TBH, i'll honestly admit, whilst very happy to see him back as I love the guy I was nervous. However, this formation (Christ Conte, where did you come from you wonderful madman?) seems to get the very best of him. He is free to push forward and get involved, which you can tell he loves. Any concern over his positional play is removed due to the bodies around him. Finally, he is defending better than ever thanks to a manager who took a leaky defines at Juve (people forget that) and turned them into a brick wall. 

I was borderline depressed when he left us the first time, love his character, seems like a total joker and team player. He's got strength and speed from the back and has the ability to hit the long ball. So happy he's back, he's on my all time Chelsea favourites team.

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2016/11/17/29624112/-?

David Luiz has gone from PlayStation to perfect, says Neville

-------------------------------------

It seems we all agree with that. And he may go one better and replace JT as captain at the end of the season. 

‘I have that side of my personality, to be a leader and to organise. A leader needs to be available to give something for others. I’ve had that in my character since I was young.

‘But of course I understand that now there is a responsibility, as somebody who has been here before and played many games, to use the experiences I’ve picked up in my career to help the youngsters.’

 

Edited November 17, 20169 yr by nutmegsw6

 

 

Miserable wet Monday morning at work ? 

Go to the start of this thread, a cracking read in hindsight, cheered me right up.

 

 

 

 

Maybe a little premature but signing of the season so far (Maybe Kante?), don't think anyone else has had a bigger impact

21 minutes ago, Imran_CFC said:

Maybe a little premature but signing of the season so far (Maybe Kante?), don't think anyone else has had a bigger impact

At the moment the signings that spring to mind as well as Kante and Luiz would be Mane, Gündogan, Gueye off the top of my head. 

Early days yet but I think Luiz is surpassing a lot of expectations considering we were constantly told he would be gifting oposition teams goal scoring chances every game. 

6 clean sheets on the bounce and barely any shots on goal has got a few people eating their words. Although I'm sure Graham Sourness is still insisting that he isn't a defender. Tosser. 

On 8/30/2016 at 19:04, Jamjar1986 said:

Would love this,think he would be great in a back 3, extra protection aswel from kante

Don't suppose you have the lottery numbers for this week as well? Seem pretty good at predicting the future here!

Glad the big man is proving some people wrong this time round.

I know as soon as we concede and he has an error it will be back to the norm with people ridiculing him but he has shown time and time again he can be a classy CB.

 

 

I don't think so. He made quite a bad decision yesterday which was probably the only real defensive error anyone made for us but aside from that he was as good as anyone on the pitch.

I don't think anyone is or should expect him to be perfect. So long as he carries on playing with this level of discipline then no fair observer can ask for more from him. 

We're obviously still going to concede goals from azpilicueta being short, Luiz going tight at the wrong time and cahill being beaten in individual match ups.  So long as they continue to function as a unit which compensates for individual weaknesses we can be happy. 

Edited November 21, 20169 yr by g3.7

ok, that's fair enough..

Lost count of how many headers he put in, really good performance apart from that one little moment..

On 8/30/2016 at 12:01, g3.7 said:

I would rather see  us spend £80m on johnny evans than have luiz back on a free.

still believe this bro?

no, obviously not.

I'm a season ticket holder, I had seen luiz play live in a blue shirt countless times and it was on that basis that I was strongly against him coming back. 

I don't see what point you're trying to make.

7 minutes ago, g3.7 said:

no, obviously not.

I'm a season ticket holder, I had seen luiz play live in a blue shirt countless times and it was on that basis that I was strongly against him coming back. 

I don't see what point you're trying to make.

I wasn't trying to make a point - I was trying to see if you truly felt Johnny Evans would be a better addition than David Luiz. You must have seen Evans play a lot since you are season ticket holder & I can't understand how one could come up w/ such of a crazy thought process. I was hoping you could provide me w/ more insight. No harm no foul. Thanks for your support.

luiz' run now- and this is in a less conventional set up where much of what a central defender does in a back four is tasked to others- is by a distance the most consistent defending he's done in his career I'd wager. certainly the best I've ever seen from him. 

in a back four evans is not a great defender, but he is good. he's reliable and does a lot of the bog standard meat and potatoes things- like man marking- better than luiz. in fact david's start in a back 4 after returning did not fill me with any confidence that he would be better this time.

that post was more a reflection of my preference for reliability at the back than some plea for us to sign evans.

let me restate- at the time I would've preferred evans because I believed luiz would be detrimental to the team overall, whereas evans may have been a good squad player. so the imaginary fee was illustrative of that opinion (rather than an attempt at financial valuation).

I don't have a problem saying that since the back 3 luiz has been a revelation- even more than victor moses, and that I am delighted that he's proving me wrong by contributing to a high level.

 

p.s.

10 minutes ago, robdog said:

I can't understand how one could come up w/ such of a crazy thought process

I didn't offer a thought process for you to label crazy or otherwise. if this is, as I am starting to suspect, an effort to humiliate or embarrass, then you will need to do better than this. If you want more insight then ask for it 'bro'.

His performance have been stunning

Gimme a goal Luiz. Give me that free kick magic.

Is it just me or does he tweet a lot less now?

If he stays fit, injury free and we get a good three to four seasons out of him, will have been a bargain re signing.

PSG are sitting 3rd in Ligue 1 by the way...

 

5 hours ago, g3.7 said:

I don't have a problem saying that since the back 3 luiz has been a revelation- even more than victor moses, and that I am delighted that he's proving me wrong by contributing to a high level.

 

He's as good as you're going to get in that "spare man" role, because he's asked to stay deep, meaning he concentrates on defending and he's showing what a great defender he can be, but because he's the "spare man" he also gets to set up our play, and there's literally no-one better in the world to do that. Thus far, it's been an incredible signing. He's shown leadership, bravery, skill. He's got pace, he's great in the air, he's tough in the tackle, he can read the game. He's literally got it all, when he puts his mind to it, and with Conte at the helm, you can bet he'll put his mind to it. With Luiz, it's all about staying disciplined. For my money however, there's a bit of revisionism going on now, not particularly from you but from the broader world at large as it were. People are saying he couldn't do it in a back four. I don't buy that for a second. His current role may be perfect for him and he may be perfect for it but if we ever switch to a back four, you can bet your bottom dollar Luiz will make that team. Right now, I get the feeling all these clean sheets are personal for Luiz. He's got a point to prove and that point is that when he focuses on defending and nothing else, he's actually not as bad as people think. In fact he's bloody good at it. Right now, for my money, he's the captain without the armband. It's actually turning out to be an inspired signing.

I wasn't wholly sold on the signing either, I'll admit that right now, although I was more for it than against it.

7 minutes ago, Davey Baby said:

 Right now, for my money, he's the captain without the armband.

Not sure if you heard or not, but today Side Show Bob was at the U23 match leading the Cheers for the Blues. This quote tells me what I want to believe in him & your assessment

"It's a good three points and the first time this season we are top of the league. But we need to understand it's just the beginning."

"It's important to finish at the top of the league. Of course we are happy, but it's too early to speak about [the title]. It's important in the last game to finish at the top of the league. That's our goal."

Edited November 21, 20169 yr by robdog

@Davey BabyI agree with all the praise he's been getting at the moment and I agree that he's helping to make the back 3 work as much as the back three relieves him of certain things he's not so good at, but he has played in a back four under conte already and for my money it didn't work at all. his natural tendency is to go to the ball rather than stay in a position. he's suppressing that well at the moment, but on the occasion that he does give in usually he's covered by two players and usually he's not leaving a space or a player that needs immediate attention. against west ham away he played in one of the wider (more orthodox) central positions and looked much less assured.

 I'm not saying "he's not playing as an orthodox defender so technically I wasn't wrong to say he couldn't be an asset to us"- I concede happily that he has already shown that assertion to be false. what I would say is that even with the increased discipline in his game, I think there would be question marks about whether he could translate this form into a flat back four (questions that I would also put against both wingbacks and the team as a unit). now the more he works with conte the better he may get in all aspects of his game, but I don't think we should look a gift horse in the mouth. all a footballer needs to do to justify his place is to make the team better. luiz is doing that.

2 minutes ago, g3.7 said:

@Davey BabyI agree with all the praise he's been getting at the moment and I agree that he's helping to make the back 3 work as much as the back three relieves him of certain things he's not so good at, but he has played in a back four under conte already and for my money it didn't work at all. his natural tendency is to go to the ball rather than stay in a position. he's suppressing that well at the moment, but on the occasion that he does give in usually he's covered by two players and usually he's not leaving a space or a player that needs immediate attention. against west ham away he played in one of the wider (more orthodox) central positions and looked much less assured.

 I'm not saying "he's not playing as an orthodox defender so technically I wasn't wrong to say he couldn't be an asset to us"- I concede happily that he has already shown that assertion to be false. what I would say is that even with the increased discipline in his game, I think there would be question marks about whether he could translate this form into a flat back four (questions that I would also put against both wingbacks and the team as a unit). now the more he works with conte the better he may get in all aspects of his game, but I don't think we should look a gift horse in the mouth. all a footballer needs to do to justify his place is to make the team better. luiz is doing that.

Over analysing, much.

He's doing just fine, short and sweet, nuff said.

1 hour ago, 1905 said:

Over analysing, much.

He's doing just fine, short and sweet, nuff said.

 

there you go - like this saying we had in the US Army, "KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid"