Before diving in, I want to thank both Beez and Paul (on his substack) for their excellent work over the last week. Paul has outlined the multi-layered complexity behind this season better than anyone, and Beez has captured the statistical and psychological fingerprints of what’s happening on the pitch with real clarity. (The same post is on TTT so apologies to a few who might be seeing this long rambling nonsense again).
What follows is simply my amateur attempt to sit between those two perspectives. My key takeaways are that this season can’t be understood through tactics or effort alone (as Paul & co. reminded me after City); grief and disrupted foundations have shaped everything; early goals and officiating randomness are distorting game-states; and this is still a very good squad trying to find rhythm in very abnormal circumstances. Above all, Slot must keep his agency, and some fans must not see hope as a bad thing. Remember where you were in May.
This really is the season that won’t give Liverpool a break, isn’t it. Before we even try to reach for explanations, we have to acknowledge the simple truth that this team is carrying things no model or metric can fully capture. Paul’s written about it from Day 1 to 144 and counting. Losing Diogo Jota wasn’t just a tragedy; it altered the emotional chemistry of the entire squad. Grief doesn’t stay boxed up, no matter how professional you are. It drains energy, clouds focus and takes a toll that people outside the dressing room can only guess including us. That’s the starting point of this season, and it colours everything that follows, which is why so much of what we’re seeing needs to be understood in a deeper context. When I remember sitting through session after session of my son's chemotherapy it hurt so deeply, I had to bury it there to carry on. Life doesn't detach itself for 90 minutes a week.
Preseason was disrupted before it began, and cohesion never caught up. Slot didn’t get a clean slate to build automatisms; he walked into a group still processing a loss and trying to reassemble itself on the fly. He did too with a young family not even living with him. It is hard. Liverpool have now lost four consecutive halves of football, and while stats don’t capture emotion, they do show patterns of a team struggling to absorb shocks. What looks like disconnection is often the aftershock of a season that began without rhythm despite all those early fightbacks.
On top of that emotional instability, the squad has been reshaped. Key players left, new players arrived, and natural cohesion has had to coexist with natural grieving. This isn’t a broken squad; it’s one evolving under abnormal circumstances. Slot’s patterns appear in flashes, the players try to impose structure, but the ground keeps shifting—sometimes literally in the form of injuries, sometimes psychologically in the form of confidence wobbles. Even the front line reflects this. Against Forest, Alexander Isak didn’t register a shot until the 64th minute, while Mohamed Salah attempted 17 take-ons — something only nine other players have done in the Premier League in the last seven years — yet completed just five. These are the statistical fingerprints of players straining to make a mark - one still looking in preseason and the other maybe in his last season.
None of this has been helped by the stop-start nature of injuries. Alisson’s absence alone alters the team’s balance but Mama had a decent run. Bradley’s disrupted momentum is a sign of his age and NI's over reliance, Wirtz and Frimpong missing games denies us options, Mac Allister and Isak lacking a full preseason — all of it chips away at continuity that Slot had mostly last year. Systems require repetition, and Liverpool haven’t had much. Without a rhythm, fragility appears where fluidity should be. The midfield press looks fine one moment, frayed the next. The attacking patterns spark, then drop away. Confidence cannot regenerate without sustained flow, and that is the one thing Liverpool have not been able to build. When we concede first we now lose.
And then there’s the environment they’re operating in. The return of long-ball chaos, slow restarts, time-wasting, scrappy duels and anti-football tactics has dragged Liverpool out of the controlled, structured mechanics they want. Referees have enabled this, consciously (or not). Every 60-second delay on a throw-in, every slow goal-kick, every borderline foul waved away — it all chokes momentum. Forest’s defenders scored twice, Liverpool’s centre-forward barely touched the ball in the box, and the flow of the game was dictated by disruption rather than quality. This is becoming a theme across many fixtures, and it affects teams who rely on tempo and structure more than those who rely on chaos.
The strangest element of all is the opposition finishing streak. Opponents are scoring at freakish rates, often from half-chances, often early. Before Forest, Liverpool were already nearing historically rare levels of “played well, lost anyway” matches. The Forest defeat made it four games this season in which Liverpool generated at least 2.0 non-penalty xG and still lost — something only one European team has done more often across eight seasons (mentioned by Beez over on his Substack mirroring some of the themes here). Early goals, deflected goals, first rebounds falling to opponents: these are small things that have large emotional consequences. Shoulders drop, urgency rises, patience thins. These moments flip psychology.
And then there is officiating — the constant, unpredictable variable that distorts everything. You can accept mistakes; you cannot accept randomness that always flows in the same direction. Forest’s opener being allowed to stand despite interference was another example of the moving target that is Premier League officiating. Liverpool have now won every game in which they scored first, and lost every game in which they conceded first in the league. That isn’t fragility alone; it’s the emotional toll of chasing matches shaped by forces you can’t control. When you send letters and receive silence, when VAR interpretations shift from week to week, when the pattern becomes too consistent to dismiss — a psychological cage forms within the institution. You can see it in hesitation, frustration, resignation. Liverpool aren’t just playing opponents; they’re playing games whose realities change with each referee, linesman, and VAR official.
With all this mind-fucking, confidence inevitably becomes fragile. Pressure slows touches, clouds decision-making, tightens finishing. A team can only suffer so many early blows before it becomes difficult to reset emotionally, and Liverpool have been punched early far too often. As Beez noted in his post match article, Liverpool have only scored their first big chance in three of the 17 matches in which they’ve had one. Football becomes an uphill drag when key moments aren’t converted and the next blow lands almost immediately. From a corner to seconds later Konate giving one away.
What we need, more than anything, is perspective. Not blind optimism or denial, but an honest understanding of what we’re watching. Liverpool are not a team in freefall; they’re a team carrying too much at once, adjusting to new players and new ideas while being punished disproportionately for every single mistake. They are not collapsing — they are straining under a season that keeps stacking complexity upon complexity. And that distinction matters because one implies panic while the other calls for patience.
And this is where I come back to what I’ve been saying for weeks: Slot must keep his agency, and we must keep our perspective. He cannot allow randomness, grief, referees, chaos-ball or streaks to rewrite his principles. Managers earn their reputations by navigating storms, not by avoiding them, and Slot’s refusal to abandon his ideas — even when the season keeps kicking him in the gut — is exactly what a long-term project requires. This is still a great squad, still packed with intelligence, hunger and technical quality. These players aren’t lost; they’re overwhelmed. And overwhelmed teams don’t need reinventing — they need time, calm and clarity.
The bridge between today and everything we’ve been saying all season is simple: patience isn’t passive. It’s an act of belief. Perspective isn’t weakness. It’s strength in the face of noise and echo chambers. And backing Slot isn’t blind loyalty — it is recognising that you don’t judge a project during this sort of once-in-a-decade super storm, but after it. Liverpool will come through this. The squad is too good, the ideas too strong, and the manager too principled for this to be anything but a painful and short chapter, not the whole story.
Just as Red said in The Shawshank Redemption: “Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.” Red is the voice of someone institutionalised, who’s learned not to expect too much, dictated by the cage he’s been put in by others. But Andy Dufresne has a different perspective of his own agency: “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
Apologies for the long ramble and for reusing that Shawshank line both in the good and bad times. I suppose that’s the point though. Because if this season has shown us anything, it’s that endurance is sometimes the only path through the chaos — just as Red says at the end:
“Arne Dufresne – who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side.”
I get that they're feeling the loss of Jota and missing his personality around the team. I get that and I sympathise with that, anyone who's lost someone close to them knows that feeling.
But at what point do we expect them to channel that into something positive and productive rather than forlorn and negative?
And, even to myself, that sounds a bit harsh but I think it needs to be asked?
Always support the players! They can have bad days, we all do, but the least we expect is fight, desire, giving as much as you can. That just seems a bit lacking atm
Ngumoha was arguably our best player in pre-season, he too was a team-mate of Jota but being so young probably didn’t have the same kind of relationship with him and is just excited to be playing football.
I understand Slot wanting to be patient with him but maybe taking some of the senior players out of the limelight for a while and giving Nyoni and Ngumoha some chances is a way to inject some personality and effervescence into the side.
Ekitike has to be starting games also. He enjoys the game and the crowd enjoy him. Give Isak some games for the U21’s. Trying to get him fit in a struggling PL side is killing him. Stick him in the 21’s for a few weeks and then bring him back in for the FA Cup 3rd round.
Also more Chiesa, whose natural enthusiasm can get others going.
It’s all hard work for all of them and we need as much happiness on the pitch as possible.
I definitely agree on Ekitike, he's our best no.9 atm. And I'd have no difficulty in bringing Isak on around 60 minutes and letting/telling him to get stuck in.
And giving Nyoni and Rio starts can't result in anything worse than whats happening atm but it might wake up a few who aren't pulling their weight.
I thought Salah had a great first half but he's off to the Nations Cup in a month and we have nobody to play there. Not even an inadequate replacement, nobody! It's a poor sign of the squad building that we have nobody for that spot. Hopefully Frimpong can step up if he can stay free of injury
The risk of playing young players is injury. Their body is not fully developed with a higher risk of injury. If they lose too much development time at this age then they might never hit their full potential. Managing their minutes is what we should do and that’s what Slot is doing.
I also don’t see much wrong with what the chosen XI are doing. We are creating chances but it’s not happening for us. At the other end, we are conceding random goals. It’s one of those periods. We will get out of it, but nothing drastic is needed I feel.
I wouldn't disagree with you on that, looking at Michael Owen to see the longterm effects of over playing would back that up.
But, outside of the league Cup loss, the younger players haven't appeared in the league much. Ngumoha has been subbed on in 5 league games and one CL game, Nyoni just 5 squad appearances and no minutes of action. I'm pretty certain they're not being overplayed right now.
Singing and clapping on 20 isn't helping as is his shirt number vacated seat in the dressing room. Its all on top. That dread of the 20th minute and constant thought thereafter. Yes sing his song in defiance if we lose and in Victory when we win after 90 plus minutes. Make it a fight song a Diogo doesn't lose anthem. I know the Kop this feeds us we never shy a fight.
I don’t recall Liverpool being so open when going a goal down last season. They were patient. It seems less controlled this season. Or at least it does from memory. It’s like they want to score as soon as possible.
Etitike is fitter and perhaps more in synch with the other Liverpool players. Would starting him and then getting Isak on later on help? Isak doesn’t look fit.
It was also a lucky goal by Haaland. I could probably play up front against Liverpool and score with some stupid deflection after the ball had hit ne in the face
It’s not like teams have found a way, a chink in our armour, we are conceding random goals. Usually low xg ones and the first opportunity. Whilst we are struggling to turn xg into goals. Unlucky at one end, unlucky at the other.
I started going back to Sunday mass after the Palace game as in my mind it should help us…might give it a miss tomorrow as it’s not helping..at all hahaha
Yeah that’s reasonable but it also feels rushed. I have no stats or numbers to back it up. It just looks that way or I am remembering it that way. I look back at the Palace game and the ones after…now it feels like a mix of rush and lack of confidence
"They look incapable of recovering from setbacks" ... I totally agree with one addition. "Resilience" + a lack of "game smarts" = our foundational problem. We've got to recapture the "mentality monsters" trait & fast.
After 30 minutes, the plan was working. In attack, we created 5 solid chances (0.9 xG) not counting other promising threats. More chances were on the way as we're moving the ball well, passing thru the lines, attacking well from both flanks & periods of sustained pressure. In defense, we conceded only 6 final third entries (all dealt with) & no danger-zone shots.
In the 32nd minute, they score. A minute before, Ryan/Dom/Curtis/Ibou make a hash of counter pressing a loose ball following another promising attack. Game smarts should kick in = foul a Forest player in midfield & neutralize the threat. Instead, they all trip over each other & comically miss tackles, resulting somehow in Ibou miskicking the ball 35 yards past our goal line. Unreal. You can nitpick the goal from the ensuing corner but there are no GLARING mistakes; mostly just more bad luck. It was the lack of game smarts on Forest's counter that's baffling.
A team with the right mindset keeps their head after conceding. After all, there's 2/3 of the match left to play; we're at home; the plan is working. Most did with the glaring exception of Ibou. He's awful in defending Jesus' goal (disallowed for "handling"). Later, he has another howler in the final third losing Dominguez. He also underhits a pass to Mo that gets intercepted. When a player in our last line loses his head, it has a knock-on effect on his fullback and midfielders. The decision to hold out for a better deal on Guehi than the already-great deal that was on the table in June continues to haunt us.
Another absence of "game smarts" causes the second. Macca tracks the run of Neco Williams into the area. As the ball arrives, he attempts a tackle instead of staying goal-side. After the missed tackle, Neco is first to the ball & he cuts it back for the goal. Had Milos tracked Ndoye's run, he might've been in a better place to block Savona's shot but I'm stuck on Macca's poor decision. It's Neco frickin' Williams with his back to goal ... he's not a threat except to cross! He's in the area ... why risk a penalty?!? ... especially after getting away with a nibble on Sangare in Forest's box in the first half. It was a reckless, brainless decision from one of our smart players.
The low block wins again. Most of the match Forest had 6 if not 7 across the back - and they all worked really hard and kept Liverpool out.
Time to change tactics on the low block. It’s boring football but has to be done. Cut out most of our high line and play deeper ourselves. Open up the field so opponents back line moves slightly forward. Even a few meters would make a difference.
Hard to know were to start, total lack of confidence from the top down, no leaders on the pitch and Madley lived up to his shocking reputation, you can shove your Saturday 3 pm kick offs ….another wasted Saturday 🤦♂️🤦♂️
There's so much going wrong atm, it's hard to know where to start but two things stand out to me.
Konate is so so out of sorts right now, I can't fathom how he's starting. Is Gomez gone so poor that he can't even get in ahead of Konate now? I realise Leoni is out for the season but is our intransigence about only signing Guehi and nobody else costing us now?
And that hole right in the middle of our defence, what's Slot and the gang doing to rectify this? He rightly received loads of praise for his tactical acumen last year but, likewise, we should also question the disappearance of that acumen this year.
I'm just incredibly frustrated right now, there's definitely some bad luck involved but at what point do we start taking things into our own hands and making the good luck for ourselves?
Before diving in, I want to thank both Beez and Paul (on his substack) for their excellent work over the last week. Paul has outlined the multi-layered complexity behind this season better than anyone, and Beez has captured the statistical and psychological fingerprints of what’s happening on the pitch with real clarity. (The same post is on TTT so apologies to a few who might be seeing this long rambling nonsense again).
What follows is simply my amateur attempt to sit between those two perspectives. My key takeaways are that this season can’t be understood through tactics or effort alone (as Paul & co. reminded me after City); grief and disrupted foundations have shaped everything; early goals and officiating randomness are distorting game-states; and this is still a very good squad trying to find rhythm in very abnormal circumstances. Above all, Slot must keep his agency, and some fans must not see hope as a bad thing. Remember where you were in May.
This really is the season that won’t give Liverpool a break, isn’t it. Before we even try to reach for explanations, we have to acknowledge the simple truth that this team is carrying things no model or metric can fully capture. Paul’s written about it from Day 1 to 144 and counting. Losing Diogo Jota wasn’t just a tragedy; it altered the emotional chemistry of the entire squad. Grief doesn’t stay boxed up, no matter how professional you are. It drains energy, clouds focus and takes a toll that people outside the dressing room can only guess including us. That’s the starting point of this season, and it colours everything that follows, which is why so much of what we’re seeing needs to be understood in a deeper context. When I remember sitting through session after session of my son's chemotherapy it hurt so deeply, I had to bury it there to carry on. Life doesn't detach itself for 90 minutes a week.
Preseason was disrupted before it began, and cohesion never caught up. Slot didn’t get a clean slate to build automatisms; he walked into a group still processing a loss and trying to reassemble itself on the fly. He did too with a young family not even living with him. It is hard. Liverpool have now lost four consecutive halves of football, and while stats don’t capture emotion, they do show patterns of a team struggling to absorb shocks. What looks like disconnection is often the aftershock of a season that began without rhythm despite all those early fightbacks.
On top of that emotional instability, the squad has been reshaped. Key players left, new players arrived, and natural cohesion has had to coexist with natural grieving. This isn’t a broken squad; it’s one evolving under abnormal circumstances. Slot’s patterns appear in flashes, the players try to impose structure, but the ground keeps shifting—sometimes literally in the form of injuries, sometimes psychologically in the form of confidence wobbles. Even the front line reflects this. Against Forest, Alexander Isak didn’t register a shot until the 64th minute, while Mohamed Salah attempted 17 take-ons — something only nine other players have done in the Premier League in the last seven years — yet completed just five. These are the statistical fingerprints of players straining to make a mark - one still looking in preseason and the other maybe in his last season.
None of this has been helped by the stop-start nature of injuries. Alisson’s absence alone alters the team’s balance but Mama had a decent run. Bradley’s disrupted momentum is a sign of his age and NI's over reliance, Wirtz and Frimpong missing games denies us options, Mac Allister and Isak lacking a full preseason — all of it chips away at continuity that Slot had mostly last year. Systems require repetition, and Liverpool haven’t had much. Without a rhythm, fragility appears where fluidity should be. The midfield press looks fine one moment, frayed the next. The attacking patterns spark, then drop away. Confidence cannot regenerate without sustained flow, and that is the one thing Liverpool have not been able to build. When we concede first we now lose.
And then there’s the environment they’re operating in. The return of long-ball chaos, slow restarts, time-wasting, scrappy duels and anti-football tactics has dragged Liverpool out of the controlled, structured mechanics they want. Referees have enabled this, consciously (or not). Every 60-second delay on a throw-in, every slow goal-kick, every borderline foul waved away — it all chokes momentum. Forest’s defenders scored twice, Liverpool’s centre-forward barely touched the ball in the box, and the flow of the game was dictated by disruption rather than quality. This is becoming a theme across many fixtures, and it affects teams who rely on tempo and structure more than those who rely on chaos.
The strangest element of all is the opposition finishing streak. Opponents are scoring at freakish rates, often from half-chances, often early. Before Forest, Liverpool were already nearing historically rare levels of “played well, lost anyway” matches. The Forest defeat made it four games this season in which Liverpool generated at least 2.0 non-penalty xG and still lost — something only one European team has done more often across eight seasons (mentioned by Beez over on his Substack mirroring some of the themes here). Early goals, deflected goals, first rebounds falling to opponents: these are small things that have large emotional consequences. Shoulders drop, urgency rises, patience thins. These moments flip psychology.
And then there is officiating — the constant, unpredictable variable that distorts everything. You can accept mistakes; you cannot accept randomness that always flows in the same direction. Forest’s opener being allowed to stand despite interference was another example of the moving target that is Premier League officiating. Liverpool have now won every game in which they scored first, and lost every game in which they conceded first in the league. That isn’t fragility alone; it’s the emotional toll of chasing matches shaped by forces you can’t control. When you send letters and receive silence, when VAR interpretations shift from week to week, when the pattern becomes too consistent to dismiss — a psychological cage forms within the institution. You can see it in hesitation, frustration, resignation. Liverpool aren’t just playing opponents; they’re playing games whose realities change with each referee, linesman, and VAR official.
With all this mind-fucking, confidence inevitably becomes fragile. Pressure slows touches, clouds decision-making, tightens finishing. A team can only suffer so many early blows before it becomes difficult to reset emotionally, and Liverpool have been punched early far too often. As Beez noted in his post match article, Liverpool have only scored their first big chance in three of the 17 matches in which they’ve had one. Football becomes an uphill drag when key moments aren’t converted and the next blow lands almost immediately. From a corner to seconds later Konate giving one away.
What we need, more than anything, is perspective. Not blind optimism or denial, but an honest understanding of what we’re watching. Liverpool are not a team in freefall; they’re a team carrying too much at once, adjusting to new players and new ideas while being punished disproportionately for every single mistake. They are not collapsing — they are straining under a season that keeps stacking complexity upon complexity. And that distinction matters because one implies panic while the other calls for patience.
And this is where I come back to what I’ve been saying for weeks: Slot must keep his agency, and we must keep our perspective. He cannot allow randomness, grief, referees, chaos-ball or streaks to rewrite his principles. Managers earn their reputations by navigating storms, not by avoiding them, and Slot’s refusal to abandon his ideas — even when the season keeps kicking him in the gut — is exactly what a long-term project requires. This is still a great squad, still packed with intelligence, hunger and technical quality. These players aren’t lost; they’re overwhelmed. And overwhelmed teams don’t need reinventing — they need time, calm and clarity.
The bridge between today and everything we’ve been saying all season is simple: patience isn’t passive. It’s an act of belief. Perspective isn’t weakness. It’s strength in the face of noise and echo chambers. And backing Slot isn’t blind loyalty — it is recognising that you don’t judge a project during this sort of once-in-a-decade super storm, but after it. Liverpool will come through this. The squad is too good, the ideas too strong, and the manager too principled for this to be anything but a painful and short chapter, not the whole story.
Just as Red said in The Shawshank Redemption: “Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.” Red is the voice of someone institutionalised, who’s learned not to expect too much, dictated by the cage he’s been put in by others. But Andy Dufresne has a different perspective of his own agency: “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
Apologies for the long ramble and for reusing that Shawshank line both in the good and bad times. I suppose that’s the point though. Because if this season has shown us anything, it’s that endurance is sometimes the only path through the chaos — just as Red says at the end:
“Arne Dufresne – who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side.”
YNWA.
How do you lift players who are still grieving when football may not feel important?
I don't know the answer and I'm not even sure it matters for now.
It's a valid question, i think.
I get that they're feeling the loss of Jota and missing his personality around the team. I get that and I sympathise with that, anyone who's lost someone close to them knows that feeling.
But at what point do we expect them to channel that into something positive and productive rather than forlorn and negative?
And, even to myself, that sounds a bit harsh but I think it needs to be asked?
We're in uncharted territory with so many factors conspiring against the team.
In my opinion we show them love and support, I think that will help.
Always support the players! They can have bad days, we all do, but the least we expect is fight, desire, giving as much as you can. That just seems a bit lacking atm
I personally feel youth is the way to go now.
Ngumoha was arguably our best player in pre-season, he too was a team-mate of Jota but being so young probably didn’t have the same kind of relationship with him and is just excited to be playing football.
I understand Slot wanting to be patient with him but maybe taking some of the senior players out of the limelight for a while and giving Nyoni and Ngumoha some chances is a way to inject some personality and effervescence into the side.
Ekitike has to be starting games also. He enjoys the game and the crowd enjoy him. Give Isak some games for the U21’s. Trying to get him fit in a struggling PL side is killing him. Stick him in the 21’s for a few weeks and then bring him back in for the FA Cup 3rd round.
Also more Chiesa, whose natural enthusiasm can get others going.
It’s all hard work for all of them and we need as much happiness on the pitch as possible.
I definitely agree on Ekitike, he's our best no.9 atm. And I'd have no difficulty in bringing Isak on around 60 minutes and letting/telling him to get stuck in.
And giving Nyoni and Rio starts can't result in anything worse than whats happening atm but it might wake up a few who aren't pulling their weight.
I thought Salah had a great first half but he's off to the Nations Cup in a month and we have nobody to play there. Not even an inadequate replacement, nobody! It's a poor sign of the squad building that we have nobody for that spot. Hopefully Frimpong can step up if he can stay free of injury
The risk of playing young players is injury. Their body is not fully developed with a higher risk of injury. If they lose too much development time at this age then they might never hit their full potential. Managing their minutes is what we should do and that’s what Slot is doing.
I also don’t see much wrong with what the chosen XI are doing. We are creating chances but it’s not happening for us. At the other end, we are conceding random goals. It’s one of those periods. We will get out of it, but nothing drastic is needed I feel.
I wouldn't disagree with you on that, looking at Michael Owen to see the longterm effects of over playing would back that up.
But, outside of the league Cup loss, the younger players haven't appeared in the league much. Ngumoha has been subbed on in 5 league games and one CL game, Nyoni just 5 squad appearances and no minutes of action. I'm pretty certain they're not being overplayed right now.
Singing and clapping on 20 isn't helping as is his shirt number vacated seat in the dressing room. Its all on top. That dread of the 20th minute and constant thought thereafter. Yes sing his song in defiance if we lose and in Victory when we win after 90 plus minutes. Make it a fight song a Diogo doesn't lose anthem. I know the Kop this feeds us we never shy a fight.
I don’t recall Liverpool being so open when going a goal down last season. They were patient. It seems less controlled this season. Or at least it does from memory. It’s like they want to score as soon as possible.
Etitike is fitter and perhaps more in synch with the other Liverpool players. Would starting him and then getting Isak on later on help? Isak doesn’t look fit.
Re Ekitike/Isak - I think so, yeah. I guess playing Isak is the only way to get him fit but it isn’t helping the team.
The other thing is we've often gone behind to goals under controversial circumstances.
Eg against Utd or today's one. Even against City it was just after the relatively soft penalty.
Perhaps that does begin to erode morale too?
It was also a lucky goal by Haaland. I could probably play up front against Liverpool and score with some stupid deflection after the ball had hit ne in the face
Yeah. I was about to add that too.
It's just a streak of crazy bad-luck heaped on a team that's grieving but not allowed to grieve.
It’s not like teams have found a way, a chink in our armour, we are conceding random goals. Usually low xg ones and the first opportunity. Whilst we are struggling to turn xg into goals. Unlucky at one end, unlucky at the other.
The City game really crystallised that.
2 big chances to 1 in our favour.
Non-pen Xg v similar, despite not factoring VVDs goal.
Sometimes I wish I followed professional tiddlywinks.
I started going back to Sunday mass after the Palace game as in my mind it should help us…might give it a miss tomorrow as it’s not helping..at all hahaha
I think that's a fair point re being open, but we've had lots of changes, especially right and left back so it will have an impact.
Szob playing RB may then have a knock on affect to midfield.
Last year's squad was more settled so hard to make direct comparisons.
Yeah that’s reasonable but it also feels rushed. I have no stats or numbers to back it up. It just looks that way or I am remembering it that way. I look back at the Palace game and the ones after…now it feels like a mix of rush and lack of confidence
And when do get a goal back, it gets wrongly disallowed....
Yeah, that’s doesn’t help at all.
"They look incapable of recovering from setbacks" ... I totally agree with one addition. "Resilience" + a lack of "game smarts" = our foundational problem. We've got to recapture the "mentality monsters" trait & fast.
After 30 minutes, the plan was working. In attack, we created 5 solid chances (0.9 xG) not counting other promising threats. More chances were on the way as we're moving the ball well, passing thru the lines, attacking well from both flanks & periods of sustained pressure. In defense, we conceded only 6 final third entries (all dealt with) & no danger-zone shots.
In the 32nd minute, they score. A minute before, Ryan/Dom/Curtis/Ibou make a hash of counter pressing a loose ball following another promising attack. Game smarts should kick in = foul a Forest player in midfield & neutralize the threat. Instead, they all trip over each other & comically miss tackles, resulting somehow in Ibou miskicking the ball 35 yards past our goal line. Unreal. You can nitpick the goal from the ensuing corner but there are no GLARING mistakes; mostly just more bad luck. It was the lack of game smarts on Forest's counter that's baffling.
A team with the right mindset keeps their head after conceding. After all, there's 2/3 of the match left to play; we're at home; the plan is working. Most did with the glaring exception of Ibou. He's awful in defending Jesus' goal (disallowed for "handling"). Later, he has another howler in the final third losing Dominguez. He also underhits a pass to Mo that gets intercepted. When a player in our last line loses his head, it has a knock-on effect on his fullback and midfielders. The decision to hold out for a better deal on Guehi than the already-great deal that was on the table in June continues to haunt us.
Another absence of "game smarts" causes the second. Macca tracks the run of Neco Williams into the area. As the ball arrives, he attempts a tackle instead of staying goal-side. After the missed tackle, Neco is first to the ball & he cuts it back for the goal. Had Milos tracked Ndoye's run, he might've been in a better place to block Savona's shot but I'm stuck on Macca's poor decision. It's Neco frickin' Williams with his back to goal ... he's not a threat except to cross! He's in the area ... why risk a penalty?!? ... especially after getting away with a nibble on Sangare in Forest's box in the first half. It was a reckless, brainless decision from one of our smart players.
Until we start playing smarter, we won't win.
The low block wins again. Most of the match Forest had 6 if not 7 across the back - and they all worked really hard and kept Liverpool out.
Time to change tactics on the low block. It’s boring football but has to be done. Cut out most of our high line and play deeper ourselves. Open up the field so opponents back line moves slightly forward. Even a few meters would make a difference.
Hard to know were to start, total lack of confidence from the top down, no leaders on the pitch and Madley lived up to his shocking reputation, you can shove your Saturday 3 pm kick offs ….another wasted Saturday 🤦♂️🤦♂️
There's so much going wrong atm, it's hard to know where to start but two things stand out to me.
Konate is so so out of sorts right now, I can't fathom how he's starting. Is Gomez gone so poor that he can't even get in ahead of Konate now? I realise Leoni is out for the season but is our intransigence about only signing Guehi and nobody else costing us now?
And that hole right in the middle of our defence, what's Slot and the gang doing to rectify this? He rightly received loads of praise for his tactical acumen last year but, likewise, we should also question the disappearance of that acumen this year.
I'm just incredibly frustrated right now, there's definitely some bad luck involved but at what point do we start taking things into our own hands and making the good luck for ourselves?