Chelsea Angle – Luiz in Midfield

Football fans love to argue. They’ll argue over anything and everything related to the beautiful game, and it is a very rare occasion indeed for football fans to unanimously agree on something. This is one such instance; David Luiz’s worst position is centre-back.
Now that he has finally been put into midfield by his fourth manager at Chelsea, many have got their wish and will be eyeing him with interest. Whether he performs well or not is up to you, but what implications are there for his transition from defence to midfield? Defensive solidity? A creative midfield, or the end of a legend? Or could it just be a stunt from Rafael Benitez to please the Chelsea fans and make their Christmas card list?

“Whenever I watch him play, to me David Luiz looks like he’s being controlled by a 10-year-old in the crowd on a PlayStation.”

I doubt you need reminding of this quote from Gary Neville, however I bring it up as it is almost a perfect description of him as a footballer. Paraphrasing it, a politer description of him would be that tactical discipline is not his forte. He’ll run with the ball when he could (and should) pass it and he will play his team mates into trouble by playing risky and unnecessary passes.
Regardless he is still talented enough to merit a place in the team; rather than call for him to be dropped to the bench the people in the crowd call for him to be put in a position that will allow him to express the creative side to his game.  One obvious result of this should be a stronger defensive unit, with Gary Cahill or Branislav Ivanovic partnering John Terry at centre-back. A strong defensive partnership builds a base for the rest of the team to work on, for a team as big as Chelsea is should be of paramount importance; taking Luiz out of there will help tighten the defence.
Or will it?
Thoroughly expecting to get different results, I discovered that this season Chelsea conceded an average of 1.48 goals a game when Luiz played and 1.4 goals a game when he didn’t play: the difference is marginal. Therefore it seems that he didn’t compromise the defence as much as you (and certainly I) might have originally thought. No doubt that conceding 1.4 goals a game for a team of the stature of Chelsea is a poor statistic and it certainly needs working on, but taking Luiz out of defence might not necessarily be the answer.
Another result of Luiz’s move into midfield could be the end of Frank Lampard at Chelsea. It’s no secret that he expects to leave at the end of the season because there have been no talks about a new deal. Lampard found himself moved deeper last season into a holding midfield role, and now finds Luiz playing in his position. It seems that Lampard’s replacement has already been found, which makes him surplus to requirements. Indeed Lampard did play in the holding midfield role in the final of the Club World Cup and Luiz was back in the centre of defence, but Chelsea’s performance was certainly lacking in something; Luiz in the centre may have been the answer. Of course if Chelsea bring in a new manager in the summer who wants Lampard in the squad he will remain at the club, but the chances are looking bleak for him. I doubt that Luiz is bring played in midfield with the direct purpose of replacing Lampard, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Frank play fewer games as a result of this move.
A third impact of the Luiz move can be seen already; this is a change of tactics enforced by Rafa. If you were to point out two changes of team selection that Rafa has made it is the re-positioning of Luiz and the sacrificing of one of Juan Mata, Eden Hazard and Oscar. I believe both of these constitute a shift towards the style that his Liverpool team played and finished second with. By playing only two of the ‘creative three’ Benitez gives his full-backs more support, with one player tracking back.
At Liverpool this was Dirk Kuyt; at Chelsea it seems Victor Moses or Ryan Bertrand will be fulfilling that role. Doing this helps to shore up the defence, one can only point to the game against Manchester United in the league, where United attacked down the right and got a lot of joy from there, as an example of how having three creative players can be detrimental to the team.

Where Luiz fits in is that Rafa’s style at Liverpool was made possible by Xabi Alonso, who could pick out a forward pass and was perfectly comfortable on the ball. It seems that as Rafa imposes his style, Luiz is one that could play the deep lying playmaker role, although Lampard did play that role in the Club World Cup final. The importance of this role is without doubt, the sale of Alonso caused the capitulation of Liverpool that is still being experienced today (as I covered in a previous article). It must also be noted that Torres thrived under this style at Liverpool and that was the player that Abramovich hoped he would be getting, he may be finally getting his wish.
A final impact may be a more vunerable midfield. The previous holding midfielders that Chelsea have used have been Lampard, Mikel, Ramires and Romeu; say what you like about their footballing ability but you can’t deny their tactical discipline, you have no fears about playing them in the holding midfield position. The tactical inefficiencies of Luiz have already been highlighted and it may be that his creative freedom may just shift potential problems from defence into midfield; the holding midfield role is still a very important role in the team after all. For me, he still has to prove that he can do the job when he is put under pressure; playing against sub-standard opposition in continental or global competitions can only show so much about him – the real tests await in the Premiership.
Finally, it could be that Luiz is playing in midfield purely because the Chelsea fans want him there. Nordsjaelland and Monterrey aren’t the toughest of challenges and playing Luiz in midfield in those games doesn’t constitute much of a risk. With Rafa looking to get the Chelsea fans on his side quickly, playing a popular player in a more advanced role may be a tactic of winning over the supporters. It’s a wild proposal to make, but it can only be dismissed when Luiz has played in central midfield in games that really matter.
So there it is, multiple effects that David Luiz’s move up the field to central midfield may have; defensive solidarity, insecurity in midfield, the end of Frank Lampard and a change of style closer to the one that took Liverpool to second in the league. I’m not guaranteeing that all of these things will happen or in fact if any will happen at all, but these are the reasons why Luiz’s move are of great interest for myself and why I believe he should be watched with great interest.
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