Best Centre-Back Pairing?

[Strike 6,956]

Chelsea have used an astounding 6 different Central defensive pairings this year. In 52 games this season, the defence has kept 17 cleansheets (11 in the league) and conceded 61 goals with a 2nd best defensive record of conceding only 30 goals in the Premier League. However, the pressing concern for Chelsea is the constant chopping and changing of the centre-back pairing from one game to the next which is part of the reason for the instability in defence this season.

Number of games started at Centre-Back

Gary Cahill – 37 David Luiz – 30 Branislav Ivanovic – 20 John Terry - 17

John Terry is nearing the twilight of his career and has lost a yard of pace but still relishes defending against big centre forwards. Gary Cahill,brought in as 3rd choice has started the most number of games at centre-back but that is more down to circumstances than his defending skills. David Luiz, a bit erratic at times, has matured remarkably as the season has progressed while Branislav Ivanovic, the big Serb has done a good job of filling in when required. So what is the best centre-back pairing for the club going forward?

CAHILL-LUIZ – DISTORTED

The defensive pairing used in the Champions League final last season has failed to renew the same faith in their partnership since that glorious night in Munich. They were helped heavily by the midfield putting a real shift that night but have looked below average when exposed this season. The clash of styles in their defending is painfully evident – Luiz is an enforcer who likes to come out from the defensive line and intercept passes while Cahill prefers to back off until the penalty area and then block shots. This has led to an unbalanced back four often when these two have played together.

Their deficiencies as a pair was brutally exposed, first by Falcao in the 4-1 thrashing in the Super Cup and then by van Persie in the 3-2 loss against United at the Bridge. It’s maddening to see that they’ve started together in SEVENTEEN games this season – the most for any pair.

Games Started:17 Cleansheets:4 Goals Conceded: 29

Best Performance: Chelsea 2-0 Newcastle United

CAHILL- IVANOVIC – SOLID IF NOT SPECTACULAR

Surprisingly used 14 times this season, Ivanovic and Cahill played together at Centre-back mainly in the winter when David Luiz was covering in midfield and John Terry was out injured. They were manhandled aerially by West Ham United in the 3-1 loss at Upton Park earlier in the season but got better as the winter progressed. Ivanovic has long been touted as a better centre-back than a right back where he is sometimes exposed for pace.

These two together have kept 4 cleansheets in 14 games but it is worth noting that the cleansheets were in relatively easier games against Villa, Norwich , Sparta Prague and Swansea (2nd leg of League Cup semis) Together, they make a good pair with Ivanovic as the muscle and Cahill doing the sweeper’s work but then again, nothing to get excited about.

Games Started: 14 Cleansheets: 4 Goals Conceded: 13

Best Performance: Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal

LUIZ – TERRY – AERIAL DOMINATION

David Luiz and John Terry was the first choice centre-back pairing going into the season. They looked good on the opening day of the season dealing with a futile Wigan attack but with Terry’s recurrent knee problems and Luiz’s switch to midfield for the winter season has seen the pair start only 9 games together this season. Luiz-Terry is a good robust centre-back pairing which will be especially effective while dealing with teams carrying an aerial threat as both are more than capable in the air. But for all their aerial dominance, the partnership of Luiz-Terry is susceptible to teams that play on the floor. Juventus exposed this weekness in the 2-2 draw at the Bridge earlier this season where John Terry was guilty of ball-watching while David Luiz was the culprit at the Emirates when he took up a deep blocking position for Gervinho’s goal.

With Terry in his prime, these two together would’ve been a fantastic partnership but now, I think they are best used against teams like Stoke City and West Ham United.

Games started:9 Cleansheets: 2 Goals Conceded: 9

Best Performance: Wigan 0-2 Chelsea

CAHILL- TERRY - STATIC

The All-England defensive pairing of Gary Cahill and John Terry was used in only 6 games this season. (Reading, Brentford x2, Wolverhampton, Sparta Prague, Newcastle) shipping 8 goals and keeping only 2 cleansheets which is not much of an achievement when it was against Brentford and Wolverhampton at home.

Apart from Newcastle away, there is no game of real significance that they’ve been used together and it is quite alarming how we’ve leaked goals against the likes of Sparta Prague, Reading and Brentford with these 2. They are both consummate professionals but have been rather erratic in their time together on the pitch. They’ve often been found guilty of backing off from their man – a classic example is the Pogrebnyak goal at the Bridge earlier this season where Cahill was marking thin air when the cross came in. Also in the recent game against Newcastle, we let in a remarkable 19 shots, 13 of which were on target – more evidence of their conservative defending.

Both Cahill and Terry are good central defenders on their day but with Chelsea looking for defenders to win the ball back and give them control of the game, these two just don’t fit in.

Games Started: 6 Cleansheets: 2 Goals Conceded: 8

Best Performance: N/A

LUIZ-IVANOVIC – BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

The defensive partnership of David Luiz and Branislav Ivanovic was used in 4 games this season – especially early in Rafa Benitez’s reign and in those 4 games they’ve started together, they’ve kept THREE cleansheets against Man City, Fulham and recently vs West Bromwich Albion.

Ivanovic has looked good at centre-back whether it be with Cahill or with Luiz. He is physically dominant and rarely allows forwards to get past him. He has made the most successful tackles among our defenders – 41. His physical strength gives Luiz much more defensive security than Cahill or Terry. Luiz is our only genuine ball-winning defender.

Games Started: 4 Cleansheets: 3 Goals Conceded: 1

Best Performance: Chelsea 0-0 Manchester City

In my opinion, Ivanovic and Luiz is the best centre-back pairing among the club’s current defenders. I’ve long said that Luiz makes too many mistakes to make the centre-back position his own. The lunges on Walters and recently Rafael in the FA Cup game did him no favors. Also, he has a tendency to get caught trying to play himself out of trouble – it happened most notably in the League Cup against Manchester United and Leeds United – but Luiz gives Chelsea the ability to recover the ball and control the game. He has made 51 interceptions this season – more than Terry(9) and Cahill(22) combined. His high foul-count of 33 should be taken with a pinch of salt because his role of an enforcer often entails him to make challenges.At 25 years of age, Luiz is entering the prime of his career and with more disciplined performances, he should rightly cement a centre-back position for the next few years.

Ivanovic is now a seasoned Premier League defender and at 29, he still has 2-3 years left in the top level. Moving Ivanovic to centre-back will leave Azpilicueta as the only Right Back at the club but we do have Tomas Kalas and Kenneth Omeruo on loan in the Eredivisie who are developing well and can provide cover next season.

Gary Cahill is a solid 3rd choice defender to have and his role should be restricted to 3rd choice and nothing more. John Terry maybe 32 but he is the leader in the team, the sort of guy his team-mates look up to. His presence in the dressing room will help and he should be retained next year but in a restrictive role. A 4 man centre-back roster of David Luiz, Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill and John Terry in that order of preference would be ideal next season.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Always a pleasure reading your articles, mate

First, let me start by saying that is extremely hard to compare and contrast our CB pairing this season because there has been countless other factors affecting our defending other than the two at the center of defense. We've gone this season from a high block to a low block to a current medium block (AVB says hi ), from using Bertrand and Ramires on the wings to having wingers who don't track back to trying to get those new wingers to start tracking back. And let's not forget the fiasco in the pivot this season. But overall, here what I think of our CB pairings:

Cahill and Luiz are too error prone to be partnered together, imo. They also don't really suit each other as you eluded to above.

The main problem for Cahill-Iva for me is their terrible distribution, especially if you compare it to JT's and Luiz's. The just can't get the ball out of the back well enough and end up giving it away dangerously when opponents press high. This was highlighted the most in the home game against Swansea in the Capital One Cup. They also lack an organizer of the defense.

Cahill-Terry are too similar to play together, imo. You need your center-halves to compliment each other, and JT and Cahill certainly don't.

Overall, I don't think Cahill should be a starter in any case.

Luiz- Terry is, imo our best pairing. They compliment each other very well. This pairing also gives a huge offensive advantage because they are simply the best distributing CBs in the league. Terry may have lost a yard of pace, but whe it comes to defensive instinct, defending in the box, and organizing the defense as whole, he's still one of the best in the world. Luiz is a ball winning defender and he does that very well. He may be prone to some silly mistakes (that have admittedly decreased this season) but he is still our best defender by a country mile. His positioning, tackling, areal ability..etc are all top notch when he's focused. David Luiz is here to stay and he will be a starter at CB for some time to come, but with Terry's injuries and his ability to play at top level for long being a serious doubt, I honestly think we need to find a solution if not for next the season for the one after, be it going out and buying a CB, or giving one of our youngsters like Omerue a serious chance next season.

Iva-Luiz is a very interesting one. But I will personally need to watch more of it to make up my mind.

[The only place to be 11,313]

It really doesn't matter until that midfield gets sorted. Against West Ham we saw just how much space Lampard and Ramires can leave behind them and I still don't think Mikel handles pressure consistently enough to be relied upon (the most recent example being the Steaua game) so without that midfield protection it's really hard to judge who would be the best pairing.

Personally I think Ivanovic and Cahill are good back-ups, whilst Luiz is good enough to start so long as he has a strong presence next to him. If that isn't goint to be JT them we probably need to go into the market for someone.

But I think any pairing could well flourish with someone like Chalobah in front of them. Yes he's young but that doesn't mean he isn't good enough.

[Rmpr 8,977]

It really doesn't matter until that midfield gets sorted. Against West Ham we saw just how much space Lampard and Ramires can leave behind them and I still don't think Mikel handles pressure consistently enough to be relied upon (the most recent example being the Steaua game) so without that midfield protection it's really hard to judge who would be the best pairing.

Personally I think Ivanovic and Cahill are good back-ups, whilst Luiz is good enough to start so long as he has a strong presence next to him. If that isn't goint to be JT them we probably need to go into the market for someone.

But I think any pairing could well flourish with someone like Chalobah in front of them. Yes he's young but that doesn't mean he isn't good enough.

I agree!

One thing though, how many games can JT play in a season? Can he play 30-40 games?

I think we need a top polarizing CB (just like JT was). It doesnt need to be for the next season, but certainly for 2014 (as Terry wont probably be here).

[Stingray 9,441]

True that the midfeld is key. Also, too many variables in play to make a sound judgement.

Still, when looking at solidity, leadership, ball winning, duel winning .... Somehow it seems this match fits best: Luiz-Terry.

Second choice: Luiz-Iva (disregarding the form of Iva for a moment).

[Mundaka 243]

Luiz - Terry

close 2nd: Luiz-Iva

Luiz for distribution, Terry since he's the most solid defender.

One thing i pay attention to, distribution wise, is that i prefer a lcb to be leftfooted and rcb to be right footted tho (better for distribution) thats why i would go with Luiz-Iva in games we dominate.

[Strike 6,956]

@Choulo What Romper posted. How many games can JT play next season? Can he play regularly week in week out? i doubt it. he should be used conservatively. also there will be games where ivanovic maybe forced to play right back. then luiz-Terry would be the choice

and yes, agree with the midfield issue. A Hardworking Playmaker would be ideal.

[xPetrCechx 13,546]

1. Luiz - Terry

2. Luiz-Iva

[Hutcho 8,443]

Terry + anyone imo.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Excellent, excellent article. Couldn't disagree less, however as said above my number 1 partnership would be Terry - Luiz. If you could update the article and include how many goals each partnership has conceded that'd be wonderful too. It'd give us a clearer picture.

[Santiago. 1,500]

So the question remains, who in particular should we go after that can complement Luiz?

[Mufassir08 2,400]

So the question remains, who in particular should we go after that can complement Luiz?

Howedes,subotic,alderweireld etc

[Rambo 1,729]

I sometimes miss having Alex in the back (the other Alex), he had a good understanding with JT.

[Leif 6,006]

Even with his bit of decline, Terry is our best centre back. I hope most agree. I also think/hope most agree that our poorest centre-back is Cahill.

So currently, I'd have to put Luiz - Terry. Ivanovic - Terry is decent in some games too.

Anyway - You know what pairing I want to see one day? Ivanovic - Kalas. Yep. I honestly think that would be rock solid after Kalas developes a bit more. Their styles would compliment eachother's.

[22mek22 133]

Terry + Iva?

[CHOULO19 24,332]

@Choulo What Romper posted. How many games can JT play next season? Can he play regularly week in week out? i doubt it. he should be used conservatively. also there will be games where ivanovic maybe forced to play right back. then luiz-Terry would be the choice

and yes, agree with the midfield issue. A Hardworking Playmaker would be ideal.

Yeah that's why I'd like to see us go for a CB in the summer market.

[Ollie 4,400]

Funny, my preferred partnership is the only one not on the list.

[Kieran. 6,317]

Terry + Ivanovic