[Mikus LFC]

Very similar parallels to Rodgers last season at Liverpool. Coaches changed, new players signed, but sacked on 4th October.

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[Mikus LFC]

Amazing we were chasing him all that time ago Sean and weren’t prepared to spend the money on him. A wise choice it seems in hindsight. (Unless Klopp could have changed him).

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[Mikus LFC]

I acknowledge that Sean, but if I was a Spurs fan it’s the poor finishing of the attacking players that would frustrate me the most. Werner very disappointing with his two one on one chances. You have to be scoring those. With a manager like Ange you need good finishers. You saw what Rodgers did at Liverpool with Suarez & Sturridge.

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[Mikus LFC]

Ange gets quite a bit of brief but they do have an identity under him and are good at what they do, even if it can be a bit naive at times. What Ten Hag has brought to Man Utd though is anyone’s guess. They just seem to play in fits and starts, whilst being easy to play through. How he’s still in the job is beyond me.

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[Mikus LFC]

He’s clearly frustrated and is feeling the pressure. Is someone like Emery a better and more balanced manager? Yes. But I still think he’s a good attacking coach and suits Spurs. I think results will pick up for them. However I think they’ve overspent on Solanke. I think they just let themselves down a bit in the transfer market sometimes which partly limits their success when they could be more clever because they can offer first team football to a lot of young talent who wouldn’t get much of a game at one of the top clubs.

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[Mikus LFC]

I’m not actually sure had Klopp still been here that we would have won our first 3 games but at the same time his infectious emotion wouldn’t have let us lose today. One for Slot to hopefully quickly learn from particularly after an international period and against a lower table side full of beans. We need galvanising in such situations.

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[Mikus LFC]

Which is why managers at big clubs need to have charisma. The school teacher approach won’t cut it in that environment.

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[Mikus LFC]

Not saying he’s better yet Ed. But I think we are more composed with our play vs Klopp’s more siege mentality. Three clean sheets also so far.

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[Mikus LFC]

Wonderful start from Slot. A lot to really like about him. Dare I say he’s more refined than Klopp.

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[Mikus LFC]

I just think Man Utd have generally been a poor side for some years but they can be excellent on the counter which is why they can still pick up points and be a very hard team to predict. So far so good from us but need to be wary of that counter. Final ball in the final third could do with being a bit better too.

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[Mikus LFC]

With all that’s been said about Chelsea, they will still maintain a reasonable level because of all the attacking quality they still possess. It’s the lack of cohesion I’d be worried about that I think could limit their success because you need a core of players in a team that have been established in it for a while to build something. I mean the current captain Enzo Fernandez was only signed last year and he’s yet to really set Chelsea alight. So I think consistency is going to be a challenge for Chelsea for some time.

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[Mikus LFC]

Always remember a Didi Hamann quote of Sven’s from Didi’s book.

Describing a moment from a post-season tour to Thailand, Hamann wrote: “One morning I was on a sun lounger by the pool when I saw Sven walking towards me carrying a silver tray with a bottle of champagne and two glasses on it.

“It was still only ten o’clock in the morning…Sven came over and put the champagne on the table next to me, then placed one glass in front of me and the other by his lounger.”

He added: “I looked up and said, ‘Boss, what are we celebrating?’… He turned to me and smiled that gentle smile of his and took on the air of a Buddhist philosopher as he said, ‘Life, Kaiser.’ Then after pausing for dramatic effect, ‘We are celebrating…life.’”

RIP Sven.

Via https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/sven-goran-eriksson-didi-hamann-33540037?

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[Mikus LFC]

I think we could have a very good season. Klopp was obviously very charismatic and one of the best at galvanising a team together…but, I do think our play could be too chaotic at times, particularly in the final third. I think under Slot, we’ll be more refined. He also handles the media very well and seems to ooze calmness. I think Klopp could get quite agitated at times and I don’t think that always helped.

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[Mikus LFC]

On the surface, it may seem like things haven’t changed enough with the teams at the top to have an impact to significantly shake things up. In some ways I think this season will track similar to this F1 season where although Verstappen is leading again, he isn’t able to quite dominate in the way he previously has because the car isn’t quite as strong and you have a mixture of teams able to win a few races now.

However, I’m quite hopeful with Slot at Liverpool. Although we have yet to strengthen the areas that cost us last season – that is some more steel in midfield to control games and some better finishers up top, I think Slot will be a lot more refined/controlled with the way we play and that could have a big impact. I also expect us to still strengthen some of those areas before the window closes. I still don’t think Arsenal are extraordinary enough to win it outright because they still lack world class ability up top unless that changes before the window closes.

As for the others, whilst Man Utd are bringing in players, some of whom Ten Hag has worked with, again I don’t see anything extraordinary about them, particularly up top, though the new players may help Ten Hag play more his way. As for Chelsea, just when they seemed to be getting some stability last season, they remove the manager and buy more players again. I just don’t see how that helps the harmony in the team? Spurs will be exciting again but will struggle with consistency. Villa will probably struggle with all the competitions, though Newcastle may recover quite a bit from last season. It’s a bold prediction and maybe part of is it just me getting a bit bored of predicting City to win every year, but I’ll go for…

1) Liverpool
2) Man City
3) Arsenal
4) Man Utd
5) Newcastle
6) Spurs
7) Chelsea
8) Villa

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[Mikus LFC]

Yep, Howe the outstanding English candidate for me.

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[Mikus LFC]

Not being bolder is only half the problem. The team just isn’t very good in possession with the ball. Spain looked like a club team that had been playing together for years. Indeed I think last night’s game resembled a premier league game between City and a mid table club.

England keep putting individual players on pedestals, make them undroppable and keep trying to squeeze all the best players into the team at once. It’s as though our tactic was (and often has been for years) to set up not to lose and hope one of our star players delivers after which we’d then call them a legend – again putting the individual ahead of the overall team. It’s been going on for years and it’s the same mentality as that of a lower league team playing a top team in a cup final. Remember the almost desperate clamour to get Rooney back into the team after an injury some years ago at a tournament? It’s just embarrassing. But it’s part of our culture and for me is the biggest reason we haven’t won a trophy for 58 years. And let’s not forget Spain lost one of their best players last night. It didn’t make any difference to them.

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[Mikus LFC]

Southgate. You can’t win tournaments by only choosing to be bolder later in the game. Spain by far the best team in the tournament.

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[Mikus LFC]

I think Southgate has had more “success” than previous managers because he plays the safer percentage game of making us solid and safe and then hoping we can use our creativity up top on the few occasions the team does attack. He has though still suffered imo (as some of his predecessors have) of trying to squeeze all the best players into the same team at the cost of balance. Hence none of the performances have been particularly dominant so far or emphatic in terms of the scorelines. This is what causes great frustration amongst the fans and the media because continue to play like that against the better teams and you ain’t going to get anywhere. The draw has been kind to Southgate at several tournaments now and usually when they come up against a top side, this strategy isn’t bold enough to get over the line.

However, the team were clearly better against Holland with the players looking a lot more at home and comfortable in the system because there seemed to be more license to go forward. But then the question has to be asked, why didn’t Southgate do this before? Because let’s not forget it took a last minute goal by Bellingham vs Slovakia to stay in the tournament. Had that not happened, the team would obviously now be out and Southgate would probably be out of a job and the landscape would look very different.

So it’s a puzzling one as to why Southgate took such a big risk playing the safe way vs Slovakia but then were more attacking vs Holland. Should it really have taken him this long to have found a better system? Or has he been under pressure to change it and finally found one? Obviously great that he has but if it is the case that the pressure has forced him to change things, ie take him out his comfort zone, then the worry is he will revert to his default setting when a game gets tight again and is waiting to be won because being bolder I don’t think is generally in his make up.

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[Mikus LFC]

Fantastic goal by Watkins

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[Mikus LFC]

Yep, just refreshing to see England players starting to resemble their club form.

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