fewer goals (and City could have lost by five). They should probably see that as a positive, as they did better out of the two.
Phil, Manchester

READ: Man Utd and Keane deluded if they dismiss Michael Carrick as permanent boss

A plea for ABM

I don’t understand the hate Arsenal seem to get for being top of the league. It seems most fans of most other teams want Arsenal to bottle it so City can win again. For the laughs and bantz.

However, I’m a 40+ year old Liverpool fan. I’ve endured the total domination of Man Utd during the 90’s and 00’s. I’ve endured the total domination of City for the last decade. Occasionally, an upstart dared to win the league instead (Chelsea, Leicester, Liverpool) but were quickly put back in their place by the red and blue behemoths of Manchester.

Back in day, ‘ABU’ was a thing (Anyone But United), may I suggest for the good of the game that is changed to ‘ABM.’ Anywhere But Manchester. For the good of the game, I want the title going to absolutely any teams bar United and City. Don’t care who – Arsenal, Liverpool, Villa….hell, even Accrington bloody Stanley. Any team that comes along and beats 115FC should be cheered by all others.

People who genuinely want City to pip Arsenal to the title this year should go to Germany or France and support Bayern or PSG instead.

We need teams to stop City turning the Prem into a farmer’s league so I, for one, will be hoping Arsenal win it this year. Liverpool obviously wont and I doubt Villa can, so come on the Gunners.

ABM, folks, ABM. For the sake of our league.
Clive, LFC
P.S. Having said all that, I will still laugh my arse off if Arsenal somehow contrive to finish second again

Why Arne Slot is still Liverpool manager

I was just thinking about why Arne Slot hasn’t been canned at this stage and something a bit random came back to me…last season while we were busy enjoy our procession to the title there were a few articles where reporters provided specific insights into why Liverpool had hired Slot. It talked about his successes, integrating new players and how lots of his players moved on but were much worse out of his system.

All fine, who doesn’t enjoy a spot of masturbation when you’re riding high. The thing I realise now is that the details of his scouting were so specific that it must’ve been given to the reporter by either Michael Edwards or Richard Hughes.

And maybe that’s why he’s still in situ; it would be quite embarrassing to have to explain why your “first choice pick” was suddenly no longer the guy you scouted for hours and hours. If you think you’re the smartest guy in the room then those reporters might wonder how you got one of the biggest calls of the last decade, arguably, wrong. Wrong is perhaps unfair since he delivered a wonderful league title which maybe unlocked at least some of our insane summer spending. You’ve got to think Leoni and Isak will pay long term dividends even if this season has been a disaster for both. Ekitike is a 100% success story and I think the jury is starting to favour Wirtz. Weirdly writing that out why are we so much worse when all the purchases are pretty decent?

Anyway. Ramble over. Peace and love to all unless you have also recently defected to Reform.
Minty, LFC

Slot lack of luck will signal the end at Liverpool

We’ve all worked with people that just have ‘noise’ around them. Their life is a perpetual storm. It doesn’t look like their fault, but it is always them. Their projects are delayed… but the technical constraints were difficult, or a ball was dropped somewhere but not by them. Team-training always falls when they’re on holiday. They have capacity when nothing’s on, and are under the pump when a brilliant new initiative is looking for volunteers. Tedious online compliance-training falls when they are in crunch. They attended 47 meetings but miss the one where a suit from upstairs ‘pops in’. They buggered up their tax and now have a cash-flow problem, just as their kid demands a French exchange pony trekking trip and the bathroom has imploded. They always get the flu.

Clearly luck. But it’s always them, so… is it luck? Why not others? Is it tiny things that *may* mitigate noise? The relationship-building, the performance tension they bring meaning others are that little bit more focused? The credit they have in the bank; the environments they foster at home and at work?

I’ve started to think about football managers like that. Not about the culpability of the issues, but in the volume of issues they have.

After the dust settled on Poch at Spurs, one of the narratives that changed was not that Levy undermined him by not selling the players he wanted sold, or buying the ones he wanted in, but that actually Poch failed at managing up. Part of the job is actually in getting compromises from the board. See Rafa Benitez, everywhere. The apologists of Woy Hodgeson at Liverpool, in saying poor old ‘Woy could never succeed as he didn’t have buy-in from the players, when getting buy-in from the players was literally item-one of the requirements of a manager. It’s not the context but what you bring to it.

And so, with Arne Slot. He just isn’t lucky is he.

Yes, obviously, 400+ million, but they made a right mess of it. Replacing three forwards with just two (or 1.5). Not getting him a centre half (in two windows). The new right-back missing more than half of the games so far, and the left back still not regularly looking the part in late January. No-one who could do what Diaz did.

He’s not at fault for set pieces. And losing his first team coach in the summer. For the form of some players post (and pre) big contracts. That Wirtz took ages (and ages) to adapt to the physicality of the league, and Ekitike still can’t complete 90 minutes. He’s not at fault for Jota.

And on, and on. But if you are explaining, you’re losing. And I think it’s that, which has me accepting Slot will go.

If/when a new manager comes into the club in the summer, the Salah farrago will be resolved. Wirtz will have adapted. The full backs will be sorted. The new incumbent will likely get one (or two) shiny new centre halves. They won’t play Gakpo, because they’ll have an actual choice of a different player. They’ll have a competent set piece coach. They’ll have a first team coach. They’ll have everything their heart desires.

Why? I think partly because the new manager will expect all branches of the football operation to demonstrate competence, and that force of will actually nudges it into happening. Hey presto the bad luck disappears.

Brendan joined Liverpool with the senior squad being Carra on one leg, Gerrard near retirement, and a hugely overweight Pepe Reina. His first summer was a failed swap deal forcing out Henderson for Dempsey, and the arrival of Fabio Borini. Unlucky? Klopp’s arrival had none of that noise; I don’t think you could wish for a better senior leadership of Henderson as captain, and Lallana and Milner as excellent vice captains. Bobby Firmino and Lucas Leiva. Brendan had an idiot replace Suarez and Klopp had a Laptop Guru replace Coutinho. Is that luck, or is that FSG knowing they needed competence to get Klopp?

If Slot goes, and if Alonso comes in, I can imagine the latter will have far more luck than the former. I like Slot, a lot. I think the vast majority of criticism about him unfair. I think his saline levels to be normal. But he’s unlucky.
Tom G
NB: not ‘lucky’ last year as he got more out of the squad than Klopp did and was on track for a 90+ point finish before the post-league-win pictures emerged of him on the decks at a boozy beach, and their throwing the last four games. Or that Wenger didn’t win the league with Sanchez’s amazing season, or Brendan with Suarez’s; As good as Salah was last year, the team got over the line, not him on his own.

Premier League winners and losers: Manchester United, Arsenal, Fulham, Liverpool, Forest, Palace

A neutral’s thoughts on Arsenal, Fulham and Unai Emery

Arsenal
Even though I was supporting United to win against the Gunners this weekend, I find myself wholeheartedly rooting for Arsenal to win the
title this year. The football may not be pretty, but I believe Arsenal are doing it ‘the proper way’, and their journey from being a Top 4 regular to now being at the top seems awfully genuine and honest.

They’ve been disciplined with their wallet while paying off the stadium debt, biding their time, managing their finances and ambition (unlike the state-financed moneybags in blue, or the billionaire project in London).

They didn’t hire flashy, big-money, serial-winner names, but instead went with an ex-player and a relatively unknown manager in Arteta. Except for the recent signing of Rice, they aren’t going around breaking transfer records or buying 70M/80M/100M players every window. Their signings seem planned and intelligent, and while they’ve struggled with injuries, they have clearly tried to stay within their means – and add squad depth via young players if they can.

In fact, while Arsenal may not have the most attractive or swashbuckling style of play – like the champions of yesteryear (City or Liverpool) – the EPL, unfortunately, doesn’t award points for entertainment. After three gruelling years of staying near the top of the table, the team seems to have settled into a way of playing that simply puts points on the board, both in the Champions League and the league. I daresay I feel that in many ways, their football reflects the experience of the everyday fan – structured, disciplined, and shaped by persistence rather than flair.

Arsenal have prioritised control over chaos, and points over plaudits. If they complete the journey this season, it would stand as a rare example of success built patiently and sustainably, in a league increasingly defined by financial power rather than sporting principle.

Fulham
For the last few weeks, I’ve found myself switching on Fulham’s matches every weekend, regardless of the opponent. They’ve quietly become one of my favourite teams to watch as a neutral. Fun and adventurous in attack, they play with a free-flowing confidence in that lovely white kit and, more often than not, they land a few punches along the way. The performance against Liverpool stood out, as did their comeback win against Brighton – matches that underlined just how fun this side can be.

They are genuinely a joy to watch, and much of that credit belongs to Marco Silva. I’ve long been conflicted about Silva and his teams – at times they’ve looked fragile and easy to score against, yet he has the air of someone perpetually on the brink of moving to a bigger or better club. For now, though, I hope they continue this happy, spirited run of goals and performances (except against United), because they – and Harry Wilson in particular – bring a sense of optimism and good vibes that’s hard not to enjoy.

Unai Emery
I think Unai Emery’s time at Villa has quietly turned me into a proper Emery fanb. His achievements at Sevilla and Villarreal were already impressive, but watching him take this Villa side and mould them into a serious, organised, and fearless outfit – capable of competing in both the EPL and the CL – has been the real confirmation of his brilliance.

It does, however, raise the inevitable question of what comes next. There are moments this season when Emery looked a bit tired, even faintly exasperated by the broader state of the financial limitations at AVFC, and after three years at Villa, it wouldn’t be surprising if a move were on the horizon soon. History suggests he thrives most at clubs just below the absolute elite – but teams with ambition, structure and patience. His time at PSG barely counts in that sense, given the reality of a one-horse race in Ligue 1.

So where does he go from here? It’s hard to imagine the very top tier – Real/Barca, Bayern, City or Liverpool – fully committing to him, despite his credentials. Does that point toward Italy, with Inter, Juventus or Napoli? A return to Spain with Atletico? Or perhaps one of the seemingly possible vacancies at Spurs or Newcastle? A national

team role feels too static, too slow, for a coach who clearly lives for the weekly grind. And selfishly, I’d love to see Emery’s story stretch beyond Europa League dominance – because his work at Villa suggests he’s earned a bigger, bolder chapter.
SD

Serie A is basically Industry with footballers

This Serie A season feels less like a football league and more like an episode of Industry. Everyone’s under pressure, everyone’s trying to outsmart each other, and nobody seems safe from a sudden collapse.

The title race has proper Pierpoint vibes. One week a team looks bulletproof, the next they’ve lost twice and suddenly the whole project is “in trouble”. There’s no main character energy this season, just a rotating cast of clubs taking turns to bottle it (rather than everyone losing their collective s*** over Arsenal).

Even the mid-table sides feel dangerous. You tune in expecting a routine win and end up watching some tactical ambush that blows up the table (Fabregas’ Como 1907 is a football hippie’s wet dream).

It’s chaotic, tense, genuinely entertaining and somehow still flying under the radar. While other leagues feel predictable, Serie A this season feels like anything could happen which is exactly why it’s been so good.

Ps. Shoutout A, LFC, Montreal

Opinions are like drunk uncles, we all have one or something like that.

That being said, this is my opinion on an all time 4-2-3-1:

GK – Manuel Neuer
RB – Philipp Lahm
RCB – Virgil van Djik
LCB – Franz Beckenbauer
LB – Ashley Cole
CDM – Claude Makelele
CM – Xavi
RW – Mohamed Salah
CAM – Lionel Messi
LW – Neymar
ST – Cristiano Ronaldo
Gaptoothfreak, Man. Utd., New York, (The missus says she’ll kick me out if I don’t stop drawing passing lanes on the wall)