The David Luiz debate - should he play?

Without question, one of the most naturally gifted and talented young footballers in the game, David Luiz‘s game is like Marmite! You either love the way he plays the game or loathe it.

All of us would have seen the latest ‘Luiz moment’ in our defeat of Cardiff at Stamford Bridge. With the game poised at 0-0, Luiz misread the weight of Ramires pass and with being put under pressure from the Cardiff attacker, decided to leave the ball to roll through to Petr Cech and make no effort to deal with it, thinking that Petr Cech would be able to come off his line and collect the ball safely.

The opposite happened and the striker was able to flick the ball passed Cech and into the net to make it 0-1 after ten minutes!

Since that moment, Luiz has put himself under the scrutiny of the press and media pundits alike and his defensive ability has been called into question yet again.

Speaking on “Match of the Day” last night, Pundit Alan Hansen slammed Luiz and suggested that with Luiz playing in our defence he could “seriously hamper Chelsea’s title hopes” and I just wondered what you people think about comments like that? Does he have a point?

It’s important that we consider both sides of the argument here to try and balance things out. The important thing to remember is that like goalkeepers, defenders are always judged on two things, clean sheets or mistakes leading to goals conceded so there is always a fine line.

You can have a solid 89 minutes of a game but allow your concentration to slip for one moment and more often than not you are punished.

Luiz has been under the spotlight ever since he signed for Chelsea because of his approach to the game. His laid back and free nature is totally different to likes of John Terry and Gary Cahill who have grown up watch old school defenders from back in the day who for them, clean sheets means everything.

You will not find Luiz literally throw his body in front of the ball like the other two as you can see here with Cahill for example.

What Luiz does bring to the table is a reading of the game that for the most part is up there with the best of them. Yes, I know at times he makes a rash or wrong decision, but if you consider how many times he appears in the right place, right time and also steps in front of attackers to win the ball then it outweighs the mistakes he makes!

Another quality Luiz has is his ability with the ball at his feet. I said at the beginning of this post that he is one of most talented young players in the game and I believe that 100%.

How many clips are there around the net at the moment of him making players look stupid with ridiculous skill he produces in an instant to fool and baffle people.

Search for one of the latest and you will see Luiz nutmeg Neymar last week with Brazil or during pre season last year when Luiz in a training exercise does the same to Eden Hazard!

In addition to his skill and technique, Luiz can pass a ball with either foot and has a different range of passing similar to Frank Leboeuf (remember him!?).

Whether it’s long or short, Luiz can open a game up with a ball over the top or a quick, short pass into the feet of someone like Oscar, Juan Mata or Eden Hazard to turn defence into attack.

Of course with that, he has to realise when it’s the right time to do it and to not keep playing long diagonal balls the whole game because it’s easy to read and anticipate.

His ability from set pieces is also there for all to see and he has come up with important goals for us when he needed them!

Let’s also not forget the pace he has compared to the others at the back. He is the quicker of all our defenders and playing next to JT or Cahill, provides important cover if they are caught out of position.

Before you reply, I want to ask you one question here. “Do you think it’s better to defend first, focus on being solid and build from there with the likes of JT, Cahill or Ivanovic there”. Your response to that question should indicate your preference to the whole point of this post:

David Luiz – Would you play him?

Carefree & KTBFFH!