Even by David Luiz’s own nobility, or should it be ridiculous? – By standards, his red card for Arsenal against Wolverhampton Wanderers this week was particularly disastrous.
While seemingly trying to get out of the way of compatriot Willian José, Luiz dropped the striker, gave away a penalty and received a red card, all just before the break.
As a result, Arsenal, who had probably just played their most impressive half of football all season at Molineux and should have led by more than one goal, tied at the break, were one man short in the second half and inevitably finished. losing the game 2-1. (Defeat was especially inevitable after goalkeeper Bernd Leno followed Luiz’s lead and was also foolishly sent off.)
Afterward, all some Arsenal fans could think was, “What the hell would have happened if Luiz had intended to take the man down?”
It was an added reminder, if need be, that David Luiz is the Jekyll and Hyde of football: the middle half of two halves. He is capable of brilliance, but also capable of astonishing lapses of concentration that lead to calamities like the most recent against the Wolves. And that’s true not just of his career at Arsenal, but of his entire career as a professional footballer.
Both sides to David Luiz
Inconsistent at Arsenal
When Luiz first signed with Arsenal in the summer of 2019, most fans were shocked. For a team that obviously needed to shore up defense, particularly central defense after Laurent Koscielny’s controversial departure, it seemed like an odd choice at best and downright wicked at worst.
Luiz didn’t seem like the calm, mature senior player who would best help develop younger central defenders like Rob Holding and Calum Chambers. And that was spectacularly confirmed a month after his arrival at the Emirates in Arsenal’s loss to Liverpool at Anfield.
He lunged at Mo Salah near the midline and allowed the brilliant Egyptian to run down the middle of Arsenal’s field uncontrollably to score, as Liverpool advanced to a 3-1 victory.
However, that was nothing compared to his performance against Manchester City at The Etihad in the first game after the original lockout, in what has been described as the worst performance by a substitute. Having come in as a replacement in the first half, he made a mistake that led to City’s first goal and then, in an incident that foreshadowed his collapse at Molineux, pushed Riyad Mahrez back, conceding a penalty and being sent off.
To paraphrase Oscar Wilde’s most famous quote (arguably the most famous and adaptable quote ever), “Knocking down an opponent, getting kicked out, and costing your team the game ONCE could be considered an oversight; doing it TWICE seems like an oversight ”.
But also able to shine
And yet it would be completely unfair just to highlight Luiz’s major mistakes without also considering the occasionally impressive performances he has put in for Arsenal. Despite all his setbacks last season, he was also instrumental in the FA Cup victory, most notably against his former club Chelsea in the final, which was the latest in a succession of superb central defensive displays that They showed why so many clubs have spent so much money for him throughout his career.
And most recently, against Manchester United at The Emirates last weekend, he was so confident that even his great critic, Gary Neville, the man who once convicted him of looking like “a Playstation gamer” controlled by a ten-year-old boy years. , made him the man of the match.
Of course, it’s not just Arsenal that Luiz has been frustrating, in fact infuriatingly erratic. It can be easy to forget, especially since it happened nearly a decade ago, that he is a Champions League champion, having been one of the key components in Chelsea’s astonishing rearguard action against Bayern Munich at their home stadium in 2012. And in addition to that European triumph, he has also won league titles in three different European countries: Portugal, France and England, not to mention that he won more than 50 games with Brazil.
World Cup 2014 – El Nadir
However, it is not so easy to forget the worst performances of Luiz’s career before Arsenal and especially the worst of all, against Germany for Brazil in the 2014 World Cup semi-final.
Brazil, of course, lost 7-1, in a defeat even more humiliating than the defeat in the 1950 World Cup final against Uruguay, also at home, which had previously been the historic low-tide mark for the Seleção.
Gary Neville and others had often speculated that Luiz, with his excellent ball control and passing range, would be a better central midfielder than a central midfielder, but against Germany he seemed to think he was a center forward, which is why he often was. he caught upfield as Germany rampaged behind him.
In effect, therefore, David Luiz is like the proverbial girl: when he’s good, like against Bayern in 2012 or even against Chelsea in the 2020 FA Cup final, he’s very good; but when it’s bad, like against Germany in 2014 or against Wolves this week, it’s horrible.
A great personality
Part of the reason Mikel Arteta could have so resolutely held on to his errant Brazilian central defender, offering him a new contract after the Manchester City debacle and even lamenting his loss this weekend against Aston Villa after the FA broke up. He refused to change his red card. against wolves, is that he is a “great personality.”
In fact, Luiz is often said to have a personality as big as his hair, having been one of the most vocal presences in every locker room he has been in throughout his long international and club career. And such a voice and presence can be especially important to Arteta when he’s still taking his first steps as a coach and looking for invaluable leaders in the field. Even though Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is officially the captain of the Arsenal club, during actual matches Luiz always seems to be Arsenal’s most vocal player, alternately cheering and reprimanding his teammates as needed.
However, the time may have come for Arteta to finally say “obrigado e adeus” to Luiz. The Brazilian will obviously not be at Aston Villa, which, like the Wolves game, is another tough away game for Arsenal against a team they have already lost to at home. However, even when Luiz has served his suspension and is eligible to play again, Arteta should consider using his other central defenders before him.
In fact, Arsenal’s three much younger and much more consistent center-backs, Rob Holding, Gabriel and Pablo Mari, should start learning to play with each other, rather than one of them playing alongside Luiz and wondering if the good or the bad. A bad version of the Brazilian will appear.
Too late to change David Luiz now
David Luiz will turn 34 in April. As a winner of the Champions League and multiple national league titles, and as a multi-match international, there is no question that he has had an exceptional career. And yet it is also true that when he finally retires he will be remembered as much for his truly spectacular failures as for any of his triumphs.
If he really is the wise old man on the field that Arteta claims he needs, then the Arsenal manager’s own judgment will inevitably be called into question, especially if he does what currently seems unthinkable and offers Luiz another contract extension.
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