One Liverpool player must make way for Wirtz and it’s not Gakpo…

There are pleas for Arne Slot to be sacked and pleas for patience for Arne Slot. But some things do need to change.

The Mailbox continues to be focused on Liverpool but you can write about other things.

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com

 

Faketino?

Any bets on which one of Isak or Wirtz is going to end up being Liverpool’s version of Asprilla?
Sanjit (Both? Both is good.) Randhawa, Kuala Lumpur

 

Arne Slot has to make some hard Liverpool decisions

One of the worst runs we suffered under Klopp was when he insisted on playing Fabinho in defence. Initially it worked but gradually it became clear that we were weakening two areas of the team at the same time. Slot is now guilty of doing the same with his use of Szoboslai

It’s bad enough that we lost some intensity in the forward areas but now he’s removing our most energetic midfielder and forcing him at right back. He’s basically maximising the the deficiencies we had with Trent while gaining none of the creativity that Trent brought. The warning signs were there when somehow we couldn’t manage a game against 10 men Newcastle but he’s still persisted with it. If he can’t trust Bradley and Frimpong then why not play Gomez there?

We wondered how Wirtz will fit into this team and so far it seems Slot has no clue. Playing Szobo out of position was the easy option he took. In the big games lately he benched Florian but we still looked vulnerable defensively suggesting maybe it’s not his fault after all that we have no balance. Someone needs to make way for Wirtz and at this point it should be Mac Allister.

Ekitike might have inadvertently triggered this run with his stupid red card but surely he was the better option to start these last two games. It’s almost like Slot was looking for a reason to bench the kid. I was one of those guys who thought that maybe Salah should have left and so far he’s bringing his worst qualities. Minimal tracking back, inability to beat a man, erratic finishing and countless displays of selfishness (am pretty sure he stopped a certain goal by Dom against Palace) All the the manager turns a blind eye and doesn’t have guts to take him off.

It’s still early in the season but Slot has to make difficult decisions that he’s been avoiding all season.
Philip Correa

READ: Salah, Van Dijk lead 10 Liverpool players experiencing worrying slumps this season

 

…As per the norm after a bruising Liverpool defeat, we are forced to filter through some responses from ‘supporters’ who effectively want to see a head on a spike (sigh).

I think the true core of the support is far more rationale in that regard, but that is not to say that we don’t see issues with the current state of affairs (causal reasons for which may well vary).

Let me start by congratulating Man U on a great result for them on Sunday – after a rocky ride in recent times, I know that this result must taste all the sweeter.

In some ways it was being painted as a ‘get right game’ for Liverpool in the run-up, not a view that I concurred with as it failed to recognise the lack of control that Liverpool have had within the vast majority of games this season. We were frankly fortunate to be on 15 points after 5 games and now our current return feels about right, all things told.

So what are the potential reasons for the poor form this season ?

At the heart of the issue to me is that Slot doesn’t appear to know his best team is – that’s somewhat understandable when there have been a number of new ingredients thrown into the mix, and like any chef, he has to work out what ingredients match up and in what balance (team structure).

However, I feel that Slot could have been a little smarter in how he chose to integrate those ingredients – the one that stands out for me in this regard is the continued preference to starting Kerkez who is experiencing a somewhat bumpy start to his life at Liverpool. Although Andy R didn’t have a strong season last year, it always felt far more sensible for him to start the season with the shirt with a phased integration plan for Kerkez, but instead we have witnessed a series of issues ranging from not attempting to head footballs to there being positional issues with where he is relative to VVD – I sense that some of Virgil’s form / mood is not being helped by things not being as instinctive as they appeared to be with Robertson alongside.

So let’s move across to the other flank – the creative loss of Trent moving to Real is really noticeable. It can be no coincidence that Salah’s form has dipped since his creator-in-chief moved on.

Trent also helped lift the creative burden placed on our midfield – they haven’t picked up the slack in his absence.

Mac Allister has not been operating at the high levels we became accustomed to last season and that is hurting us (a key reason for our general lack of control in games, I feel). This may be in part due to a disrupted pre-season, but also possibly due to the player changes around him. I often think back with such fond memories to peak days under Klopp’s reign when we had a steady, forceful midfield that would pick itself (Fabinho-Henderson-Gini) – they helped control games and provided the platform for the front 3 to do what they did so well at the time.

We’re struggling to find the right midfield balance currently, it seems.

There is a lot of talk about who should be starting up top for Liverpool, but I feel that we should be focussing on being more settled in defence and midfield structures first (when building a 3 storey house, you don’t build the top floor first).

So let me end with what I would do:

Default back four of Bradley-Konate-VVD-Robertson. Try to be more settled re midfield selection – slightly controversially in some eyes, I still want us to do what we can to have Wirtz as part of that, but feel that may be better as part of a 4-2-3-1 arrangement with him being at the back of the attacking diamond (which for me means we would benefit a lot from having a player like Tchouameni or Ederson playing alongside Ryan G, something I’ve said previously in other mails). Wirtz was somewhat thrown under the bus yesterday, being dropped into a 2 man midfield for the last half an hour, but still managed to have a positive influence on the game for me (I am sure he will come good in terms of productive output).

Start Ekitike – just passes the eye test – looks dangerous + developing into a firm fan favourite.

If he has to be a 9, then you drop Isak to the bench (with the comment that he needs to earn his place), but he also looks like he could do a good job on the attacking left. Seems to have a natural understanding with Wirtz based on limited viewings.

Finally, don’t panic !

Yesterday felt a little like Slot channelled his inner Corporal Jones, providing as much calm reassurance as you would get from being involved in a game of Russian roulette !

The spark will come, just be more measured about how you go about finding it.
Sparky, LFC

 

No, just sack Slot

The truth hurts and as a LFC supporter and l am sure every true LFC supporter is hurting big time and that’s because Slot has screwed up Big time, Last season Legendary Jurgen Klopp won 8 major trophies in his 9 years at the club ( 9 if you count last season as his goodbye season as it was Jurgen’s team who won the league for slot !) every LFC fan were in dream land after the team clinched the league title by beating Spurs at home 5-1.

But Little did everyone and the fans know or realise that slot was only masking his complete incompetence and inability to be a good manager ( let alone a top manager!) so he so stupidly asked ( equally a dim witted Sports director Hughes and ( equally stupid Michael Edwards who hired Hughes ) both should have questioned slot about the players he wanted to sign, namely Wirtz, Kerkez, Frimpong, and even worst is Isak from Newcastle a very average player who was so lucky in his first season at Newcastle with goals.

But these 4 has lost FSG over £400 million pounds in wasting money on these 4 very average players, so bottom line is that slot has just masked over his true colours in that he is a utterly useless manager who will never make it as a good manager (forget being a top manager!)
Anil Patel

 

Liverpool facing teams trying harder

Liverpool are facing something that they’ve not had to worry about in a while, and that is the effort opposition put into trying to get a result against the champions. You were well deserved winners last year, and now you have to deal with the fact that everyone wants to beat you. I’m not saying they didn’t previously, but as champions, you’re gonna face a lot of low blocks and more teams who are really up for the fight. This will make things hard for you, even with your embarrassment of riches up front.

It is now up to your team and your coaching staff to come up with a solution to the fact that you will be regularly facing 10 men behind the ball. I’d recommend set pieces, but apparently, they’re haram now, and so Arne will need to sort it out. The problem you have, is Arne seems rattled already. That will filter down to the players.

Not all teams have players like Haaland, Mbappe or Kane where scoring is inevitable. You need plan Bs, Cs and even Ds.
John Matrix AFC

 

Slot the f*** up

Four points behind the leaders. All games won – all games lost – close calls either way. Midding performances with pockets of staggering brilliance. Perfect time for a blip.

All future champions drop points throughout the season. LFC’s situation is that of being one-nil down after ten minutes: with eighty minutes left to play, anyone saying the game is over is an idiot.

The team hasn’t gelled, sure. But really it’s the tempo that’s off. LFC seem to start games as if they’re 3-0 up already, managing games rather than attacking them, retrievers, not dobermans. You can see in many second halves, after a lacklustre first half, a drastic uptick in pace, precision, and determination. Why they are starting so lethargically clearly most trouble Slot more than anything. He’s not animated, but he’s not blind. Defence has been a bit poopy, a lot of individual errors, but that’s not down to coaching or strategy.

Have to drop Sarah. He’s not Cruyff, he’s not even Mbappe. He sulks when he goes off, so play better. Play Ekitike and Isaak simultaneously. One is playing well, the other will come good. Play Wirtz more, not less, sacrifice a mid. His touch is better than anyone’s, his vision not far behind. He’ll create more than Salah and McAllister combined.

Last year’s team was a different animal. But in Wirtz, Ekitike, and Isaak, you have different beasts, all three wunderkinds and all three needing to START together. It won’t be as controlled as last year, it will be dynamic and fluid.

And whoever wrote Gakpo is awful must have missed the four chances he had. Hitting the woodwork three times means he’s doing most things right.

LFC to win a trophy this season, still. Little one, perhaps.
Marcus Davidson

 

…Just finished reading Monday’s double dose of the mailbox and f*ck my eyes, it’ll take some beating, that.

Pissed the Premier League last season, is dealing with the literal death of one of his players and trying to bed in well over half a dozen new starters, but apparently Slot is a “dickhead”, “ain’t the guy” and “bin him now despite the title”.

Last season was “85% Klopp and 15% Slot”. (Incredibly precise apportionings there, considering it’s an assessment based purely on vibes. I’ll counter it with a 35%-65%. Shall we meet in the middle somewhere? What tf does it even mean?)

The commonly accepted rule since literally forever, that play should be immediately stopped for a suspected head injury, shouldn’t have applied before the Mbuemo goal because…..two team mates clashed heads, so that doesn’t count. (Pretty sure that’s not how it’s written by IFAB)

“Sell Isak and Kerkez in January” – Definitely a proportionate and sensible reaction there after fewer than 10 games.

“If Manchester United had spent over £250 million on two players, one being a British transfer record, and those players had contributed a total of one goal and one assist by the end of October, it would have been the main focus of a sixteen conclusions article, not just put there as an afterthought” – This was possibly my favourite of all, considering that this is basically what Manchester United did actually do for the first ten years post-Fergie, with nothing but diminishing returns until they finally reached the current “not a pot to piss in” situation they find themselves in today.

Have the water companies been slyly introducing industrial strength crack cocaine into the national supply over the weekend or something?
Andy H, Swansea

 

Why are Liverpool judged differently?

Reading 16 Conclusions and early on the author states Utd were good value for their win.

Can you imagine Liverpool going to old Trafford, giving away tons of open play chances and conceding and Xg of over 3 goals only to win with a v controversial opener and a set piece….and then being said they were good value for it? No, me neither.

Liverpool, as has been the case for a few years now, are judged differently than other teams. If they don’t easily dispatch an inferior team then it’s deemed they deserve to lose. Pool are undoubtedly in a bad run of form, giving away cheap goals and finding it too hard to score at the other end, but they were still comfortably the better team here. Taken in isolation everyone would be calling this for what it is – not quite a snatch and grab, but not a million miles from it. But on the end of the 3 previous losses this result gets magnified and the actual performance levels of the 2 teams are exaggerated to either degree.

Funnily, Pool played far worse in their first 5 league games than they did against Utd (and Chelsea for that matter). If Pool keep creating that many chances each game, and Utd keep conceding them, then we will be exactly where we all thought we would be i.e. Pool fighting for the title and Utd fighting for a top half finish.

Keep calm lads.
Patricio Del Toro

 

The Lammens effect

Lammens is getting plenty of good press from our fans having done very little other than being basically competent however I heard a great stat about United that shows what a big difference this could make.

In 3 of the 8 league games United have played so far they have conceded a goal from either the 1st or 2nd shot they have faced. United lost all 3 of those games. In the other 5 games when they have not conceded from the 1st or 2nd shot, they have 4 wins and 1 draw.

Now its too early to tell about Lammens and still a small sample size etc. But, considering the vast improvement Amorim has already made in reducing the number of shots and quality of shot United are facing (in comparison to Ten Hag). Adding some stability and competency in goal will only help to magnify that good work. Even if having a slightly better keeper only changes one of those 3 results that’s a big difference over a season.

The Liverpool result was a welcome surprise and 13 pts from perhaps our most difficult run of the season is a good return. Underlying numbers are really promising and we now don’t play another member of last seasons top four until mid January. This has to be the time when Amorim makes his case to take this team forward, results have to come now.

As an aside, we just won at Anfield for the first time in almost a decade and did it by withstanding their Kop fuelled end of game onslaught, making their manager whinge and their fans call for his sacking. Not enjoying that and actually being salty that the guys you criticised played well is really pathetic, have a word with yourself.
Dave, Manchester

READ: Who is the best goalkeeper in the Premier League this season? Lammens impact clear

 

…The Power of a New Keeper: Senne Lammens and the Calm After the Storm

United’s Belgian newcomer has turned luck into geometry – and geometry into belief.

Two games. Two wins. And, for the first time in over a year, Manchester United have managed back-to-back victories under Rúben Amorim.

Coincidence? Maybe. But football has a habit of rewarding logic disguised as luck.

A Belgian Calm in the Chaos

When Senne Lammens was handed his first Premier League start, few outside the analytics departments had much to say. A 23-year-old Belgian with a handful of senior appearances wasn’t meant to steady one of Europe’s most turbulent clubs.

Yet the data – and the gut – both cry out loudly the same beautiful truth: something’s shifted.

United, who have looked allergic to defensive control for the better part of two seasons, suddenly look… organised. There’s a serenity in goal that ripples forward. Centre-backs step two yards higher. Full-backs trust the reset ball. Even the crowd noise feels a fraction calmer when Lammens claims a cross.

That’s the intoxicating power of a new keeper.

Command vs Reflex

David de Gea’s legacy at Old Trafford is complex. Sublime reflexes, era-defining saves – and yet every United fan knows with every fibre of their being he was never in command. Even in his peak years, there was a blatant sense of fragility when the ball hung in the air. Opponents knew they could crowd him; defenders knew they’d be on their own if they misjudged the flight.

Lammens, in contrast, doesn’t just stand tall – rather it is already becoming crystal clear that he claims space. It’s early days, but his body language showcases presence rather than panic. You can’t fake that, and you can’t teach it quickly.

He’s not Schmeichel, but he has that same stillness before the storm. He’s not van der Sar, but the distribution looks eerily familiar: side-footed, zipped, clean. There’s a quiet echo of both – the aggression of one, the composure of the other.

Luck? Or Angles?

The moment that summed it up came at Anfield.
Mohamed Salah through on goal, crowd holding its breath – and somehow, the net stayed still.

Luck? Maybe. But earlier on, Lammens had denied Isak one-on-one with an almost surgical narrowing of angles. By the time Salah burst through, he knew he’d need something special to beat him – and that knowledge changes feet, minds, and margins. Would Salah have scored if he hadnt seen Isak denied earlier? We will never know but i have my suspicions!

Even Gakpo’s two strikes off the post told their own story. Unlucky? Possibly.
But maybe also an indication of how precisely he felt he had to hit it to find a way past Lammens.

That’s not luck. That’s gravity.

Belgium’s Next in Line?

Courtois remains the gold standard for Belgian goalkeeping, but beyond him the lineage has felt surprisingly thin. Lammens could be the next torchbearer — less a shot-stopper highlight reel, more a systems keeper built for the modern game.

At 23, he’s barely begun. For goalkeepers, that’s toddler age. But the early signals – body language, communication, and the trust he’s already earning — suggest a foundation to build an era on.

Football’s Simplest Formula

Strip away the noise, and football at the elite level boils down to two equations:

Up top: exceed your expected goals.

At the back: concede fewer than the data says you should.

Everything else – formations, philosophies, PowerPoint tactics – lives inside that framework.

I wrote recently about how one player can change everything.
Lammens is that idea made flesh. His presence shifts the geometry, the psychology, the courage of those around him.

With Mbeumo, Cunha, and Šeško giving United elite-level finishing, and Lammens quietly bending the xG against him, Amorim may have stumbled upon the sport’s simplest alchemy: an elite front line and an elite keeper.

That’s 90% of the battle.
The other 10%? Believing it’s not coincidence.
Mustafa Rashid ( Driving Instructor, Author, YouTuber, Football Analyst, and above all Manchester United fan. Hated. Adored. Never ignored!)