He's an excellent footballer but very prone to brainfarts as a defender.
Barca make official bid for David Luiz.....
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) are here to discuss Amad saving our blushes in a win against Southampton as well as our now annual loss at home to Brighton. They discuss Amorim's post-match comments, revisit how mid-table we may or may not be, and discuss some transfer news.
I think he should just be played as a Striker or a Kaka role.
Jones has been excellent at CB so far... granted he has only played there about 6-7 times since joining. From what we've seen he's far less error prone than Luiz in this position, and if this is overrating Jones, so be it. I'd rather have Jones than Luiz any day of the week if I had the choice.
I think he'd be a hit at Barca... but I can't see Chelsea accepting a bid unless it gets to silly money. Ultimately, I think he'll be a mainstay in Chelsea's midfield this year (where he'll do well) - I can't see Mourinho trusting him in a Mourinho Chelsea defence though.
Is he? I think he's a decent footballer who scores some excellent goals. Not sure that makes him an excellent player.
He's sure as shit not an excellent defender!
I think he's extremely skilled with the ball at his feet anyway, and no, definitely not an excellent defender.
I have to say i thought Rafa was very clever putting him in Midfield in a carrick role. His passing is extremely good. As you say he just isnt a defender, his positioning is awful. If he worked on his fitness and work rate he could be a good midfielder
Fair enough, I certainly wouldn't call him excellent, personally.
It's a strange one - even experts, let alone us lot, seem divided whether he's a fantastic player or a clown.
I still think he could be a top defender if he sorts himself out though. I have seen him play a few brilliant games there and he's relatively young.
You need good positioning to be a CDM, though. He runs round like a headless chicken.
I'd say his positional awareness needs to improve a hell of a lot for him to be able to play well at CB.
Having said that, Carragher's positioning was suspect as hell, but he was lauded for his last ditch lunging tackles, which ironically he wouldn't have needed to do if he could read the game better.
He is a very good natural footballer but he's a bit shit at times in defending. His concentration, awareness and positioning isn't good enough for a defender of a top club. doubt that he'll be a solution for Barca's defense. All of Agger, Evans and Koscielny would have been better signings than him, although neither of them is as talented as Luiz.
Nope. Phil Jones has had about two or three good games as a CB. Don't exaggerate, potential is something else but Luiz is a better player and a better defender right now.
Yeah, Phil Jones already is about twice the CB David Luiz is. Good footballer (Luiz), but defender?
Nope. Phil Jones has had about two or three good games as a CB. Don't exaggerate, potential is something else but Luiz is a better player and a better defender right now.
If they are offering 35mill for Mister Playstation, surely Rooney has to be 50mill by now?
He'd do well in Barca's system and a massive upgrade over Mascherano.
Whom they can get back to playing in midfield as someone above suggested.
So he's a bit shit at defending, but a better defender than Jones. You clearly rate Jones highly, as a defender.
I rate Jones's potential. I think he isn't good enough to play as a CB at the moment, but with his potential I hope he'll be god enough to play there. Saying that he's better as a CB already than Luiz, when Jones good games as a CB can be count in a hand is something I think is bullshit. I don't have tendency in overrating our players or underrating other club's players, and for the record I think that Smalling is and will be the better CB.
Chelsea are starting to look like title contenders.
He maybe a good ball player but he's shit at defending.
Which pretty much sums up most Barca defenders. I don't see how Luiz would improve them at all.
Chelsea would laugh all the way to the bank should they get anything over 25 million.
Which pretty much sums up most Barca defenders. I don't see how Luiz would improve them at all.
Chelsea would laugh all the way to the bank should they get anything over 25 million.
Not really, considering we paid over 20 million for him. Net spend, la.
You'd make a profit. Which Luis isn't really worth.
Good signing for Barca, but only if they sign another quality centre-back to go with him... he needs to be a junior partner in defence, isn't mature enough to be the main man in defence, kind of like how Puyol looked after Pique. Pique and Luiz isn't a great partnership but I guess with the amount of attacking threat they carry and how they keep the ball, they'll be ok.
Barca aren't as good as two years ago that simply playing ball playing defenders who can't actually defend will be enough.
As Bayern ruthlessly exposed, their defense is quite simply shit.
Luiz isn't the answer.
As Bayern ruthlessly exposed, their defense is quite simply shit.
Luiz isn't the answer.
thought they needed a good defender?He'd be 'shit' (the fact that 99% of teams buy defenders to...defend) for the majority of clubs but would fit the Barcelona system well, I can see why they want him. That's a lot of money though, anything around the 30m mark and Chelsea should snatch their hand off.
They need a defender full stop, he's not even that!
Do you hate it when the term is thrown about around United players who aren't quite as good as the Cafe thinks they are?
Hes a very gifted player, but never a defender. If we get anything over 30 million for him it'd be a great deal. We dont need attacking players( other than a striker) we need a solid CB. that big cash injection can be used to fund Rooney/Mangala and continue our co-operation with FFP.
He's a very good player and not at all as bad at CB as this thread is making out. However I doubt he's right for Barca. Him and Pique in the same defence? Not solid enough for me. You want Pique paired with a Puyol/Vidic type, same goes for Luiz. That being said, with those two Barca could play extremely high up the pitch, and they'd have two of Europe's more competent CBs on the ball to complement their passing game.
I'm inclined to believe Mundo De-whatever, that the bid is 25m euros or so. Like everyone else, they'll start with a lowball offer. Would be a huge loss to Chelsea though, I think he's a future captain there if he stays. Big part of the leadership for a young, promising squad.
I'm inclined to believe Mundo De-whatever, that the bid is 25m euros or so. Like everyone else, they'll start with a lowball offer. Would be a huge loss to Chelsea though, I think he's a future captain there if he stays. Big part of the leadership for a young, promising squad.
I like the cnut. Would be sad enough to see him leave Chelsea as football has few enough real characters at the moment and he's certainly entertaining.
I like Luiz.
Perhaps abit clumsy as a centre-back but he's hard as nails, has great presence and is very comfortable running out with the ball as well as causing chaos in opposition penalty box. Likewise, still quite young so not yet fully developed. Would be very surprised if Mourinho lets him go, no matter the price as he will be very hard to replace.
Given Barcelona's defenders end up doing relatively little defending given their huge superiority over other La Liga sides, if he does end up next to Pique, it will be a stunning partnership. His comfort on the ball will suit the Barcelona pass-e-thon style of play very well. I can understand why they would want to sign him.
Perhaps abit clumsy as a centre-back but he's hard as nails, has great presence and is very comfortable running out with the ball as well as causing chaos in opposition penalty box. Likewise, still quite young so not yet fully developed. Would be very surprised if Mourinho lets him go, no matter the price as he will be very hard to replace.
Given Barcelona's defenders end up doing relatively little defending given their huge superiority over other La Liga sides, if he does end up next to Pique, it will be a stunning partnership. His comfort on the ball will suit the Barcelona pass-e-thon style of play very well. I can understand why they would want to sign him.
Thiago Silva should had been their target. Hummels would also fit them to a tee.
25m is probably his value
You think PSG, one of the richest teams in the world would sell their best player to a team who are in a similar finanical position to us? It's the same thing with Ronaldo. People are in dream land if they think it's happening.
We agree to disagree then, for me Jones is a better defender already - which isn't saying too much as I don't rate Luiz as a CB at all. He's far from top class and won't solve Barca's problems at the back IMO. I'm not overrating Jones here, it's more that I think Luiz is crap at defending (and a CB at a club like Chelsea/Barcelona should be good at it, especially one that costs 30 fecking million).
Talks must have broke down with PSG over Silva. I doubt they would want to sell anyway, unless it was for a ridiculous price. Besides, it would be a step backwards.
I don't think Barcelona are good enough any more to play Luiz and Pique without feeling the consequences now that their completely monstrous domination of opponents has lessened. This was clearly a problem last year, yet their solution is to go out and spend a load of money on someone who personifies pretty much their entire defensive situation. It's a sideways move, in my opinion.
Luiz/Pique may improve significantly but I am amazed that they've gone down this route again. There is a lot of talk about Luiz being this 'excellent' footballer, but he's hardly Pele playing out of position. He's more Rafael, only not as good a defender.
They will probably never assemble another team that takes the pressure of the defence like the 10/11 one did, yet they seem to be operating as if that team still exists. They're still an amazing team that I think would've dicked on us had we met them last year, but I find this insistence on playing midfielders/mediocre defenders at centre back so puzzling. It reminds me of us with our midfield situation when we play Jones, Rafael, Giggs, O'Shea, Park and anyone else who isn't a midfielder for experience/defensive solidarity, whilst not really considering that we'd have far more defensive solidarity if we had a properly functioning midfield in the first place. Not exactly the same situation but it's sort of similar; both teams have failed to strengthen a position that clearly needs strengthening, both have had a firm tactical outlook in terms of the roles these non midfielders/defenders should be doing and both ourselves and Barcelona have gotten away with it because of the strength of the teams elsewhere.