I always forget about him, has improved hugely since his arrival. Excellent CB.
Add Kos to the list, very underrated CB.
Because there are just too many of them. I remember his first few games in a Chelsea shirt, showed great pace and amazing tekkers for a defender but he was giving away penalties like it was christmas.
Agger, Koscielny, Brede Hangeland, Jagielka, Chico Flores...
Unsurprisingly Guardiola has come out and said there is no interest in Luiz.. I mean, £40m, who actually believed they would pay that?!
They paid £27m for Chygrynskiy, and were ready to pay 32m for Marquinhos, its really not that unfeasible.
His first start vs Fulham he got MOTM but did give away a penalty in the last minute of the game which Cech saved. That was it, like i said greatly exaggerating his mistakes.
My point is that he is not your natural centre back he has other tools as well.
Well, nobody denies that.
Honestly the guy is AMAZING talent. Great athlete, strong, fast, hard working, dedicated, legitimate offensive threat, very good passer, and I could go on.
The problem is, he doesn't really have place on the pitch where it would all fit.
And yeah, its great to have a defender who can do all these things, but there's also a reason why most defenders don't - its kind of hard to do well.
I've maybe seen 5 guys my lifetime who could pull it off and still be rock solid at the back. ****, most pundits still use Bobby Moore or Beckenbauer as a reference example of ball playing defender, which should tell you just how rare type of player that is.
The day he puts it all together is the day he becomes arguably one of the best defenders on the planet.
Please let that day never come.
The day he puts it all together is the day he becomes arguably one of the best defenders on the planet.
Please let that day never come.
I would love to know if people think Cahill is a better defender than Luiz
And that's one reason why we should never sell him. The potential he has is amazing and if their is one man who can help him reach that level, it's Jose Mourinho
I would love to know if people think Cahill is a better defender than Luiz
It's going to be terrifying. Jose's a top class manager, but he is a truly legendary manager when it comes to defences.
Then again, Ancelotti and Benitez are defense specialists as well and they couldn't plug the leaks in his game. Though I guess Carlo was fired too soon and Rafa had to play him in pivot.
I would love to know if people think Cahill is a better defender than Luiz
Defender? Yes. Footballer? No.
His first start vs Fulham he got MOTM but did give away a penalty in the last minute of the game which Cech saved. That was it, like i said greatly exaggerating his mistakes.
Benitez is a defensive specialist through system, not necessarily through improving players. Compare that to Jose, who not only drills his players into fantastic systems, he also improves them markedly in terms of quality; see Nuno Valente, Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho, John Terry, and took the likes of Walter Samuel and Lucio to new heights near the end of their careers.
I don't agree that Ancelotti is a defensive specialist. If anything, his teams have an attacking slant to them. After all, his 'classic' formation, the 4-3-2-1 with Milan, featured five playmakers - four in the later days, when Ambrosini was inserted - all in central positions. Milan's solid defence probably had more to do with the fact that the likes of Maldini, Nesta, Stam and Costacurta all played in that defence at different periods. As such, if I had to classify Ancelotti as anything, it'd be a central playmaker specialist, considering the 4-3-2-1 and the narrow 4-2-2-2 he used at PSG. At Chelsea, he didn't have any central playmakers at all, yet still scoring a record amount of Prem goals.
Benitez will go down in history as a very good manager, Ancelotti a great one, but neither of them hold a candle to Jose when it comes to improving individual players, and particularly defenders.