1 hour ago, Coxy15 said:

Very interested to see if he starts this weekend or if Cahill keeps that spot. Same with ivanovic. This week#s team selection could be an important indication of the newest first-choice 11 in Conte's mind

I'd be very surprised if Luiz and Alonso started.  

Cahill only played one international
JT none
Azpi none (I think?)
Ivanovic one

So fatigue shouldn't be an issue.  Unless Conte has been unhappy with our defensive output in all games, which is a possibility as we have conceded, however I think we've been defending well.

Edited September 9, 20169 yr by Van Butsen

2 hours ago, Kante Conte said:

The answer is in your post^, if you don't mind me saying. It's because we don't believe him playing CB does improve the team. 

Not trying to be critical of him as I said I won't engage in that unless it's warranted, but that's just honestly how we feel. At least, I do, anyway. 

So you would rather he plays were he would improve us less? Again, I cant wrap my head around that reasoning. I can see wanting him to stay on the bench if you dont think he will improve us, but not out of position in a position were we already have much better options. I want Ivan to be benched, but Im not advocating him being played as a striker just so he wont be at RB.

None issue really though as Conte clearly states hes a CB for us

 

2 hours ago, Coxy15 said:

Very interested to see if he starts this weekend or if Cahill keeps that spot. Same with ivanovic. This week#s team selection could be an important indication of the newest first-choice 11 in Conte's mind

Only reason it would be an indication is if both starts. Conte has just began getting his philosophy across to a starting 11, making two changes, two players who havent been With the team for more then 10 days would be very counterproductive. I would be very surprised if any of them starts.

I would be very surprised if there is a change to the starting 11.  You'll probably see one or both come on as subs though, if all is going well with the game...

2 hours ago, TheChelsRVA said:

I would be very surprised if there is a change to the starting 11.  You'll probably see one or both come on as subs though, if all is going well with the game...

To be honest I think theres more chance of Alonso starting over Luiz.

On September 7, 2016 at 11:30, Ernie_blue said:

You can't really use cup competitions as measuring sticks because sometimes it's all about the luck of the draw.

Well at least we know now Luiz is a top defender because he has played in Ligue 1, got charisma and puts in lots of effort.

 

Why you using lower league teams against higher placed ligue 1 teams? Look at the table now Angers, Lorient and Nancy. All on 0 points from 3 games.

There really is no point in talking about the last 15 years. PSG have the money, finances and will continue to win the league for many years. No teams can stop them. The past means nothing.

Thought that would be clear: implication French league is a joke, yes our league is clearly more competitive however in the context of luiz as a poor defender I made the point that against TOP French teams it's not easy at all yet they defended well, and Chelsea conceded against lower table teams, if you remember we are talking about luiz's defending and comparing in that context as opposed to comparing leagues. 

Where's that wall of shame guy? Hope he is collecting material for January once we have seen luiz play for a few months.

What about a positive of our club culture like getting behind a player, a player who gives his all for the club, one who helped win our only CL on one leg...what's the moaning going to do, when Roman logs in he will see and send him back to Paris via Royal Mail for a full refund? 

It's done, we hear the concern and respect your rights to voice them but it's getting to the point where its arsenal vulgarity, the man hasn't kicked a ball yet, bring back a bit of Chelsea mentality on this one...carefree isn't only in the face of potentially getting your heads kicked in. 

 

If I could poke holes in Robbie savage with a stick I would but if he came out of retirement and put on a blue shirt I'd probably slate him less than some people have done a CL winning Luiz, some on here are more protective of Romans money than Roman. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3781649/Antonio-Conte-backs-David-Luiz-one-best-defenders-world-following-shock-32m-deadline-day-return-Chelsea.html

 

If you can pull it off Antonio, he will indeed become one of the very best.

8 hours ago, Kante Conte said:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3781649/Antonio-Conte-backs-David-Luiz-one-best-defenders-world-following-shock-32m-deadline-day-return-Chelsea.html

 

If you can pull it off Antonio, he will indeed become one of the very best.

Well, he said the same thing about Ogbonna when he was coaching Juventus .

Conte wasn't great at spotting talents back then(he resigned because Juve board didn't get either Cuadrado or Iturbe) but I sincerely hope he's improved so that you guys can win the title this year.

20 minutes ago, KillVearn said:

Well, he said the same thing about Ogbonna when he was coaching Juventus .

Conte wasn't great at spotting talents back then(he resigned because Juve board didn't get either Cuadrado or Iturbe) but I sincerely hope he's improved so that you guys can win the title this year.

Pogba and Vidal seemed to be not half bad talents 

3 hours ago, DonAntonio said:

Pogba and Vidal seemed to be not half bad talents 

In the Italian clubs the managers do not select the players, it is all up to a different executive who's job title is "Sports Director". Conte wasn't a huge fan of the two you've mentioned at first since he wanted to play with 2 midfielders and having Pirlo, Vidal and Marchisio forced him to put them all together in the pitch. As a matter of fact he had few clashes with our management due to the players they were signing instead of the ones he wanted, he once said: "You can't expect me to sit in a £100 restaurant with £10 in the pocket" referring to the UCL and Juventus targets on the market at the time.

4 minutes ago, KillVearn said:

In the Italian clubs the managers do not select the players, it is all up to a different executive who's job title is "Sports Director". Conte wasn't a huge fan of the two you've mentioned at first since he wanted to play with 2 midfielders and having Pirlo, Vidal and Marchisio forced him to put them all together in the pitch. As a matter of fact he had few clashes with our management due to the players they were signing instead of the ones he wanted, he once said: "You can't expect me to sit in a £100 restaurant with £10 in the pocket" referring to the UCL and Juventus targets on the market at the time.

You clearly have more knowledge of your league than I do but we all have technical directors in charge of player acquisition however  they will never in any league buy without discussing with the manager it doesn't happen in football, at times our owner has purchased players without the manager wanting them but it's still discussed so I'm sure before the board (as opposed to in our case the owner)conte would have had a say on his players even if not as much as he would have liked. 

2 minutes ago, DonAntonio said:

You clearly have more knowledge of your league than I do but we all have technical directors in charge of player acquisition however  they will never in any league buy without discussing with the manager it doesn't happen in football, at times our owner has purchased players without the manager wanting them but it's still discussed so I'm sure before the board (as opposed to in our case the owner)conte would have had a say on his players even if not as much as he would have liked. 

The philosophy is much different because in England managers have(or at least used to have) longer spells at a club, therefore it works exactly as you said. Italian owners and managers are quite moody(see Cellino or Pozzo ), thus it becomes a key factor to have an executive that is on top of the coach since it is much easier that they would stay longer and plan a long term future for the club.  A director usually asks a coach wether or not they need a defender, a midfielder or a striker but it is rare that they leave the last word to a coach: you can see this clearly from Conte's previous interviews or from famous executives such as Moggi, Marotta or Galliani.

1 minute ago, KillVearn said:

The philosophy is much different because in England managers have(or at least used to have) longer spells at a club, therefore it works exactly as you said. Italian owners and managers are quite moody(see Cellino or Pozzo ), thus it becomes a key factor to have an executive that is on top of the coach since it is much easier that they would stay longer and plan a long term future for the club.  A director usually asks a coach wether or not they need a defender, a midfielder or a striker but it is rare that they leave the last word to a coach: you can see this clearly from Conte's previous interviews or from famous executives such as Moggi, Marotta or Galliani.

Interesting I didn't know that, it must not be a very attractive prospect for non Italian managers to be under a regime that tells them who they need, it seems like a catch 22 situation the tech director is on top because managers revolve fast and they perhaps revolve fast because they don't get enough say on their teams...

Fortunately Luiz was on the bench yesterday, so our defence didn't make any costly errors leading to goals.

 

16 hours ago, Jonty said:

Fortunately Luiz was on the bench yesterday, so our defence didn't make any costly errors leading to goals.

Perhaps you should have gone to spec savers, to my eyesight their two goals where created by our defensive errors.

16 minutes ago, mbh said:

Perhaps you should have gone to spec savers, to my eyesight their two goals where created by our defensive errors.

I could be wrong, but I think that was the joke intended...

Conte: David Luiz to play

 

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2016/09/conte--david-luiz-to-play.html

Jonathan Wilson's take on things:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/sep/15/david-luiz-chelsea-liverpool-defender

Looking forward to the game even more now.

Quite exciting to see the geezer line up with us once again. Liverpool are on fire so he will need to be on his 'A' game as will Gary.

Looking forward to the game even more now.

Quite exciting to see the geezer line up with us once again. Liverpool are on fire so he will need to be on his 'A' game as will Gary.

@Chelsbear, where have you been?

A quick fun fact: Bonucci (13) and Godin (10) have made more defensive errors in the last 4 seasons then David Luiz (9)

Most football fans dont rate Luiz highly but his fellow pro's clearly do.

 

 

 

Edited September 15, 20169 yr by pacquiao

22 minutes ago, pacquiao said:

A quick fun fact: Bonucci (13) and Godin (10) have made more defensive errors in the last 4 seasons then David Luiz (9)

 

 

Luiz had a lot less defending to do at PSG than Godin does at Atletico though.