Filipe Luís

[BlueLyon 9,359]

How is he not 'physical' enough? What bs is that? If anyone saw him, you could say he is one of most physical LBs out there atm. He is also tall as fuck (something like 1,88m)...and his style back at Atletico was quite physical as he was playing in certain Simeone system.

Maybe he lacks bit of fitness after realy long and difficult season or he just didnt catch up to the life in PL as was expected yet.

But he can start against swansea or Schalke...why couldnt he? He is top LB and 29y.o. with plenty of experience. If he gets playtime he will do his job just fine.

[Mechromancer 262]

Maybe he lacks bit of fitness .

Pretty much this.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Why does Luis need to be eased in? He's one of the best LB's in the world, he can play immediately and make an impact.

Different country. Different style of play. Naturally it needs adaptation. Costa is special case.

Too risky, if we rush him to play and he make a couple of big mistakes already. Might affect his confidence in the future.

[Whiskey 173]

Different country. Different style of play. Naturally it needs adaptation. Costa is special case.

Too risky, if we rush him to play and he make a couple of big mistakes already. Might affect his confidence in the future.

Ive never read more crap in my life.

your talking about him as if he was a puppy. He's amongst the better LB's in the world.

We also didnt buy him from some shit league or shit team. He played in friggin A.Madrid.

[Special Juan 27,103]

The situation with him is simple. He's up against one of the most versatile players in the PL and arguably our best player last season in Azpilcueta. You cannot just expect Jose to just drop Azpi because he has bought Luis, not a chance. Remember the squad is hugely strong and that's because of situations like this, like the Cech and Tibo sitauation.......Luis will get his chance and has to earn it, it's football you have to fight for it and both Luis and Azpi are professional enough to do that.

The balance is a great one. We can rest Brana and drop Dave in at RB and Luis to LB.

Versatility is the key word here.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Ive never read more crap in my life.

your talking about him as if he was a puppy. He's a world class LB.

Well, ignore my post if it means crap to you.

I don't find anything wrong with the needs of adaptation time to a whole new environment (team mates, cultural, style of play, etc), even for the greatest player.

[Whiskey 173]

Well, ignore my post if it means crap to you.

I don't find anything wrong with the needs of adaptation time to a whole new environment (team mates, cultural, style of play, etc), even for the greatest player.

And you think that playing him against Schalke in the group stage is a huge step that might damage his confidence and whatnot?

I dont get why you and others talk about him as if he was a little puppet. He's an established world class top LB and he played for A.Madrid.

I personally feel it's better to give a guy a chance to "prove himself" and act on that, rather than be overprotective and scared.

Now IS the time to let him pay when all our players are fit. Imagine having to just throw him in there if say Terry gets injured and we are instead FORCED to play him. That would send the wrong signal to the player AND "hurt his confidence if he fails".

[jeronimo 130]

He definitely is ready to play. I think people are selling him a bit short here, he just came off a marvellous season at Atletico and has been one of the worlds best full backs the last few seasons.

I don't think the reason he hasn't started yet is due to adaption and fitness and so what but purely because of how solid Azpilicueta and Ivanovic has been. He can come straight into the side in any game when Jose thinks its time to rest Azpi/Ivanovic.

[stroey 2,525]

The situation with him is simple. He's up against one of the most versatile players in the PL and arguably our best player last season in Azpilcueta. You cannot just expect Jose to just drop Azpi because he has bought Luis, not a chance. Remember the squad is hugely strong and that's because of situations like this, like the Cech and Tibo sitauation.......Luis will get his chance and has to earn it, it's football you have to fight for it and both Luis and Azpi are professional enough to do that.

The balance is a great one. We can rest Brana and drop Dave in at RB and Luis to LB.

Versatility is the key word here.

Yeah and also when he wants to rest Cahill/Terry, he can move Brana to the centre and Azpi to rb, Luis lb.

We have 2xlb, 2xrb,3xcb in 5 reliable senior defenders, it's a fantastic situation.

[Reddish-Blue 2,223]

Hope he gets a chance sooner rather than later

It'll be great to see a natural LWB help out Hazard in attack

[Stats 6,980]

The situation with him is simple. He's up against one of the most versatile players in the PL and arguably our best player last season in Azpilcueta. You cannot just expect Jose to just drop Azpi because he has bought Luis, not a chance. Remember the squad is hugely strong and that's because of situations like this, like the Cech and Tibo sitauation.......Luis will get his chance and has to earn it, it's football you have to fight for it and both Luis and Azpi are professional enough to do that.

The balance is a great one. We can rest Brana and drop Dave in at RB and Luis to LB.

Versatility is the key word here.

Jose dropped Cech for Courtois tbh and it is not like had exactly had to "earn it". It is just that age is on his side. Azpilicueta has improved significantly during his time here but out of the two, Luis is just a more natural LB and we invested a lot of money for him so sooner rather than later I would hope he cements that LB position and he was excellent at Atletico. It is not like he is a risk if we play him but in either this Swansea game or Schalke one I would hope to see Luis play at least one of them.

[Special Juan 27,103]

Jose dropped Cech for Courtois tbh and it is not like had exactly had to "earn it". It is just that age is on his side. Azpilicueta has improved significantly during his time here but out of the two, Luis is just a more natural LB and we invested a lot of money for him so sooner rather than later I would hope he cements that LB position and he was excellent at Atletico. It is not like he is a risk if we play him but in either this Swansea game or Schalke one I would hope to see Luis play at least one of them.

On loan at Atletico he earned it, he was totally dominant and I am also very sure that those performances convinced Jose that bringing him in as #1 was completely the right thing to do. Of course he has age on his side but his talent is just through the roof.

[cchuka 99]

He's likely to start next week versus Schalke and the upper week versus Bolton IMO

[Stats 6,980]

On loan at Atletico he earned it, he was totally dominant and I am also very sure that those performances convinced Jose that bringing him in as #1 was completely the right thing to do. Of course he has age on his side but his talent is just through the roof.

True but that is exactly how I feel about Luis. He was the best LB in Europe last season and is an excellent addition. He gives us a much better dimension going forward and like Courtois we pretty much know what we are getting with him in the team.

[Special Juan 27,103]

True but that is exactly how I feel about Luis. He was the best LB in Europe last season and is an excellent addition. He gives us a much better dimension going forward and like Courtois we pretty much know what we are getting with him in the team.

Agree 100% mate.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

And you think that playing him against Schalke in the group stage is a huge step that might damage his confidence and whatnot?

I dont get why you and others talk about him as if he was a little puppet. He's an established world class top LB and he played for A.Madrid.

I personally feel it's better to give a guy a chance to "prove himself" and act on that, rather than be overprotective and scared.

Now IS the time to let him pay when all our players are fit. Imagine having to just throw him in there if say Terry gets injured and we are instead FORCED to play him. That would send the wrong signal to the player AND "hurt his confidence if he fails".

I didn't said that he is better still not playing against Schalke. If he is ready and Jose think he is ready, he will. If he is ready and Jose think it is the right moment to start him against Swansea, so be it. I just think he need to observe how English teams plays and get used to the system we play first before making a full debut, and nothing wrong with that.

If somebody ask, "then why not like Costa, who settling in immediately?". I would say it is because Jose knows best Costa style of play and could fit in our system here in an instant. And also because we don't have a real striker last season, so he is given chance immediately.

In my opinion Luis is completely different case. Last season we have the best defending record, and our back 4 were very solid. It is very risky, to changed one of them and put Luis in immediately. The risk is that we could lose our balance to our greatest strength from our team, which is our defence.

Yes, I never doubt Luis quality and what he could bring to our squad. He is our LB dream after Cole left. But, he has a different style with what we used to play. Jose had played him several times in preseason, and then in our first PL match he put Azpi instead as a LB. From my point of view he is obviously not there yet. Whether we have to adapt and afford to his style of play, or he has to adapt to our system, one thing for sure it needs time.

[ZanSnake 1,211]

To me, is it the medium of balance and 'stability'. Last season, 'Dave' was able to perform to such an extent not only to be able to close out of the greatest left-backs in the word out of the CLUB, but was also awarded for the fact he wasn't an actual left-back but actually a right-back!

Of course, it would be hard not only to break through a role that was impressively established by someone like Cesar (who to me was an excellent buy!) but also to encourage a manager like Mouriho to choose him above him and adapt to both the conventional style that Jose implies towards his players and the playing-style of the EPL.

Not saying he won't be successful here, just saying that after 3 games in the EPL is hard to determine his debut season here.

[The Chels 2,502]

I didn't said that he is better still not playing against Schalke. If he is ready and Jose think he is ready, he will. If he is ready and Jose think it is the right moment to start him against Swansea, so be it. I just think he need to observe how English teams plays and get used to the system we play first before making a full debut, and nothing wrong with that.

If somebody ask, "then why not like Costa, who settling in immediately?". I would say it is because Jose knows best Costa style of play and could fit in our system here in an instant. And also because we don't have a real striker last season, so he is given chance immediately.

In my opinion Luis is completely different case. Last season we have the best defending record, and our back 4 were very solid. It is very risky, to changed one of them and put Luis in immediately. The risk is that we could lose our balance to our greatest strength from our team, which is our defence.

Yes, I never doubt Luis quality and what he could bring to our squad. He is our LB dream after Cole left. But, he has a different style with what we used to play. Jose had played him several times in preseason, and then in our first PL match he put Azpi instead as a LB. From my point of view he is obviously not there yet. Whether we have to adapt and afford to his style of play, or he has to adapt to our system, one thing for sure it needs time.

We had a great defensive system - the defence itself is not exceptional. Luis could easily replace Azpi's defensive work and offer a lot more going forward. Azpi and Ivanovic have hardly been solid defensively, both regularly getting beaten and Azpi quite often failing in maintaing the offside trap (Leicester's 1v1 and Swansea's 2nd goal come to mind). Azpi's attacking threat is non-existent and even when he cuts in onto his right foot his delivieries aren't great. I don't understand what adaptation Luis has to do: he's played and excelled against the very best in Real Madrid and Barcelona.