Filipe Luís

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Is there something wrong with him fitness wise? He was on the bench, so I doubt that. Today would have been the perfect day and perfect opposition to play him against. I was fully expecting him to start so that he could acclimatize with his teammates and so that we could have had at least some real attacking threat down the left.

[blu35_army 551]

not even play a minute this game. what's Mou plan for him?? is it Azpi really better at left?? confusing...

[LAM09 6,835]

Having seen the last two games, will he ever be a starter?

The signing made sense in the first place, but it seems like Mourinho is happy with the defence the way it is.

[DANILA 290]

Azpi had an avg game today imo, nothing special... Think luis is gonna get his debut saturday @ everton

[Stats 7,060]

The same way it was a no brainer to start Courtois over Cech due to the age difference it is a no brainer that Luis will get that LB position soon. I know Azpi came off an excellent season and so on but you don't spend around £15m on a LB to provide competition to another LB. If you buy a 28/29 year old LB for that amount of money they have to start so I hope it is a matter of time before we see him starting there. I know Drogba is a legend here and so on but would have liked to seen Luis been used as our final sub and eased into action and to get his PL debut. As much as we all appreciate Azpilicueta's performances at LB and he has not done anything wrong while playing there, we could still do with a natural LB like Luis there and I hope to see him there soon. He was quality for Atletico and last season was arguably the best fullback in Europe so hopefully we see those performances in a Chelsea shirt soon and as I was saying, with the fee we bought him for it at his age, it makes no sense for him to be on the bench.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Slowly but safety. Give this man time to adapt. No need to rush.

[The only place to be 11,313]

I'm sure Jose would've liked to have eased him in after 60 minutes but we simply weren't in a position to do that. Azpi will play at Everton so it's not the worst thing in the world for him get these minutes, and Luis will get minutes down the line.

Azpi actually had a decent game yesterday, much improved from his Burnley performance so it's not guaranteed that this guy will lock down that position.

[Daniel1980 1,425]

The same way it was a no brainer to start Courtois over Cech due to the age difference it is a no brainer that Luis will get that LB position soon. I know Azpi came off an excellent season and so on but you don't spend around £15m on a LB to provide competition to another LB. If you buy a 28/29 year old LB for that amount of money they have to start so I hope it is a matter of time before we see him starting there. I know Drogba is a legend here and so on but would have liked to seen Luis been used as our final sub and eased into action and to get his PL debut. As much as we all appreciate Azpilicueta's performances at LB and he has not done anything wrong while playing there, we could still do with a natural LB like Luis there and I hope to see him there soon. He was quality for Atletico and last season was arguably the best fullback in Europe so hopefully we see those performances in a Chelsea shirt soon and as I was saying, with the fee we bought him for it at his age, it makes no sense for him to be on the bench.

I get the impression that so far Jose simply isn't impressed with Luis's performance in preseason and what he sees every day in training. I'm sure he intended Luis to be a starter, but Jose isn't the kind of guy who will play a player only because he spent £15m on him. He'll pick based on form. Luis has to impress him enough to start over Azpi.

[HarryCFC 23]

I've written an article on the current full-back dilemma at our club. Check it and my other articles out. Thanks in advance!

http://blogchelseafc.cf

[Jase 43,479]

Luis' time will come and it's up to him then to take the opportunity, just like Azpi did last season.

[Barbara 15,149]

I think it may be down to him struggling to adapt and not being on his best form yet as Azpilicueta hasn't been nearly as good as last season in the two matches he's had this season. It's been a significant drop imo - which just shows how immense he was last season as despite not being even 80 or even 70% as good, he hasn't been bad. He's made a few mistakes we didn't watch and maybe he's either not in shape either or he's feeling a bit threatened by the competition... I don't know, but either way he hasn't upped his performances to create a problem to Mourinho. I think Luís has a problem in his hands to solve about himself whether it's shape or adaptation struggles, but I feel like once he becomes confident and gets used to the league, he won't leave the team.

Azpili has been averaging a 6.5 so far this season whereas Iva is averaging something like 9.0 (or maybe 8.5, as I'm highly excited about Iva and I may be biased), so it's not that hard for Luís to displace Cesar if he doesn't up his game - which I hope he does. It's great to have players at the best of their qualities.

I won't deny though that I'm really anxious to watch a well adapted and in form Luís linking up in our left wing and crossing. Azpili has been nearly anonymous supporting our attack in those first two matches (and something he was never widely known for imo - even last season). Also, Luís is very consistent defensively, so it doesn't make much sense to keep a RB playing in the LB without offering top performances, if we have an in form LB for the position. The key words here are 'in form' though.

[zolayes 14,489]

I expect Luis to get more time on the pitch than Shaw does at Manure

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Lol, no activity in this thread for quite some time.

Heard that he is playing quite well today. Good for him.

[Barbara 15,149]

I'm happy he's been finally capped for the NT, and in hindsight he didn't miss much by not going to the WC given the humiliation Brazil went through.

Still I can't wait for him to play for us more often and consistently. I'm very anxious to see how he'll link up with Hazard. As much as I love Azpili and I think his contributions are immense defensively, offensively he's very shy and coy...

Luís would release the beast on Hazard imo.

As for the match today, can't say, didn't watch it...

[Madmax 9,219]

Excellent goal line clearance vs Ecuador yesterday

[The Skipper 20,593]

Excellent goal line clearance vs Ecuador yesterday

Tekkers.

[Tomo 21,736]

Excellent goal line clearance vs Ecuador yesterday

Looks like he's taking his role as Cole's successor very seriously indeed

[Jase 43,479]

Good to see him getting game time with Brazil. At least gets his fitness level up to speed a little bit. Kinda doubt he'll play in any of the upcoming three games. First game likely to be against Bolton.