Laura Woods: Future Looks Bright Under Slot
Salah one of Premier League’s best
Mohamed Salah is a Premier League winner and a three-time Golden Boot winner and he’s not even a striker. Brilliantly consistent, a big game player, graceful to watch and undoubtedly one of the best in that right wing position the Premier League has seen.
His numbers are insane. There’s a reason he’s so adored on Merseyside and I actually think Salah will get even more appreciation when we don’t get to watch him week in, week out anymore.
Slot changes bode well for future
Liverpool have enjoyed an absolute love affair with Jurgen Klopp and – for the majority – many of us neutrals have too. So life after Klopp was never going to be easy.
A first league game for Arne Slot against newly promoted Ipswich could have been tricky, especially as Ipswich started life back in the league with intent. Liverpool looked slightly disjointed.
Arne adapted at half time and that’s something I’d take a lot of faith in. It shows he has a plan B and can react and turn a game into a victory. It’s not the performance that will define the Slot era, but there were plenty of positives for Liverpool fans. What will be interesting is if and who they sign before the window shuts.
Would love Arsenal to go for Isak
Arsenal shared the goals around last season and did it well, but plenty still think they need a central striker.
The positives are only Manchester City outscored Arsenal last season so it’s not like they are lacking in firepower. However the negatives are that City won the league and Arsenal didn’t.
I was quite a Benjamin Sesko fan and was hoping that deal went through over the summer. I also really like Alexander Isak and would love it if Arsenal snapped him up – he looks an ideal type for this Arsenal side.
Havertz definitely on the up
Kai Havertz looks good in that central striker role towards the end of last season despite his many critics and has picked up where he left off with a goal and an assist against Wolves in the opening game.
He’s adapting to Mikel Arteta’s requests and becoming more confident and consistent. In 14 games as a striker at Arsenal he’s got 17 goal involvements with nine goals and eight assists. Not bad.
If Arsenal were to shore up the midfield more to win that battle it might be more beneficial for this Arsenal team who score from all over. Not leaking silly goals is also a priority and Arteta has done a great deal of good to turn this Arsenal defence into the best in the league, conceding the least amount of goals last season.
That's where the league is won or lost and that will be key against Aston Villa this week, where last season they conceded two very late goals and all but ended their title hopes.
Felix talented but Gallagher departure more surprising than Sterling situation
The Joao Felix transfer raised a few eyebrows, but he has a lot of qualities as a player and Chelsea fans will welcome him back with open arms.
He’s smart, he finds space and he’s versatile. I’m sure they have great plans for him.
Raheem Sterling is out of favour now at Chelsea by the sounds of it, with new management saying he won’t get any minutes. I still feel like he could have stayed at City and had so much more joy and more trophies even if he didn’t play week in week out.
It’s letting Conor Gallagher go that really surprises me. One of their own who had interest from other Premier League clubs over the years and was very popular at Crystal Palace. But I guess homegrown talent makes more of a profit, so that could be why they decided to move him on.