Blue Legend Frank Leboeuf is convinced Luiz and Terry can form a formidable partnership this season. Although Luiz and Terry haven’t played together this season, Leboeuf has seen enough of Luiz to arrive at his conclusion.
Lebeouf, having a number of trophies with us and the World Cup with France deserves to have his opinion taken highly.
He said:
“I think ‘the hairy one’ David Luiz will play alongside John more often than not this season because he has the strength and the pace and can be a great partner for him.”“I like Alex but he is a bit too similar to John. You have to find someone who is different; the pair must complement one another. Someone who can mark, someone who is faster than John – if I’d played alongside Laurent Blanc it would have been a problem, but Marcel Desailly with me or with him was fine.”
Luiz has been outstanding since his arrival in January last year; he is excellent going forward but a bit suspect when it comes to defending. He is a good defender but he definitely needs some polishing. I say this because Luiz’ over eagerness to win the ball tends to make him commit infringements that could be costly at times. I believe AVB recognizes this, explaining why he subbed him for Alex later on in the game against Bayer Leverkusen.
Two seasons ago, I would confidently argue the Alex-Terry partnership was the best in the world. Today, Alex is a shadow of himself. He works a good shift but his lapses in concentration and his inability to turn swiftly to address some defensive situations is a bit disturbing. I still believe in Alex and I hope he gets back to his best soon.
Ivanovic has done a good job at centre back this season but it is obvious the chemistry between him, Terry and Cech needs improving. Given he has been deployed mainly as right-back, I believe it will take a good number of games to get him gelling with Terry and Cech.
I’m no soothsayer so I can’t tell which one of Alex, Ivanovic or Luiz will be Terry’s main partner this season.
By Morad
twitter @super_chelsea