David Luiz's growing presence in the middle

Let me take you back to the 1^st of March 2011. Table toppers United made the visit to Stamford Bridge, leading second placed Arsenal by 4 points. The Blues were all but out of the title race and desperately needed a win to cement their place in the top 4. As the game began, both sides went all out on attack but United seized the initiative through a Wayne Rooney goal in the first half. But the man who stood out that night (for good and bad reasons) had other ideas in his head.

As Branislav Ivanovic got his head to a Michael Essien cross into the area, the ball fell to one of Chelsea’s newest recruits, the 21 million GBP man from Benfica, David Luiz. And as Patrice Evra rushed to close him down, he found out that Luiz was more than just a centre back, as Luiz smashed a Lampard-esque volley into the bottom right corner from an acute angle. Just like that, Chelsea were back on level terms.

And if that showed Luiz’s technique and composure in a good light, midway through the second half, he showed the exact opposite. As Wayne Rooney accelerated to run beyond the centre backs in an off-the-ball forward run, Luiz cheekily put out his thigh, bringing Wayne down in utter disdain. Luiz was already on a yellow, but escaped scot free as the Scot on United’s touchline went ballistic. Luiz had dodged a bullet, but United didn’t as Lampard scored an 80^th minute penalty to give Chelsea all 3 points. Luiz though, had shown the world just what he could do, and what he could do wrong.

Fast forward to 2012, and things hadn’t changed. Occasional strong defensive performances were peppered with quality goals, a beautifully curled finish against Bayer Leverkusen, a steaming penalty against Bayern Munich in the CL final as well as a few delightful free kicks were marred by lapses in concentration and poor decisions. Luiz’s preference to play out of trouble rather than pumping it out of play cost Chelsea dearly at times, with the Brazilian coming under constant scrutiny for wandering off from his position and his error prone displays. So what do you do with a problem like Luiz? There are no doubts of his reputation as a quality footballer, but his displays as a defender left much to be desired. A few reports suggested Barcelona offered 30 million GBP for the man, but Chelsea stood firm. From there on, Luiz showed a marked improvement in his defensive qualities, putting in a strong display in the Champions League against a Bayern attack boasting the likes of Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben, Thomas Mueller, Mario Gomez and Bastian Schweinsteiger. Rafa Benitez though, saw his role elsewhere.

Known for his overly exhaustive analysis of the game in its entirety, Benitez offered a surprisingly simple explanation for playing Luiz in a defensive midfielder’s position – a license to wander, an advanced platform to use his impressive through balls which Fernando Torres thrives on, less pressure and a chance to commit mistakes significantly less fatal than in defence. The move is proving to be increasingly beneficial to Chelsea and Luiz. A glance at the statistics tells us that Chelsea have kept clean sheets in wins against Monterrey (Chelsea conceded after he was substituted), Aston Villa and Norwich when Luiz was employed in a midfield role.

Furthermore, Chelsea have not conceded more than once on any other occasion that Luiz has started in midfield, namely wins against Leeds and Everton and a 1-0 loss to Corinthians.

Also, the talks of buying Marouane Fellaini in the January transfer window for about 30 million have cooled significantly after Luiz’s reinvention as a midfielder. In effect, Fellaini and Luiz offer the same qualities – a rough presence in the middle of the park with good aerial abilities. Those 30 million pounds saved will definitely finance another world class signing, preferably Radamel Falcao, Gonzalo Higuain or Andre Schurrle in the summer, depending on which rumour you give heed to. And that’s not all. Most people haven’t noticed that Luiz’s inclusion in a midfield role offers Chelsea the chance to employ 3 centre backs at defensive set pieces. Also, the fact that all of Chelsea’s centre backs – Gary Cahill, John Terry, David Luiz and Branislav Ivanovic – are menacing in the air, that added aerial presence in the opposition is also a massive plus.

Last but not least, considering that Chelsea’s other defensive midfielders have abysmal goal scoring records, Luiz is a considerable improvement. Jon Obi Mikel has never scored in 181 league appearances, and Romeu has nothing to show in 22 appearances either. Hence, Luiz’s free kicks (which have become immensely valuable after Drogba’s departure and Lampard’s decline at set pieces) and penalty taking prowess add more to the team’s attacking artillery.

So as of now, Luiz in the middle looks like a masterstroke. Whether that makes him good enough to get him into the Brazil squad for the 2014 World Cup, is a different story altogether.