Filipe Luís

[boshman 1,073]

most tabloids are saying 20mil. any links to 15mil.

http://m.skysports.com/article/football//9384625

Sky Sports. Reported 15 million to be fair, but above is the link to where i saw it.

[Special Juan 28,091]

With Luis we now become immensely strong going forward down the left. Hazard has always been fantastic at going forward, that isn't in question here but the overlaps from Luis and combination with Hazard will prove a real threat for any team. Luis has the ability to get at people but won't have a problem doing both, he is a superb athlete.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

Again I completely disagree with you.

Luis wasn't bought to give Hazard on option on the flank(though I think he will help a bit), he was bought to alleviate the defensive responsibility Hazard has on the left flank. Having a solid, veteran defender in behind Hazard will allow him to focus most on what he does best.

Luis can overlap but his main function is providing sufficient cover for Eden.

Hard to agree with that. Why did Jose spend £20m on Luis when Azpi was doing the defensive job perfectly?

IMO Luis is bought to provide a new dimension to the left flank and compliment Hazard. We hardly saw any link up play between Hazard and Azpi last season. It was almost as if he was own his own and double marked every time he got the ball on the left flank. Luis is a perfectly balanced signing and I don't think Jose is going to ask him to bring down his attacking game.

[Special Juan 28,091]

Hard to agree with that. Why did Jose spend £20m on Luis when Azpi was doing the defensive job perfectly?

IMO Luis is bought to provide a new dimension to the left flank and compliment Hazard. We hardly saw any link up play between Hazard and Azpi last season. It was almost as if he was own his own and double marked every time he got the ball on the left flank. Luis is a perfectly balanced signing and I don't think Jose is going to ask him to bring down his attacking game.

[communicate 2,703]

Again I completely disagree with you.

Luis wasn't bought to give Hazard on option on the flank(though I think he will help a bit), he was bought to alleviate the defensive responsibility Hazard has on the left flank. Having a solid, veteran defender in behind Hazard will allow him to focus most on what he does best.

Luis can overlap but his main function is providing sufficient cover for Eden.

I highly doubt that is the case. If you see Azpi average position last year, you can see how low Azpi position was.

Luis signing is an obvious signing, we only have one left fullback in our team and we need one more.

[Chelsea? 892]

Couple Things to consider:1. Morinho was very impressed with azpi last year, azpi was defensively very good

2. Ivan attached 24/7 and he wasn't that great

So I'm guessing signing Luis was for his offensive contributions.

[Namika 922]

Filipe v Barcelona in CL qf, he's so composed, so good going forward.

[bluephoenix 1,131]

Luis agreement reached

Chelsea Football Club can confirm an agreement has been reached with Atletico Madrid for the transfer of Filipe Luis.

The move is subject to the 28-year-old left-back agreeing personal terms.

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2014/07/luis-agreement-reached.html

[bababoom 4,478]

Luis agreement reached

Chelsea Football Club can confirm an agreement has been reached with Atletico Madrid for the transfer of Filipe Luis.

The move is subject to the 28-year-old left-back agreeing personal terms.

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2014/07/luis-agreement-reached.html

You're tad late there, mate.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Hard to agree with that. Why did Jose spend £20m on Luis when Azpi was doing the defensive job perfectly?

IMO Luis is bought to provide a new dimension to the left flank and compliment Hazard. We hardly saw any link up play between Hazard and Azpi last season. It was almost as if he was own his own and double marked every time he got the ball on the left flank. Luis is a perfectly balanced signing and I don't think Jose is going to ask him to bring down his attacking game.

I think you guys are in for a big surprise. Azpi got forward when he was tactically deployed to do so. Luis while at Atletico wasn't deployed like most modern FB's who seem to play as wingers, he was used to win the ball back and provide an option on the flank.

I could be wrong but I don't think we're gonna see much variation in our play going forward from our FB's the evolution in going to occur in the centre of the pitch.

Luis is very similar to Azpi in his ability to win back the ball in dangerous counter attacking areas, why wouldn't Jose want him to play LB while Azpi returns to his natural position?

The lack of link up play from Hazard and Azpi is more tactical than it is an inability to do so. Jose likes a tight back 4 has always preferred that to FB's playing as wingers

[Barbara 15,149]

Just hope we get a solid 3-4 seasons out of him at his very best for this price. It's going to be strange seeing someone who's not Cole donning number 3

if he decides to play with #3 at all. In Brazil the number LB traditionally wears is 6, and it's available, so if he wants to play as he would in Brazil he'll go for that one.

[Barbara 15,149]

Not necessarily. Sure, against the bigger teams who are more threatening on the attack, Filipe Luis won't venture forward as much, but against teams that sit deep against us, he'll definitely be providing Hazard with options going forward. That's the beauty of a "dual threat" fullback if you will.

He wasn't just bought for his main function to just be providing sufficient cover for Hazard. If we want to get the best out of Hazard we need to open up spaces for him and have willing runners that will overlap/make intelligent runs for him, and not just leave him isolated to face 2/3 players on his own. Luis will definitely help in that regards too.

Absolutely.

If Mourinho's main concern was offering cover to Hazard's advances, he wouldn't have gone for a Brazilian LB of all possible.

No matter how less impressive in the attack he is compared to other Brazilians, he's still a Brazilian FB and as I said here in Brazil (and he played plenty of time still in Brazil) FB are rated more about their offensive game rather than their defensive game. We still play a lot through the flanks, it's our style and while we've incorporated wings (we were the ones who invented them in the first place in the 70's), even the smallest side here will have a FB bombing forward, it's how we play the game.

If Mourinho wanted to offer only defensive stability in the left flank he had two options 1) keep Azpili there (he's a beast defending) or 2) in case he wanted to restore Azpili to his original position he would have gone to the same profile for a LB (and there were a few available, even if not as good as Luís), not for Luís.

All that said, I do think Luís is better defending rather than attacking and overlapping, although of course he isn't shy in the latter.

[Hybrid Angel 2,130]

Luis is a very balanced LB in the terms of attacking and defending. If Jose was not going to let him attack a lot, he would have just kept Dave there who does the defensive work amazingly well but lacks quality going forward because he is a right-footed player.

I don't think Jose would mind Filipe going forward more than Dave as long as he does his defensive work perfectly which he did at Atletico. Same thing applies to whoever plays on the right.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

if he decides to play with #3 at all. In Brazil the number LB traditionally wears is 6, and it's available, so if he wants to play as he would in Brazil he'll go for that one.

I hope he does wear 3, I know it's superficial but it seems traditional. If anything, Matic should be granted no6

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

I hope he does wear 3, I know it's superficial but it seems traditional. If anything, Matic should be granted no6

Romeu no. 6