Filipe Luís

[TheOneChan95 225]

Yeah possibly. I've only ever seen/heard him on Chelsea TV but I take it he has a soft spot for Everton and Celtic as well?

Yeah I think so although Celtic doesn't live up to his standards now. Seems pretty supportive of his national team too.

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

Needs to start against Stoke

[iseah100 5,612]

I think he isn't there yet, and we can't afford his 'adaptation' with matches against those teams.

He's failed in all goals we've conceded coming from his side while he was playing for us in the EPL. I understand that as a liability as it stands, it's completely different from the liability Cahill offers though. Luís is better than this and he needs more time. Cahill overachieved last season, when a setup favored him and covered his limitations. Luís can still progress, but as it stands now, even the five games he played because of Azpili's suspension showed he has a way to go before he can be played there for us regardless of who we're facing.

Just because he's the most technical (maybe even the best) FB we have, doesn't mean he's ready to take part of the team in tougher matches. He isn't imo.

And I agree, his Atletico days show us how much a good defender he can be. Many people in Brazil see him as a defensive FB - based on how our FBs normally play. He also sees himself as more defensive.

Ivanovic is more of a defensive liability since over half the goals we've conceded have come from his side.

[Barbara 15,149]

Ivanovic is more of a defensive liability since over half the goals we've conceded have come from his side.

I know Iva has some goals conceded on his account too... but I feel like Luis' mistakes are more eye catching and knowing the defender he is, you know those mistakes are probably because of adaptation issues. It's like he's still too soft for the league because he didn't make the same mistakes in UCL...

[special Eden 78]

ChelsTransferGossip ‏@ChelsTransfer 36 min36 minutter siden

Mourinho on anti-Chelsea media (1/2): "You speak one week about a dive that was not even a dive and you don’t speak about Filipe Luis" #CFC

ChelsTransferGossip ‏@ChelsTransfer 36 min36 minutter siden

Mourinho on anti-Chelsea media (2/2): "... who could be this moment in hospital with big surgery on his knee or leg" #CFC (Mail)

WTF?! Injured or his he just saying something to make a point?

[Hostedenis 556]

ChelsTransferGossip ‏@ChelsTransfer 36 min36 minutter siden

Mourinho on anti-Chelsea media (1/2): "You speak one week about a dive that was not even a dive and you don’t speak about Filipe Luis" #CFC

ChelsTransferGossip ‏@ChelsTransfer 36 min36 minutter siden

Mourinho on anti-Chelsea media (2/2): "... who could be this moment in hospital with big surgery on his knee or leg" #CFC (Mail)

WTF?! Injured or his he just saying something to make a point?

He's talking about the same game in which there was both a dive by Cahill and a tackle on Felipe (the one that got them a red card)

[Madmax 9,219]

He knows he's talking bollocks about Cahill ... it was a dive all day long. But it's a deliberate tactic so it's all good.

[special Eden 78]

He's talking about the same game in which there was both a dive by Cahill and a tackle on Felipe (the one that got them a red card)

aaaah right! thank god

[DH1988 1,258]

Dave wasn't the greatest by any stretch when he first came and we were unsure but saw promise, some time on the bench, training, getting used to tactics and plain old hard graft turned him into one of the best full backs in the premier league.

It takes a special player to come into the league and hit the ground running for a team fighting for multiple trophies.

[Shakez 755]

Anyone also feel bad for the guy? He had some troubling spells during the first half coupled with a really nice second half spell (except for that cross towards the end). He's probably the 1 player i think that would improve massively with more game-time, although i doubt Mourinho is going to give it to him.

[DH1988 1,258]

Happy for him to be second choice until next season, a season to bed in is never a bad thing for any defender.. Yeah I'd prefer him to come in and slot straight away but.. likelihood? Not many defenders get it right at a top top team straight away @lukeshaw alright lad..

Acclimatize until the summer, switch Dave to RB, bring back Bertrand.

Winner winner chicken dinner.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Can we stop whining about him not starting before every single game now?

This is probably harsh, but physically, defensive, and just overall, he is not at the level of Iva, let alone Azpi.

At the moment, excellent squad player to have, but not at all Chelsea XI material.

[Footballover 222]

Can we stop whining about him not starting before every single game now?

This is probably harsh, but physically, defensive, and just overall, he is not at the level of Iva, let alone Azpi.

At the moment, excellent squad player to have, but not at all Chelsea XI material.

Not probably, it's very harsh. People already forgot that Azpi had a run of almost half a year in the starting line up of Benitez which gave him a real chance to prove his worth, he wasn't remotely close to his level now, and Filipe needs to be treated similarly. IMO Luis is the better LB of the two, and frankly, I don't think Azpi will ever reach the hights that Filipe reached last season with Atletico (just take a look at his performances against Barcelona and us in the CL). That being said even though I love Azpi and think he is a terrific defender.

Luis still needs time and much more minutes in the starting 11. It will be tough for him to dethrone Azpilicueta but if he won't recieve the needed amount of game time, we won't be able to judge him.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Not probably, it's very harsh. People already forgot that Azpi had a run of almost half a year in the starting line up of Benitez which gave him a real chance to prove his worth, he wasn't remotely close to his level now, and Filipe needs to be treated similarly. IMO Luis is the better LB of the two, and frankly, I don't think Azpi will ever reach the hights that Filipe reached last season with Atletico (just take a look at his performances against Barcelona and us in the CL). That being said even though I love Azpi and think he is a terrific defender.

Luis still needs time and much more minutes in the starting 11. It will be tough for him to dethrone Azpilicueta but if he won't recieve the needed amount of game time, we won't be able to judge him.

1. Luis was playing with Atleti last season, not Marseille. he doesn't need to time to raise his level to Chelsea's because he was already playing in that level.

2. Azpi was 22 when he joined us and hence it was only normal that he can still significantly improve and develop, while Luis is 29 now.

3. Luis has had more game time than probably any of our non-XI players, so the argument that he has not been given chances is obviously baseless, and I think we've seen more than enough to start to judge him.

4. Given point 3, I have no idea what you define as the "needed amount of time", because in most of the matches, you can't afford not play your best players which are very obviously Iva and Azpi.

5. Saying that Luis has been playing better than Azpi or even Iva is just deluded if I'm honest. In his time with us, he's looked physically weak, gets beat way too easily and even in attack is very inconsistent and gives the ball away too cheaply.

Again, I think he's a valuable squad player to have, but I haven't seen anything to suggest he's starting XI material yet. Hence why we should really stop moaning about him not starting games because he has not at all made a proper case for himself till now.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Considering he was in the side to pump crosses into the box yesterday, I was bitterly disappointed by his service. That being said it was as if there was a giant cellophane dome over the penalty area, anything that went in was cleared by one of at least six Southampton defenders at any one time.

[bababoom 4,478]

He's especially poor at defending, wingers go past him with such ease... he needs time to settle in i think.

[Pizy 18,331]

It's not even that his positioning is poor defensively its that he ALWAYS seems to try to lunge in with one leg to try to nick the ball rather than just staying in front of his man and denying him a cross or preventing a dribble. He lunges in and if he doesn't win the ball his man just breezes past him.

That's the main thing he has to work on.

[The Chels 2,502]

I know Luis didn't have a great game against Southampton but I've rarely ever seen us dominate and overload one wing as effectively as we did with him, Hazard and Cesc on that left side. His link-up play was excellent but his crossing was atrocious and defending was substandard.

It's not even that his positioning is poor defensively its that he ALWAYS seems to try to lunge in with one leg to try to nick the ball rather than just staying in front of his man and denying him a cross or preventing a dribble. He lunges in and if he doesn't win the ball his man just breezes past him. That's the main thing he has to work on.

Yeah he's still defending like he did at Atletico. There, lunging in was encouraged because they overload the wing (2v1, 3v2) when defending as well as attacking, but we generally don't and as he has to defend 1v1 quite a lot lunging in is very risky.