Our defence

[brontebilly]

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.

Shocking yesterday and should have been hooked at half time. Beaten in air for the third then afterwards. Never got close to the Liverpool midfield, provided no protection to our CBs and rarely got turned on ball. Emery's tactical switch after Carlos injury left our team unbalanced but Kamara (and Watkins) were rubbish from the first whistle anyway.

Emery's subs were a bit strange. Ignore the first one which was a crazy gamble that finished us, but hooking Bailey in that manner was silly for me. He started terribly but he wasn't that bad after, couple of good runs, poor miss but Watkins equally to blame there. He had just put a decent ball onto McGinns head. Game was gone so what was he trying to achieve? Transfer window has closed so we need him and from a man management perspective it wasn't good. Zaniolo nice touches to start with but gave ball away more times than he got it, runs like he is in treacle too. Duran with the cameo from hell.

Tielemans, taking off Luiz was bizarre, Luiz was excellent on the ball throughout, game was done fair enough but no idea how you would take Luiz off before Kamara. Tielemans worries me, I'm seeing last season's player so far. No zip to him at all. If we are struggling in midfield v Palace I want the Donk on first. At least he gets stuck in.

[85kota]

You're a glass half empty kind of guy aren't you Billy

[85kota]

Zaniolo gave the ball away but only because Duran wasn't on his wavelength. Thought the Italian PE teacher looked very promising and not like running in treacle.

[LeonW]

Surely no manager honestly wants just one striker in the squad? Who did he have at Villarreal? Moreno and Danjuma that I can think of.

Don't worry Risso, sometimes the players you want just aren't available.  And the summer window isn't always the best time to sign players, just calm down and wait until January, we'll be fine...

I’ve got annoyed about that justification in the past. I think it’s a bit more tolerable when it’s only one position you’re short, or perceived to be short, but you’ve made good progress in the other areas of the team. I think that’s the case with the last window, where overall I think we did a very good job.

It's annoying when you've got a glaring weakness there, which has been there for a while. We were all told in January when we "kept our powder dry" that it would be sorted in the summer, and it wasn't.

I'm not convinced Emery even wants a striker who can potentially compete for a starting spot up front, for the reasons Watkins himself gave in the recent interview where he said he felt threatened by Ings' arrival. Maybe he feels that bringing someone else in would compromise Ollie's form to the extent that it wouldn't be worth it. Unless the replacement was vastly superior, but then elite strikers are a bit thin on the ground lately.

It looks like the manager has decided to put all his eggs in the Watkins basket for now, and hope that the player responds the way he did last season.

Edit: as others have already said. Duh, I really need to read these threads through before posting.

If that’s true that Ollie felt threatened by Ings arrival then that is a real problem. We’re not going to progress without high calibre alternatives not just as options, but to ensure those that keep their places in the team are there on merit. The alternative is that there’s no pressure to maintain a starting spot which is good for nobody and doesn’t help generally with dealing with high pressure situations which is where we want to be as a club.

Right now Kamara could do with a kick up the backside and this time, we have viable alternatives to utilize.

[Drummond]

Our defence had 4 players who aren't first choice playing in it in Sunday.

Usually our back four would be,

Cash Konsa Mings Moreno

Instead we had

Konsa Carlos Torres and Digne

At Anfield against a fired up Liverpool team on a great run. Add into that Buendia and his pressing game also missing (and Ramsey's energy too) and there you have our problem.

Mings is out for the season, so we need to get it sorted, but with Moreno and Ramsey back we start to look much stronger.

Kamara is a young player who will have some inconsistencies, I've no doubt he'll be back to his imperious best soon too.

[Risso]

That's disingenuous to say the very least. Digne is very experienced and has played more games for us than Moreno. Emery could have played Cash at right back and Konsa in his usual position, but chose not to. If he'd done that, and picked McGinn in his preferred right hand side position, we'd have looked a lot more solid.

[Sexual Ealing]

If Watkins can't handle competition he needs to learn to stick the fucking ball into the net a hell of a lot more regularly.

[Monty]

If Watkins can't handle competition he needs to learn to stick the fucking ball into the net a hell of a lot more regularly.

I believe my views on this are established...

[passport1]

When people worry 'what would we do if Ollie got injured?', l can't help thinking ' score goals'.

[Drummond]

That's disingenuous to say the very least. Digne is very experienced and has played more games for us than Moreno. Emery could have played Cash at right back and Konsa in his usual position, but chose not to. If he'd done that, and picked McGinn in his preferred right hand side position, we'd have looked a lot more solid.

Don't say 'the very least' then, say what you really think. What's disingenuous? Or are you just making inflammatory comments because you're grumpy we lost and want an argument?

Emery got it wrong; or the players didn't listen; either way it's on him.

Moreno and Ramsey would have made a difference, because McGinn could have gone back to his usual position as you suggest. We wouldn't have played Cash further forward either.

Currently out are Moreno, Ramsey, Buendia and Coutinho who all do or can play on the left.

The team would have looked more like...

Martinez

Cash Konsa Torres Moreno
    Kamara   Luiz
McGinn            Ramsey
      Diaby   Watkins

Far more balanced and stronger too.

[Risso]

The point is you were banging on about the inexperienced defence, when he could have played two players in their usual positions, but didn't. We could have had three of the back four who've played together dozens of times.

[RamboandBruno]

The point is you were banging on about the inexperienced defence, when he could have played two players in their usual positions, but didn't. We could have had three of the back four who've played together dozens of times.

I think we know by now, Unai likes a lop sided defence, with the left back bombing on and right back generally holding back and acting as a third CB when we don’t have the ball. It might be that he trusts Konsa to undertake this role better than Cash.
I like Cash for his whole heartedness and forays forwards, but can’t help thinking for a right back/centre back, Emery might be right about Konsa. The issue then is, it leaves us without our leader in Mings and next most experienced centre back in Konsa at the heart of the defence.

I think Torres and Carlos are both experienced enough to come good in time and the issues will largely be resolved, but in the meantime its a bit of a concern, especially as Konsa was by far our best defender on Sunday.

[brontebilly]

The point is you were banging on about the inexperienced defence, when he could have played two players in their usual positions, but didn't. We could have had three of the back four who've played together dozens of times.

I think we know by now, Unai likes a lop sided defence, with the left back bombing on and right back generally holding back and acting as a third CB when we don’t have the ball. It might be that he trusts Konsa to undertake this role better than Cash.
I like Cash for his whole heartedness and forays forwards, but can’t help thinking for a right back/centre back, Emery might be right about Konsa. The issue then is, it leaves us without our leader in Mings and next most experienced centre back in Konsa at the heart of the defence.

I think Torres and Carlos are both experienced enough to come good in time and the issues will largely be resolved, but in the meantime its a bit of a concern, especially as Konsa was by far our best defender on Sunday.

Konsa did well I thought, nearly impossible to shine given how awful Torres was next to him but plenty of good blocks and tackles.

[paul_e]

The point is you were banging on about the inexperienced defence, when he could have played two players in their usual positions, but didn't. We could have had three of the back four who've played together dozens of times.

I think a big part of him picking the defence as he did is that he wants to play Konsa and Torres but doesn't trust them as a pair when there's a big guy up front so Carlos starts in between them as a bit of muscle. Given he likes the lopsided back 4 it doesn't really harm us in possession or change our shape so it's a fairly pragmatic choice. That's why losing Mings first and Carlos second in our 2 toughest games was so disruptive because we ended up with a bit of a soft belly.

[Goldenballs]

Tuanzebe out of contract, he was pretty quick wasn't he? And could head a ball. And El Ghazi, let's get the band back together.