Pau Torres

[Brend'Watkins]

There is clearly a trade off with Torres. Quality on the ball for occasionally suspect defending.

Yeah, lack of strength (although Rodri said not that long ago that he put a ton of bulk on when he came here, and that he could see Pau Torres having to do the same), but then you get shit like a ball that doesn't just split the defence, it splits the entire team for Duran's goal against Bayern, and it's far from the first time he's done that.

I acknowledge his weaknesses, but he's a fantastic footballer.

Spot on.
I said to some friends over a half time pint during the Bayern game, that Torres looked completely at home in that company. He’s just a brilliant footballer and a defender the likes of which we have never probably seen. Not saying he’s the best defender we’ve had aka God, but we i have never seen a ball playing CB like him at Villa.
The pass for Durans goal gets better every time i watch it, it was practically eye of the needle stuff through about two or three sets of players.
Along with Emi and Ollie, first name on the team sheet.

Yep. What it also means is that opposing teams need to be right on it when he’s on the ball otherwise space and time combined with his accuracy spells trouble, doesn’t it Bayern?

[London Villan]

The beauty of our system is that if the opposition closed down Torres then it frees up space for someone like Teleman or Ramsey or Rogers to play in and Torres is just bypassed with the first pass

[brontebilly]

Unai Emery: "Pau Torres needs to be stronger in his duels with his opponent. But he knows. We are working on it and he reacted fantastic after the goal."

Unai sees what we see. And Pau did play a lot better after. Pau for me is a brilliant defender in European competition because the physicality isn’t as evident. It’s much more a technical requirement and he’s don’t so well in both games. Mings in certain games should be used instead of him. Pau of course is outstanding in bringing the ball out. Right now we have 4 really good options at CB with Diego finding some form.

Emery certainly doesn't shy away from calling it as it is. It's refreshing really. No PL centre back should be getting bullied in that manner, terrible goal to concede.

[London Villan]

I don't think Emi did great with the shot either.

[PaulWinch again]

Unai Emery: "Pau Torres needs to be stronger in his duels with his opponent. But he knows. We are working on it and he reacted fantastic after the goal."

Unai sees what we see. And Pau did play a lot better after. Pau for me is a brilliant defender in European competition because the physicality isn’t as evident. It’s much more a technical requirement and he’s don’t so well in both games. Mings in certain games should be used instead of him. Pau of course is outstanding in bringing the ball out. Right now we have 4 really good options at CB with Diego finding some form.

Emery certainly doesn't shy away from calling it as it is. It's refreshing really. No PL centre back should be getting bullied in that manner, terrible goal to concede.

No it was poor. But clearly it’s an acknowledged area of improvement and on the flip side there’s plenty of stuff he does that no other (or very very few) centre halves can do. See the pass against Bayern.

[Brend'Watkins]

Unai Emery: "Pau Torres needs to be stronger in his duels with his opponent. But he knows. We are working on it and he reacted fantastic after the goal."

Unai sees what we see. And Pau did play a lot better after. Pau for me is a brilliant defender in European competition because the physicality isn’t as evident. It’s much more a technical requirement and he’s don’t so well in both games. Mings in certain games should be used instead of him. Pau of course is outstanding in bringing the ball out. Right now we have 4 really good options at CB with Diego finding some form.

Emery certainly doesn't shy away from calling it as it is. It's refreshing really. No PL centre back should be getting bullied in that manner, terrible goal to concede.

It shouldn’t even have come to that. As soon as the keeper set for the big punt Pau should have been back tracking to meet it with a header to clear it.  Mings would have done that.

[Somniloquism]

I don't think Emi did great with the shot either.

Tough call on Emi. Jimenez was quite central so Emi had to try to cover most of the goal without angles to narrow it. And it went in off the inside of the post so as close to the edge of goal whilst still scoring.

[Somniloquism]

Unai Emery: "Pau Torres needs to be stronger in his duels with his opponent. But he knows. We are working on it and he reacted fantastic after the goal."

Unai sees what we see. And Pau did play a lot better after. Pau for me is a brilliant defender in European competition because the physicality isn’t as evident. It’s much more a technical requirement and he’s don’t so well in both games. Mings in certain games should be used instead of him. Pau of course is outstanding in bringing the ball out. Right now we have 4 really good options at CB with Diego finding some form.

Emery certainly doesn't shy away from calling it as it is. It's refreshing really. No PL centre back should be getting bullied in that manner, terrible goal to concede.

It shouldn’t even have come to that. As soon as the keeper set for the big punt Pau should have been back tracking to meet it with a header to clear it.  Mings would have done that.

One of the dangers with playing a high line means dropping back is not built in like previous generations of defenders. And Mings has also been caught under the ball for similar punts before his injury.

[brontebilly]

Unai Emery: "Pau Torres needs to be stronger in his duels with his opponent. But he knows. We are working on it and he reacted fantastic after the goal."

Unai sees what we see. And Pau did play a lot better after. Pau for me is a brilliant defender in European competition because the physicality isn’t as evident. It’s much more a technical requirement and he’s don’t so well in both games. Mings in certain games should be used instead of him. Pau of course is outstanding in bringing the ball out. Right now we have 4 really good options at CB with Diego finding some form.

Emery certainly doesn't shy away from calling it as it is. It's refreshing really. No PL centre back should be getting bullied in that manner, terrible goal to concede.

It shouldn’t even have come to that. As soon as the keeper set for the big punt Pau should have been back tracking to meet it with a header to clear it.  Mings would have done that.

Agreed, defensive line was very high at the time but Torres just needed to step back a bit and dealt with the punt. Instead he allowed himself to get bumped out of position by Jimenez, once the ball bounced he was in big trouble. Maybe Martinez should have been higher up the pitch sweeping behind him but Torres should be dealing with it anyway.

[London Villan]

I don't think Emi did great with the shot either.

Tough call on Emi. Jimenez was quite central so Emi had to try to cover most of the goal without angles to narrow it. And it went in off the inside of the post so as close to the edge of goal whilst still scoring.

Maybe - I just didn't think it was hit that hard. He did more than enough to redeem himself though - as always.

[Dave]

In the Spain squad again.

[PaulWinch again]

Good for him. He’s a quality player.

[VillaTim]

Last thing he needs is pointless internationals . He needs a rest & reset

[Demitri_C]

In the Spain squad again.

Suprised. His recent form for me hasnt been great for us

[Mister E]

Last thing he needs is pointless internationals . He needs a rest & reset

Maybe the reset comes when he's away with Spain ...