David Luiz

[LAM09 6,742]

Well Sarri loves him. 
I like Sarri but I don't understand why he keeps picking him. 

Same could be said about Willian

[the wes 7,212]

28 minutes ago, Fernando said:

Well Sarri loves him. 

I like Sarri but I don't understand why he keeps picking him. 

Cause cahill and christensen are not playing any better that's probably why sarri was wanting a CB in the summer we must started looking for a CB 

[Superblue 6,370]

22 minutes ago, the wes said:

Cause cahill and christensen are not playing any better that's probably why sarri was wanting a CB in the summer we must started looking for a CB 

We cannot revert back to Cahill again and Christensen has regressed and it feels like he is too busy moaning in the media about game time rather than knuckling down and fighting for his place.

He has to take his chances which he simply hasn't done so far because the talent is there, we saw that last season.

At the moment I would argue, whilst raw, Ampadu is a hugely intriguing option who could grow into the centre back we need. It's whether Sarri would give him the chance.

On a side note however, the performance from Luiz today I think was his worst in a Chelsea shirt. He managed to send the rest of the backline into a complete meltdown, and his part played in the second and third goals were nothing short of embarrassing. 

[robsblubot 3,498]

This game, Tottenham, has very little to do with the back line. We just did not play well enough esp in the middle, to point fingers to the defense. Kovacic was particularly bad dunno if still not 100% fit.

if you want to single out a player, then kepa must be it. We did not have enough time to get into the game since our gk was nowhere to be found for the first two goals.

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,919]

Luiz was bad, but hes kinda being scapegoated now when the problem was in front of him in the horrific display Jorginho(and Kovacic) put on in front of them. You cant keep good teams out when they overrun your midfield the way they did us.

[DDA 9,690]

No excuses, it was a shocking performance. Pathetic for a senior player packing the experience Luiz does. If I was Cahill or Christensen, I would be knocking on the Gaffers door in the morning.

[Superblue 6,370]

1 hour ago, Robguima said:

This game, Tottenham, has very little to do with the back line. We just did not play well enough esp in the middle, to point fingers to the defense. Kovacic was particularly bad dunno if still not 100% fit.

if you want to single out a player, then kepa must be it. We did not have enough time to get into the game since our gk was nowhere to be found for the first two goals.

Kepa could have probably done better with the first, although there have been plenty of instances where a ball is crossed in at speed and the smallest flicks are enough to deviate the ball away enough from the keeper.

I am not blaming him for the second goal though. He got completely mugged off by Luiz diving out the way of the ball. Any defender with an ounce of defensive awareness and discipline would block that shot - you wouldn't see Rudiger or Azpi doing what Luiz did. 

[Jase 43,479]

1 hour ago, Sir Mikel OBE said:

Luiz was bad, but hes kinda being scapegoated now when the problem was in front of him in the horrific display Jorginho(and Kovacic) put on in front of them. You cant keep good teams out when they overrun your midfield the way they did us.

But look at his silly defending for Son's goal. What was he even trying to do?!

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

There is only one thing that baffles me about this guy and that is the fact that even though he has so much experience, played  with world class CBs, played in different leagues and competitions and against a lot of the worlds best strikers, under different coaches and styles... He is basically the same player that came here from Benfica. Same playstation defender as Gary Neville described him in his first season.

Amazing.

[robsblubot 3,498]

2 hours ago, Superblue_1986 said:

Kepa could have probably done better with the first, although there have been plenty of instances where a ball is crossed in at speed and the smallest flicks are enough to deviate the ball away enough from the keeper.

I am not blaming him for the second goal though. He got completely mugged off by Luiz diving out the way of the ball. Any defender with an ounce of defensive awareness and discipline would block that shot - you wouldn't see Rudiger or Azpi doing what Luiz did. 

If every shot from afar gets in because there is someone blocking Kepa's view, then it's not only going to be a very long season, but also a very long career at chelsea.

Sorry, nope no excuse. Not even into the corner total blunder for me - he got to stop that regardless of what's in front of him. Only the third he had little to do. 

[!Hazard! 3,394]

He's going to play pretty much every game this season though because the alternatives are not any better and the club probably isn't going to spend £50m on a new top CB in January. Therefore the best Sarri can come up with is protect him better. That means Kante should play more defensive role and someone other than Alonso should be playing LB.

[Superblue 6,370]

2 hours ago, Robguima said:

If every shot from afar gets in because there is someone blocking Kepa's view, then it's not only going to be a very long season, but also a very long career at chelsea.

Sorry, nope no excuse. Not even into the corner total blunder for me - he got to stop that regardless of what's in front of him. Only the third he had little to do. 

I don't think his view is blocked, he's left flat footed because he's expecting Luiz to block the shot considering it is going straight at Luiz.

We can argue about Kepa's involvement but the fact is when your centre back doesn't have the natural instincts a defender should have with regards to making tackles, making blocks, marking, positional awareness, etc you're in trouble and Luiz can be deemed liable at all of those things at times (he displayed them all to their worst in this match!).

[the wes 7,212]

4 hours ago, Superblue_1986 said:

I don't think his view is blocked, he's left flat footed because he's expecting Luiz to block the shot considering it is going straight at Luiz.

We can argue about Kepa's involvement but the fact is when your centre back doesn't have the natural instincts a defender should have with regards to making tackles, making blocks, marking, positional awareness, etc you're in trouble and Luiz can be deemed liable at all of those things at times (he displayed them all to their worst in this match!).

The only thing David Luiz is good at is playing dodgeball and he wants a New contract at the club he can fuck off back to Benfica 

[robsblubot 3,498]

I don’t disagree that luiz had a poor game, but then again I’ve seen it before for both Brazil and Chelsea. So, well, forgive me if I don’t act surprised.

however, I’ve heard from folks who know a lot more han I about defending that a good CB is always a well-protected one. I see luiz as a special kind of CB that needs even more protection.

Luiz is a player who will enhance your winning dominant side with his exquisite passing, but if the team is struggling and you need him to step up, well then that’s not going to happen.

what I saw however was that Tottenham players were roaming in our half, constantly applying pressure against our defense... that goes beyond defensive woes.

[Superblue 6,370]

40 minutes ago, Robguima said:

I don’t disagree that luiz had a poor game, but then again I’ve seen it before for both Brazil and Chelsea. So, well, forgive me if I don’t act surprised.

however, I’ve heard from folks who know a lot more han I about defending that a good CB is always a well-protected one. I see luiz as a special kind of CB that needs even more protection.

Luiz is a player who will enhance your winning dominant side with his exquisite passing, but if the team is struggling and you need him to step up, well then that’s not going to happen.

what I saw however was that Tottenham players were roaming in our half, constantly applying pressure against our defense... that goes beyond defensive woes.

Agree with this, the best defence in the world still need protection in front of them.

Our front three were hopeless yesterday pressing the ball and there was no urgency in our midfield.

If Luiz is our best option alongside Rudiger (and I think at the moment he probably is) then he needs better protection. That means better pressing up top (I hope that Pedro gets a run of games because even if he's struggling to make an attacking impact he'll always run himself into the ground for the cause) and Sarri seriously has to consider an alternative plan in our midfield. In away games, certainly against the top teams Kante must play deeper to give us more solidity. Jorginho will get overrun time and time again against teams of similar ilk. And against the lesser teams who I believe will now look at a strategy to man mark or cover Jorginho, Sarri has to consider Jorginho pushing further forward up the pitch and trust Kante/Barkley/Kovacic to drop into the Jorginho space. We've really struggled the last couple of games moving the ball up the field and Sarri cannot be seen to be too stubborn. I'm happy for him to trust his philosophy and continue to implement it but even Guardiola learned at times things need tweaking against certain teams or in circumstances to help his team. Sarri must do the same and quickly.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

I don't think we should blame Luiz too much for the second goal. He didn't want to get hurt, so he had to dodge. /s

[manpe 10,861]

I don't know what he wanted to do with that 3rd goal. He didn't touch Son or the ball, the ball didn't go through his feet, he simply glided past him as if to say "here you go, a free passage for you". That was worse than him protecting his butt from getting hit by the ball.

We need a new CB. Luiz and Christensen make me nervous. Luiz can play in games where we are dominant and expected to win, but against teams where we have to defend I don't want to see him. Sarri was targeting the right positions during the window (ST, CB), these remain our weaknesses.

[OneMoSalah 8,774]

6 hours ago, Robguima said:

I don’t disagree that luiz had a poor game, but then again I’ve seen it before for both Brazil and Chelsea. So, well, forgive me if I don’t act surprised.

however, I’ve heard from folks who know a lot more han I about defending that a good CB is always a well-protected one. I see luiz as a special kind of CB that needs even more protection.

Luiz is a player who will enhance your winning dominant side with his exquisite passing, but if the team is struggling and you need him to step up, well then that’s not going to happen.

what I saw however was that Tottenham players were roaming in our half, constantly applying pressure against our defense... that goes beyond defensive woes.

Would rather a defender who enhances your team by being solid defensively at the very least. If your going to concede 2 or 3 big chances a match taking the game to the opposition at least have 2 CBs who arent going to be a liabality. Rudiger is fine for me, his passing is more than good enough. He needs a partner. 

This passing excuse has been mentioned how the last god knows however many years regarding Luiz. For instance regarding the passing through the lines etc excuse he gets, Fabregas can play passes between the lines from infront of the penalty box or from 40 yards up the pitch does that mean he should play as a CB in our team? Or Jorginho? No... 

Defenders get exposed unfortunately in modern day football but these guys in the big teams, Real, Barca, Bayern, Juve can all defend 1 v 1 or read the game very very well so they are there to cover. Luiz does none of them things very well. There's a reason his most productive spell prior to being sold off was as a CM/CDM next to a more disciplined player like Mikel or Matic and then afterwards in a system where he had 2 CBs each side of him and Kante/Matic infront.