The Chelsea F.C. Thread IV

Carrying on from the stuff I was saying about Luiz yesterday, I really think he has the potential to be one of the best footballers of all time. I don't think Luiz fully realises the potential he has within him to be an all time great. If he did, he would realise that he could be the closest thing to a reincarnation of Franz Beckenbauer.

The way Luiz brings the ball out of defence and initiates attacks from deep reminds me so much of Franz. But unfortunately Luiz doesn't have the tactical brain of Franz that helped him read the game well and perform his sweeper role effectively. He's not as good on the ball as Franz (which is understandable) but it may be down to his laziness/lack of concentration, rather than ability. He doesn't have the calmness, leadership and presence that Franz had which made him feared and respected back in the day.

If Luiz can improve on these things vastly, he'll be a footballing legend when he retires imo, even if he doesn't reach the heights of Beckenbauer.

Being sexist and prejudicing (is that a word? )

Typical.

Agree here. Luiz has the potential to be a quality footballer, he's the most technical defender we've ever had for sure.
I haven't watched franz but from what I hear he was one of those extremely technical defenders, wasn't he a midfielder/striker before converting to a centre back? Probably the version of a complete player. Luiz is the only person who I could genuinely say has the potential to be a complete player.

In reality he needs to improve his defending(concentrate more) but one thing I've noticed about luiz is that when the team are motivated and have momentum he's always having a great game. See the second half of the FA cup semi final, he was poor in the first half but in the second half he absolutely bossed it, when city tried to counter he made sure to get the ball off aguero/tevez and ran into midfield to help the attackers and get the tempo of the game going. The napoli second leg is another example, remember one challenge he made where he ran into midfield and just did an awesome standing tackle on inler/lavezzi I think. Plus he played well in the CL final and he was injured the whole match.

I agree with all you've said.

From what I can remember, Franz started of as a midfielder while occasionally playing in defence. In his younger days, he was more of a Gerrard type of midfielder. At his peak, he became more refined, more elegant, more intelligent, a better leader (even though he was always a leader) and utilized his football skills to the max. He was one of the best passers in the history of the game and is the most complete footballer I've ever seen. He was competent at the offensive and defensive aspects of the game.

It's a brilliant idea. But the players will have to be well taught and competent on the tactical side of the game to pull it off expertly.

I would like to see it happen. But sadly, I don't think it will.

I wouldn't mind seeing a bit of 4-3-3 as well next season.

Interesting, might watch the germany vs holland world cup final. Got a few more matches I wanna watch, like the nottingham forest CL final matches(heard clough got them to play some quality football) and some old united matches. Then there's the old england when they were actually good because of fergie's fledgings.

From what I can remember, Franz started of as a midfielder while occasionally playing in defence. In his younger days, he was more of a Gerrard type of midfielder. At his peak, he became more refined, more elegant, more intelligent, a better leader (even though he was always a leader) and utilized his football skills to the max. He was one of the best passers in the history of the game and is the most complete footballer I've ever seen. He was competent at the offensive and defensive aspects of the game.

Cool. Try and watch the Bayern Munchen of the early 70s as well if you can . As you can tell, I'm a big fan of Beckenbauer and german football back in the day.

Will do.


The lack of a plan B was pretty much the main reason for guardiola's poor season last year. He started doing it a little too late I feel. The players were not used to it enough, eventually when teams figured out a way to beat barca he then tried to counter it by keeping the ball even more(more of plan A), to the point that the players got sick of it and evidently it didn't work out(their surrender of the league and CL is a testament to that) he was unfortunate with injuries though. I don't even know what guardiola was trying to do in the second leg of the CL semi final against us he looked like he lost the plot.

We do need more than one formation next year. I think that's partially the reason for fergies failings in europe. The seasons he was a beast at the CL were the years he used to do the 4-3-3 counterattacking formation. He did try the diamond this season and it wasn't the greatest though but it allowed them to play through the middle better and was an option when the wingers were injured/off form. Also think like bayern munich we need to vary our play as well as they do. I think that's the type of play we're going to lead to next season.

In recent memory, and certainly from a Chelsea view point, Gullit was the same player. Starting as a striker, and then with age and experience, moving back until ending his career with us as a CB/DM - usually played as a sweeper/libero due to his excellent reading of the game. This is what Luiz can do; rather than forcing him to act rashly in actually tackling players, he could be taught (although he can already do it rather well) to practise the stepping in and interception (a la older Paolo Maldini). It is also who Ake seems to have taken after (apropos his appearance as well). Try to watch some Koeman/Baresi/Sammer as well as they really mastered the role.

Beckenbauer though. What a truly a class player, he defined the attacking libero role. No wonder they nicknamed him Der Kaiser.

In recent memory, and certainly from a Chelsea view point, Gullit was the same player. Starting as a striker, and then with age and experience, moving back until ending his career with us as a CB/DM - usually played as a sweeper/libero due to his excellent reading of the game. This is what Luiz can do; rather than forcing him to act rashly in actually tackling players, he could be taught (although he can already do it rather well) to practise the stepping in and interception (a la older Paolo Maldini). It is also who Ake seems to have taken after (apropos his appearance as well). Try to watch some Koeman/Baresi/Sammer as well as they really mastered the role.

Beckenbauer though. What a truly a class player, he defined the attacking libero role. No wonder they nicknamed him Der Kaiser.

In addition to my post above, did you watch the world cup final in 1994? Baresi produced one of the best defensive displays I've ever seen.

I haven't before, read about it though. Got injured in the first round against Norway, and missed every game until the final, which he captained as his last international game - the embodiment of desire. This video though - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x91ao8_franco-baresi-heroics-world-cup-fin_sport#.UZASOhG9KSM - I know you cannot rate players off YouTube videos, but Luiz's game is just reappropriating the game that Baresi played. Some of his interceptions are direct copies.

The '88 Dutch team - Koeman, Rijkaard, van Basten, Gullit - is still my favourite group of players. They could all interchange with each other, with the exception of van Basten, but his pure striking ability meant they didn't need another striker; his doctor said of him, Marco always played football like a ballerina.

With our future of Luiz (as captain?)/Chalobah/Ake we have 3 interchangeable sweepers/DM who can control a game. Add in the interchangeable well documented attacking options, our midfield will be so fluid - it will be like the Dutch champions.

No great loss if Falcao goes to Monaco, just as long as he's not going to a serious club with serious ambitions. Cavani is just as good imo, and Lewandowski has a huge amount of potential. I'd choose Cavani if all three of them were the same price/wage demands personally, but of course that's not the case. No idea what the club will do, wouldn't be surprised if we don't go for any of them and bring in someone like Gomez as a cheap but clinical option...