🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ruben Loftus-Cheek

[chrismada9 1,948]

Names with hyphens are cool.

They've been pretty good for us too...

[Blue Colored Sky 1,807]

If Ruben is THE ONE to make it, then I think that's a very good pick. He's in top3 in terms of potential from our current crop. The only thing that's concerning me is that I don't know where he would play ? It's obvious that we need one world-class midfielder in the summer. Assuming that Mikel is off (and that's is very likely since it was reported that he stays because he was waiting for his British passport) there's a room for Matic direct backup and I think there's only one space we can promote youngster. I don't think currently Ruben is the best for that role, Chalobah would be better for me. But when Mikel first joined Chelsea he was supposed to play as a number 10 only to be converted to DM. But overall I don't give much shit if Ruben fits or not because I'm desperate for youngster to break through.

Ruben strikes me as a player who is very professional. I remember watching his short Youtube video when he for example did sprints at midnight and couple of more things. Of course I very much like the look of him as a player. Big man, two-footed with that kind of technique, I like that. He's very, very good when motoring through the middle. Not so much when he passes but we get there. Considering that his sheer size may attract Jose as the youngster to develop since Mou likes big youngsters.

However, I just ponder over this. I remember his words about Chalobah too good. And why Jose is telling something like that out of the blue ? Through his 18month spell here he reminds us every 1,5-2 months that he's here to develop and promote our youngsters, that this one crop are going to be Chelsea players "for sure". Jesus, he's teasing us. And why saying things like that out loud ? Other managers doesn't have to inform whole world what they're going to do but Jose ensures that everyone knows that this miracle, as we can call Chelsea integrating youth product, will happen. Maybe he wants to get his message to Ruben himself to push him another bit further with his efforts but it may be wish-thinking from me.

And also, we're going to be midtable team next season, right ? Because fighting for the title is a big pressure, but so is fighting for top4. Just look at the situation right now. We're actually in more comfort zone than let's say Liverpool or Arsenal. Yet LFC can promote and play Jordan Ibe without hurting their results and chances to get to the top4. The same about Arsenal's Bellarabi for example. We fought for top4 in 2012 and 2013 and you cannot tell me that it was much less pressure than it is now with us.

Anyway maybe Jose wanted to say that Chelsea and him drop the burden off theirs shoulders with finally getting this title ? And maybe he's saying that we're gonna have another 3 or 4 brilliant players in our team next season to make brilliant team so it will be easy to squeeze one youngster in ?

I'm sceptical but would love to see Ruben getting 15-20 games, about 800-900 minutes, that would do for the beginning. I can't believe anyone who says that it is not possible. Forget about other youngsters, I hope that Jose will pick the one, who is "his youngster" and mould him.

[jasonlol 154]

he was beyond horrible today for the u-21's today; mind you whole team was rubbish

[Blue Colored Sky 1,807]

It's normal. He hasn't played for weeks and he's not experienced enough to slot easily without games. I didn't watch the game but I read that Ake was shit too and he's the one also without gametime for weeks and weeks. Jeremie Boga came on against Spurs in FA Youth Cup and also looked out of depth after over a month break.

While I was wondering why Jose came out of the blue with comments about RLC not even being questioned about it I just reminded myself that is the usual time when Jose prepares next season. It was about February last year for example when he started speaking more openly that they're going to sign a proper striker next season. I read books about it, articles about it how Jose always prepares next season about half-time into current season. About February he prepares with his team who they need to sign next season, who they're going to play in the summer, what they have to improve, in what areas, a complex gameplan going forward. When he was at Spain they talked about it extensively. It was also the case with Inter when he sat after the defeat against Man Utd with Moratti to talk what moves they're going to do in the summer and what areas to improve. So seems that Jose deducted and concluded that RLC will be part of his plan next season I guess. Anyway, first step is being made already because he talks about him in person, calling his name instead of speaking broadly "youths" or "kids" like he used to do.

[Gilvorak 3,734]

So RDM just sent out a team with an average age of 22 to the Bernabeu in a CL knockout tie and they completely outplayed Real. Today's game just killed two birds in one stone for me.

1. "The Bundesliga is weak". No PL side atm could put in a performance like that. Wasn't too long ago Rodgers had Liverpool fans celebrating a 1 nil loss.

2. "Youngsters can't be trusted against good teams"

Sane who was one of Schalke's best players was only just playing U19 matches a few weeks ago. Loftus-Cheek did this to him in our game against Schalke

But apparently he isn't good enough to get more than garbage time minutes in a game.

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

So RDM just sent out a team with an average age of 22 to the Bernabeu in a CL knockout tie and they completely outplayed Real. Today's game just killed two birds in one stone for me.

1. "The Bundesliga is weak". No PL side atm could put in a performance like that. Wasn't too long ago Rodgers had Liverpool fans celebrating a 1 nil loss.

2. "Youngsters can't be trusted against good teams"

Sane who was one of Schalke's best players was only just playing U19 matches a few weeks ago. Loftus-Cheek did this to him in our game against Schalke

But apparently he isn't good enough to get more than garbage time minutes in a game.

Lets be honest it was hardly a great performance by Real Madrid, they looked out of ideas at times and individual mistakes helped Schalke but yes it was a very good performance.

Its different to play for Schalke at age 17 or 18 than is it to play for Chelsea and you know this. Lets be honest what team in the PL right now is currently playing a 18 year old or 19 year old from their academy regularly in their first 11 that are in the top 6? Nobody is. Sterling at Liverpool and Wilshere at Arsenal have been the only exceptions players I can think of who at that age came through and played regularly in the last 4 or 5 years. Perhaps throw Ross Barkley into that list because of Everton's high finish last year and maybe Jon Flanagan too but still its only 4 players then.

[mikeholiday 209]

lets get mou fired then

[Rom2013 446]

So RDM just sent out a team with an average age of 22 to the Bernabeu in a CL knockout tie and they completely outplayed Real. Today's game just killed two birds in one stone for me.

1. "The Bundesliga is weak". No PL side atm could put in a performance like that. Wasn't too long ago Rodgers had Liverpool fans celebrating a 1 nil loss.

2. "Youngsters can't be trusted against good teams"

Sane who was one of Schalke's best players was only just playing U19 matches a few weeks ago. Loftus-Cheek did this to him in our game against Schalke

But apparently he isn't good enough to get more than garbage time minutes in a game.

We are taking about the team that lost 0-5 against us right?.

[lionsden 4,689]

We are taking about the team that lost 0-5 against us right?.

No He's talking about the team that outplayed madrid and beat them at the bernaneau and were very unlucky not to advance to the QF

[lionsden 4,689]

So RDM just sent out a team with an average age of 22 to the Bernabeu in a CL knockout tie and they completely outplayed Real. Today's game just killed two birds in one stone for me.

1. "The Bundesliga is weak". No PL side atm could put in a performance like that. Wasn't too long ago Rodgers had Liverpool fans celebrating a 1 nil loss.

2. "Youngsters can't be trusted against good teams"

Sane who was one of Schalke's best players was only just playing U19 matches a few weeks ago. Loftus-Cheek did this to him in our game against Schalke

But apparently he isn't good enough to get more than garbage time minutes in a game.

The number of youngsters breaking through at big clubs in the 80's and 90's significantly dwarfs the current number. It will be incredibly stupid and naive to conclude that youngsters were better and more first team ready back then than now, what has changed is the ridiculous influx of cash flow and the insatiable appetite for spending and seeking quick fixes.

the money factor also puts added pressure on the club and managers to succeed due to the financial ramifications of not doing so. nowadays finishing in the top four to qualify for UCL is celebrated like a major achievement. Money is the biggest factor for me. The richer the club, the less inclined they are to bringing through young players from the academy and it's wrong.

There's no excuse for any top club to not use some youngsters in the less glamorous cup competitions though. atleast 2 youth players should be getting good minutes in the COC and FA cup.

[Blue Colored Sky 1,807]

So RDM just sent out a team with an average age of 22 to the Bernabeu in a CL knockout tie and they completely outplayed Real. Today's game just killed two birds in one stone for me.

1. "The Bundesliga is weak". No PL side atm could put in a performance like that. Wasn't too long ago Rodgers had Liverpool fans celebrating a 1 nil loss.

2. "Youngsters can't be trusted against good teams"

Sane who was one of Schalke's best players was only just playing U19 matches a few weeks ago. Loftus-Cheek did this to him in our game against Schalke

But apparently he isn't good enough to get more than garbage time minutes in a game.

When I saw than Sane kid I was like "what ? I know this guy". I recognised him with that afro that he was playing vs our U19 setup back in September. Apparently he played good, I didn't remember anything particular from him. I remember that Boga and RLC were making fun in the middle. They completely outplayed their counterparts that day. And Schalke is currently regarded as the best youth developers in Germany so basically one of the best in Europe. And that's right and our Bogas, Musondas, RLCs and Solankes were playing some joyful stuff against them. Our youngsters are as good as you can find. Imagine player like Boga, who looks like a boss whenever he's fully fit against any opposition, not playing any minute in the team yet. Imagine that. They would be already wanking over his talent if he was still in France. The same would be about Musonda if he'd stayed in Anderlecht. Here ... I remember those Van Ginkel words. Remember that Van Ginkel was orginally brought because there wasn't any youngster to take that spot, right ?

@TheWSNetwork/status/475295800483127297

The mere suggestion that youth player can't play against proper senior team irritates me. Jeez, they're already developed technically as well as physically. Most of them won't improve themself much in either aspect, only tactical things.

Yet Mourinho made it very clear that RLC is potentially destroyer of our titles hope. It's sad. To be fair I wouldn't give a flying fu** if Mourinho made it from the very beginning that he doesn't count on youths, but he's saying that they "take a great care of our youths" and "constantly think about that matter" [exempt from interview with Gary Neville back in October]. So, it creates expectations. I originally thought and I'm still doing that, at the last season of Mourinho's current contract in 2016-2017 I want to see a full-time first team member treated the same like Oscar is for example, playing in majority of our games. I'm still doing that and giving our boss a time but I thought that it will be an introduction process, giving him minutes here and there. For Mourinho to play youth though, the game has to be as dead as possible like 6:0 against Maribor. Add to that that Jose no longer is aggressive coach with his substitutions who can take someone off in 30 minutes, because he pisses him off, even in that dead rubber matches he only bring youngster to play 10-20 minutes. I'm not giving up hopes for Mourinho to finally bring some youngster directly from the Academy, but I don't know how he'll do that. I really don't. He's allergic to rotation, he wants to rotate his side as less as possible, so where he can squeeze some youngster to give him meaningful minutes ? Against Bradford we were 2:1 up and Mikel got an injury in 71 minute. There was natural replacement on the bench in Ake, instead Mourinho, of course, chose "a safe" option with Fabregas only to have midfield wide open and be ripped 2:4 in the space of 20 minutes. Because youth is not the proper player you know. The fact is that you have to risk with youth at least a little bit. Why it is so difficult to give ONLY A ONE YOUTH PLAYER, WHO WILL BE SURROUNDED BY FULL INTERNATIONALS 800-900 minutes when you play over 5000 in a season. I don't get it. Surely you minimize risk to bare minimum right ? Or it's still too risky ?

I still give Jose time because he deserves that and I stick to my idea of having full-time first team member in his last season. But I thought that it will be diffrent process. Currently it's very difficult to imagine how he does it. And if he doesn't he'll certainly pull Kurt Zouma's card just like he's pulling Varane's and Mikel's to say "I promote youth". And just one little caveat is that the only Academy which will be happy about having Zouma in important role in Chelsea's first team squad will be that in St Etienne ...

[Bir_CFC 3,455]

Jose values trust over everything. And he just can't trust a youth player. The dude would have to be absolute world class for Jose to give him a chance.

Don't think this is a choice either, that's just Jose's mindset. Don't expect it to change anytime soon. Just hope we end up playing a few dead rubber matches where these youngsters are able to play and earn Jose's trust.

[Rom2013 446]

No He's talking about the team that outplayed madrid and beat them at the bernaneau and were very unlucky not to advance to the QF

The same that lost 0-5 against us right?

[lionsden 4,689]

The same that lost 0-5 against us right?

And we are the same team that lost 4-2 to a league one side, Bradford at home i,e we are absolutely dogshit, right? . we can play this game all week.

[Rom2013 446]

And we lost 4-2 to a league one side, Bradford at home i,e we are absolutely dogshit, right? . we can play this game all week.

That you need to ask to the person that is saying Schalke and german teams are increadible because they won 4-3 in the Bernabeu. It's a great question to do to him...

[lionsden 4,689]

That you need to ask to the person that is saying Schalke and german teams are increadible because they won 4-3 in the Bernabeu. It's a great question to do to him...

The Bundesliga has outperformed the premier league in europe over the last 3 seasons, so yes, The bundesliga is one of europe's great leagues and their representatives are high quality teams.

That's besides the point anyway. Gilvorak's point was that the myth that "youngsters cannot hang with the big boys" was once again busted last night by schalke who went to the home of the defending champions and outplayed them with a team containing a few youngsters. Let's use our very own Zouma, who busted the myth as well, as an example, if he wasn't given proper minutes to showcase what he's capable of, the general consensus would have predictably been "He's only 20, He's not ready yet, let's ship him out on loan once again" Heck some fans think playing a youngster against relegation and midtable premier league teams is suicidal and will definitely result in a catastrophic result of epic proportions nevermind the European champions

[lucio 5,418]

He's mentioning this guy too much to be talking garbage....hopefully...

[Rom2013 446]

The Bundesliga has outperformed the premier league in europe over the last 3 seasons, so yes, The bundesliga is one of europe's great leagues and their representatives are high quality teams.

That's besides the point anyway. Gilvorak's point was that the myth that "youngsters cannot hang with the big boys" was once again busted last night by schalke who went to the home of the defending champions and outplayed them with a team containing a few youngsters. Let's use our very own Zouma, who busted the myth as well, as an example, if he wasn't given proper minutes to showcase what he's capable of, the general consensus would have predictably been "He's only 20, He's not ready yet, let's ship him out on loan once again" Heck some fans think playing a youngster against relegation and midtable premier league teams is suicidal and will definitely result in a catastrophic result of epic proportions nevermind the European champions

Yes and we can't win with a team that costed less than 30M€... Porto of Mourinho busted that when they won the CHampions League... let's sell all our players and buy players plyers from Paços de Ferreira and União de Leiria.

You can always see something to moan about... I can see the Inter of Mourinho and say it's easier to win with players with a lot of experience, I can see Porto and say it's posible to win the CHampions League with a team that cost a lot less than the best player of Madrid at that time (FIgo), it's possible to win with almost all players coming from from la Masia, It's posible to win with the most epansive team in history like Real Madrid last season, it's possible to win with Bradford in Stamford Bridge, it's possible to win with Greece in a Euro... it's possible...

Everything it's possible... the probability of that happening it's not the same...

It makes no sense to talk about Schalke like they were something increadible when we won 0-5 against them 2 or 3 months ago... I'm sorry.

Let's take another example... Shaw is playing like shit for United... so that means all english players are shit and we should't give any chance to any young english player. It's really easy to make conclusions like you do...

[lionsden 4,689]

Yes and we can't win with a team that costed less than 30M... Porto of Mourinho busted that when they won the CHampions League... let's sell all our players and buy players plyers from Paços de Ferreira and União de Leiria.

You can always see something to moan about... I can see the Inter of Mourinho and say it's easier to win with players with a lot of experience, I can see Porto and say it's posible to win the CHampions League with a team that cost a lot less than the best player of Madrid at that time (FIgo), it's possible to win with almost all players coming from from la Masia, It's posible to win with the most epansive team in history like Real Madrid last season, it's possible to win with Bradford in Stamford Bridge, it's possible to win with Greece in a Euro... it's possible...

Everything it's possible... the probability of that happening it's not the same...

It makes no sense to talk about Schalke like they were something increadible when we won 0-5 against them 2 or 3 months ago... I'm sorry.

Let's take another example... Shaw is playing like shit for United... so that means all english players are shit and we should't give any chance to any young english player. It's really easy to make conclusions like you do...

Everything is possible and everything is risky in football. Proven world class players flop and untested youngsters flourish however there's no way of knowing what will work and which players will shine unless you actually try and jose has history of not trying enough or taking enough risk in this regard nd it seems some fans share similar mentality. Rodgers had no way of knowing sterling would be a success for sure, one can only go off instinct and initial judgement, but he tried anyway and it paid off. The question is are we trying enough?

[killer1257 3,282]

Just give him a chance.I am tired of seeing first team players like Oscar,Willian,Mikel and Ramires get one chance by another and still manage to perform shit,while players like RLC do not get one chance to show what they are capable of.

No,I am not saying that RLC should have played today,but I am sure that the physical presence of RLC is more threatening than Ramires.

He could have had a lot more minutes,but Mou does not know how to integrate youth players into the team,so it is hard to see youth players getting chances.

We all knew that the physical presence of PSG was a threat,but still we played Ramires,Oscar and Fabregas,which made it too easy for PSG to control the midfield.Matic is not a superhuman who can destroy Veratti,Motta and Matuidi by himself.That is not possible.

I still remember the day when RLC destroyed Lord Yaya lol