What did Ruben Amorim think of Arne Slot’s tactical ‘masterclass’ against Manchester City?

Arne Slot schooled Manchester City and Pep Guardiola – who absolutely can bounce back – but what might Ruben Amorim have made of the tactical ‘masterclass’?

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com.

Pep’s biggest mistake
You know you’re a great manager when being 4th in the league is viewed as a total calamity.

City have been hit with a quadrouple whammy this season: the psychological impact of the FFP fallout, the risk of not winning the league even if they come top due to a points deduction, Rodri’s injury and the impact of Pep’s divorce (their pre-xmas death spiral coincided with the divorce).

All 4 of these factors have compounded and exacerbated each other. In other words it’s been a total clusterf**k. The fact they are 4th despite all of this is actually quite impressive and a sad indictment of the lack of elite teams in the PL right now.

Pep’s biggest mistake this season has been thinking he needs to solve the crisis with his own genius. It’s not surprising given that he is a genius and has won trophies with this genius wherever he’s gone.

But I can’t help looking at city’s squad (surely still the best in the league) and think ‘imagine what Sean Dyche could do with this squad!!!’. Maybe Pep needs to stop thinking like a genius for a few months and act like he’s managing the Dog and Duck pub football team on Hackney Marshes. Maybe he just needs to go back to first priciples like the D word (defending!!!!).
Ben

Just popped onto the website this morning to see if there was any Bergvall hype I could revel in this morning. Only to be left with steam coming out of my ears after reading one of the most crazy paragraphs i can remember seeing.

Step forward 16 Conclusions paragraph number 7.

“Why does the belief persist that Guardiola can simply turn this around?” Mr Stead I would say answers his own question there by later admitting “Guardiola is probably the greatest manager ever.”

“He has never before faced a situation like this”. It must be nice not to be able to remember the Claudio Bravo early years. Pep’s first season they were a shambles half the time. Famously the only time in history a team has finished above a Pep team and not won the league (ah, Spurs, my one true love).

“There are fundamental coaching flaws in the team obvious to the layman.” So’s Pep’s coaching has become outdated in 6 months? Since they won the last of their however many titles on the bounce. What’s happening with City happens to all dynasties eventually – player turnover, a few injuries, a bad result spiral, lower motivation when you’re used to fighting for titles. Plus the way City play has always been fragile. It only takes a few cogs out of sync to cause the whole machine to shudder. We’re about to see the same happen to the Kansas City Chiefs. But it would be reckless to assume that Guardiola just doesn’t know what he’s doing anymore.

“Ludicrous amounts of patience.” Man City hadn’t lost a game this year until 23 November. If you consider 3 months of poor results for a manager who has won as many titles as Guardiola has to be a show of ludicrous patience on the part of the Man City Board, you might need to sit down, have a cup of team, watch an episode of the Gilmore Girls, and chill out for a bit.

It basically comes down to one question. Has Pep got the stomach and energy for a rebuild. If he says he has, I think he’s more than bought himself a bit of faith and time.
Mark 

Three points the ugly way
Arne Arne Arne Arne Arne chameleon-nnn…  we come and go…  we come and go-oohhh  🎶

Boy george that was some cracking football at the Etihad tonight.  This season’s Liverpool have been a chameleon of a side one match to the next, we just never know what we’re getting from the Dutchman’s Jekyll-Hyde playbook and long may it continue.

Tonight though, crikey.  That was a shameless clinic in route one, low block, counter attacking football, winning as ugly as they come.  We channeled the best of Pulis, Simeone, Allardyce and modern-day Arteta in ceding any possession, scoring from scruffy set pieces, pouncing like coiled springs the few occasions we touched the ball.  Just an absolute masterclass in sitting deep and banging it forward when the opportunity arose, winding the clock down and faffing about the pitch aimlessly once a few goals were in the bag.  Beautiful stuff.

It’s so pretty to win so ugly.  Even The Arsenal would’ve been proud seeing our display tonight, but they’d have known better than to worry about what their closest title opposition might be up to.  Everyone’s eyes on their own prize.  Focus.
Eric, Los Angeles  CA

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Why Liverpool will win
Just to answer Gab’s question about writing off Arsenal’s chances. Is it impossible? No. Is it incredibly unlikely? Yes. It’s all very well saying it would ‘only’ be 8 points if Arsenal win their game in hand, but that is a significant amount. As Gab said, there is a third of the season left, which means Arsenal need a difference in performance between them and Liverpool that would translate to a 24 point gap over the course of the season.

Liverpool have 11 games left, and 7 of them are at home. Their home form has been excellent this season. They haven’t lost at home since September. One of Liverpool’s 4 away games is against Leicester.

But let’s imagine Liverpool do have a catastrophic dip in form. The team that has lost once all season loses 4 or their last 11, they draw 2 and they win 5. That would put Liverpool on 81 points. For Arsenal to get to 82 points they would need 9 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss. That’s a PPG of 2.42, which would be the form needed for a 92 point season.

In other words, for Arsenal to win the league, Liverpool need to have an inexplicable collapse in form, AND a strikerless Arsenal need to hit the form shown by the most elite Premier League teams. Football will always show anything is possible, but it really isn’t very likely.
Mike, LFC, Dubai

At least he’s not Van Nistelrooy
As United managed to drag themselves back to a draw against the team in 14th and hold on to 15th, with Amorim keeping to his de rigeur 3-4-3, wonder what he thinks of Slot making yet another formation change to 4-2-4-0 and come away with a 2-0 win at City?

Clearly I am just missing something in the whole idealism of sticking to THE one way to play the game. If it isn’t to win the league or, at least, win a game, what is the point?

Another master class from Slot though, wasn’t it.
Paul McDevitt

LFG, FSG
Liverpool cruising to their 20th title. Their major honours under FSG coming thanks to Covid, FFP and Spurs. But that’s where the mockery stops because in all 3 cases LFC sealed the deal and brought home the silverware when offered a free pass, no bottling it or looking a gift horse in the mouth on Merseyside. No one can win the league every season and LFC were ready both times Pep’s city dipped as well as when a minnow made it to the Champions League final.

It’s impressive how LFC have replaced the midfield and 2 thirds of the attack that won their last title and CL but really their sucess in recent years has been down to just 2 players neither of whom will be around much longer: VVD and Salah. Maintaining their position at the top will depend on how they replace Salah and to a lesser extent VVD. It’s a tall order.

People forget that when FSG took over Liverpool they were on their way to becoming the Tottenham of the north. They only won a single league cup in the 13 years around FSGs take over, were playing in a 42k subbuteo stadium and were dropped by addidas who no longer viewed them as a big club. FSG have won LFC’s 19th and 20th titles, won the CL and look likely to take Anfield’s capacity beyond 70k and ultimately build a 20k+ red wall where the kop is now. But their biggest challenge moving forward will be how they replace Salah.
Ben

Eight hopefully balanced Arsenal points
Sorry to be Arsenal centric; I am and always will be. But I’m not a Stewie. Forget the quality of the rivals, be they Premier League or Champions League, let’s look introspectively after another costly stumble at the weekend

1. I don’t hate Arteta but he frustrates me immensely now. Along with getting rid of the dross on the playing staff, initially he brought the belief to the fans and the club that had eroded away in the latter Wenger years. However maybe not quite enough self-belief has been instilled into the players. Has this now disappeared past the point of no return?

2. The Kroenke regime cannot be criticised for not releasing funds to strengthen the squad. Do they i) let Arteta continue in the same vein or ii) tighten the purse strings and demand an improvement in results with existing resources (maybe they have already hence no new striker) or iii) find a new manager who spends and coaches more wisely? Not many alternative names jump out, although who would have come up with Slot a season or so ago? Will a 2nd place finish in the Premier League and last 16 or 8 of Champions League be deemed to have be acceptable?

3. There is no variation or contingency to the ‘Pep-lite’ on field strategy. When possession is king and risk averse football does not work, it falls over. When a risk is taken, for instance run at the opposition, and the ball is lost, we find ourselves exposed to quick breaks which the otherwise solid defenders can’t cope with. So Arteta becomes even more paranoid about keeping the ball. Play is then more possession orientated, and so on.

4. In addition, pressing to get the ball back when high up the field is knackering for the front and midfield lines. Is that why they have become more hesistant and slower in transition this season? And is Odegaard always on night duty for the new baby?

5. Any boss who micro manages worries me. Either your staff haven’t listened to your plan or you didn’t have one before you sent them out to do their job. Mikel, why the constant pointing and shouting during every game? Please just sit down and leave them to it for five minutes. Let them concentrate. If they don’t perform on a repeat basis during a game then, sure, give a little advice, or possibly make changes. Calmness personified would be a better management image. You wouldn’t get so wet either.

6. Injuries: Whether Arsenal suffer more than others or not is irrelevant. It needs investigation. We get hit every season with longer term injuries to crucial players. That’s definitely cost us. Either build up resilience to knocks and strains or ensure those crucial players have adequate understudies. Is our medical team the best it can be? What surface do they train on at London Colney; concrete?!

7. This will come across as spolit but after 20+ years of qualifying for the Champions League, as a fan, what is the point if we don’t make a better job of trying to win it? Yes, we’ve been to the matches against big teams on many occasions now, the novelty isn’t what it was. Of course the coverage helps the club coffers, but ffs can we go all out to win the bloody thing. 2006 still hurts so much, mostly because we’ve only got there once. I apologise to all those loyal fans of clubs who have never won anything but I’d happily see early exits from the FA and Carabao Cups if I could see that being the main objective…

…..maybe that’s actually been the plan this season and we haven’t realised it. In which case Saka, Martinelli, Havertz, Jesus (OK, maybe not him) and White all need to be miraculously fit for the PSV matches onwards.

8. Let’s get personal. Here’s an end of season clear out list, so positional replacements needed for each, including two types of striker.

Definites:

Sterling (goes without saying, one of the worst signings ever)
Zinchenko (maybe good for morale but so careless and inverting is confusing anyway)
Tomiyasu (great when fit but never is)
Tierney (good when fit but never is)
Jesus (not great when fit but never is)
Partey (a better season this than last, although younger version required)
Jorginho (influence and effectiveness on the wane)
Vieira (not up to it)
Neto (obvious)

Possibles:
Martinelli (unless he rediscovers his mojo)
Trossard (doubtful sale if all the above have to happen first)
Arteta?…

I’ll leave it at that. Plenty of food for thought.
TyA, Essex (I promise to keep emails shorter in future)

More Gooner thoughts
Suffice to say I was expecting to be 5pts behind come Monday morning, not 11, c’est la vie.I am surprisingly relaxed about all this, must be mellowing in my old age.

I am generally a glass game full person anyway so here is my take..

-Arteta In! Considering where we were and where we are now, he has a lot more credit in the bank in my opinion. I am not blind to his failings either but who would do a better job?

-the Raheem Sterling experiment has failed, but was it not worth trying? Not everything works out.

-injuries cannot be the total excuse but def had an impact, what if Liverpool had lost Salah, Diaz, Virgil for example.

-to get to the quarters in the ch last year and hopefully this year is very respectable, top 8 in Europe is nothing to be sniffed at.

-im not crazy about the constant blaming of everything bar the team when losing but it goes with the territory, tell me a manager who doesn’t do that

All in all while I’m disappointed of course but it is not the end of the world, cmon you Gunners!
Jim B

A good weekend for Arsenal, actually
After Arsenal’s diabolical performance v West Ham on Saturday which basically put paid to our remote title hopes we now have to look over our shoulder to see how teams competing for a Champions  League position are doing. This Arsenal team will continue to drop points as will other teams. City and Forest losing for example were good results for Arsenal.
Chris, Croydon

Not all doom and gloom
For the remainder of Tottenham’s season there might well be a slither of positivity. What has been, without fear of contradiction, a desperate past few months, the past three wins have clearly shown two things; the first is that this is almost certainly a team playing beneath themselves (or coached beneath themselves), and the injury list, which contained far too many long term absentees, really has been more impactful than even the hardest nosed rival would admit.

That, however, is all an aside; I had written in a long time back saying Gray, Bergvall and Sarr can quite easily form the nucleus of our midfield for the next ten years. That all three have had such an influential role to play this season, and for a myriad of different reasons, not in the ways any would have preferred. Sarr has been better from the bench recently. Gray hasn’t even played in midfield and Bergvall was thrown in the very deepest end when it became clear that Bentancur and Bissouma were far too inconsistent to be reliable.

These three players alone (which is to say I’m not even thinking about Mikey Moore, Vuskovic, Donley – who’s been a sensation at Orient, Scarlett, Lankshear, Devine and others), will have had a season of unrest, of undue pressure and the eyes of the media and fans alike on them in ways which I can’t imagine many other players their age will have – for a team like Spurs i.e a complete loony bin of a club.

Nobody amongst the fans I know thinks we’re going to win the EL, even with the kinder half of the draw, because that is exactly why we won’t. Nobody believes for a moment that we can go on a run to pressure the top 5 for the CL, and nobody really thinks Ange is the man for the job mostly because the evidence is too compelling to say otherwise.

But, if Arteta is ’that man’ for Arsenal, then who knows? I mean, anything other than winning something tangible is failure, so by that rationale, they are all as good/bad as one another.

I think that is right??
Dan

Blaming Sir Alex is shameful
Never in the EPL era have Man United reached so low a level. Sight should never be lost of the outstanding achievements of SAF. INEOS blaming SAF for their own incompetence and shortcomings is beyond comprehension. Did SAF waste money in employing and sacking Ashworth and Ten Hag? Is SAF responsible for the illogical 5 rules which make no football sense? Is SAF responsible for signing our current batch of players?  Is SAF responsible for hiring the ineffective and unsuccessful coaches and/or managers?

Yes INEOS are sick of hearing past glories because there are no current glories for them to brag about. INEOS should strive to attain the achievements of SAF and be inspired by those achievements, not be sick of hearing them. All United fans continue to appreciate the glorious days and INEOS cannot stop that. Our present predicament only serves to make us cherish the good old days.
Professor (Dr) David Achanfuo Yeboah

Plastic miserable fan
Dear Mailbox,

Say one were to begin supporting a club during its glorious days, benefitting from the tremendous success for a decade or so. This person who lives in Asia, has never been to the city of the club, in fact never been to Europe (Heathrow airport doesn’t count) and thus fits the very definition of a “plastic fan” that this mailbox has termed and generally agreed on.

This club is now a shadow of its past, lurching from one miserable season to another to the point where top half is success and relegation a real possibility. This fan still holds hope, watches games at odd times when possible (legally) and recently mindboggingly paid decent money for said clubs jersey for his 2 year old.

Does this continue to make him a plastic fan (albeit a miserable one)?

Asking for a friend.
Shivam, Singapore