Back to his old ways, can't defend and has never been good in a back 4.

Admittedly, he was left exposed by the midfield but he has nearly cost us in so many games this season.

Deserves to be dropped. Conte was spot on about him and Willian.

1 minute ago, JMaher94 said:

Back to his old ways, can't defend and has never been good in a back 4.

Admittedly, he was left exposed by the midfield but he has nearly cost us in so many games this season.

Deserves to be dropped. Conte was spot on about him and Willian.

Agree completely with the above.

Cannot be trusted in big matches where good defending is required. Against weaker opposition where we are on the front foot, I understand his selection.

With Christensen not trusted and Cahill deemed surplus to requirements and allowed to leave there are major problems at centre back.

What is DL's job? To defend and sniff danger......he cant do that no more. If he is that vital for our system then the system is flawed.

Positionally he's all over the place, and as the slowest player on our team can't recover when we're defending counter attacks. Christensen admittedly hasn't been good this season either but I would be starting Ethan Ampadu alongside Rudiger when fit again.  

Bad performance.

All the good stuff he’s done so far this season completely went out the window.

The entire back four looked out of sorts but Luiz in particular just seemed completely out of sorts.

Not going to go through it all again, but I don't think anyone is surprised even those who like him.

A top quality centre-half who can defend properly under pressure is as much of a priority for us as getting a top quality centre-forward.

Directly involved in all of Spuds' goals today. Makes a silly foul just outside of our box, against the team with the best set piece taker in the league. Lets the best shooter in the league have a free pass from 20 yards out, and sells himself worse than what's legal on the third goal. 

Truly do believe that this might be Luiz' Ivanovic moment; if he doesn't have the legs anymore, he can not catch up his mistakes. Maybe he'll turn it around, but as of now Luiz gives Static Matic competition for being the slowest player in the league.

Edited November 24, 20187 yr by opinionsarelike

14 minutes ago, opinionsarelike said:

Directly involved in all of Spuds' goals today. Makes a silly foul just outside of our box, against the team with the best set piece taker in the league. Lets the best shooter in the league have a free pass from 20 yards out, and sells himself worse than what's legal on the third goal. 

Truly do believe that this might be Luiz' Ivanovic moment; if he doesn't have the legs anymore, he can not catch up his mistakes. Maybe he'll turn it around, but as of now Luiz gives Static Matic competition for being the slowest player in the league.

He is neither good enough or consistent enough at this level........how many times could he have costed us already? Look how many times he has punished us.........with him you are guaranteed f**k-ups and at this level it will and has been costly.

I have always been fond of Luiz and have somewhat overlooked a lot of his mistakes over the years given what else he can add. Though it is starting to become obvious that he is our weak link, so much of our defensive woes start with a Luiz mistake, especially today. I hope Sarri is thinking about a replacement in Jan, we cannot go the rest of the season with shambolic defending like this. As much money as Van Dijk ended up costing Liverpool, i think he would have been the answer, and the difference right now between us and Liverpool. We will need to find someone of that quality ASAP. In the meantime Christensen should get given another chance.

One of my favourite player's, however he was extremely bad today

We have been fortunate with the mistakes made by him not punished, finally it caught up with us.

I've probably been as critical as anyone of David Luiz since he initially signed for us, but I find it hard to blame him for poor performances in this system. I feel sorry for the back four in this team - they are utterly strung out by the midfield and left constantly exposed.

Remember how poor even a defender of JT's quality looked under Villas-Boas because the system we played permitted opposition attackers to run directly at the defence over and over again? I think these guys are f**king heroes for even getting us this far.

 

4 minutes ago, PloKoon13 said:

I've probably been as critical as anyone of David Luiz since he initially signed for us, but I find it hard to blame him for poor performances in this system. I feel sorry for the back four in this team - they are utterly strung out by the midfield and left constantly exposed.

Remember how poor even a defender of JT's quality looked under Villas-Boas because the system we played permitted opposition attackers to run directly at the defence over and over again? I think these guys are f**king heroes for even getting us this far.

 

People should have a look at Kane's goal yesterday. That highlights the complete mess our midfield is defensivly.
Spurs have the ball in midfield and Jorginho as the anchor leaves his position to press Eriksen in midfield leaving a gaping hole right in front of the defence.
Kante gets the ball in that space, turns and shoots without anyone being near him and thats 2-0.

And watch what Kante is doing during all this. He's just standing around not doing anything in particular and doesn't even make an effort to stop Kane. 

 

2 minutes ago, Sindre said:

People should have a look at Kane's goal yesterday.

The enduring image I have of that goal is Luiz getting out of the way of the ball. 

Luiz is an easy scapegoat for this kind of game, Luiz having a blunder when he's left for dead and the opposition are running through our midfield with ease should surprise absolutely no one. We all know Luiz is like a rabbit in knights armour, once the armour has been cracked he's easy pickings, he has his uses but his uses are definitely not being a last ditch defender. I know a lot of people will say "well he's a defender! Why on earth should he need protection!?" but the modern game has evolved drastically in the last few years, lucky for Luiz it suits him, he would never have survived as a centre back years ago, but centre-backs years ago don't have much of a use now, hence why all the top teams are looking for defenders that can play it out from the back and not have to do much defending, big teams want to attack and Luiz helps with the attack. 

Yesterday we saw the shortcomings of what happens when we are not on the front foot, we will collapse and Luiz will be at the forefront of it because he is absolutely dreadful when it comes to decision making defensively, we all know this. So it should surprise no one that if we are having a bad game Luiz is going to have an absolute stinker along with it, I don't think he should be singled out, the team as a whole played awful and we should know far well what happens when we leave our centre backs exposed with minimal cover. 

Top sides still have players that do both. Teams still get chances against for example Man City and their ball playing defenders do what they need to do, Defend!

Christensen needs a chance now. Im full of praise for Sarri, but noone is exempt from criticism too. Lets call a spade a spade, he is far too stubborn, and in the Premier League you need to able to adapt somewhat. Luiz whilst being able to start attacks has had so many blunders its unreal this season. The fact is most have not been punished, but yesterday all his faults were exposed. I feel ampadu or christensen no matter how much potential they clearly have just wont get that chance, and that is worrying. Sarris so much as said in most press conferences that he is not willing to disrupt the bacm four.

Christensen whilst not actively running with the ball is actually pretty decent with his passing, and game by game luiz seems to misplace pass after pass. He also had a 92% pass success rate in the Bundesliga. He is also a far far superior defender to Luiz too, although that isnt hard. I dont think throwing 80m at a defender is the answer, but i think Sarri needs to be able to adapt and rotate, and not just for 3rd rate cup games.

1 hour ago, Richard P said:

Top sides still have players that do both. Teams still get chances against for example Man City and their ball playing defenders do what they need to do, Defend!

What?? When was the last time City were dominated like we were yesterday? 

Everton 4-0? How bad was John Stones when his team wasn't on the front foot? Stones still shows his defensive incapabilities for England numerous times. Laporte and Stones are not great defenders, they're great at playing it out from the back, but they're not classic centre halfs, if they weren't protected or played for a team that dominates every team it plays against they would show their vulnerabilities. 

Luiz would do just fine at City I can bet you that and I bet Pep wouldn't have said no to him before they got Laporte. 

So there is this.

10 minutes ago, Slojo said:

Luiz would do just fine at City I can bet you that and I bet Pep wouldn't have said no to him before they got Laporte. 

This is just baseless speculation.

When David Luiz played for us under his first stint here, supporters of other teams laughed at him/us. We got a King's ransom for him from PSG, after he had captained one of the worst capitulations ever seen in that match against Germany. We took him back, and he had exactly one good season, where the system hid his weaknesses, before he returned to norm.

Every proof points to the fact that Luiz can not defend in a back four, and it won't ever change either. He's a good footballer, but an erratic and inconsistent centre back.

In any system, as proven by his now long career.

Just now, opinionsarelike said:

This is just baseless speculation.

When David Luiz played for us under his first stint here, supporters of other teams laughed at him/us. We got a King's ransom for him from PSG, after he had captained one of the worst capitulations ever seen in that match against Germany. We took him back, and he had exactly one good season, where the system hid his weaknesses, before he returned to norm.

Every proof points to the fact that Luiz can not defend in a back four, and it won't ever change either. He's a good footballer, but an erratic and inconsistent centre back.

In any system, as proven by his now long career.

Yeah because everything you've just said isn't baseless speculation? 

You're pointing to all the evidence that's been proven in his long career? How about I raise you two seasons ago when Luiz was absolutely superb in Conte's first season in a 3 man defence, mainly because for a lot of the time we were on the front foot and teams were having a hard time playing against us. Luiz is good when he has protection, he is best used when he's on the ball and playing it out from the back, when we are being outplayed Luiz does not play well. 

To try and compare this to Man City is what I find baffling, City are the worst example you could make. They dominate teams with possession and other teams rarely have chances against them, Luiz would thrive in that sort of set up, would he still make mistakes? Of course, does that mean the other team would score? No, but overall he would do a good job. He's been good this season but he's not good when the game isn't going our way and that's what we expect from him, this isn't a shock, he isn't a good defender I don't think anybody has ever said Luiz is fantastic defender. 

But he is a superb ball playing centre back, and you just agreed with me without realising it "where the system hid his weaknesses", that's exactly my point. He's good when we hide his weaknesses, in other words when we are in control. Do you think yesterdays game would've been different if John Stones or Laporte was in his place? Because Rudiger had stinker aswell. 

3 minutes ago, Slojo said:

How about I raise you two seasons ago when Luiz was absolutely superb in Conte's first season in a 3 man defence, mainly because for a lot of the time we were on the front foot and teams were having a hard time playing against us.

As I pointed out myself?

2 minutes ago, opinionsarelike said:

As I pointed out myself?

Except you tried to invalidate that by stating "because we hid his weaknesses" when that's the point I'm arguing over here... 

You can hide his weaknesses, you've just admitted it yet you're arguing against it saying he'll always leak goals and be a liability even if he played for City. 

Edited November 25, 20187 yr by Slojo

He’s had a shocker yesterday but we’ve all come to expect it, hardly a freakin surprise to most of us.  Worst than digging him out it looks like he’s the only option at that position in the managers thinking. Which spells more trouble up ahead. 

1 hour ago, Oli said:

Christensen needs a chance now. Im full of praise for Sarri, but noone is exempt from criticism too. Lets call a spade a spade, he is far too stubborn, and in the Premier League you need to able to adapt somewhat. Luiz whilst being able to start attacks has had so many blunders its unreal this season. The fact is most have not been punished, but yesterday all his faults were exposed. I feel ampadu or christensen no matter how much potential they clearly have just wont get that chance, and that is worrying. Sarris so much as said in most press conferences that he is not willing to disrupt the bacm four.

Christensen whilst not actively running with the ball is actually pretty decent with his passing, and game by game luiz seems to misplace pass after pass. He also had a 92% pass success rate in the Bundesliga. He is also a far far superior defender to Luiz too, although that isnt hard. I dont think throwing 80m at a defender is the answer, but i think Sarri needs to be able to adapt and rotate, and not just for 3rd rate cup games.

Christensen can pass the ball, but he takes a long time to make the pass, he also seems to change his mind a lot on who to pass too. You think he is going to make a pass, then he changes his mind, takes another few touches then finally make the pass. He overthinks his passes a lot which is why he has made a few errors and conceded possession in dangerous areas.

Edited November 25, 20187 yr by Scott Harris