Closed Leeds United 1-5 Chelsea

[Superblue 6,331]

Second half was very good - the lads stepped it up when they needed to.

Very satisfying putting dirty Leeds back in their place amongst the also-rans!

[edetarod 2,155]

we are very good at beating pub teams, which Leeds was in the second half

in the first half, they were really up for it and pressured us and closed space down, hence we got beat

[Sheva. 5,373]

I thought we were in control in the first half, they got a really stupid goal thanks to Luiz.

Immediately we got the equalizer so early on, there was only going to be one winner.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Luiz should be put in midfield as soon as JT/Cahill are back, his passing range is ridiculous (for the record I never want to see a Lampard/Oscar pivot again).

This is what drives me crazy about the discussion around Luiz. He made a fantastic pass today, but he makes a ton of long ball passes and most of them are awful. It's the same with everything he does. He'll score a goal and people will talk about putting him at striker. He'll score one goal on a free kick and everyone forgets the 50 useless free kicks he had before. Luiz has a 62% passing rating on long balls this season. To compare, Mata is 72%, Lampard is 79%, Oscar is 76%, Mikel is 76%. Luiz is actually our worst long ball passer in terms of inefficiency, not our best.

[Rambo 1,729]

Oscar looked bad in the pivot...or was it just me?

[Sheva. 5,373]

Oscar looked bad in the pivot...or was it just me?

I thought he was good

[Rmpr 8,977]

This is what drives me crazy about the discussion around Luiz. He made a fantastic pass today, but he makes a ton of long ball passes and most of them are awful. It's the same with everything he does. He'll score a goal and people will talk about putting him at striker. He'll score one goal on a free kick and everyone forgets the 50 useless free kicks he had before. Luiz has a 62% passing rating on long balls this season. To compare, Mata is 72%, Lampard is 79%, Oscar is 76%, Mikel is 76%. Luiz is actually our worst long ball passer in terms of inefficiency, not our best.

Statistic without a proper evaluation does not provide anything.

Most of Luiz long passes are simple kicks to attack when he is a bit pressured at the back (which I find stupid). Luiz as a DM would have a better percentage. Also, he has more abiliity to help in the attack than any of our CBs and DMs, so I guess we have a decent case for trying him on double pivot. Him and an excellent ball controler (Moutinho, Old Pirlo, Xabi Alonso, etc) would make a great duo.

There is a good possibility that he will thrive. We have to at least give it a shot, if it doesnt work (it is not like we are fighting every single point to win EPL), just make him a CB again.

[Slam Dunk 1,442]

This is what drives me crazy about the discussion around Luiz. He made a fantastic pass today, but he makes a ton of long ball passes and most of them are awful. It's the same with everything he does. He'll score a goal and people will talk about putting him at striker. He'll score one goal on a free kick and everyone forgets the 50 useless free kicks he had before. Luiz has a 62% passing rating on long balls this season. To compare, Mata is 72%, Lampard is 79%, Oscar is 76%, Mikel is 76%. Luiz is actually our worst long ball passer in terms of inefficiency, not our best.

I wasn't talking about goals and I wasn't talking about free-kicks. I'm getting bored of speaking about his defending, so i'll simply say Luiz's ability to pick a key pass from deep in midfield is something we lack. He's not a natural midfielder, I know, but i'd rather have him there than Lampard/Oscar considering Mikel/Romeu are out and Ramires' passing is poor. My post was considering the situation our team is in at the minute, your reply was not.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Oscar looked bad in the pivot...or was it just me?

I didn't expect him to do well as the holding midfielder in the first place tbh. His positional sense was completely terrible. Thankfully Leeds didn't commit many men forward.

[Rmpr 8,977]

I didn't expect him to do well as the holding midfielder in the first place tbh. His positional sense was completely terrible. Thankfully Leeds didn't commit many men forward.

Oscar + Benitez = Disaster

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

I wasn't talking about goals and I wasn't talking about free-kicks. I'm getting bored of speaking about his defending, so i'll simply say Luiz's ability to pick a key pass from deep in midfield is something we lack. He's not a natural midfielder, I know, but i'd rather have him there than Lampard/Oscar considering Mikel/Romeu are out and Ramires' passing is poor. My post was considering the situation our team is in at the minute, your reply was not.

Except that Lampard and Oscar are both better passers than Luiz so moving to Luiz to the midfield for his passing instead of one of the others makes no sense. If you want him there for the defensive part of the formation, I can see Luiz there as a stop-gap measure, but I've never understood why people are so keen on moving Luiz to midfield.

[didierforever 7,349]

True, but it is at home, against a fairly toothless Villa side, and I think Rafa will look at our next 2 weeks and see this is probably our best game to rest Mata. Won't be surprised if he is rested, tbh.

damn it... he is the captain of my fantasy team...

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Statistic without a proper evaluation does not provide anything.

Most of Luiz long passes are simple kicks to attack when he is a bit pressured at the back (which I find stupid). Luiz as a DM would have a better percentage. Also, he has more abiliity to help in the attack than any of our CBs and DMs, so I guess we have a decent case for trying him on double pivot. Him and an excellent ball controler (Moutinho, Old Pirlo, Xabi Alonso, etc) would make a great duo.

There is a good possibility that he will thrive. We have to at least give it a shot, if it doesnt work (it is not like we are fighting every single point to win EPL), just make him a CB again.

I wouldn't say that at all. Most of Luiz's long balls are either him playing the ball to open players ahead of him (Mikel, Cole, Ivanovic) which tend to be successful or him trying to pick out attackers and his success rate on those passes is just awful. I am fine with seeing Luiz as a defensive midfielder because our top-2 DMs are both out and if he thrives there, then of course he should stay.

[Slam Dunk 1,442]

Except that Lampard and Oscar are both better passers than Luiz so moving to Luiz to the midfield for his passing instead of one of the others makes no sense. If you want him there for the defensive part of the formation, I can see Luiz there as a stop-gap measure, but I've never understood why people are so keen on moving Luiz to midfield.

Perhaps, but Luiz has mobility over Lampard and strength over Oscar. His work rate is twice that of either Lampard or Oscar and he's growing into a leader on the pitch. I've stated I don't like him as a CB too many times i'm beginning to sound like a broken record I was only talking about a stop-gap as well btw - With Romeu/Mikel out, we're well short of numbers, and as soon as JT/Cahill are back we're covered at CB. Either we commit to Luiz in midfield or purchase/loan a player in January imo.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

damn it... he is the captain of my fantasy team...

Haha time give the captaincy to Torres

[YouNameIt 1,511]

Why?

Because that chant you wrote is so retarded.

Rafa is currently a part of Chelsea, like it or not.

Getting rid of him now isnt gonna help AT ALL.

I dont like him either, but I like the fact that he is mixing things up and trying new stuff, for instance Luiz as DM, Oscar as DM etc.

He's probably gone in the summer anyway, there is no reason to create any hate towards him.

[Shogun 721]

How does Hazard have so many votes that he's pushing for man of the match?

He came on for 20-25 minutes? when the match was already won, scored a goal yes but it didn't mean much.

[Spike 12,049]

Not good enough. They scored aganist us. May as well have fucking lost.

...

Haha. I was so tired at 1-3 I just said fuck it we've won and went back to sleep.