http://www.totalsportek.com/highlights/leicester-vs-chelsea-full-match-video/

 

Above are the highlights from yesterday's match if anyone cares to watch it.

 

Watching them you'll see Luiz makes three terrific passes that could all have resulted in goals. The first, Pedro puts the ball in the net but is marginally offside, the second and third passes are for Diego, the first he puts marginally wide and the second draws a double save from the keeper. No other defender in the PL is making those passes, and Luiz makes them look so easy.

 

Okay, we all know he can pass, we all know he's flawed defensively, for me far less flawed than Cahill but there you go, it's all about opinions. Cahill is also very limited technically. I have issues with Luiz, as I've said many times, but for me the choice is clear, Luiz over Cahill all day long. We'll see on Saturday if Conte agrees.

 

Another interesting thing watching those highlights. Azpilicueta. On the right side where he belongs. It's criminal that he's forced to play on the left, criminal that we haven't sorted out the LB position so that he can move to the right. Not only does he score a terrific goal last night, but he also makes two terrific passes, from deep, into the path of Diego who on both occasions is either thwarted or misses. He's not making those passes or scoring that goal from the left. In fact he gives us nothing going forward from the left and often hinders us.

 

This brings us to Alonso. I doubt very much he'll start on Saturday. It wasn't a great debut. He was at fault for both their goals although obviously the fault doesn't lie solely with him, Cahill's defending for that first goal for instance is comical. Alonso also gets beaten in the air easily from a corner in the second-half with the score 2-2, near the end of full-time, the header that leads to a Leicester player heading over with the goal gaping. That should have cost us the game. Arsenal will be a stiffer test altogether. I doubt very much Conte thinks he's ready.

 

Sad because Azpilicueta offered us so much from the right hand side, and no doubt he enjoyed playing in his natural position, and Ivanovic is long overdue a rest, to put it mildy.

 

Anyway these are my observations, not just about Luiz but about the whole defence in general. All I know is, if Terry's not fit for the Arsenal game, it may make pretty ugly viewing. We'll see. A defence of Ivanovic, Cahill, Luiz and Dave on the left is deeply flawed, and Courtois ain't much help either.

 

Edit: Get well soon JT, and failing that, play anyway. We really do desperately need you.

Edited September 21, 20169 yr by Davey Baby

50 minutes ago, Davey Baby said:

http://www.totalsportek.com/highlights/leicester-vs-chelsea-full-match-video/

 

Above are the highlights from yesterday's match if anyone cares to watch it.

 

Watching them you'll see Luiz makes three terrific passes that could all have resulted in goals. The first, Pedro puts the ball in the net but is marginally offside, the second and third passes are for Diego, the first he puts marginally wide and the second draws a double save from the keeper. No other defender in the PL is making those passes, and Luiz makes them look so easy.

 

Okay, we all know he can pass, we all know he's flawed defensively, for me far less flawed than Cahill but there you go, it's all about opinions. Cahill is also very limited technically. I have issues with Luiz, as I've said many times, but for me the choice is clear, Luiz over Cahill all day long. We'll see on Saturday if Conte agrees.

 

Another interesting thing watching those highlights. Azpilicueta. On the right side where he belongs. It's criminal that he's forced to play on the left, criminal that we haven't sorted out the LB position so that he can move to the right. Not only does he score a terrific goal last night, but he also makes two terrific passes, from deep, into the path of Diego who on both occasions is either thwarted or misses. He's not making those passes or scoring that goal from the left. In fact he gives us nothing going forward from the left and often hinders us.

 

This brings us to Alonso. I doubt very much he'll start on Saturday. It wasn't a great debut. He was at fault for both their goals although obviously the fault doesn't lie solely with him, Cahill's defending for that first goal for instance is comical. Alonso also gets beaten in the air easily from a corner in the second-half with the score 2-2, near the end of full-time, the header that leads to a Leicester player heading over with the goal gaping. That should have cost us the game. Arsenal will be a stiffer test altogether. I doubt very much Conte thinks he's ready.

 

Sad because Azpilicueta offered us so much from the right hand side, and no doubt he enjoyed playing in his natural position, and Ivanovic is long overdue a rest, to put it mildy.

 

Anyway these are my observations, not just about Luiz but about the whole defence in general. All I know is, if Terry's not fit for the Arsenal game, it may make pretty ugly viewing. We'll see. A defence of Ivanovic, Cahill, Luiz and Dave on the left is deeply flawed, and Courtois ain't much help either.

 

Edit: Get well soon JT, and failing that, play anyway. We really do desperately need you.

Can't wait to get Zouma back TBH....Cahill and Ivan can take a hike.  I thought Alsono was looking a bit nervous on his debut and made a couple of errors but no worse than what we have seen from our defence of late.  Dave has to play on the right, could play 3 at the back with Zouma and Terry or Luiz.  Or sit Luiz in front of the back 3 with Kante...and sit Matic who is playing hot and cold of late. 

PSG got bitch-slapped again - this time by Toulouse - maybe David Luiz wasn't the issue @ PSG

Shrapnel flying overhead, but its nice and quiet in here.

 

 

 

Here is an idea we have a defensive mid in matic who can't pass and a great passer in cesc who can't defend how about zouma and JT at the back with luiz in front of them great at intercepting and killer passes almost as good as cesc that solves a big problem we need a good cm but we have one he just plays CB 

2 minutes ago, DonAntonio said:

Here is an idea we have a defensive mid in matic who can't pass and a great passer in cesc who can't defend how about zouma and JT at the back with luiz in front of them great at intercepting and killer passes almost as good as cesc that solves a big problem we need a good cm but we have one he just plays CB 

JT - Cahill - Ivan, all three lack pace and while JT makes up for it with his ability to read the game, the other 2 simply do not and as long as they both are going to be played, we need to deploy a Defensive midfielder just to cover for them.  David Luiz as an DM is good against teams that let us have the  ball. Counter-attacking teams will have a field day with us, As David is very prone to going out of position and our defenders don't have pace. Not a bad idea, but this is a narrow solution.

It's hard to gauge how well he's playing when everyone around him is a shower of sh*t.

He's playing better than everyone around him with you can only judge by each match

10 hours ago, brownindian said:

JT - Cahill - Ivan, all three lack pace and while JT makes up for it with his ability to read the game, the other 2 simply do not and as long as they both are going to be played, we need to deploy a Defensive midfielder just to cover for them.  David Luiz as an DM is good against teams that let us have the  ball. Counter-attacking teams will have a field day with us, As David is very prone to going out of position and our defenders don't have pace. Not a bad idea, but this is a narrow solution.

I was talking in a back 4 azpi, zouma, JT, Alonso the only one seriously deficient in pace is JT but along side zouma it works, being out of position isn't as critical for a dm try have licence to roam forward, when they do their cm partner in this case kante covers...

5 minutes ago, DonAntonio said:

I was talking in a back 4 azpi, zouma, JT, Alonso the only one seriously deficient in pace is JT but along side zouma it works, being out of position isn't as critical for a dm try have licence to roam forward, when they do their cm partner in this case kante covers...

Theoretically not a terrible idea. The fact that you are not putting Cahill - Ivanovich there itself improves our defense a lot.

3 minutes ago, brownindian said:

Theoretically not a terrible idea. The fact that you are not putting Cahill - Ivanovich there itself improves our defense a lot.

Surely they can't start anymore, when JT is back Garry is done let alone with zouma back aswell, maybe he knows that and the pressure is getting to him, Ivan as a good Chelsea servant over the years should have asked to be transferred in the summer he knows he doesn't have it and instead of the fans remembering how good he was and his important goals all we remember is the guy with his hands behind his back getting twisted up like a pretzel 

How about we give him a shot at right-back? For me Azpilicueta is best on the left for us and should continue there, Alonso i don't have high hopes for and Ivanovic needs to be benched. Luiz played there for Benfica back in the day and should have the attributes to be able to do a good enough job there. When Zouma is back: Luiz - Zouma - JT - Azpi.

9 hours ago, Sindre said:

How about we give him a shot at right-back? For me Azpilicueta is best on the left for us and should continue there, Alonso i don't have high hopes for and Ivanovic needs to be benched. Luiz played there for Benfica back in the day and should have the attributes to be able to do a good enough job there. When Zouma is back: Luiz - Zouma - JT - Azpi.

Another square peg in a round hole?

Its really strange to me sometimes. We have Aina. How about playing a natural RB as a RB?

what do people think of him in this back 3?

technically and physically I think he's the only player, aside from maybe chalobah (if he were retrained) who is completely suited to playing in the middle of the three.

I think he's been as I expected and feared playing in a flat back four (although I accept many people feel he's been good there- then again that is perhaps what they expected too!)- I simply don't think he is overall a positive addition to the team in that set up.

having said that, in a back three we can make use of his ability on the ball, he has more cover when he tries to go into midfield to win the ball (i.e. the risk he takes there is mitigated somewhat) and in open play man marking is less of a persistent requirement. 

in these last two games he, and the other central defenders, haven't had much defending to do, but what they have done has been largely performed without fuss or question marks. the test will come when we are under more pressure, from better sides, but in these last two games I think he's done well. it is a good start for him in this system (and the other two, both of whom also have issues to solve of their own). 

p.s. I would add that I can't see how JT can play out in the wider areas as that requires a lot of turning and moving, so my reading is in a back three he plays in the middle or not at all. for me I think he's the first pick there of all our defenders, which would put him in direct competition with luiz. and I'm unsure about whether he can be mitigated as well playing in the wider positions- maybe he can be.

Think the back three is suiting him, agreed.

The central position especially is good for him because he gets a lot of touches on the ball. This is allowing him to dictate play a lot, choosing which side we build an attack from or whether to bring the ball out himself.

Personally I think JT would take Cahill's place in the back three on the left hand side. Luiz pace in the middle allows him to get across and cover both sides as needed better than I think Terry could.

So far so good from Luiz for me. 

10 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Think the back three is suiting him, agreed.

The central position especially is good for him because he gets a lot of touches on the ball. This is allowing him to dictate play a lot, choosing which side we build an attack from or whether to bring the ball out himself.

Personally I think JT would take Cahill's place in the back three on the left hand side. Luiz pace in the middle allows him to get across and cover both sides as needed better than I think Terry could.

So far so good from Luiz for me. 

Pretty much exactly the same thing I was going to write, though I do understand g3`s hesitancy in putting JT wide rather than central.

The guys been good so far, put his head down and put in some good work, showed some flashes of why we loved him last time with those gorgeous 40 yard passes and awesome free kick technique, and not had any stupid moments. Although I did laugh at that clearance off his own post on Saturday, but even the commentators who were just waiting for a chance to take the piss said he did the right thing in the situation.

Really good to have him back. :)

Good stuff so far. 

 

 

You just have to love this guy you can't not love him

Been first class so far, barely put a foot wrong. But the media/other fans won't mention that, only when he makes a costly mistake will anyone mention him.

8 minutes ago, Batshuayi said:

Been first class so far, barely put a foot wrong. But the media/other fans won't mention that, only when he makes a costly mistake will anyone mention him.

 

Its early days, but he has been very good !

Just now, Zola said:

 

Its early days, but he has been very good !

Seems to be suiting the Sweeper/Deepest CB role really well. Surprised with how disciplined he is at the moment, I couldn't have pictured him in this role during his last time with us. I doubt it was the years in the tinpot French league that taught him that so it must be Conte's magic!

Haven't seen many jokes or witty banter from opposition fans recently who were so happy we had signed him back as he was going to cost us goals week in/week out. That goes for some of our own fans as well though tbf...

Still not going to suggest he is world class or that he has erased all mistakes from his game, but he he turned in a performance like John Stones or Chris Smalling did this weekend some, the media included, would be having a field day.

Worth keeping that in mind when at some stage he does make an error, like all defenders will at some point.

So far, so good though, and to think some suggested when he signed him that he wouldn't strangtehn our squad. 

 

If he's makes an error which cost us a goal i will forgive him as most do however if it's two or three games in a row then i won't as that's a major problem i love he's back and here for the team