Our defence

[PaulWinch again]

Short-term maybe, but maybe that quality wasn’t available. Maatsen is very good now, but he could become the best left back in the world. It’s probably one of those cases where we had to strike while the opportunity was there.

[eye digress]

Everysing points to a clean sheet here.

Interesting debate.
It occurs to me, however, that that is a spelling mistake that one could not make accidentally.

[VillaTim]

Short-term maybe, but maybe that quality wasn’t available. Maatsen is very good now, but he could become the best left back in the world. It’s probably one of those cases where we had to strike while the opportunity was there.

Not seen enough of him yet to form much of an opinion. Meanwhile Digne has been solid .

[eye digress]

5 at the back once Mings is back is the simple solution.

On this point (and more broadly, Konsa at RB or not), do we ever really play with a classic back 4 (or 5)?
Isn’t it more of a hybrid thingy, back 3 in possession, back 5 without the ball, but with a midfielder making up the quintet rather than an extra centre half.
Which makes the Konsa debate a bit quixotic - it’s by design.
We fell into a trap yesterday of Ipswich inviting Konsa into space and trying something more speculative than usual, and as others have pointed out, poor positioning from the covering midfielder.
And even then, Carlos should have either played Delap off or snuffed him out.

[PaulWinch again]

Short-term maybe, but maybe that quality wasn’t available. Maatsen is very good now, but he could become the best left back in the world. It’s probably one of those cases where we had to strike while the opportunity was there.

Not seen enough of him yet to form much of an opinion. Meanwhile Digne has been solid .

Well yeah that’s fair enough, but Digne and Moreno were in and around 30 so there’s also an element of squad building to it as well.

[VillaTim]

Short-term maybe, but maybe that quality wasn’t available. Maatsen is very good now, but he could become the best left back in the world. It’s probably one of those cases where we had to strike while the opportunity was there.

Not seen enough of him yet to form much of an opinion. Meanwhile Digne has been solid .

Well yeah that’s fair enough, but Digne and Moreno were in and around 30 so there’s also an element of squad building to it as well.

As an investment it looks like great business and once he's settled in we should have Digne replacement sorted. Meanwhile RB is a problem .

[Nii Lamptey]

Still annoyed by the Ipswich defensive performance. That right side is an absolute mess. We've struggled through recently, mainly due to McGinn helping to double up on that side - It's properly exposed now in his absence.

Diego Carlos is simply nowhere near good enough - Totally lost patience with him at the weekend. By employing Konsa at RB you lose any attacking intent, as well as take our most (*fit) aggressive defender out of the heart of our defence. Nedelkovic or Bogard simply MUST start at RB on Wednesday (*and at the weekend) if we have even the feintest hope of getting something out of either game. I'd go Nedelkovic personally for his pace and it being his natural position.

Some people will say he's too raw to be thrown in for a game like this - Personally, I'd take this option EVERY time if it was an option between him and Diego Carlos. That clown looked like he was defending in a different time zone at the weekend!

If I see his name on the team sheet on Wednesday, especially after we've had our pants pulled down on ticket prices, I'm going to lose my shit!

On a side note, I wouldn't say Martinez has got out of our recent defensive calamity scot free either. He could and should have done better with a number of the goals conceded recently, starting with Delap's first goal at the weekend.

Must do better. And quickly!

[VillaTim]

Still annoyed by the Ipswich defensive performance. That right side is an absolute mess. We've struggled through recently, mainly due to McGinn helping to double up on that side - It's properly exposed now in his absence.

Diego Carlos is simply nowhere near good enough - Totally lost patience with him at the weekend. By employing Konsa at RB you lose any attacking intent, as well as take our most (*fit) aggressive defender out of the heart of our defence. Nedelkovic or Bogard simply MUST start at RB on Wednesday (*and at the weekend) if we have even the feintest hope of getting something out of either game. I'd go Nedelkovic personally for his pace and it being his natural position.

Some people will say he's too raw to be thrown in for a game like this - Personally, I'd take this option EVERY time if it was an option between him and Diego Carlos. That clown looked like he was defending in a different time zone at the weekend!

If I see his name on the team sheet on Wednesday, especially after we've had our pants pulled down on ticket prices, I'm going to lose my shit!

On a side note, I wouldn't say Martinez has got out of our recent defensive calamity scot free either. He could and should have done better with a number of the goals conceded recently, starting with Delap's first goal at the weekend.

Must do better. And quickly!

Nail on head .

[Exeter 77]

Matty Cash has just posted pictures of himself training but don't know if this means anything significant.
https://x.com/mattycash622/status/1840836593701306371?t=DEdQV26NJGBcL9g5izLyNA&s=19

[PaulWinch again]

DC has played poorly, but he has been exceptional against the best sides in the past. It suggests it’s probably a concentration thing, which shows him starting isn’t ideal or sustainable. But in a one-off big game he can be very good.

I think the biggest problem our defence has is the midfield and attack isn’t really doing its part in terms of supporting the defence. That’s not to say the defenders are getting it right either, but I think the problem stems from a lack of cohesion in front of them.

[tomd2103]

Still annoyed by the Ipswich defensive performance. That right side is an absolute mess. We've struggled through recently, mainly due to McGinn helping to double up on that side - It's properly exposed now in his absence.

Diego Carlos is simply nowhere near good enough - Totally lost patience with him at the weekend. By employing Konsa at RB you lose any attacking intent, as well as take our most (*fit) aggressive defender out of the heart of our defence. Nedelkovic or Bogard simply MUST start at RB on Wednesday (*and at the weekend) if we have even the feintest hope of getting something out of either game. I'd go Nedelkovic personally for his pace and it being his natural position.

Some people will say he's too raw to be thrown in for a game like this - Personally, I'd take this option EVERY time if it was an option between him and Diego Carlos. That clown looked like he was defending in a different time zone at the weekend!

If I see his name on the team sheet on Wednesday, especially after we've had our pants pulled down on ticket prices, I'm going to lose my shit!

On a side note, I wouldn't say Martinez has got out of our recent defensive calamity scot free either. He could and should have done better with a number of the goals conceded recently, starting with Delap's first goal at the weekend.

Must do better. And quickly!

Yep, let's be honest we've been conceding poor and sloppy goals in games for some time now.  Most times we have got away with it, but like yesterday, it has cost us on the odd occasion. 

The two goals we conceded yesterday were especially poor though, with a number of players at fault for both. 

[eamonn]

Leon will have to be told to put in a shift defensively against Bayern cos he wasn't much use at that side of things on Sun.

[VillaTim]

Leon will have to be told to put in a shift defensively against Bayern cos he wasn't much use at that side of things on Sun.

Deserves to be dropped .

[TonyD]

             Emi
Ned Konsa Pau Digne
Onana Tielemans Barkley
             Rogers
     Watkins Duran. 

[Footy-Vill]

Absolutely brilliant so far in the champions league.
The clean sheets in the Premier League are coming.
Martinez says hope to take this into premier league form and have some shut outs