Pau Torres

Nick7

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Good on the ball and confident under our press.

If we do sign him the knives will be out straight away as people here seem to hate him for some reason though.
 

JoeyJoJoJrShabadoo

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Hes no better than what we have. If we want to be a low block team then sure yeah sign him. If we want to sit higher up the pitch then absolutely not
 

OrcaFat

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Not the match, but one of them and a European final. His greatest attribute compared to Varane is that he's left footed IMV.
Left footed and decently quick. Competent defensively and composed on the ball.

Some have used this as a criticism (and it could be mistaken for damning with faint praise) but, actually, if he is a slightly-better, left-footed Lindelof then he’s pretty much what we need.
 

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Left footed and decently quick. Competent defensively and composed on the ball.

Some have used this as a criticism (and it could be mistaken for damning with faint praise) but, actually, if he is a slightly-better, left-footed Lindelof then he’s pretty much what we need.
We need more than slightly better than Lindelof
 

Yorke to Cole

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I agree. There was not enough penetrative or momentum in our attacks to put Torres or the Villa real defense under pressure. There was a few minutes after we scored where kept winning the ball high up, it in the main it was sporadic pressure.

Our inconsistent attack allows them to reset themselves and clear their heads meaning that we have to start again to get them disjointed. We have to take this defeat and learn that decisiveness is key. Whether it be Management and coaches making decisions on strategy and team selection, all the way to our passing and movement on the pitch.
 

bosnian_red

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He would be a huge improvement on what we have. Thought he was excellent throughout.
 

Rilz

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Absolutely no way we can judge him after tonight, he was protect with a wall of 4 in front of him at all times, can’t remember him having to do anything
 

SAFMUTD

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Didnt impressed me at all, it may be the fact that we were toothless or maybe it was hard to recognize him between the 8 yellow shirts that were always in the box.
 

A-man

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I was impressed with him tonight.

People are saying "he's another Lindelof", which is obviously true in that he's the same type of defender. But the club may well want that type of defender, as many top clubs do. There's a reason so many top sides place emphasis on a player's ability on the ball and that's Torres' strength. He should look at his best when his side are dominating and he's able to show his talent on the ball.

For that reason it was good to see another side to his game today, with him performing well in a backs-to-the-wall situation. It doesn't matter if Albiol was better again, because Torres is the one top clubs will be interested in.

God knows I wouldn't back some of our CBs not to feck up in that situation.
It’s true, but was he really that good on the ball tonight? I was a bit disappointed with that part. What did he actually achieve? I thought he misplaced so many passes.
 

stevoc

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He would be a huge improvement on what we have. Thought he was excellent throughout.
Not sure myself based solely on tonights performance. I probably could have looked half decent with another back 4 sitting in front of me.
 

izec

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You cant really judge him. They didnt have a lot of the ball and not mich defending to do, as most stuff got sniffed out before reaching him.
 

lex talionis

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Torres didn't stand out to me today, but then again he didn't look poor either. If he's an inexpensive option I'm interested but if he's in the 75m club take a pass.
 

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Ole should’ve walked up to Woodward right after the whistle and demanded that he pay the release clause for Torres. He was class, by and far the best CB on the pitch.
 

Rightnr

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Looks like nothing special. If we didn't need a proper partner for Maguire and didn't have Lindelof or were planning to upgrade Lindelof with him, I'd take him. That's it.

He's not a CB that will win you leagues and cups IMO.
 

Highfather_24

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We need a CB with attributes like Albiol. Strong, aggressive. Both Maguire and Lindelof tend to get bullied. And in order to play in our team(high line at times, possession oriented), they also need to be good on the ball and fast. That's the defender we need. Lindelof is 1/4 on that regard.
 

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No he wasn't. Albiol was. He's the one who cut out most of our final balls.
Agreed. Pua didn't look anything special. Wrong game to judge him in though. It was always going to be easy for him with the whole team compact. We never got to see him 1v1,see how he handles it when there is space behind him. Seems a large chunk of change for another 'okay' defender
 

OrcaFat

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We need more than slightly better than Lindelof
Depends on your opinion of Lindelof, of course. I think he’s pretty good, just not quite good enough, and right footed.

Some people say Lindelof is rubbish but I don’t pay too much attention to them.
 

mitchmouse

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Thought he had a good game but we weren't very good so it's hard to tell what he would be like on a "wet and windy day in Stoke"!
 

Zoo

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Good on the ball and confident under our press.

If we do sign him the knives will be out straight away as people here seem to hate him for some reason though.
I think it’s because he still needs to physically adapt and that’s no guarantee. Him being confident on the ball and left footed is good but shouldn’t be the qualities that trump others.
 

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Depends on your opinion of Lindelof, of course. I think he’s pretty good, just not quite good enough, and right footed.

Some people say Lindelof is rubbish but I don’t pay too much attention to them.
He's been found out in europe the past 2 seasons in the europa league. Someone slightly better might help us win the europa league again, it wont make us a threat for the premier league or champions league. Not even close
 

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I was not impressed by him. For one his entire midfield and attack played in front of him as centre backs. Secondly I was more impressed by Albiol and Fyoth even.
Yeah. So there are comparisons to be made. Foyth was a ball winning nightmare for us, AWB would provide that too. And Albiol was the one clearing everything out of the box and dealing with most of the defending and leading the defence. Maguire would do that.

We do have 2 DMs deployed, they wont do as good a job as Parejo and Capoue did for Villarreal but its some help.

But then if you have those players doing all that work for you, why are you a £50 million CB?



The truth is even Lindelof's numbers are better defensively. On the ball he can bring the ball out and play some passes... But we had loads of that from Lindelof and some of that from Bailly last night. Having Torres do it instead of Lindelof wouldn't have made a difference.

Maguire and Lindelof are fairly good on the ball. Maybe if we went to play 3 at the back and kept Shaw at LWB instead of at CB theres a place for Torres. Between the 3 of them are they good enough defensively? Not sure, but thats the way you'd be able to get the most out of them on the ball
 

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Absolutely nothing that makes me think he would be good for us. Not the sort of CB we need at all.
 

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He looked alright, thats about it. Not convinced he would be a significant upgrade on the likes of Bailly or Lindelof. Its easy to look good as a CB, in a team that is parking the bus and playing a low block. Not the game to be judging him on.

Not convinced we should be blowing our load on a CB (unless we are sure they are the next VVD/Dias) when there are other glaring holes in the squad.
 

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His presence in the box is immediately more notable than Lindelof's. Having 2 big centre backs would really help us with our aerial issues.

Torres doesn't look clumsy though, he's graceful and fairly athletic for his size. He defended the box really well I thought, whenever anything came near him he dealt with it and got some important blocks - especially the one on Mctominay.

Obviously it's harder to tell whether he will look more comfortable in a high line but I don't see him being any worse than Lindelof in that regard. He definitely won't be getting bullied on the ball as easily that's for sure.
 

andersj

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Torres doesn't look clumsy though, he's graceful and fairly athletic for his size. He defended the box really well I thought, whenever anything came near him he dealt with it and got some important blocks - especially the one on Mctominay.
I also remember that situation where Pogba got a header. He probably lost that «duel» in the stats, but he knocked into Pogba pretty hard making it very difficult for Pogba to score.

I do think that is a very sensible approach when you face someone tall, strong and athletic like Pogba. You dont have to beat them. Just hit them hard. For some, it appears to be close to an ego thing.
 

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I don't think he lifts our defence to new heights, but a Maguire-Torres backline with Lindelof and Tuanzebe as competent 3rd/4th choices is better than what we have now.

He's young and could get better too. £50m is way too steep for him though. Obviously Varane is preferable if available.
 

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His presence in the box is immediately more notable than Lindelof's. Having 2 big centre backs would really help us with our aerial issues.

Torres doesn't look clumsy though, he's graceful and fairly athletic for his size. He defended the box really well I thought, whenever anything came near him he dealt with it and got some important blocks - especially the one on Mctominay.

Obviously it's harder to tell whether he will look more comfortable in a high line but I don't see him being any worse than Lindelof in that regard. He definitely won't be getting bullied on the ball as easily that's for sure.
The thing is Lindelof does more defending in the air. He gets it wrong sometimes, but so might Torres if he needs to do more of it. He doesnt need to do it so we dont know

And I say he doesnt need to do it, but Villarreal had the 8th best defensive record in la liga last season. So its not like their methods are great and that hes doing everything a perfect amount for them to have a good defensive record. They dont. And winning so few headers and only having a 55% aerial duel success rate might be one of the areas that led them to not having a good defensive record
 
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sullydnl

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He's destined for a top club, whether it's us or not. His talent is pretty evident, I'd have thought. Will be interested to see how he does in the Euros for Spain too.
 

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I also remember that situation where Pogba got a header. He probably lost that «duel» in the stats, but he knocked into Pogba pretty hard making it very difficult for Pogba to score.

I do think that is a very sensible approach when you face someone tall, strong and athletic like Pogba. You dont have to beat them. Just hit them hard. For some, it appears to be close to an ego thing.
100%. Defending doesn't always mean winning the ball, you can disrupt your opponent enough to put them off. That's something I find Lindelof doesn't cannot do enough. He either wins the ball or just doesn't effect play, if anything the strikers climb all over him.

He just looked really composed I thought, he's the type that would bring a calmness to the defence, the opposite of wild man Bailly.

The club will probably go with the 'sexier' choice in Varane if he's available, but I think Torres would be a great addition.
 

justsomebloke

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Torres proved he was a leader tonight. Yes, he had fair few players in front of him, but you could see how he was organising the players around him. Before tonight I wasn't fully sure he was the man for us but after tonight I was more convinced that he could do a good job for us.
He's a million miles better than Lindelof.
"a million miles better", right. :rolleyes:

Statistically speaking, they are pretty similar. He's considerably better than Lindelof at progressing the ball, both through passes and carries. He has a bit more offensive impact (shot creating actions, xg+xa). But on the other hand he makes much fewer tackles, and is significantly worse in aerial duels. He is not a very obvious upgrade, in my opinion. Also, I don't think he was a particularly commanding presence yesterday, though I did not focus on following him as such.
 

justsomebloke

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His presence in the box is immediately more notable than Lindelof's. Having 2 big centre backs would really help us with our aerial issues.

Torres doesn't look clumsy though, he's graceful and fairly athletic for his size. He defended the box really well I thought, whenever anything came near him he dealt with it and got some important blocks - especially the one on Mctominay.

Obviously it's harder to tell whether he will look more comfortable in a high line but I don't see him being any worse than Lindelof in that regard. He definitely won't be getting bullied on the ball as easily that's for sure.
His aerial stats are much weaker than Lindelof's, in a league less noted for aerial prowess than the PL.
 

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100%. Defending doesn't always mean winning the ball, you can disrupt your opponent enough to put them off. That's something I find Lindelof doesn't cannot do enough. He either wins the ball or just doesn't effect play, if anything the strikers climb all over him.

He just looked really composed I thought, he's the type that would bring a calmness to the defence, the opposite of wild man Bailly.

The club will probably go with the 'sexier' choice in Varane if he's available, but I think Torres would be a great addition.
People were saying the exact same thing about Lindelof over Smalling. Lindelof was supposed to bring that calmness and composure. Do you think our big weakness on set pieces and corners would be as bad if Smalling was playing?

Bailly isnt strong in the air so he really doesnt help in those situations anyway. But if its Lindelof Vs. Torres, Lindelof does a lot better than people might believe in the air most of the time. Its just every 10 or so he cocks it up completely and makes a mistake, which stands out for him because he is usually so far away from the action that he doesn't make a lot of mistakes most of the time
 

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His aerial stats are much weaker than Lindelof's, in a league less noted for aerial prowess than the PL.
Stats don't mean much really. As the poster above mentioned, the challenge on Pogba would go down as a "lost" stat, but he actually effected the outcome of the game positively for them.

I'm much more of a fan of using the eye and using stats to confirm that, rather than the other way around.

His stature is noticeably more dominant, and I didn't see any signs of an aerial weakness at all. Perhaps he just puts himself into challenges that are unfavourable statistically, but help the team defend more?
People were saying the exact same thing about Lindelof over Smalling. Lindelof was supposed to bring that calmness and composure. Do you think our big weakness on set pieces and corners would be as bad if Smalling was playing?

Bailly isnt strong in the air so he really doesnt help in those situations anyway. But if its Lindelof Vs. Torres, Lindelof does a lot better than people might believe in the air most of the time. Its just every 10 or so he cocks it up completely and makes a mistake, which stands out for him because he is usually so far away from the action that he doesn't make a lot of mistakes most of the time
Whoever was saying that was clearly very wrong about Lindelof. While he might look less clumsy on the ball apart from the odd long pass he's nothing special in terms of passing.

He clearly has an issue when a striker is a similar size to him, he just doesn't seem to be strong or heavy enough to displace the attacker. I find it strange how he lets attackers dictate what they want to do, rather than him taking control. The West Brom goal is a perfect example of this, I know it should have been a foul in the end but letting the striker jump over him and get his head to the ball first was just unbelievable.

Torres looks big, Lindelof doesn't if that makes sense? I can see him and Maguire making a decent pairing if they gel well.
 

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Stats do mean a lot though. We cant pretend he would solve our arial woes just because we like the look of the player.
We need a commanding presence beside Maguire and cut that massive defensive leak. Even if he isnt great passing out, the leak is so bad that it would be a net positive.
 

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Stats don't mean much really. As the poster above mentioned, the challenge on Pogba would go down as a "lost" stat, but he actually effected the outcome of the game positively for them.

I'm much more of a fan of using the eye and using stats to confirm that, rather than the other way around.

His stature is noticeably more dominant, and I didn't see any signs of an aerial weakness at all. Perhaps he just puts himself into challenges that are unfavourable statistically, but help the team defend more?

Whoever was saying that was clearly very wrong about Lindelof. While he might look less clumsy on the ball apart from the odd long pass he's nothing special in terms of passing.

He clearly has an issue when a striker is a similar size to him, he just doesn't seem to be strong or heavy enough to displace the attacker. I find it strange how he lets attackers dictate what they want to do, rather than him taking control. The West Brom goal is a perfect example of this, I know it should have been a foul in the end but letting the striker jump over him and get his head to the ball first was just unbelievable.

Torres looks big, Lindelof doesn't if that makes sense? I can see him and Maguire making a decent pairing if they gel well.
Well yes he looks big, he is big I'm just not sure that looking big translates to dealing with lots of balls into the box. It may or it may not, impossible to know unless he's tested but its a concern until then.

As for passing and on the ball, last night for example Lindelof was bringing the ball forward got on the ball a lot and didnt play worse passes than Pau Torres. I dont think theres going to be a big difference in that department