Douglas Luiz

[Mazrim]

Dooooglasss wasnt very quick when he was our best player at the end of the 19/20 season either. Pace isn't the issue. Form is.

[a-k]

Looks like the attacker's left foot hits Dougie's knee...isn't that the second time now that has happened, also with the Pogba penalty? Doug really needs to learn his lesson by now....

 

[sne]

Getting some well deserved rest, excellent.

[lexicon]

Poor bugger hasn't had a break yet. 

[hippo]

Surely that will be overturned.

Back end of the 19/20 season he looked a different class.

Didn't quite hit the heights last season. But still think he can be an absolute giant for us.

[srsmithusa]

ridiculous call.

 

[TRO]

On 25/07/2021 at 10:59, WHY said:

Just saw the whole video and he takes a terrible touch which leads to the counter attack. He then shows an alarming lack of pace and strength, pretty much sums Luiz up imo. He’s physicality is his biggest problem, gets muscled off the ball all the time. 

sad/disappointing but true......physicality can be compensated by other factors, how the italians so eloquently showed us, their tenacity, sharpness and ball control, made up for that.

He has to win the ball more and keep it, to convince me of his place.

Edited July 26, 2021 by TRO

[TRO]

6 hours ago, hippo said:

Surely that will be overturned.

Back end of the 19/20 season he looked a different class.

Didn't quite hit the heights last season. But still think he can be an absolute giant for us.

where did that form go?

[TRO]

12 hours ago, a-k said:

Looks like the attacker's left foot hits Dougie's knee...isn't that the second time now that has happened, also with the Pogba penalty? Doug really needs to learn his lesson by now....

 

He hasn't got the natural instincts of a defender....he is a forward thinking player, playing no 6 for us. He quite often seems to be chasing lost causes to me, and thats when clumsiness kicks in.

 

Edited July 26, 2021 by TRO

[QldVilla]

4 hours ago, TRO said:

He hasn't got the natural instincts of a defender....he is a forward thinking player, playing no 6 for us. He quite often seems to be chasing lost causes to me, and thats when clumsiness kicks in.

 

Both you and I have been banging this drum for sometime, looks like a box to box CM who could score 8-10 goals a season, but being played as a DM, not sure what Smith is seeing and we're missing?

[villalad21]

3 hours ago, QldVilla said:

Both you and I have been banging this drum for sometime, looks like a box to box CM who could score 8-10 goals a season, but being played as a DM, not sure what Smith is seeing and we're missing?

I bang the drum even harder than that.

For me he doesn't have the engine to play as an 8.

I would play him as a 10

Edited July 26, 2021 by villalad21

[QldVilla]

1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

I bang the drum even harder than that.

For me he doesn't have the engine to play as an 8.

I would play him as a 10

I wouldn’t rule that out either, just not sure what we’re missing…

[TRO]

6 hours ago, QldVilla said:

Both you and I have been banging this drum for sometime, looks like a box to box CM who could score 8-10 goals a season, but being played as a DM, not sure what Smith is seeing and we're missing?

yes and I accept we could be wrong, but I don't think we are.

My opinion is, until we get that position strengthened, we will struggle to fulfill our ambition to get European football.....I hope, I am wrong, but I don't think I am.

The defence and Forward line is capable....but the midfield is not, unless emerging talent or form changes things for the better.....We have midfielders, we don't have midfielders who dominate the ball.

Leicester and West Ham 2 teams not part of the big 6 but ambitious, seem to put a more focused emphasis on the said position.

[sne]

Let's see if our midfield and defense is put under as much pressure now that we no longer has a disinterested Barkley and a not so defensive interested Traore doing no pressing or tracking back when we lose the ball.

Adding Buendia should solve a huge part of what was our biggest weakness in not being able to keep the ball in the attacking 3rd and at winning it back higher up the pitch.

If we add someone like Bailey it would make us so much harder to defend against as the opponents will need to cover for his pace.

I'm sure a out and out DCM would make us better without the ball and that would be great of course. But I don't thin that is the role that Smith want's his deepest CM to have and I think Smith wants us to have the ball more often rather than focus on when we don't have it. Obviously a player who fills both those roles in one is the dream but then you are looking at £50m-£80m players and we are not there. Sure you can pick them up if you scout well and are lucky but it's no mean feat.

I think a lot of the critique aimed at Luiz is based on fans expecting him to play a role Smith is not asking him to play. He is the deepest sitting CM, but he's not a anchor man DCM who mainly has defensive tasks. He is more of a deep playmaker or a Xabi Alonso type.

[TRO]

1 hour ago, QldVilla said:

I wouldn’t rule that out either, just not sure what we’re missing…

I don't think he is a number 10 either....just a jack of all trades, master of none.

[RichiBoi11]

7 minutes ago, sne said:

Let's see if our midfield and defense is put under as much pressure now that we no longer has a disinterested Barkley and a not so defensive interested Traore doing no pressing or tracking back when we lose the ball.

Adding Buendia should solve a huge part of what was our biggest weakness in not being able to keep the ball in the attacking 3rd and at winning it back higher up the pitch.

If we add someone like Bailey it would make us so much harder to defend against as the opponents will need to cover for his pace.

I'm sure a out and out DCM would make us better without the ball and that would be great of course. But I don't thin that is the role that Smith want's his deepest CM to have and I think Smith wants us to have the ball more often rather than focus on when we don't have it. Obviously a player who fills both those roles in one is the dream but then you are looking at £50m-£80m players and we are not there. Sure you can pick them up if you scout well and are lucky but it's no mean feat.

I think a lot of the critique aimed at Luiz is based on fans expecting him to play a role Smith is not asking him to play. He is the deepest sitting CM, but he's not a anchor man DCM who mainly has defensive tasks. He is more of a deep playmaker or a Xabi Alonso type.

The most sesnible post in here, by a long long way. He's not a CDM, and Smith doesn't want him as one. There are a lot of fans in here that want a real top drawer CDM, and I understand why they do, but that's not the style Smith utilises, and I feel Luiz gets unfairly blasted for not being that player, when he's not expected to be by the management anyway. 

Give him a decent rest after the Olympics and then ease him back in as a playmaker 6/8 hybrid and you could easily see him back to the form he showed during project restart.

[birdman]

23 hours ago, a-k said:

Looks like the attacker's left foot hits Dougie's knee...isn't that the second time now that has happened, also with the Pogba penalty? Doug really needs to learn his lesson by now....

 

Yeah if you've lost the foot race its no good tucking in behind the player and risk clipping their legs. Go left or right or just get the feck out the way! 

Edit: it's slightly unfortunate for Doug as the player cuts accross him but he has the right to do that as he's well in front.

Edited July 26, 2021 by birdman

[Sulberto21]

3 minutes ago, birdman said:

Yeah if you've lost the foot race its no good tucking in behind the player and risk clipping their legs. Go left or right or just get the feck out the way! 

At no point does Douglas 'tuck in' the guy is simply  quicker than him and then cuts across him. That's a slow Mo so makes it look worse for Doug.

[QldVilla]

34 minutes ago, TRO said:

yes and I accept we could be wrong, but I don't think we are.

My opinion is, until we get that position strengthened, we will struggle to fulfill our ambition to get European football.....I hope, I am wrong, but I don't think I am.

The defence and Forward line is capable....but the midfield is not, unless emerging talent or form changes things for the better.....We have midfielders, we don't have midfielders who dominate the ball.

Leicester and West Ham 2 teams not part of the big 6 but ambitious, seem to put a more focused emphasis on the said position.

I tend to agree and find it frustrating not understanding Smith’s methodology.

There are many quality DM’s in Europe with clubs needing to sell to balance the books, but appears to be no urgency to fill this position. I hope this isn’t another O’Neill Mk II where the manager is too stubborn on their own philosophy and can’t see the forest through the trees.

[Laughable Chimp]

46 minutes ago, sne said:

Let's see if our midfield and defense is put under as much pressure now that we no longer has a disinterested Barkley and a not so defensive interested Traore doing no pressing or tracking back when we lose the ball.

Adding Buendia should solve a huge part of what was our biggest weakness in not being able to keep the ball in the attacking 3rd and at winning it back higher up the pitch.

If we add someone like Bailey it would make us so much harder to defend against as the opponents will need to cover for his pace.

I'm sure a out and out DCM would make us better without the ball and that would be great of course. But I don't thin that is the role that Smith want's his deepest CM to have and I think Smith wants us to have the ball more often rather than focus on when we don't have it. Obviously a player who fills both those roles in one is the dream but then you are looking at £50m-£80m players and we are not there. Sure you can pick them up if you scout well and are lucky but it's no mean feat.

I think a lot of the critique aimed at Luiz is based on fans expecting him to play a role Smith is not asking him to play. He is the deepest sitting CM, but he's not a anchor man DCM who mainly has defensive tasks. He is more of a deep playmaker or a Xabi Alonso type.

Ok, so who exactly in our midfield was mainly doing the defensive tasks then if its not him? Its not Mcginn and it obviously wasn't Barkley. Ramsey wasn't doing the job either. Only person who was, was Nakamba who primarily played in place of Luiz.

I'm not a football manager, but the tactic of having 3 CMs with none of them being defensive oriented seems a bit weird, especially considering one of those was an AM who never contributed defensively.

Its not that a DM like Luiz in this role can't work, but I would expect him to play alongside a destroyer, supposedly similar to how Brazil plays him with Casemiro. But as mentioned above, he very rarely plays alongside Nakamba, most of the time they sub for each other. Suggesting they do play similar roles.

Obviously, he has more license to pass than Nakamba but I do think he is still given the role of being the defending midfielder in that midfield 3. And as such, he should also be judged for his ability to defend for us.

 

Edited July 26, 2021 by Laughable Chimp