Slotball went flat this weekend
Well that was interesting. Forest strangled Liverpool and thoroughly deserved their win.
I don’t think we can draw too many conclusions just yet, but I thought Liverpool were slow. Slow all over the pitch and so was the passing.
What that was down to is hard to say, especially because they were so good at United a fortnight ago. (Not that there was much to beat at Old Trafford).
And before Saturday there’s been no sign so far of them over-passing and displaying a style that I said in an earlier blog would frustrate the Anfield faithful.
It’s been suggested Slot got it wrong because he picked 11 starters who’d been on international duty. If it was an error I don’t think Klopp would’ve made it. He knew our league better than Slot. For the record Forest started only three who’d been away
In Holland you can probably get away what Slot did. The intensity is less severe in the Eredivisie. In our league there’s no hiding place. It’s full on all every week. I guess Slot will learn that and we should give him time, but this weekend Slotball went flat.
How much do we hear about ‘small margins’ these days? I thought it was interesting to see Christian Romero appearing to criticise Tottenham’s travel arrangements for players who were on international duty.
The Mail report he reposted a message by an Argentinian journalist that claimed Spurs ‘gave an advantage’ to Arsenal because they were ‘the only PL club that made their players come back from their national teams without their own logistics’.
In English, the journo and Romero were saying Spurs should’ve organised private flights for players - not rely on national federations to book scheduled flights. Arsenal’s players arrived back in England Thursday - Spurs’ Argentinian contingent on Friday.
Perhaps Romero has got a point? Maybe there is something in his argument. If there is, I wonder if he thought about organising his own travel? Players can certainly afford such luxuries these days and I’m certain he would’ve done for a shopping trip!
What is for sure is that Arsenal were good - very good - and Spurs were poor. I hope The Gunners do a job on City the same way next week - and this time believe they can win. None of the neutrals amongst us wants to see City run away with the league surely?
My message to Arsenal would be ‘don’t be scared to win’. They were at The Etihad last season. 0-0 wasn’t good enough. I’ve said this before - they had City by the throat that day but froze. They didn’t ‘believe’. And that cost them the title. It wasn’t the Villa defeat.
Quickly on the winning goal at Spurs. Arsenal scored 22 set-piece goals last season. Spurs conceded 16. Over to you Ange….
Do I sense a little unrest amongst Tottenham fans - not just with the result but with Postacoglu?
Well played Newcastle. What a start they’ve had. Perhaps the Saudi’s were right to stop spending after all? Of course I’m being a little facetious. It’s a great ‘start’, but the Toon are way short on numbers if they’re to mount a sustained challenge for honours.
It was great to have Tim Cahill back in the beINSPORTS studios this weekend. Cahill works in Qatar, but has been consistently busy during his time here, so we haven’t seen as much of him as we would’ve liked.
He was in great form Sunday though and he’ll be back next weekend when he’ll be joined by David Moyes.
I had dinner with Moyes towards the end of his time at West Ham but I haven’t seen him since, so I’m lookong forward to catching up with him as well. He too has been a bit busy recently!
He was one of UEFA’s technical observers at the recent euros with the likes of Fabio Capello and Aitor Karanka. Their report makes interesting reading.
If you want a summary read Paul Joyce’s piece in The Times today. One or two things leapt out at me. For instance - there wasn’t a goal scored from a direct free-kick at the tournament. How on earth did that happen?
Set-pieces and long throw-ins became really important as a result. Really? Over to you Big Sam….😂.
Be sure that we’ll be talking to Moyes about all the conclusions the panel came to. There’s a whole lot more to it of course than the things I’ve picked out - including how passing the ball quickly - with purpose - is so important these days.