Mike Wren-Kirkham

[Mike Wren-Kirkham @mwk94]

@TheCricketerMag @GeorgeDobell1 @melindafarrell Does the batting approach from England today perfectly sum up the Bazball era? Incredibly entertaining but hubristic beyond belief... There's a test match series on the line and results matter! This isn't a Ben Stokes testimonial exhibition match #AskGeorge

[Doc AI @Doc_A_I]

So in anticipation of another wonderfully optimal lineup being put out versus Aston Villa, and the inevitable toxic discourse swamping the timeline, I wanted to ask myself a question. Are the fans and media surrounding the club just being stubborn about this season? Are they being dense? Are they driving agendas?

Like everything else, the answer is multi-factorial. Not just one thing.

The most dominant reason is that a lot of discourse around sports is outcome-first. Start with ‘results bad’, then work backwards to the most emotionally satisfying explanation and tack on data to support what is ultimately an incomplete analysis. Not full-spectrum context or data. Just data that suits the conclusion. And the most emotionally satisfying explanations generally boil down to ‘buck stops with the manager’ or ‘the club doesn’t have a clue’.

Because it gives people a clean target and a clean solution to draw a line in the sand with.

For what it’s worth, I was in that camp myself back in September 2025. I thought this was firmly a coaching issue because I could see warning signs from the Community Shield itself, not after seven wins on the bounce. I am extremely conscious of exponential risk, so the pending collapse felt obvious to me. But that is where not reverse-engineering analysis from a conclusion matters. I kept digging, kept an open mind, and the situation became far more complicated than ‘coach bad’.

That does not make me better than anyone seeing things differently. I just did the work and ended up somewhere else.

Extenuating circumstances are messy. Because they force people to sit with uncertainty. It means acknowledging that the real answer might be ‘several things broken at once’, not ‘one person is the only problem’. Never mind football, people hate multi-factorial analysis of a problem. Politics has strongmen. Art has auteurs. Religion has messiahs. Businesses have visionaries. People hate layers.

The other issue is that people hear ‘context’ as ‘excuse’. When someone says: -

‘pre-season disruption damaged the fitness base’
‘grief affected the squad’
‘recruitment left significant profile gaps’
‘injuries broke continuity’
‘lineup instability hurt automatisms’
‘fixture congestion leads to fatigue build-up’

They hear: -

‘Arne Slot is blameless’.

Even though that’s not what is being said. What’s being said is that outcomes are a product of their environment. That is basic root-cause analysis. Root-cause analysis is arduous and difficult, but the goal is to find a conclusion. Not work backwards from a preconceived one.

The baffling part though is the aggression. It is not enough for folks to disagree on weighting. They have to dismiss the factors entirely, because if those factors are real, then the clean ‘sack the coach and everything improves’ story becomes very shaky.

And they don’t want to confront that. Because if the problem is systemic, the answer is harder. Recruitment. Profiles. Preparation. Physical base. Emotional impact. Availability. Tactical refinement. Coaching adaptation. All of it. It all matters.

It’s the same thing with most belief systems, really. Once the clean central explanation starts wobbling, the whole thing feels threatened. So people protect the story instead of interrogating it. In football terms, if ‘manager bad’ is the answer to everything, anything that complicates that answer has to be dismissed as an excuse.

Absolution is not the goal. Full-spectrum analysis is.

[Sam McGuire @SamMcGuire90]

Not sure this edit is ever going to be topped, @goisyy. Can't stop watching it.

[Oscar Patel, Apparently @HendrickD82]

"But why sign Ekitike if they're going to sign Isak as well"

[FootballJOE @FootballJOE]

Arne Slot has won the Premier League in his first season in charge of Liverpool...

[Bryan’s Gunn @bryansgunn]

I tell you what, that Santa Claus has got real presence about him

[Mike Wren-Kirkham @mwk94]

@TheRedmenTV @Simon_Hughes__ @LittleBrownUK EGYPTIAN KING

[The Redmen TV @TheRedmenTV]

📕 BOOK GIVEAWAY 📕

We have five signed copies of the brilliant 'Chasing Salah' by @Simon_Hughes__ to giveaway with @LittleBrownUK 🙌

Follow us, repost this post and reply to this with the words 'EGYPTIAN KING' to be in with a chance of winning 🇪🇬👑

#LFC

[Mike Wren-Kirkham @mwk94]

@TheCricketerMag @GeorgeDobell1 Have Pakistan prepared this pitch to get their failing batters into "form"? Stat padding on a road and destroying their talented bowlers so Babar and co look better... #askgeorge

[Peter Larsen @PeterLarsen_01]

Rio Ferdinand is now so embarrassed by Man United he is denying ever playing for them

[Mike Wren-Kirkham @mwk94]

@TheCricketerMag @GeorgeDobell1 #AskGeorge are England just flat track bullies in white ball cricket?

[Adam Hurrey @FootballCliches]

I think we might see proper low-ebb, season-over Chelsea here: Petrovic flapping his arms at nobody in particular when the third goal goes in, Cucurella looking aghast at conceding a penalty, one of their giant French centre-backs losing their man at a corner, Caicedo's second yellow after 63 mins, Fernandez being laughed at by Declan Rice and 60,000 others, Madueke quietly subbed (just not his night was it, Ally), Gallagher generously being "the only one who emerged with any credit", Mudryk cutting the most forlorn figure in the history of figure-cutting, Nicolas Jackson.

[Tadworth Cricket Club @tadworthcricket]

This Friday (April 26th) night is Quiz Night at #TadworthCC with all the fun starting at 19.00 at the Clubhouse. Prizes to be won, drinks available at the club bar & our esteemed First XI Captain @mwk94 as the quizmaster. What more could your Friday night need? All are welcome!

[The Anfield Wrap @TheAnfieldWrap]

Come on ye big German divvy, stay at Liverpool Football Club, what else you going to get up to

[The Anfield Wrap @TheAnfieldWrap]

Newcastle and United out of Europe?

[Mike Wren-Kirkham @mwk94]

@RyanElliott_23 Bitter much? 😂

[Mike Wren-Kirkham @mwk94]

Thank you @AlexHartley93 (and @mlawry46 for organising!)

[Mike Wren-Kirkham @mwk94]

@KaliBomaye They lost it last year and didn’t do too badly afterwards 😬

[Mike Wren-Kirkham @mwk94]

@tadworthcricket What am I meant to do on Saturday now?

[Mike Wren-Kirkham @mwk94]

Joe Weatheley
RES Wyatt, block 11 row F seat 20 #FinalsDay