Pau Torres

[Olneythelonely]

Is there any chance at all that someone could post the evidence of Konsa and Pau being a better defensive partnership than Carlos and Pau? Only the thing is, they concede more goals and keep less clean sheets, so I’d be really interested to see the working out.

I think both combinations are shite at the moment, so really, I struggle to care about historic data. I know only one combination has kept a clean sheet in the league this season. We’re playing tactically different this season, so I’m not sure previous data is helpful in deciding who is the best defence in this current system.

As much as Dim keeps saying it’s all Pau’s fault, I know that’s just attention seeking.

We’ve kept two in the league and four in the CL this season, all six with Carlos and Pau playing. Not sure why the CL games don’t count.

I forgot about the Man U game. I’m not discounting the CL games, we’re doing great in that competition, but I feel we are setting up differently in the league and is contributing to our poor defence.

Carlos and Pau might be our best combination but at the moment it’s shite regardless but of how we are playing, rather than who we are playing there, in my opinion.

[VillaTim]

Forests 1st given goal yesterday , ball in the air in our 6 yard box , all 3 CB's are in there and not one of the clowns gets near it. Pathetic weak defending from all 3

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Is Carlos still walking around today with his hands behind his back? Such strange behaviour from Diego, maybe he forget his hands were still behind his back and carried on playing with them there or maybe he was handcuffed. It would certainly explain a lot.

As for us playing out from the back my sympathy is with our central defenders having midfielders successfully making themselves unavailable by standing next to an opposition player. Somebody should tell them they are allowed to move. A big space in between to opposition players, you'd think one of our midfielders would move there to receive the ball but no, they prefer to reduce the options for our centre backs. Onana is an expert at this but he's not alone, Barkley excels and even Kamara enjoys a game of Statues every now and then. Anybody would think they're scared of receiving the ball.

[Ian.]

Dougie always wanted the ball and like Kamara could turn a player or play a pass quickly. They really excelled in this system and had a great relationship together.

[Percy McCarthy]

Is Carlos still walking around today with his hands behind his back? Such strange behaviour from Diego, maybe he forget his hands were still behind his back and carried on playing with them there or maybe he was handcuffed. It would certainly explain a lot.

As for us playing out from the back my sympathy is with our central defenders having midfielders successfully making themselves unavailable by standing next to an opposition player. Somebody should tell them they are allowed to move. A big space in between to opposition players, you'd think one of our midfielders would move there to receive the ball but no, they prefer to reduce the options for our centre backs. Onana is an expert at this but he's not alone, Barkley excels and even Kamara enjoys a game of Statues every now and then. Anybody would think they're scared of receiving the ball.

Tielemans did it for the entire first half.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Tielemans did it for the entire first half.

I'd forgotten he was on the pitch.

[VillaTim]

It would be interesting to see average goals conceded per game when Torres plays . The defence has become a car crash under Emery

[Dave]

Yeah, we need to return it to the calm, authoritative days of the Gerrard era.

[Risso]

Yeah, we need to return it to the calm, authoritative days of the Gerrard era.

The defence was better back then, it was scoring goals that was the issue. When Gerrard rightly got the push, we'd conceded fewer goals than we had in the same number of games under Emery this season.

[Sexual Ealing]

Edited for reasons of illiteracy.

[brontebilly]

Yeah, we need to return it to the calm, authoritative days of the Gerrard era.

The defence was better back then, it was scoring goals that was the issue. When Gerrard rightly got the push, we'd conceded fewer goals than we had in the same number of games under Emery this season.

I guess this is where argument gets a bit more technical. Torres when he was at his best was key as a playmaker, combining very well with Luiz for one, and creating chances/goals. So you might take the risk of conceding a few more with what he gave us in possession. Especially when we had Moreno playing quite a bit like a winger at times next to him. But Torres distribution has regressed to my eye lately while defensively he is as poor as he has ever been. That's with Martinez behind him, Kamara in front of him and Digne left of him. The excuses eventually run out.

Emery has to get Konsa/Mings back in for a run of games.

[Risso]

Yes of course. It's fine to give up SOME defensive stability for Pau's ability on the ball. But when he's creating very little going foward and defending worse than ever, then it's time for a rethink.

[PaulWinch again]

Very good day - positionally good and his distribution was excellent.

[VillaTim]

Thought he played well today after a few shaky moments early . Was a game that suited him as was very little physical stuff to do , can only recall that one cross into the box to Harland who put the header wide .

[Mister E]

I thought he was poor today. He was forced onto his right foot a lot - whether by poor passing  to him from Martinez or Konsa - but nonetheless some of his passing from the back was weak.
Of all the players on the pitch today he scored poorly, in my opinion.