Originally Posted by NinjyBear:
“For me, Luiz is a central defender,” said Mourinho. “I think he has an important quality for the football we want to play, which is to build. He’s comfortable using the ball from the back.
“In this aspect, he’s very important and different from the other central defenders. He can improve, everybody can. from a defensive point of view, he can be much more effective, much more solid. But, for me, the potential is incredible, amazing. He has to play always.””
I think Mourinho's right, the game has changed so much in the last 20 years. The days when Tony Adams and Martin Keown were considered a perfect CB pairing are gone.
Nowadays top defenders are expected to pass and control the ball as well as midfielders. John Terry is sometimes called an "old style" central defender, but I've seen him hit plenty of pin-point accurate 30/40 yard passes.
I also think David Luiz has been a bit unlucky. He's arrived at the club when we have serious deficiencies in defensive midfield, often leaving the back four completely exposed. Solve that problem, and I think we will see that Luiz and Ivanovic will be an excellent pairing for now, with Terry and Cahill providing reliable back-up.
I say "for now" because I do think we will have to start looking around for replacements, Ivanovich and Terry are in their late 20's early 30's, but we should be ok for another season.