KentVillan

I think in these entirely circumstantial cases (if we accept the possibility that the “confession note” was just the unhinged scrawlings of someone feeling the pressure of the accusations) then it’s very easy for the statistics to be presented in a way that looks incredibly damning. The Roy Meadow cot death convictions are a good example to look back at. Or the Lucie de Berk case in the Netherlands. All overturned after several years. Both show how expert witnesses can badly mislead a jury about the likelihood of a sequence of coincidences. And we know the underfunded English legal system is capable of enormous miscarriages of justice, and that the underfunded NHS is capable of killing people without the involvement of a serial killer. The thing that really stands out to me is that there were a whole bunch of “unexplained” deaths at the same hospital at the same time that couldn’t be linked to Letby. Nobody has explained how or why these happened… they’ve just been disregarded. The widely repeated claim that deaths stopped suddenly when she was taken off duty is a red herring - the hospital was downgraded and stopped treating that category of patient around the same time. She lived near the hospital and was single, so was able to work many more shifts than her colleagues. That could explain why she was on duty for more deaths than colleagues. The techniques she used to supposedly murder the babies varied and required specialist knowledge not just about paediatrics but about forensics… it doesn’t stack up that a young nurse developed these nearly foolproof methods that baffled everyone around her by herself. Nothing has emerged from her background or childhood that aligns with the idea that she’s a psychopath. Childhood friends say she was a nice, empathetic person who loved her job. She may indeed be guilty, but the detailed media coverage after the verdict hasn’t really shed further light on any smoking guns. A lot of it is stuff like “I saw her hovering over a bed” or “she took an unhealthy interest in this child” … etc etc. You can make anyone look like a weirdo in this way. There’s a real lack of any definitive evidence that she killed a specific child. Anyway, shoot it all down, I’ve probably missed something obvious… it is an unpopular opinion after all

Popular opinion

Lucy Letby is probably innocent

Pre season is just for fitness and training. I wouldn’t read anything into it at all re who should be starting.

I don’t think Moreno for Digne has a huge impact. I prefer Moreno, but it’s the one position where we have close enough to like-for-like squad cover. Pace for sure is a factor, although depends where on the pitch. Defensively we look slower with Mings out, but in attack Diaby joining and Bailey starting every week probably adds more pace. Personally I think it’s the work rate of Ramsey and Buendia in the press that we’re missing, and that’s then exposing a slower defence to more dangerous attacks.

I think we’ve been particularly unlucky with which players have got injured. Mings, Ramsey and Buendia are all fighters … they give our team grit and energy. The squad balance was good, but now with the injuries we’re light on that kind of profile, a bit too weighted towards “tidy” players like Torres, Konsa, Digne, Luiz, etc and I think that’s what has affected your point on resilience. Long term I don’t see it as a problem, but in the short term we’re going to keep seeing these issues away against better sides, where your best hope of points is to scrap for the win. Against lesser oppo, and especially at VP, I think we’ll continue to look good.

Got 15 mins at end of Colombia Venezuela game. Not sure he did much, but good that he’s trusted already by his international coach.

This is the point I think. You don’t need all your players to be ultra aggressive 90mph types, but the balance needs to be right. Konsa and Pau are both on the more composed, passive side. Both benefit from being next to someone like Mings.

I still think Bannan is world class

And FWIW, it goes back to my previous post, that a lot of this can be thinking time rather than athleticism. He’s probably thinking slower atm than he did at Villareal because he’s playing less instinctively and still trying to adapt to the new language, new teammates, new league, etc.

I thought McGinn was done at this level. Someone dug out a post from about 10 yrs ago where I said Grealish was overrated. Thought Benteke would go on to be a Champions League winner, world top 10 kind of player. I think I thought that Drinkwater was an astute signing. Got better at not completely writing off or getting too excited about players over the years. There’s a lot of luck in a football career. Injuries, lifestyle, right manager, etc.

Centre backs tend to be the quickest top-end pace players. But football is played mainly over 5-10 yard sprints and lateral movements. Top speed is pretty irrelevant. When people say Pau is slow, they mean on the turn, not in a foot race the length of the pitch.

The other thing to remember is when you're new to a side, you just don't have the instinctive understanding of where everyone is going to be, you haven't developed that sixth sense for who is shouting for the ball behind you ... and in Pau's case, he probably doesn't even understand what his CB partner is saying to him. Add all that together, and it means every decision takes a split second longer. You don't have that luxury against a team like Liverpool. I'm very sure he will improve with time, and won't be a dud signing. We just need to be patient. Emery's original plan was surely not to blood him like this, but injuries have forced it on us, so that's just bad luck tbh. I think he'll continue to have the odd shocker against certain sides, but look very solid and dependable against most of the sides around and below us.

I don't think he necessarily needs to become quicker. What he needs to adapt to is the pace of the game around him, and the pressing styles of the best sides in this league, which he probably hasn't encountered before. Lots of elite CBs in the PL and other top leagues in Europe have been relatively slow. It obviously helps to have that lightning recovery pace, but it's not essential if the rest of their game is solid.

Ballplaying CBs often look terrible when they first make a move like this. I’m really not worried. That Liverpool attack is world class, and very, very quick. How often will he be facing that kind of onslaught?

Wrong game plan which exposed our lack of pace vs a very, very quick Liverpool attack. As with Newcastle, we don’t know how to handle a swarm of quick players, especially if we try to play a high line. Not sure what Emery’s thought process was tbh. He’s good at parking the bus away from home, why is he so reluctant to use it in games like this?

He needs to be better than Duran *and* willing to play as backup to Ollie Watkins (who never gets injured). I think the move made sense for everyone, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a really promising player who in an ideal world you’d like to have in the squad.

Technically OG, but all his own work. He looks very ready for this level. Wondering though, are Everton just awful?

I love the way Emery's charisma isn't all about ranting and raving and being the main man. It's about calmly and sympathetically challenging every single player to be better every week and to listen to his advice. For a player like Dougie who is in probably the most tactically demanding position on the pitch, you can see how much he is growing from this approach.

He tweaks the personnel and the gameplans within the framework, and it's all so well drilled, with everyone knowing their job and knowing the Plan B. The gaps (e.g. when LB pushes forward) are anticipated by the other players on the pitch, and everything closes up again. Plus if it isn't working, Emery will change mid-game, often with aggressive substitutions and formation changes. I think that's how he gets away with having such a consistent Plan A.

Emery is a genius at managing & coaching centre backs. The biggest improvers under Emery have arguably been Konsa and Mings. I already kind of rate Lenglet, but under Emery I'd see him adding to his game and being a better player than we've seen before.

Thing is, with Emery, so long as the player isn't complete shite or has a massive attitude problem, I'd generally always back him to get a tune out of whoever we sign... even if it's just as backup or rotation option. Lenglet is definitely good enough to be useful for us, and potentially much more than that.

Mmmm, ok, I'm not sure where all these universal laws of football tactics have come from, but I get what you're saying. Players have natural inclinations to track back, drift forwards, cover space, etc. Who you select makes a huge difference to how a formation plays out in practice. Bailey, Cash and Konsa are three completely different players, so when we do the Bailey/Cash or Cash/Konsa swaps, you get a completely different setup IMO.

They're two fairly different players. JWP is miles behind Dougie on touch, control under pressure, retaining possession, quick passing, etc. JWP is ahead on set pieces and long passing, and is more aggressive in the tackle, but I think we have the more talented and useful player with the higher ceiling. Plus JWP is 28 and Dougie is 25. I see Dougie continuing to improve into his early 30s and becoming one of the best midfielders in the world, a mainstay of the Brazil side. He won't be getting relegated and going to West Ham, put it that way.

The thing with Emery is when we knock it about at the back, although it makes me nervous, I can see the purpose in it. It's not just possession for the sake of possession, it's more like a trap for the oppo. You watch the oppo front 4 push up to press, and suddenly there is a huge space for Diaby, Watkins, etc to attack if we can find them.