Should Mourinho drop David Luiz?

Luiz in action against Manchester City

David Luiz got the nod to start in midfield for Chelsea against Manchester City on Monday. The Brazilian was part of a Chelsea midfield that shut out a normally prolific Manchester City team who had been scoring freely at home prior to that game. The Brazil international started alongside £21m January signing Nemanja Matic on Monday, but should he continue in this role for Chelsea on Saturday?

Matic took all the plaudits following the 1-0 victory, but his midfield partner deserves as much credit. He worked up and down the pitch and was a mobile presence in the centre of the park. With Ramires used as an auxiliary right winger, Luiz was tasked with playing in the anchor role. Positionally he did well, dominating the space with himself and Matic overpowering City’s midfield duo, which missed the presence of the influential Fernandinho.

Luiz’s talents in midfield are interesting. He does act as a shield and use his mobility to get across the field. In this fixture he made seven defensive actions and won three out of six tackles. This is a relatively combative performance although Ramires averages three tackles per game also when he’s used in the centre of midfield – not veering off to the right as he was versus City.

One aspect of Luiz’s game that’s been consistently weak when he’s played in midfield is his passing. Against City he completed just 78% of his passes. However, this low success rate can be put down to the fact that Luiz attempts defence splitting key passes in advanced areas and generally is a lot more incisive with his distribution. A refreshing shake up to the possession retaining style of racking up short simple passes.

If Jose Mourinho wants to continue with Ramires in the wide right position then it makes sense to use David Luiz alongside Matic in the centre of the park. If though, he wants to switch back to his usual 4-2-3-1 formation with Willian wide right and Oscar behind the forward, then Ramires should be returned to the centre of the park with Luiz dropping down to the bench.

Luiz also tracked back into his own box to help with the rear-guard action

 Luiz is able to provide mobility in the middle, something that 35-year-old Frank Lampard can’t, but his passing is too inconsistent a, by virtue of it’s high risk factor, and he is also somewhat rash both in terms of pressing high to win the ball and making rash tackles in order to so.