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Two goals explain the David Luiz experience for Chelsea

By John Harbeck

LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 16: David Luiz of Chelsea during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on September 16, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 16: David Luiz of Chelsea during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on September 16, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images) /
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David Luiz had a rough day against Leicester City in the League Cup today and the two goals against Chelsea say a lot. 

As Chelsea fans saw David Luiz reenter their lives, hopefully, they knew full well what it meant. The man exiled to Paris by former manager Jose Mourinho was back and as it turns out he is just as flawed as ever.

On the surface, Luiz appears to be the modern ball playing center back of manager’s dreams and that is why nearly a hundred million Euros has been spent on the man in transfer fees throughout his career. And if we are honest with ourselves, that career Luiz is enjoying has been quite successful in terms of collecting trophies.

Those trophies include a Champions League title, Europa League title, everything in France and a Confederations Cup trophy with Brazil amongst others. All of that success doesn’t tell the whole story of David Luiz however.

While a gifted passer and capable of leading an attack from the back, Luiz commits the most costly lapses of judgment of any center back on his level. Today was no exception for Luiz, take a look:

Where to begin with this first goal Chelsea conceded.  Whatever that effort was on the first ball in, ok I can live with that.  After all most center backs around the world will make similar types of errors all the time.  A few missed headers isn’t a big deal.

The typical Luiz gaffe was what happened after he missed it.  Instead of getting himself back into a position to make a plan on the ball, he simply watches the ball.  Not only that, but he walked as the ever-moving Shinji Okazaki easily moves right past him for an easy goal.

Now that second goal wasn’t nearly as heinous as the first but there are layers of crap that shouldn’t be overlooked. After a clearance, the defense, typically initiated by the central defenders and goalkeepers frantically push out of the box while scrambling to find marks.

One of the only reason John Terry is still employed as a soccer player is this ability to quickly organize in situations like these. As Luiz is the nearest central defender to the ball it is reasonable to expect he would be the one to organize the left side of the defense.

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What happens instead? Well, he doesn’t communicate to Pedro who at this point is out of position, but still, shoulders some of the blame. Luiz also doesn’t communicate to new man Marcos Alonso who also shoulders some blame.

As a central defender who is playing with unfamiliar players, communication is often more important than recovery speed and defensive ability (which Luiz showed in almost preventing the goal anyway). Once Luiz realized that there was a clearly unmarked man in the box he should have been screaming at both Alonso and Pedro to find that man.

These are just two examples of how much of a roller coaster David Luiz can be. When/if Terry is ever healthy, he has proven to get the best out of Luiz. Terry can do this because he is constantly in the ear of, well everyone on the field friend or foe. Until that time, get ready Chelsea fans for the adventure you probably already knew was coming.

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