I have to agree with you. He's spot on regarding the defense.
I would however disagree with what he is saying about Luiz. I would not play Luiz at all as he was giving the ball away time and time again and leaving gaps in the defense all the time. Surely we have not forgotten already how many time he got caught out?
He didn't, he just made a point of how Luiz had far greater natural athleticism than Terry and Cahill. Honestly, I think Ivan is closest to that, and we need someone that can step out of defence and intercept passes forward. Luiz did that a lot. Ironically- if you saw the way Mangala played, there were a lot of similarities between his style and that of Luiz. Mangala simply had an equally physical and progressive partner to mix it up with.
Luiz wasn't suited to playing in a deep, low block defence, and it made it look like his propensity to get forward was poor decision making. It was instinct, and he would have been far better in the more dynamic way of playing now. Just as Cahill is the weak link in our back four right now because of his instinct to protect his box from the edge of it, instead of shutting down moves in more advanced positions.
I really like Cahill, but he needs to either move aside for Ivan, or really make a case for us not relying on Terry by learning more on how to marshall a box and read the play a bit better. It's not like he doesn't have the ability to do so.
I do agree though that we need a more physical CDM / CM player next to Matic to cover that right though. Mikel? Yeah I'm not so sure about that. Personally I like Ramires but I know many people would not agree with me there
I like Ramires' stamina, ability to run with the ball from deep and commitment levels. He is also a fabulous pressing midfielder. His problem is that he has a really poor footballing brain as well as technical ability- he generally picks out really poor passes, does not have the close control, and relies on his pace to cover up the fact that he is often caught out of position. It doesn't work as well anymore because he doesn't have other midfielders shielding his brain farts like the used to.
We just need to have a more physical approach in the big games because Mourinho insists on playing that way. The alternative is to actually go at these teams, and I think that may be his desire too- why else not start Mikel when playing City in a defensive setup, and playing Fabregas over Oscar? He wanted to test the waters.
I would have loved Javi Martinez at Chelsea simply for that role alongside Matic, but ultimately what needs to happen is that Fabregas needs to up hi defensive game big time. Look at the Schweinsteiger-Martinez pivot that Bayern used in their treble winning season- that's what we want (and need) to achieve, too, before the team really clicks.
Oscar's role is being reduced because he is protecting a player that needs to get back up to speed. Fabregas is still playing at La Liga pace, and perhaps this is why Mourinho has played him in almost every game this season so far.
Azpi on the right, Iva at CB and Luis on the left? Yeah why not? I'd love to see how that works out. Could be very exiting. But Terry or Cahill? That would be a tougher choice for me.
Yep, the defence that I've wanted to see all season. Imagine Hazard and Luis overlapping on the left, with one of Willian and Schürrle doing the same with Dave- not many teams could cope with that, and it is another mechanism in relieving pressure on the defence.
But then it exposes Terry's lack of pace and decreased physical ability, but that's why we have Cahill. So there is quite a bit of sentimentality at play in our lineups. He needs to stop that sooner rather than later.
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