Pau Torres

[Sexual Ealing]

I won't trust him till he loses a thumb.

[Dave]

More evidence that he is very much capable of being a key part of a good defence.

He was fine, but I think that a lot of other players (particularly Onana) did more than their fair share meaning he didn't need to be more than fine.

Also the "Martinez smashes it 60 yards to Watkins or Rogers" had its biggest outing for a while, so there wasn't all that much passing through the lines.

There's also a slightly different timeline of the game when he gives away a poor free kick that Tavernier doesn't smash into the stand and we lose 1-0.

[eye digress]

Thought it was Kamara that gave away the freekick, following a turnover caused by Onana?

[Dave]

You may well be right. Looked like Pau to me, but I also thought he got booked as a result.

And the internet says that he didn't (and Kamara did) so it clearly wasn't.

Can I have "Pau should have done something better that meant Kamara wasn't giving away dangerous free-kicks in his area of the pitch" as a consolation prize?

[eye digress]

‘Fraid not!

Good point though, that with Martinez frequently going long, Pau’s passing was less to the fore.

That being said, I do think he has improved quite a lot defensively, Pau. He seems less frequently exposed by pace and power, especially in wide positions. As well as better anticipation and body positioning, he seems a bit more aggressive.

[olaftab]

Thought it was Kamara that gave away the freekick, following a turnover caused by Onana?

Watching from my privileged seat middle upper north I noted it was Kamara who did that. I was convinced they will score from that and a little later I was equally convinced we would score from ours and we did.

[OCD]

Bournemouth are very reliant on their press and we just kept missing out their press.

[RamboandBruno]

He’s a class player. Thats it.

[Dave]

Bournemouth are very reliant on their press and we just kept missing out their press.

People commented on it after that game, but it does seem weird that we did the above sensible thing to shut down Bournemouth, but didn't think to do the exact same thing against Liverpool given that's what they do too.

[Percy McCarthy]

Bournemouth are very reliant on their press and we just kept missing out their press.

People commented on it after that game, but it does seem weird that we did the above sensible thing to shut down Bournemouth, but didn't think to do the exact same thing against Liverpool given that's what they do too.

We did it a lot more v Liverpool than we usually do.

[Ads]

I feel his return to form has been really key to our return to form. Think he did well physically yesterday.

[Mister E]

I feel his return to form has been really key to our return to form. Think he did well physically yesterday.

Totally agree (and I say that as someone who'd begun to doubt his quality). He seems to have both regained full fitness and developed his positional sense (even more so than it was previously), both of which help in the physical battle against opponents.

[paul_e]

There was 1 in their good spell at the start of the 2nd half where he played Semenyo offside that was a beautiful bit of defending, Pau stepped a bit deeper and made sure Semenyo knew and then as soon as he moved Pau stepped back into line and left him a yard offside, made it look so natural and simple but also takes a lot of trust from the entire defence to let 1 player conduct the trap like that.

[OCD]

Bournemouth are very reliant on their press and we just kept missing out their press.

People commented on it after that game, but it does seem weird that we did the above sensible thing to shut down Bournemouth, but didn't think to do the exact same thing against Liverpool given that's what they do too.

Especially since their manager even said publicly that they're struggling against teams who play a low block and then go long.

[Monty]

I don't know if it's extra gym work paying off, if he's carrying himself differently going into physical confrontations, or simply Onana's presence taking some of the heat off, but whatever it is it's much, much improved.