David Luiz

[Tomo 21,733]

Except Iva is originally a CB and was later moved to right back.

Last season Luiz-Iva was our best CB pairing.

Didier Drogba started as a fullback, Thierry Henry started as a winger.

He's always been better at fullback for me.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Didier Drogba started as a fullback, Thierry Henry started as a winger.

He's always been better at fullback for me.

Well, not for me. Whenever I see him at fullback, I always see a CB playing out of position. A lot of positional mistakes and can't close down a cross for his life.

And DD was a fullback when he was a teen while Iva made the "switch" when he was something like 24 and since then has never played exclusively at RB but still makes appearances at CB like last season when he played mostly at CB and only played at RB when we needed to rest Azpi. As for Henry, even when playing at ST, he's at his best when he drifts wide to receive the ball then cuts inside and runs at defenders. He never played as a conventional number 9.

[Jase 43,479]

I have always preferred Ivanovic as a right back, like with Luiz in midfield, their is just something about Ivanovic as centre half that just doesn't sit right for me.

Could easily turn around and say playing Ivanovic at RB is just wrong..

Gotta feel sorry for Azpi. He's a specialist RB and has proved that he can be our no.1 RB for at least the next 6-7 years but here we are with Mourinho having immediate preferences of Ivanovic at RB.

[Rmpr 8,977]

We have time. We should give Kalas and Omerue a chance before we go and buy a top defender..not that there are many of those in the market, atm.

There are actually great options out there and we should definitely try to get at least one top defender to replace JT at the end of the season...

Mangala and/or Subotic would complement Luiz brilliantly. Both can realistic come to Chelsea! There are also lesser popular options, such as Otamendi, Papadopoulos, Hummels, Garay, etc. And.....we could try to get one of Thiago Silva, Varane or Chiellini.

Luiz and JT are proving to be a great partnership, with both players showing they still got what it takes. However, Tomo was more concerned about long term, as we know Terry hasnt got much gas left in him.

I have doubts Chelsea will renew with the likes of Cech, Terry, Cole, Essien and Lampard. If we do renew (at least) with John, then we dont need any nee centre-backs. But if we dont, we cant go into a full season with Luiz, Cahill and Kalas!

[CHOULO19 24,332]

There are actually great options out there and we should definitely try to get at least one top defender to replace JT at the end of the season...

Mangala and/or Subotic would complement Luiz brilliantly. Both can realistic come to Chelsea! There are also lesser popular options, such as Otamendi, Papadopoulos, Hummels, Garay, etc. And.....we could try to get one of Thiago Silva, Varane or Chiellini.

Luiz and JT are proving to be a great partnership, with both players showing they still got what it takes. However, Tomo was more concerned about long term, as we know Terry hasnt got much gas left in him.

I have doubts Chelsea will renew with the likes of Cech, Terry, Cole, Essien and Lampard. If we do renew (at least) with John, then we dont need any nee centre-backs. But if we dont, we cant go into a full season with Luiz, Cahill and Kalas!

Yeah, of course we can't go into next season with only Luiz Cahill and Kalas. But I'm assuming we renew JT's contract as he's been one of our best players along side Oscar so far.

[nadavTKL 1,787]

There are actually great options out there and we should definitely try to get at least one top defender to replace JT at the end of the season...

Mangala and/or Subotic would complement Luiz brilliantly. Both can realistic come to Chelsea! There are also lesser popular options, such as Otamendi, Papadopoulos, Hummels, Garay, etc. And.....we could try to get one of Thiago Silva, Varane or Chiellini.

I have doubts Chelsea will renew with the likes of Cech, Terry, Cole, Essien and Lampard. If we do renew (at least) with John, then we dont need any nee centre-backs. But if we dont, we cant go into a full season with Luiz, Cahill and Kalas!

Im sure we'll renew JT's contract... terrible if not. I think Essien will defently go, and Ash and Lamps are hard to know.

I think we should sell Cahill and get a better CB, one to pair with Luiz for the next few years. Loan Kalas is also a possibility, but if JT is realy staying it could be a problem with four high profile CB's (with Cahill i mean).

Mangala is the one for me, him and Luiz should be a fearful central defense for the near future. but please no Subotic, overrated imo, Dortmund central defense is pretty bad and i wouldnt want to get him or Hummels. Thiago Silva, Varane or Chiellini would never move.

[robsblubot 3,498]

Barring injuries, I see no reason not to renew with Terry. Defenders can go the distance, especially Terry who's not that mobile anyway.

Finding a partner for Luiz should be easy in terms of characteristics: we just don't want another Luiz, a ball-playing defender. Since he's the oddball as defenders go, finding one like him would've been difficult.

Actually we just need to find a younger John Terry - that doesn't sound very easy to me.

Is Ryan Shawcross worth a look? Although he does not look world class to me I wonder whether he's reached his peak yet.

[Tomo 21,733]

Is Ryan Shawcross worth a look? Although he does not look world class to me I wonder whether he's reached his peak yet.

As a replacement for Terry? not a chance, it would be Cahill all over again, people hoping he could replace and replicate a prime Terry but with every passing match it becoming painfully clear he will never be more than a squad player.

[Special Juan 27,421]

Subotic I like a lot.

[robsblubot 3,498]

As a replacement for Terry? not a chance, it would be Cahill all over again, people hoping he could replace and replicate a prime Terry but with every passing match it becoming painfully clear he will never be more than a squad player.

you are probably right, but I reckon we won't find a fit replacement without incurring into some risk. Ryan, to me, seems to be a bit more aggressive and dominant physically (than Cahill is), which is what JT is; of course Terry is also a better overall player, but that's the difficult part.

Damn! This should've been on JT's thread.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Didier Drogba started as a fullback, Thierry Henry started as a winger.

He's always been better at fullback for me.

And this season he is the form right-back in the league for me. He's been absolutely fantastic and provides so much at set-pieces too, so I simply don't get the arguments that 'he isn't a right-back'.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

And this season he is the form right-back in the league for me. He's been absolutely fantastic and provides so much at set-pieces too, so I simply don't get the arguments that 'he isn't a right-back'.

He has even entered the PFA team of the year when we won the league with Ancelloti as a rightback

[Tomo 21,733]

And this season he is the form right-back in the league for me. He's been absolutely fantastic and provides so much at set-pieces too, so I simply don't get the arguments that 'he isn't a right-back'.

Exactly, he has been playing because he deserves it. I was screaming at the TV when we put him back to CB to accomodate Bosingwa after the double, i know our squad depth was pretty shady, but i would preferred to have stuck Bruma in despite his inexperience or even put Essien at CB, he was that good at RB in the double season.

Also i think Azpi's influence has been overstated, he had a good year for his first season in England, but he is a long way from being as good as some are suggesting he already is.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Subotic and Hummels pretty bad atm, so much so the latter was dropped by Loew.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Also i think Azpi's influence has been overstated, he had a good year for his first season in England, but he is a long way from being as good as some are suggesting he already is.

Last year people were moaning about his crosses, now we need his offensive contribution (despite Ivanovic getting up and down that wing and having no support in front of him most of the time).

All this and we don't seem to have anyone capable of actually reaching these crosses in the box.

[Tomo 21,733]

Subotic and Hummels pretty bad atm, so much so the latter was dropped by Loew.

They missed a trick getting shot of Santana, his pace compensated for that pair's lack off it.

[robsblubot 3,498]

Subotic and Hummels pretty bad atm, so much so the latter was dropped by Loew.

They've been struggling, but much is due to mechanics. For example it's difficult to analyze Arsenal's defenders when more often than not they are offered no protection. This season they've got Flamini back, but last season they had Arteta!? as a sole holding mid... yup poor defenders indeed.

Mertesacker is a fine defender and struggled last season for the reasons I stated. I wish we had made a low-ball bid when he was struggling back then.

huge tangent here... completely OT....

[Tomo 21,733]

Last year people were moaning about his crosses, now we need his offensive contribution (despite Ivanovic getting up and down that wing and having no support in front of him most of the time).

All this and we don't seem to have anyone capable of actually reaching these crosses in the box.

There seems to be some sort of general fetish for the more flashy fullback, apart from running in a straight line Bosingwa was vastly inferior to Ivanovic in every single aspect, yet the forum i was on back in 2010, there was almost widespread calls for Bossy to get his place straight back.

Azpilicueta is clearly head and shoulders above Bosingwa, which is probably why he has got all this hype because we suffered with Bosingwa for so long it almost felt a relieve seeing a competent RB as competition for Ivan.