Best young defender in the world. Should be starting most games now.

On 10/1/2017 at 14:50, Scott Harris said:

I don't necessarily think Azpilicueta or Rudiger have to be left out. I feel like Alonso should be left out. He's been good for us and he's played above what i thought he was capable of, be he has struggled of late, he seem's to be getting beaten by his man a lot more than he was last season. Most of the attacking from opposition teams seem to come down our left, they obviously see Alonso's pace as a weakness. I personally think Azpilicueta would do better there. The only reason Azpilicueta was moved to CB in the first place is because we didn't have enough cover there or the players we did have didn't have the qualities needed to play the position. We now have Luiz, Christensen and Rudiger who are all good enough to play that role. Azpilicueta has shown that he is a great left back, and going forward he has been excellent of late too. I don't see why he can't give us more than Alonso does.

I also think moving Luiz into Azpilicueta's position would be good too. He's been very good in the middle of the CB's, but we want to make the most of his ball playing abilities too, with Christensen in the team, we can now do that. Move Luiz to the right of the 3 CB's, play Christensen in the middle and Rudiger on the left. Put Azpilicueta at LWB and let Moses and Zappacosta fight for RWB. I think this would give us a perfect balance in defence and would make moving the ball out of defence into the midfield a lot easier.

No Scott NO!!! I don't want to see Dave play left back (or any variation of left back) ever again, he's too one footed and so wasted out there. It used to drive me mad seeing him there in the line up week after week after week. I also feel playing him at wing back, particularly on the left would be too defensive, I'd either keep him where he is or have him at RB in a back four.

On 10/1/2017 at 14:43, RIP Mourinho said:

Absolutely fantastic reading of the game. I'd argue he's our most naturally talented defender in the squad right now. 

You know nothing. Only people who actually watch games live do. 

 

Seriously cant believe some on here actually doubted his abilities. A CLASS player.

I would love to simply know his thoughts at the moment.

Our best defender for the last 3 games, benched for a defender who at the moment IS playing like a playstation defender. 

I mean, how long before some meritocracy kicks in?

Willian over musonda, Luiz over AC, GC over Rudi... Seriously??? Pathetic from Conte.

Maybe he is resting them for CL this week. Except Musonda who might have talked himself out of contention.

Christensen should never have been left out today. We needed to bounce back after the defeat to City and we needed our most inform players on the field. After Luiz's stupid red card against Arsenal, he had only himself to blame for missing out on football, he shouldn't have come straight back into the team like that, and he was awful today too. The way he played today was quite possibly his worst performance since we bought him back, but he's looked like putting in those performances a few times this season. He's not got his head on the game this season, you can see it in the way he plays. He's being careless and lazy with his football, you can see it with the way he charges out of position and with his casual passing. 

It's a similar situation with Cahill and Rudiger too. Cahill got himself sent off and then found himself back in the team after suspension. This is fine if the person filling in for you isn't doing anything special, but Rudiger has been excellent for us. His defensive abilities and passing has already proven to be to good to be left out of the team. 

Christensen and Rudiger have played with their heads and had a positive start to the season, Luiz and Cahill have both gotten themselves stupidly sent off and both of them are playing well below their best. Surely playing Christensen and Rudiger ahead of Luiz and Cahill is an easy decision for Conte at this point.

What a load of bull... (apparently) according to some London experts!!!p

2 hours ago, Stim said:

Maybe he is resting them for CL this week. Except Musonda who might have talked himself out of contention.

I too think that is the reason. Plus, who would have thought that we would struggle against Crystal Palace ? 

16 minutes ago, brownindian said:

I too think that is the reason. Plus, who would have thought that we would struggle against Crystal Palace ? 

If you check my pre match thoughts - I did for one.

Too many out of form players and not enough trust in the rest of the squad, for whatever reason.

1 minute ago, BordeauxBlue said:

If you check my pre match thoughts - I did for one.

Too many out of form players and not enough trust in the rest of the squad, for whatever reason.

Kudos to you for predicting it.  In hindsight i agree with you that we do have too many out of form players. I was expecting a very good offensive show and not the sh*t show from our offense. 

Without Kante in midfield there is no balance or cover for the defence, thinking we should move Luiz into Midfield against Roma with Christensen taking that centre back role in which he's done superbly in so far this season.

17 hours ago, dan_cfc said:

Without Kante in midfield there is no balance or cover for the defence, thinking we should move Luiz into Midfield against Roma with Christensen taking that centre back role in which he's done superbly in so far this season.

It's obvious that this is the way to go.

I'd like to see Ampadu given a chance perhaps? Risky for sure but I'd like to see it.

 

Musonda over Willian seems glaringly obvious.

Good to remember that Roma, according to an Italian friend of mine, are pretty garbage at the moment.

 

Christensen has to be starting every game now with how unreliable GC and DL are atm.

Has to start instead of cahill end of

On 14/10/2017 at 17:32, Scott Harris said:

Christensen should never have been left out today. We needed to bounce back after the defeat to City and we needed our most inform players on the field. After Luiz's stupid red card against Arsenal, he had only himself to blame for missing out on football, he shouldn't have come straight back into the team like that, and he was awful today too. The way he played today was quite possibly his worst performance since we bought him back, but he's looked like putting in those performances a few times this season. He's not got his head on the game this season, you can see it in the way he plays. He's being careless and lazy with his football, you can see it with the way he charges out of position and with his casual passing. 

It's a similar situation with Cahill and Rudiger too. Cahill got himself sent off and then found himself back in the team after suspension. This is fine if the person filling in for you isn't doing anything special, but Rudiger has been excellent for us. His defensive abilities and passing has already proven to be to good to be left out of the team. 

Christensen and Rudiger have played with their heads and had a positive start to the season, Luiz and Cahill have both gotten themselves stupidly sent off and both of them are playing well below their best. Surely playing Christensen and Rudiger ahead of Luiz and Cahill is an easy decision for Conte at this point.

Ohhhhhhh... you're in trouble if the Don comes in here

I don't see why he's been left out, he's been more reliable than our 'experienced' defenders on top of not getting silly red cards. I don't think it's ever really been common place to rotate and rest defenders much during the season, most managers dont like to break up a solid defensive unit unless they have to. Andreas, Dave and Rudi have been pretty solid in the absence of others and by rights should be our starting back 3 until (if) they lose form.

I think the lad has every right to be disappointed at missing out on Saturday, no social media rant from him though is there. 

Luiz was in good form beforehand his stupid red card, but given our lack of central midfield options and christensen playing so well should he have kept his place with luiz playing in midfield. But if we had drawn as a result the question of why we were so defensive would have been asked. 

4 hours ago, zolawannabe25 said:

Luiz was in good form beforehand his stupid red card, but given our lack of central midfield options and christensen playing so well should he have kept his place with luiz playing in midfield. But if we had drawn as a result the question of why we were so defensive would have been asked. 

I would not say Luiz was in good form. If you see some of his defending in the 3 burnley goals, he was just atrocious.

5 hours ago, didierforever said:

I would not say Luiz was in good form. If you see some of his defending in the 3 burnley goals, he was just atrocious.

I agree, the only games i would say he has been good in was against Tottenham, Arsenal ( before red card ) and Atletico Madrid. He's playing well in the high profile games but doesn't have the same focus in the others.

Given the manager role, I too probably would have slotted Luiz right back in ahead of Christensen.  It's not a slight on him either.  Luiz is a CL winning, established player who hasn't necessarily been out of form.  Christensen is a young boy with loads of potential who has been playing well.  But Manager's cannot just displace proven players like Luiz, coming off FA recognition and a league title the year before, based solely on potential.  Luiz has not been a liability for our defense nearly as much as...

Cahill is the one who draws a question mark for me.  Rudiger has been better, hardly made a mistake.  Rudiger is more comfortable on the ball, has better pace, and can play in the wide positions in a back three.  Cahill seems slotted in just because he has the distinction of captain.  

I get it though, Luiz did not have a great game.  Hindsight is 20/20.  There are tough decisions to be made in our back three for Conte, that's for sure.  Would not be surprised to see any combination, really.  Almost all can be justified.  Truthfully, that's a good problem to have.  

The one thing I will say about AC is he has been far better than advertised.  Good on him, keep doing your job and your time will come.  Sooner rather than later most likely.  

This lad should be starting every game for us and the fact that Conte is doing anything but that actually does my head in. Right now, he's our best CB. He'd be a shoe in if he was playing for City.

3 hours ago, Barrettinator said:

This lad should be starting every game for us and the fact that Conte is doing anything but that actually does my head in. Right now, he's our best CB. He'd be a shoe in if he was playing for City.

That hypothetical applies to quite a few defenders

Edited October 18, 20178 yr by TheChelseaBlues

13 hours ago, didierforever said:

I would not say Luiz was in good form. If you see some of his defending in the 3 burnley goals, he was just atrocious.

I am a huge fan of Christensen but suggesting that Luiz should be dropped for him is ridiculous. Luiz imo, is our most important defender as in he starts attacks, reads the game well and just brings a presence that none of our other defenders do. Luiz, besides that Burnley game and Palace, has been solid this season. He was our best player imo against Arsenal before that red and had Lacazette in his pocket all game. Spurs, although playing DM role was again quality. Everton, he gave them no sniff at all and just gave that boss presence you want from a defender.

You mentioned one game. No manager with us right now would drop Luiz. I get Christensen is playing well but the way you are making it seem is as if Luiz is consistently bad. He is not and we need him in our defence imo. Azpi was arguably our worse defender on Saturday but we still should keep him in the team.

@TheChelsRVA hit the nail on the head.

1 hour ago, STATS said:

I am a huge fan of Christensen but suggesting that Luiz should be dropped for him is ridiculous. Luiz imo, is our most important defender as in he starts attacks, reads the game well and just brings a presence that none of our other defenders do. Luiz, besides that Burnley game and Palace, has been solid this season. He was our best player imo against Arsenal before that red and had Lacazette in his pocket all game. Spurs, although playing DM role was again quality. Everton, he gave them no sniff at all and just gave that boss presence you want from a defender.

You mentioned one game. No manager with us right now would drop Luiz. I get Christensen is playing well but the way you are making it seem is as if Luiz is consistently bad. He is not and we need him in our defence imo. Azpi was arguably our worse defender on Saturday but we still should keep him in the team.

@TheChelsRVA hit the nail on the head.

So out of 8 PL games, he did not play 2, started one as a DM (which is what I would start him as until Kante is fit and/or Drinkwater is back from rehab), out of the left 5 games, he was literally pathetic in 2 and got a red in the 3rd. I dont know how you see it as one game.  Mate, I also dont know exactly how you came to the conclusion from this that he is our most important defender. As far as everton was concerned, they were pathetic. Playing after the europa league on thursday, they just seemed out of gas and i dont think Luiz's impact can be bigged up to this extent. 

Christensen is as good in starting attacks and his reading of the game in each of his outing has seemed imaculate. 

Azpi has had one poor game, Luiz has been hot/cold and back to his playstation defender mode since the start of the season. 2 very different things.

His passing range has not shown to be a patch on Luiz at all. I know you really like him but lets not exaggerate to prove your point. More solid defensively yes but he has not shown to be a very attacking passer of the ball.