Our defence

[LeeB]

I don't think he's being made a scapegoat at all, he was shockingly poor yesterday and in our other heavy defeat and people are a bit concerned.

[Clampy]

I don't think he's being made a scapegoat at all, he was shockingly poor yesterday and in our other heavy defeat and people are a bit concerned.

Maybe he was, but he wasn't the only problem yesterday.

[LeeB]

I don't think he's being made a scapegoat at all, he was shockingly poor yesterday and in our other heavy defeat and people are a bit concerned.

Maybe he was, but he wasn't the only problem yesterday.

He wasn't but he still stood out as one of the worst, probably saved from that ultimate honour by Leon Fucking Bailey.

[AV84]

I don't think he's being made a scapegoat at all, he was shockingly poor yesterday and in our other heavy defeat and people are a bit concerned.

Maybe he was, but he wasn't the only problem yesterday.

A lot of people, even pundits, have pointed out the problems around the midfield yesterday. But Torres does seem to be getting the individual blame and deemed not fit for purpose.

[passport1]

Yes with our invisible  midfield we could have had Paul McGrath in his prime at centre back and he would have been struggling. Yesterday was a poor team performance  possibly due to tactical errors.

[Risso]

Kamara had another very poor game. That lad continues to worry me, just no consistency with him. Capable of being absolutely superb, but also incredibly rubbish. To be fair he's good a lot more often than he's bad. but when he has a bad game it's usually an absolute stinker.

[AV84]

I'm not an expert on tactics but it does feel like the way Emery has/wants us playing relies on every single person on the field doing their individual jobs 100% of the time. One person switches off and it messes everyone else up too. We don't seem to be able to adapt to carry someone having a bad day, or being bullied by opponents, or anything else. It goes right from the 1st minute, or it goes wrong and trickles through the whole team until everyone looks shite.

[ChicagoLion]

Kamara had another very poor game. That lad continues to worry me, just no consistency with him. Capable of being absolutely superb, but also incredibly rubbish. To be fair he's good a lot more often than he's bad. but when he has a bad game it's usually an absolute stinker.

His game is all about taking the ball in tight positions and seeing angles , get that a little bit wrong and you are in trouble.

[Ads]

He disappeared after that silly shove on Diaz.

[Monty]

I have this idea that in both the Newcastle and (especially) the Liverpool games they managed to outnumber us at both ends when the ball was being passed around at the back. This meant that we couldn't escape their press and, just as importantly, we stood off their defenders when they had it from fear they'd pass straight through us - meaning, naturally, that we had a high line without pressure on the ball. Disaster.

Why this happened I'm sure is complicated, but my first instinct is...isn't this just 4-4-2 against 4-3-3 as a set up? They had the extra midfielder, ours were caught in no man's land, we had a centre-back and a forward effectively doing nothing in one situation or the other. Solution? I'm getting more and more keen on Diaby going into the Watkins role (though a bit more withdrawn) and Zaniolo into the 10 role, but maybe that's just me.

[Risso]

Probably worth a try Monty. Watkins annoyed me with his recent comments about being happy when Ings was sold and how he likes to be the only striker. Score some bloody goals then, 1 in 11 and none this season is a poor return if you've got that high a sense of self importance.

[Monty]

Might give us more control playing out, Zaniolo naturally coming deeper affording Kamara more options when taking the ball from the defenders (who also have more options).

[ROBBO]

Again we have seen this before, I remember early last season we wrote off McGinn when clearly he was being played out of position, these are new players to the club, Diabe as good as he has been if he stuffs up no-one notices because it happens further up the pitch, when a central defender does the same it's a calamity. Lets give all the new players time to settle.

[Scott Nielsen]

Watkins annoyed me with his recent comments about being happy when Ings was sold and how he likes to be the only striker. Score some bloody goals then, 1 in 11 and none this season is a poor return if you've got that high a sense of self importance.

It rankles but it is his poor self confidence, really, that seems to be the problem. Either way, UE's decision to not get a back-up striker seemingly just to protect Watkins mental fragility rankles even more.

[Villafirst]

Still say we should've kept Cameron Archer. The lad is a natural finisher. I think Ollie needs a Premier League goal to boost his confidence. He started slowly last year but ended up with 15 goals. I still say we really miss Moreno and Ramsey to provide the threat down the left to carve out chances.