29 Oct 2012

'He was farcical!' - Alan Hansen slates 'ridiculous' €25m Chelsea star. Vendetta?

Last season, Liverpool legend Alan Hansen regularly criticised Chelsea defender David Luiz, and at one stage, he claimed the Brazilian was 'so bad it's embarrassing', a criticism that incurred the wrath of former Blues boss Andre Villas Boas. Well, after Luiz's abject performance against Man United yesterday, the former Reds Captain has on again seized the opportunity to further excoriate the defender.

In his column for The Telegraph today, Hansen slammed Luiz's 'erratic' performance; blamed him for all three Manchester United goals, and argued that the 25-year old was a poor substitute for John Terry, who he lauded as a 'formidable', and 'magnificent' defender. Hansen scathed:

"Luiz looked like he had a mistake in him right from the kick-off and Cahill was 10 times better than him by comparison.

"In the final 20 minutes of the game, he was like something out of a comedy strip with his farcical defending and ridiculous appetite for barging into Robin van Persie.

"He was fortunate not to be sent off as his display became more and more erratic. It is almost two years since he arrived at Chelsea, but he has rarely gone more than four or five games without making a mistake.


Hansen is not the only ex-Red who thinks Luiz - who cost Chelsea €25m - is a liability. In a recent interview with ESPN, Steve Nicol also slated him. He said:

"He [Luiz] hasn't matured one bit from last season. Your centre backs have to be cool, calm and collected under pressure. This guy is none of that.

"He's a loose cannon, and he'll give away needless penalties and free kicks. You just can't trust him".


Chelsea are currently top of the league, and have the third best defensive record in the top flight (behind Arsenal and, rather surprisingly, Sunderland), so Luiz's defensive shortcomings don't appear to be having that much of a negative impact.

Liverpool have conceded 14 goals in the league - 5 more than Chelsea - so what does that say about the Reds' defenders?

LFC fans drone on about Luis Suarez being a 'victim' and being constantly attacked by the media, but as Hansen's ongoing vendetta against Luiz shows, this happens to other teams/players too.

Jaimie Kanwar


24 comments:

  1. I am not sure he is worth 30-35mn... During summer TW there were reports that Chelsea declined bids from Barca and Mancity of around the same amount. I seriously don't know why he is rated so much...He is a liability sometimes and Terry use to cover most of his errors, now Cahill. I don't really understand the hype surrounding the player. He can get better but certainly not world class.

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  2. Are you an Adrian Durham fan?

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  3. Am sorry but David Luiz is a million times better than Gary Cahill

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  4. I thought, at the time, the media were over the top last season on Luiz, especially when Phil Jones was just as bad but barely got anything spotlight on him by them, even though Luiz was bad. But the media spotlight aside, Luiz looks very poor without Terry. The way he constantly gets dragged out too easily from the back line is very poor for a top 4 club defender. He gets too trigger happy, in relation to going too high, too tight and too quick on a opposition player. I think the Chelsea defensive record this season has benefited from the implied 'attack is the best form of defence' mentality, considering how busy Chelsea's attacking play has kept the opposition team. Sometimes one has to look beyond the 'goals conceded' column to see how good or bad a defence is. Luiz wasn't helped by the defending on the flanks though. Manure showed that if you attack the flanks, Chelsea look very weak as the wide midfielders don't help out that much as well as Hazard & co drift all over the last third. When that happens, it makes the CBs lives harder.

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  5. Who really cares??

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  6. Seems everyone in British media don't like name - "Luis"!

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  7. Agger and Skrtel are not a good pairing..They keep getting praise, but they're average..not top quality defenders..We need a serious re-think, and it has to start with two new centre backs!!

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  8. He definitely has a vendetta but wouldnt say he's wrong about this.

    On another note, i know its the end of stoptober but just want to persuade people to keep up their good efforts. This may help:

    1 Million Free Electronic Cigarettes being given away at Apollo Ecigs

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  9. Its wrong to use team stats to defend or criticise a player. Chelsea might have the best defensive record in the league but it might be better without him. I remember we argued about this when you were using team stats to prove to everyone that we were better off with Konchesky and Poulsen in the team than without them.

    Even if the media did have a vendetta against Luiz , would that make it okay to have one against Suarez?

    Notice how when glen Johnson is not in the team we look far worse defensively

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  10. Arabee - We've been down this road before, yet you persist with misrepresenting my views. Stop twisting my words re this particular point. I did NOT argue that the team was better off with Konchesky in the side (!) - I argued that Poulsen was not as bad as everyone was making out, and showed with stats that the team performed well with him in the first XI.

    Additionally, just because you think it's wrong to use team stats to defend/criticise a player doesn't make it so.

    Re Glen Johnson - it's not true to say that without him LFC look worse defensively. LFC's defensive record from 2006-2009 without Johnson is far superior to the last three years with Johnson. In fact, Johnson's arrival has coincided with the club's worst defensive performance in years.

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  11. It's inaccurate not wrong. Players are punished and rewarded for others' actions

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  12. Additionally - why are Johnson's or rather LFC's 2006 - 2009 defensive stats more important than 2010-2013

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  13. The guy is a nut case, and clearly thinks steam rolling over opponents is the way to go as far as defending is concerned, yet the referees do nothing to try and stop him. During his first season at Chelsea, against United, the Brazilian idiot went on a head-hunting mission and should have been sent off twice for some of his dangerous and cynical 'tackling' yet nothing got done at all. He was at it again yesterday and looked like he was on a mission to put Van Persie out for the season - where's the protection from the ref?

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  14. Name the last mistake that Gary Cahill made, then the one before that, then the one before that. Now do the same for David Luiz. You say David Luiz is a million times better because he is a flair player and is capable of the odd brilliant play, but makes a lot of mistakes. Gary Cahill is a more solid player, rarely makes mistakes and is also capable of the odd brilliant play, like his goal against Tottenham, he scores a lot more goals than David Luiz, because of this, he is a lot better than David Luiz, he is just underrated because he isn't a flair player. Kinda reminds me of our own Steve Finnan, one of, if not the be RB in the league during his time with us, got forward brilliantly, but was always under the radar because he just put his head down and got on with it.

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  15. Not top quality, which is why both were heavily linked with moves to Man City, as well as Agger being linked with a move to Barca. You are right though, Agger and Skrtel are not a good pairing, they are a great pairing, one of the best in the league.

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  16. Johnson has looked solid in defence this season and brilliant going forward, has arguably been our best player. A lot is made of Johnson's defensive inability, but he is a much better and much more solid defender than a lot of people, you included, give him credit for

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  17. The Luiz/Suarez comparison, with regards to media treatment, doesn't work on a number of levels. Quite a lazy comparison.

    I'm not one to buy into all this shite about conspiracies and what not but the media's treatment of Suarez has at times been disgraceful.

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  18. Johnsons been one of our best players this season. He had a dip in form during Hodgsons short spell here, not sure if it was his fault.

    In answer to your question, LFC 2006- 2009 stats are irrelevant. Next the blagger will be trying to compare stats from the Eighties.

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  19. Whenever I watch Luiz I get the feeling he is being played out of position - surely his ability on the ball and attacking instincts would be best used elsewhere on the pitch than at CB ...

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  20. Agger, average? One of the best, most cultured defenders in the world and you call him "average"!?

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  21. Well, they say you learn something new every day and today thanks to the guys on here i have learnt that agger and skrtel are a great defensive pair. im sure they will be talked about for many years after they have stopped playing..........NOT!

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  22. If Suarez did not behave the way he does then the 'British' media would not focus on him. Amazingly gifted feet, amazingly unintelligent brain. He is spiteful, cheats and is a racist although we can all argue this is because calling someone a racist name in his country isnt racist. So we will forgive him for that! Liverpool are nowhere the team they were under Benitez and the defence is a perfect example of that. Chelsea's defence is weak other than Cole who is still the worlds best LB. David Luiz can waltz past a player and pick a pass so everyone thinjs he isnthe new Rio. He cant tackle and his positional sense is awful. Im not sure why anyone would want to defend him?

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  23. Cahill is a bog standard Premier League journeyman. Luiz can play at the higher international level. Class tells in the end

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