Pau Torres

[eamonn]

My guess is that Unai knew they would be physical so went with Mings.  But my theory doesn’t follow if Pau plays on Saturday

Newcastle are physical too, half the league are. If Pow needs more paella and iron down his gullet, then he should know.

[Dave]

Although it looks like they'll be missing three or four of their ogres.

[Crown Hill]

From the way we defended corners with everybody back I think we were worried about set pieces last night!

[Mister E]

Maybe we should try him in midfield rather than at the back. Keep Ty in there for a robust defence against more physical sides as well.

Sounds almost like playing 3 CB and wingbacks. I'd go with that! but I'm certain that CD and others would be horrified.

[olaftab]

We need Pau back ASAP in the team. We are a better attacking force when he's playing.

[Nev]

Unless there is an injury I think the Manager is rightly managing the load across players where he has options. I thought Torres would be back in last night but with the more aggressive approach of many of the teams in the PL these days I think he is using Mings more than in previous campaigns.

Torres will feature more in Europe and towards the latter end of the season perhaps.

[Monty]

We need him back to his best though. Especially without Tielemans, we need quick and accurate line-breaking passes or we basically can't play our game.

[cdbearsfan]

Maybe we should try him in midfield rather than at the back. Keep Ty in there for a robust defence against more physical sides as well.

Sounds almost like playing 3 CB and wingbacks. I'd go with that! but I'm certain that CD and others would be horrified.

@moderators, another one for the ban list, please.

[usav]

If ever there was a game crying out for Torres, it was last night.  I suspect he will start on Saturday, but personally I would have preferred it the other way around.

[cdbearsfan]

We kept a clean sheet and a centre-half created the goal. I don't think it worked out too badly. It's nice that we have a position with options as opposed to dragging whoever hasn't broken an achilles this week onto the pitch like most other areas.

[Mellin]

I don't think last night was crying out for Torres at all. If he plays, do we concede? If we concede, do we win? To me Emery clearly doesn't think we have enough right now. I'd agree with him and you can see it in the performances, so he's trying not to concede. Mings will probably start in the league until one of Tielemans or McGinn, maybe both, are back.

It's the right call. Put Torres back in when we have the team available to justify him playing. I'd like to see more Lindelof than Torres at the minute, if anything.

[Drummond]

I think Emery prefers the balance if Torres and Tielemans as it's stronger defensively (or maybe I should say Tielemans is better defensively than Luiz) and Mings covers more solidly.

[kippaxvilla2]

I would be amazed if he doesn’t start Mings on Saturday seeing as Woltermade is likely to be starting for them.

[eye digress]

Pau never seems to play at this time of year. He always picks up a "small injure" over Xmas/New Year's, which keeps him out for far longer than expected, of course, and then he doesn't get his place back straight away.

Plus it's way too cold. Give him until spring.

I would like to think Unai is keeping him nice and fresh for the run in.

[pauliewalnuts]

Torres and Kamara are easily the two most important players given how we like to play.