Our defence

[RamboandBruno]

Think about that winner at Spurs last season. You had Tielemans able to thread his eye of the needle ball, safe in the knowledge that Kamara was going to hoover up absolutely everything and possession would recycle quicker/space would be denied. Tielemans is excellent, he has been our best player this season. Form has dipped a bit, but he needs that help in the middle.

Agree with this. You can then have Rogers/Bailey and McGinn/Ramsey interchangeable

[VillaTim]

Think it's time to rest Rogers he's been awful of late and loses possession too much. We really need some of the walking wounded back ASAP

[tony scott]

What I don’t understand is, it’s sometimes obvious early on, that teams have understood our game plan, with all our touchline screaming and arm waving surely we are able to react.  Am I being naive?

[simon ward 50]

Think about that winner at Spurs last season. You had Tielemans able to thread his eye of the needle ball, safe in the knowledge that Kamara was going to hoover up absolutely everything and possession would recycle quicker/space would be denied. Tielemans is excellent, he has been our best player this season. Form has dipped a bit, but he needs that help in the middle.

Agree with this. You can then have Rogers/Bailey and McGinn/Ramsey interchangeable

Also agreed! Without the safety net that is Kamara we will continue to look vulnerable at the back, especially on the counter-attack.

[Drummond]

It's fine margins and right now things are going against us rather than for us as they were.

Silly mistakes keep happening but it's because the defence just aren't protected enough. Our left hand side always seems solid, the right however, is an issue, and there's no Kamara drifting back to cover. It just suits him perfectly.

[Risso]

It's fine margins and right now things are going against us rather than for us as they were.

Silly mistakes keep happening but it's because the defence just aren't protected enough. Our left hand side always seems solid, the right however, is an issue, and there's no Kamara drifting back to cover. It just suits him perfectly.

The defence has been crap for ages though, but we were mostly managing to outscore the opponents. Now we're not, and we're drifting down the table. The last half of last season we were 9th on points gained, with the 15th best defensive record in the league in that time. Now we're 8th with the 14th best defensive record. It shows that for coming on for a whole season's worth of games, that the defence is costing us time and time again, and unless things improve rapidly, we're going to be in for a season of midtable disappointment. Everybody keeps saying Emery will sort it, but when?

[Demitri_C]

It's fine margins and right now things are going against us rather than for us as they were.

Silly mistakes keep happening but it's because the defence just aren't protected enough. Our left hand side always seems solid, the right however, is an issue, and there's no Kamara drifting back to cover. It just suits him perfectly.

I think alot of the silly mistakes are individual mistakes like stupid passes on edge of our box. Cant blame all of it on no midfield protection.

Its the clubs fault for poorly planning. We all knew kamara was coming back from a long term injury. Enzo should have been kept for example or got a loan in.

Also we let a quality player like chalobah go to palace. A loan for him would have been great for us

[Dante Lavelli]

Emery set us up to be hard to beat in his first 3-6 months.  Maybe we need to re-learn that again and omit an attacking player? 
However it's hard to judge exactly where we are without Kamara providing the safety net.  Both Luiz and Tielemans have struggled without him.

----------Martinez-----------
Konsa - Mings - Pau - Digne
----Onana------Kamara-----
-----------Tielemans--------
Bailey----Watkins-----Morgan

[VillaTim]

It's fine margins and right now things are going against us rather than for us as they were.

Silly mistakes keep happening but it's because the defence just aren't protected enough. Our left hand side always seems solid, the right however, is an issue, and there's no Kamara drifting back to cover. It just suits him perfectly.

The defence has been crap for ages though, but we were mostly managing to outscore the opponents. Now we're not, and we're drifting down the table. The last half of last season we were 9th on points gained, with the 15th best defensive record in the league in that time. Now we're 8th with the 14th best defensive record. It shows that for coming on for a whole season's worth of games, that the defence is costing us time and time again, and unless things improve rapidly, we're going to be in for a season of midtable disappointment. Everybody keeps saying Emery will sort it, but when?

defensively Emery has some tough decisions to make which may well test his stubborn side. One things for sure, the defence isn't right and we are far too easy to score against . Probably why we didn't win the Conference even though we were clear favourites .

[kippaxvilla2]

I have fond memories of that formation away at Brighton i think in his 2nd game when protecting that 2-1 lead.  It was sumptuous.  What happened to that?

[brontebilly]

As I said in the post-match thread, Mings alongside Torres and Konsa seems like an obvious defensive set-up to me, with Onana and Kamara ahead of them. With those 5 forming a solid core, we have more licence to exploit the wide areas as well as covering the current gaps.

He’s never played a 3 at the back as a manager has he, unless you mean Konsa back at right back. We actually have the personnel to play the 3-4-3 that the new Man U manager plays, but Unai seems very wedded to 4-4-2.

we play 3 at the back whenever the ball is moved upfield, with one fullback pushed up.  Several teams play 3 CB, with 2 attacking wingbacks. We have the personnel to make it work.

It means dropping Cash and Digne though, they have been our two best defenders this season but are not wing backs. Emery clearly doesn't think Kosta is ready (thinking Bogarde is has been a poor decision) and Maatsen's performances have been mixed too.

Id be thinking go back with Konsa and Mings for 3-4 games. We will lose Torres playmaking abilities but I'm convinced we will be a lot more organised. Cash and Digne in and continue to give Maatsen minutes off the bench. We need one of Onana or Kamara fit asap starting with Juve. Tielemans and Barkley are liabilities out of possession. I'd put McGinn in there on Wed if Onana isn't back.

[London Villan]

Emery set us up to be hard to beat in his first 3-6 months.  Maybe we need to re-learn that again and omit an attacking player? 
However it's hard to judge exactly where we are without Kamara providing the safety net.  Both Luiz and Tielemans have struggled without him.

----------Martinez-----------
Konsa - Mings - Pau - Digne
----Onana------Kamara-----
-----------Tielemans--------
Bailey----Watkins-----Morgan

If everyone was fit and available the above is what I would start.

First off the bench:

Maasten
Cash
McGinn
Barkely
Buendia
Duran

[Demitri_C]

Emery set us up to be hard to beat in his first 3-6 months.  Maybe we need to re-learn that again and omit an attacking player? 
However it's hard to judge exactly where we are without Kamara providing the safety net.  Both Luiz and Tielemans have struggled without him.

----------Martinez-----------
Konsa - Mings - Pau - Digne
----Onana------Kamara-----
-----------Tielemans--------
Bailey----Watkins-----Morgan

If everyone was fit and available the above is what I would start.

First off the bench:

Maasten
Cash
McGinn
Barkely
Buendia
Duran

Im not sure about buendia mate. He has been dire every time he has come on. The injury looks to ahve finished him

I didnt really rate him that much as others before the injury but he does look worse than before for sure. The limited game time i think unai agrees

[London Villan]

I forgot about Ramsey - who would be before Emi2, but who else as the option to replace Tielemans?

[Mister E]

I appreciate they are injured but I'd like to see Onana and Kamara as our midfield two with Tielemans pushed further forward, Rogers and Ramsey as the wider players who perhaps mix and match their play.  As for the actual players who call themselves defenders, I haven't been impressed with Torres, other than his passing, Carlos is built like a wardrobe and, sadly, plays like one.  Maatsen will be fine but needs games.  The dutch kid isn't up to this level as yet.  Thank goodness for Emi, that late save was world class.

Steve, the Dutch kid IS Maatsen.
If you're referring to the Serbian kid (Nedeljkovic), he's a full Serbian international and needs games. If we want our fullbacks to be a little more attacking, with pace, then Maatsen and Nedeljkovic outside Mings, Torres and Konsa would be fab!