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Ruben Loftus-Cheek


Tobey Gibson
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First off, You haven't explained how they would trick UEFA into allowing them field 12 players :Goober:

It just might work. Bamford has played on the right wing multiple times before for Derby and Middlesborough and Beharino is a versatile forward. it still feels like overkill to me with no natural width.

Haha it was meant to be a 4-3-3. Ward-Prowse looks like it were two names but I've edited it now.

I agree that there's a lack of width but with no Sterling or Oxlade the wide players are poor, so it should definitely be a narrow system, regardless.

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First off, You haven't explained how they would trick UEFA into allowing them field 12 players :Goober:

It just might work. Bamford has played on the right wing multiple times before for Derby and Middlesborough and Beharino is a versatile forward. it still feels like overkill to me with no natural width.

That's the national team for you.

It still annoys me that Sven went 4-4-2 in Germany 06, 4-3-3 with Hargreavs or Carrick holding was staring him in the face, Lampard and Gerrard would have worked and England would have had a serious shot at the World Cup.

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True, it does seem like this a more attack minded squad. Lot of onus will be on Kane & Bamford.

I doubt there will be any onus on Bamford. He'll probably continue to be the fourth choice striker in the group.

I expect the starting line up to look like this based on what Southgate has done so far:

Butland

Jenkinson Stones Gibson Garbutt

JWP Carroll Hughes

Redmond Kane Berahino

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That's the national team for you.

It still annoys me that Sven went 4-4-2 in Germany 06, 4-3-3 with Hargreavs or Carrick holding was staring him in the face, Lampard and Gerrard would have worked and England would have had a serious shot at the World Cup.

With England, it's always been about shoehorning all the best/star players available into the starting line up with little consideration for balance.

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From some of the games I've seen , arsenal in the cup , italy and for the main team against lisbon. I don't see how you can write him off but still talk up chalobah.

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This is my opinion on RLC, bearing in mind I've seen him 30-40 times over the last 2 seasons and I'm just being honest. It really wouldn't surprise me if other people who have watched him silently agree or see where I'm coming from.

In general, he's been massively overhyped and his accelerated development (IMO) is down to the fact he's physically bigger than everyone else. In youth games he very rarely stands out on the pitch, it is often the players around him that perform better but he gets rated extremely highly. (Remember how good Lewis Baker was last season?)

There's no part of his game other than the fact he's strong that really stands out for me. (From what I've seen) He doesn't have a great passing range, a good shot, even on the ball he is not very progressive and forward thinking. He has poor stamina (often taken off at around 70minites for the youth team) and can be lazy when defending. It is often mentioned that he is actually quite underwhelming at youth level. People then say he's 'saving himself/too good' for youth level. Nothing I've seen in his last two starts has altered my above thoughts. He genuinely has a flawed game that needs so much more work if he's to develop into the player people want him to be.

I don't really know what type of midfielder he is as a result. For whatever reason (6"3 and black?) people seem to have this perception he will be like Pogba/Toure Yaya, and this his ceiling is higher than other youth players around him. I'm still trying to fathom what exactly people see when they make these claims. I equally can't fathom why he has been getting such praise in his last two games for really quite average performances, and I think some people are probably putting their heads in the sand. He has been slow and extremely unadventurous on the ball and when defending espiecally against WBA was poor. Mikel gets lambasted for EXACTLY the same type of performances. I mentioned his lack of passing range - the only two times against WBA he attempted a pass that wasn't a 5-10 yard nothing pass they were off target (one was for Costa where he waited so long Costa was offside, the other he tried switching the play and the ball was 10 yards above the recipient's head).

I appreciate that Mourinho himself does seem to rate this guy very highly. That's not the be all and end all, given he also wanted to build a team around Oscar and didn't rate Alex. There are two talents contracted to us right now that, for me, are better than RLC and make far more sense to have in the squad next season in Aké and Chalobah. Aké within 2 minutes of coming on against WBA made a forward through ball pass for Solanke, showing more adventure and vision than RLC had all game. He equally with the ball at his feet rarely took more than 2 touches and looked to pass forward, not to the CBs. Chalobah is nearing 100 senior appearances and is still a very good talent, I don't feel the club have handled his development well at all.

This won't be popular and feel free to disagree, and it is also possible that Mourinho sees more in training that makes him rate RLC so highly but as of now I don't think he'll make it and certainly don't think he'll be a world class box to box midfielder who'll save us 40-50m on Pogba. I hope I'm proved wrong. Watch him closely next time he plays, objectively and you'll probably see some of the flaws I mentioned.

Thoughtful and independent post. Thank you.

When asked to compare the chances of Jed & RLC two years ago, I replied that Boga was 50-50 but that Ruben had virtually no chance and that unless he bucked up his ideas he'd be lucky to build a career at League One level. To be fair that judgement wasn't based on any thoughts about his lack of talent but rather on my assessment of what he does with it. My main charge was that he spent most of his time drifting around the pitch doing nothing in particular and indeed too much time literally walking. Even when he did something good he seemed often to stand around waiting for the game to drift back his way.

Two years later I'm more sold than ever on Ruben's talent but the old question marks about the way he impacts matches remain. He is always a star name at development level but he is almost never a star player. Ruben has a Mikel like ability to retain possession under pressure but coupled with the skill to manipulate the ball with deft touches and power past opponents to take them out of the game. He needs to be more active, to be involved in the ordinary passage of play without hurting the team but then use what he has to damage opponents when the opportunity presents itself. If Ruben learns to do that we have a player, if not, it'll be a big, big shame.

BTW, my 50-50 assessment of Jed is looking a bit optimistic at the moment. I've seen no development in his game over the last two years and that is not just disappointing, it's worrying.

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I'm sure if given the proper coaching and instill with the correct attitude he can become the player many hope him to be. Whether that can be done is yet to be seen. The world is at his feet; he is trusted by the manager and the club has high hopes. He has to do the rest; he can only blame himself for his own failure.

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This is my opinion on RLC, bearing in mind I've seen him 30-40 times over the last 2 seasons and I'm just being honest. It really wouldn't surprise me if other people who have watched him silently agree or see where I'm coming from.

In general, he's been massively overhyped and his accelerated development (IMO) is down to the fact he's physically bigger than everyone else. In youth games he very rarely stands out on the pitch, it is often the players around him that perform better but he gets rated extremely highly. (Remember how good Lewis Baker was last season?)

There's no part of his game other than the fact he's strong that really stands out for me. (From what I've seen) He doesn't have a great passing range, a good shot, even on the ball he is not very progressive and forward thinking. He has poor stamina (often taken off at around 70minites for the youth team) and can be lazy when defending. It is often mentioned that he is actually quite underwhelming at youth level. People then say he's 'saving himself/too good' for youth level. Nothing I've seen in his last two starts has altered my above thoughts. He genuinely has a flawed game that needs so much more work if he's to develop into the player people want him to be.

I don't really know what type of midfielder he is as a result. For whatever reason (6"3 and black?) people seem to have this perception he will be like Pogba/Toure Yaya, and this his ceiling is higher than other youth players around him. I'm still trying to fathom what exactly people see when they make these claims. I equally can't fathom why he has been getting such praise in his last two games for really quite average performances, and I think some people are probably putting their heads in the sand. He has been slow and extremely unadventurous on the ball and when defending espiecally against WBA was poor. Mikel gets lambasted for EXACTLY the same type of performances. I mentioned his lack of passing range - the only two times against WBA he attempted a pass that wasn't a 5-10 yard nothing pass they were off target (one was for Costa where he waited so long Costa was offside, the other he tried switching the play and the ball was 10 yards above the recipient's head).

I appreciate that Mourinho himself does seem to rate this guy very highly. That's not the be all and end all, given he also wanted to build a team around Oscar and didn't rate Alex. There are two talents contracted to us right now that, for me, are better than RLC and make far more sense to have in the squad next season in Aké and Chalobah. Aké within 2 minutes of coming on against WBA made a forward through ball pass for Solanke, showing more adventure and vision than RLC had all game. He equally with the ball at his feet rarely took more than 2 touches and looked to pass forward, not to the CBs. Chalobah is nearing 100 senior appearances and is still a very good talent, I don't feel the club have handled his development well at all.

This won't be popular and feel free to disagree, and it is also possible that Mourinho sees more in training that makes him rate RLC so highly but as of now I don't think he'll make it and certainly don't think he'll be a world class box to box midfielder who'll save us 40-50m on Pogba. I hope I'm proved wrong. Watch him closely next time he plays, objectively and you'll probably see some of the flaws I mentioned.

If you want to see the kind of player he is watch the Youth cup run last year when he was captain, the both semi-final legs and the finals; And his performances for the England u19 btn August December last yr.

He is incredibly talented both physically and technically and has a very high ceiling.

Having said that, I'm still skeptical about him because he is very inconsistent and can be lazy on the pitch.

I think the issue for those is his stamina. It might be because he is getting used to his body; being a teenager and massive. Matic had the same problem when he was here at first(and he was even older), but now can even rival Ramires in stamina( but no one can rival Ramires stamina when he is in peak condition).

I have watched almost all the youth games on Chelsea tv over the last 3 yrs. RLC has improved his fitness in the last yr. Hence some of those monster performances at the end of the youth cup last yr. He also had a good number of very good performances at the beginning of the u21 league and regularly played 90mins for the first time in yrs. I think that's why he was promoted to the first team in December.

But the PL is a whole difference beast. I think people expect too much from him too soon. He will have to take his fitness to a whole new level, because the real issue with him is stamina. He will need at least two yrs to feature regularly. He has to be carefully eased in to be protected(from quick to judge harsh fans who expect world class performances from him this early) and to enable him to build up his fitness and familiarity with the league without being overwhelmed.

I think 10-17 appearances next yr are enough for him, then 15-25 the following yr and then he might be ready to contribute regularly after that.

He has the trust of the coach and the club, so it will be up to him to deliver when given the chance and show progress.

I think If he fulfills his potential, he will be a world class box to box midfielder because he clearly has the talent. On his day in youth games, he can dribble and drive the ball forward with power, technique and pace like no other, attributes that are very rare in players.

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This is my opinion on RLC, bearing in mind I've seen him 30-40 times over the last 2 seasons and I'm just being honest. It really wouldn't surprise me if other people who have watched him silently agree or see where I'm coming from.

In general, he's been massively overhyped and his accelerated development (IMO) is down to the fact he's physically bigger than everyone else. In youth games he very rarely stands out on the pitch, it is often the players around him that perform better but he gets rated extremely highly. (Remember how good Lewis Baker was last season?)

There's no part of his game other than the fact he's strong that really stands out for me. (From what I've seen) He doesn't have a great passing range, a good shot, even on the ball he is not very progressive and forward thinking. He has poor stamina (often taken off at around 70minites for the youth team) and can be lazy when defending. It is often mentioned that he is actually quite underwhelming at youth level. People then say he's 'saving himself/too good' for youth level. Nothing I've seen in his last two starts has altered my above thoughts. He genuinely has a flawed game that needs so much more work if he's to develop into the player people want him to be.

I don't really know what type of midfielder he is as a result. For whatever reason (6"3 and black?) people seem to have this perception he will be like Pogba/Toure Yaya, and this his ceiling is higher than other youth players around him. I'm still trying to fathom what exactly people see when they make these claims. I equally can't fathom why he has been getting such praise in his last two games for really quite average performances, and I think some people are probably putting their heads in the sand. He has been slow and extremely unadventurous on the ball and when defending espiecally against WBA was poor. Mikel gets lambasted for EXACTLY the same type of performances. I mentioned his lack of passing range - the only two times against WBA he attempted a pass that wasn't a 5-10 yard nothing pass they were off target (one was for Costa where he waited so long Costa was offside, the other he tried switching the play and the ball was 10 yards above the recipient's head).

I appreciate that Mourinho himself does seem to rate this guy very highly. That's not the be all and end all, given he also wanted to build a team around Oscar and didn't rate Alex. There are two talents contracted to us right now that, for me, are better than RLC and make far more sense to have in the squad next season in Aké and Chalobah. Aké within 2 minutes of coming on against WBA made a forward through ball pass for Solanke, showing more adventure and vision than RLC had all game. He equally with the ball at his feet rarely took more than 2 touches and looked to pass forward, not to the CBs. Chalobah is nearing 100 senior appearances and is still a very good talent, I don't feel the club have handled his development well at all.

This won't be popular and feel free to disagree, and it is also possible that Mourinho sees more in training that makes him rate RLC so highly but as of now I don't think he'll make it and certainly don't think he'll be a world class box to box midfielder who'll save us 40-50m on Pogba. I hope I'm proved wrong. Watch him closely next time he plays, objectively and you'll probably see some of the flaws I mentioned.

Excellent post. Mourinho has promoted in his career only those big, dominant players so far. Mikel, Santon, Balotelli, Varane, Morata, Zouma, all of them 6'2" at least. Now RLC is the one. That suggest me something about Ruben's appreciation from Mourinho but I also want to see who follows Ruben and have a shot for the first team.

He has the trust of the coach and the club, so it will be up to him to deliver when given the chance and show progress.

I think If he fulfills his potential, he will be a world class box to box midfielder because he clearly has the talent. On his day in youth games, he can dribble and drive the ball forward with power, technique and pace like no other, attributes that are very rare in players.

His passing is average at best. So Mikel in him. Only when he drives he is class. And many times he doesn't drive and play positional, controlling football in which he is poor. When he has space he needs to run through. There were glimpses in WBA game of that, 2 or 3 times and actually that were the most positive bits and highlight moments. But he also had many opportunities with open space to start the run but he declined instead.

I think there is huge reward waiting for patiently developing his passing, stamina and courage to run through the midfield though it seems to me from current stand that it will be long road with no guarantees.

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This is my opinion on RLC, bearing in mind I've seen him 30-40 times over the last 2 seasons and I'm just being honest. It really wouldn't surprise me if other people who have watched him silently agree or see where I'm coming from.

In general, he's been massively overhyped and his accelerated development (IMO) is down to the fact he's physically bigger than everyone else. In youth games he very rarely stands out on the pitch, it is often the players around him that perform better but he gets rated extremely highly. (Remember how good Lewis Baker was last season?)

There's no part of his game other than the fact he's strong that really stands out for me. (From what I've seen) He doesn't have a great passing range, a good shot, even on the ball he is not very progressive and forward thinking. He has poor stamina (often taken off at around 70minites for the youth team) and can be lazy when defending. It is often mentioned that he is actually quite underwhelming at youth level. People then say he's 'saving himself/too good' for youth level. Nothing I've seen in his last two starts has altered my above thoughts. He genuinely has a flawed game that needs so much more work if he's to develop into the player people want him to be.

I don't really know what type of midfielder he is as a result. For whatever reason (6"3 and black?) people seem to have this perception he will be like Pogba/Toure Yaya, and this his ceiling is higher than other youth players around him. I'm still trying to fathom what exactly people see when they make these claims. I equally can't fathom why he has been getting such praise in his last two games for really quite average performances, and I think some people are probably putting their heads in the sand. He has been slow and extremely unadventurous on the ball and when defending espiecally against WBA was poor. Mikel gets lambasted for EXACTLY the same type of performances. I mentioned his lack of passing range - the only two times against WBA he attempted a pass that wasn't a 5-10 yard nothing pass they were off target (one was for Costa where he waited so long Costa was offside, the other he tried switching the play and the ball was 10 yards above the recipient's head).

I appreciate that Mourinho himself does seem to rate this guy very highly. That's not the be all and end all, given he also wanted to build a team around Oscar and didn't rate Alex. There are two talents contracted to us right now that, for me, are better than RLC and make far more sense to have in the squad next season in Aké and Chalobah. Aké within 2 minutes of coming on against WBA made a forward through ball pass for Solanke, showing more adventure and vision than RLC had all game. He equally with the ball at his feet rarely took more than 2 touches and looked to pass forward, not to the CBs. Chalobah is nearing 100 senior appearances and is still a very good talent, I don't feel the club have handled his development well at all.

This won't be popular and feel free to disagree, and it is also possible that Mourinho sees more in training that makes him rate RLC so highly but as of now I don't think he'll make it and certainly don't think he'll be a world class box to box midfielder who'll save us 40-50m on Pogba. I hope I'm proved wrong. Watch him closely next time he plays, objectively and you'll probably see some of the flaws I mentioned.

Great post, a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Having said that I hope you won't mind that I personally disagree with you!!! Firstly, I feel RLC has looked very good in his 2 appearances for us - he has been incredibly solid, made no mistakes, been very calm and collected under pretty high pressure and did not look 1 iota out of place to my eye. And in my opinion, this should be the most important thing for a young player when first coming into a team. Too many youngsters come in and try so desperately hard to impress & end up making lots of mistakes in their over-exuberance. RLC just gave off such an air of maturity, and to me that is key for any player, but even more so a central midfielder. This likely comes from my view that attitude and commitment is 90% of football and I like a player that is so mature and calm beyond his years (Azpilicueta the shining example of this).

As for the emboldened part of your original post, I believe the comparisons to Pogba and Toure come due to arguably RLC's best feature; his ability to pull out marauding runs. From what i've seen of the youth teams over the last few years (and i've watched a fair bit) he just seems to hold an air, a presence in the centre of the pitch. Then when he picks up the ball from deep and senses a gap and starts running with those ridiculously long legs of his, not a player can touch him. Yaya was at his best when he was doing this, he was nigh on unstoppable fairly once he'd built up a head of steam & I saw similarities of this in RLC's runs. These runs almost always came to nothing but it showed his commitment to get the team going forwards and give our team (and hopefully in the future our fans) the drive to stand up and be counted alongside him. It's a similar situation to Hazard for me, when that man gets the ball, every person in that stadium is watching him with bated breath to see what he does next. This is due to his ability to glide past players and work through gaps for other players on the pitch or himself. It gives a huge boost to our fans and to his teammates and it's a quality that very few footballers have nowadays (players like Gerrard, Lampard & Pirlo thrived off of this and so became such important players for their respective teams). RLC possesses this ability IMO, he just needs the right coaching and the right guidance to unlock this potential.

While RLC is a long, long way from the finished article, I feel like he has all of the tools to be one of the great players of the next generation. IMO he has that 'it' factor that can be neither quantified nor explained, he has the build for a tough intimidating league, as I said before I think that he shows incredible maturity and composure that belies his few years of professional experience, he has a commitment to become the best he can be, he definitely has the talent (he proved this during some outstanding appearances for a brilliant youth team over the past few years) and finally (and possibly most importantly) he has the backing and faith of Jose and the backroom staff.

I can see why you think like you do and to be fair a lot of what I have said is opinion and so could well be complete bollocks (I have been known to talk my fair share on occasion) but this is what I truly believe.

Finally I hope you do not mind that I agree in hoping that you are indeed wrong!!! I would love to see one of our own in the shape of RLC come through our ranks and become another club legend in the ilk of JT.

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Excellent post. Mourinho has promoted in his career only those big, dominant players so far. Mikel, Santon, Balotelli, Varane, Morata, Zouma, all of them 6'2" at least. Now RLC is the one. That suggest me something about Ruben's appreciation from Mourinho but I also want to see who follows Ruben and have a shot for the first team.

His passing is average at best. So Mikel in him. Only when he drives he is class. And many times he doesn't drive and play positional, controlling football in which he is poor. When he has space he needs to run through. There were glimpses in WBA game of that, 2 or 3 times and actually that were the most positive bits and highlight moments. But he also had many opportunities with open space to start the run but he declined instead.

I think there is huge reward waiting for patiently developing his passing, stamina and courage to run through the midfield though it seems to me from current stand that it will be long road with no guarantees.

You can bet your top dollar it will likely be Izzy brown which would further strengthen the theory he favors size over talent.

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This is my opinion on RLC, bearing in mind I've seen him 30-40 times over the last 2 seasons and I'm just being honest. It really wouldn't surprise me if other people who have watched him silently agree or see where I'm coming from.

In general, he's been massively overhyped and his accelerated development (IMO) is down to the fact he's physically bigger than everyone else. In youth games he very rarely stands out on the pitch, it is often the players around him that perform better but he gets rated extremely highly. (Remember how good Lewis Baker was last season?)

There's no part of his game other than the fact he's strong that really stands out for me. (From what I've seen) He doesn't have a great passing range, a good shot, even on the ball he is not very progressive and forward thinking. He has poor stamina (often taken off at around 70minites for the youth team) and can be lazy when defending. It is often mentioned that he is actually quite underwhelming at youth level. People then say he's 'saving himself/too good' for youth level. Nothing I've seen in his last two starts has altered my above thoughts. He genuinely has a flawed game that needs so much more work if he's to develop into the player people want him to be.

I don't really know what type of midfielder he is as a result. For whatever reason (6"3 and black?) people seem to have this perception he will be like Pogba/Toure Yaya, and this his ceiling is higher than other youth players around him. I'm still trying to fathom what exactly people see when they make these claims. I equally can't fathom why he has been getting such praise in his last two games for really quite average performances, and I think some people are probably putting their heads in the sand. He has been slow and extremely unadventurous on the ball and when defending espiecally against WBA was poor. Mikel gets lambasted for EXACTLY the same type of performances. I mentioned his lack of passing range - the only two times against WBA he attempted a pass that wasn't a 5-10 yard nothing pass they were off target (one was for Costa where he waited so long Costa was offside, the other he tried switching the play and the ball was 10 yards above the recipient's head).

I appreciate that Mourinho himself does seem to rate this guy very highly. That's not the be all and end all, given he also wanted to build a team around Oscar and didn't rate Alex. There are two talents contracted to us right now that, for me, are better than RLC and make far more sense to have in the squad next season in Aké and Chalobah. Aké within 2 minutes of coming on against WBA made a forward through ball pass for Solanke, showing more adventure and vision than RLC had all game. He equally with the ball at his feet rarely took more than 2 touches and looked to pass forward, not to the CBs. Chalobah is nearing 100 senior appearances and is still a very good talent, I don't feel the club have handled his development well at all.

This won't be popular and feel free to disagree, and it is also possible that Mourinho sees more in training that makes him rate RLC so highly but as of now I don't think he'll make it and certainly don't think he'll be a world class box to box midfielder who'll save us 40-50m on Pogba. I hope I'm proved wrong. Watch him closely next time he plays, objectively and you'll probably see some of the flaws I mentioned.

And this is very clear to those that follow youth football. Since he became a regular in the youth and reserve team, he's always been outperformed by other midfielders. 3 seasons ago Chalobah was the standout midfielder, 2 seasons ago, Lewis baker was the main man and last/this season, Colkett has been pulling the strings. To his defence, when he's playing well, He looks like a top top prospect but that doesn't happen often enough.

I attribute his hype amongst Chelsea fans to his performance in the friendly against City (I was guilty of overhyping him after that performance as well, I will admit). The sentiment back then was, if he could play that well against the champions and a midfield consisting of Toure and Silva albeit in a friendly then the sky was the limit. his inconsistency and tendency to fade out of games has always been apparent.

However he's still a very good prospect with strengths and weaknesses just like any other player

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Exactly. I forgot who I told that Ake has impressed me more than RLC.

Ake has more technical quality and is robust in challenges and energetic in his overall play. I value those qualities over anything I've seen from RLC.

RLC is a good tackler from what I've seen but if Aké is given equal opportunities you'll see who the fans will love more.

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Exactly. I forgot who I told that Ake has impressed me more than RLC.

Ake has more technical quality and is robust in challenges and energetic in his overall play. I value those qualities over anything I've seen from RLC.

RLC is a good tackler from what I've seen but if Aké is given equal opportunities you'll see who the fans will love more.

It was me. I don't understand why you compare the two? It's like comparing Makelele to Ballack.
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