🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ruben Loftus-Cheek

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

I must admit the only thing I cared about for this match was the guard of honour.... Now though, NOW! Its all about Ruben Loftus Cheek!!!!! This is a great chance for him to put a marker down for next year and I hope he takes it.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Good luck for him today. Show us what you got.

[DavidEU 2,023]

Apparently it's in Mourinhos programme notes that RLC starts. Surely if he's playing today, he'll play the remaining three matches.

Good luck, Ruben. Show us what you've got.

[dUMB 189]

He impressed me in 10 mins vs Sporting, hope he shows his skills again today. Good luck Ruben!

[CHOULO19 24,332]

What if we don't even buy a midfielder this summer and the plan is to use RLC instead...

I'm sure there will be some here that would love that but I really hope that's not the case.

Central midfielder? Unless someone leaves, of course we won't buy a central midfielder.

We just spent upwards of 50m the two transfer windows before last on central midfield and it's a position where we have top class starters and quality squad players. Why in the world would we spend more money there?!

[Blue Colored Sky 1,807]

I'm nervous. He hasn't played regularly for half a year ... In and around 5 games since January.

I really don't want to hear when he is way out of match fitness that he proofs that Academy players are not ready. Keep in mind that he hasn't played for months.

Hoping for the best though. Well over 100m£ investment was made to get here having one of the best Academies in Europe and he's one of the first fruits of it.

[bababoom 4,478]

Central midfielder? Unless someone leaves, of course we won't buy a central midfielder.

We just spent upwards of 50m the two transfer windows before last on central midfield and it's a position where we have top class starters and quality squad players. Why in the world would we spend more money there?!

Because in the big games Cesc struggles while playing deeper. We have Ramires and Mikel who both can play next to Matic but lets be honest their not up to scratch, especially Mikel. Ramires is more of a box to box player but his lack of technical ability is astonishing. We need another top class footballer in the middle of the park who can play deeper in the big games. We dont really want another season of playing Zouma next to Matic do we?

[Pizy 18,909]

Central midfielder? Unless someone leaves, of course we won't buy a central midfielder.

We just spent upwards of 50m the two transfer windows before last on central midfield and it's a position where we have top class starters and quality squad players. Why in the world would we spend more money there?!

Are you serious? We've seen this season how our form and quality has plummeted along with Fabregas'. God forbid one of Matic or Cesc got a long term injury because the quality of their replacements drops off massively.

Also, as much as I hate to admit it, Cesc is was pretty awful against the biggest sides and gets exposed by top quality midfielders who are athletic and have pace.

We 100% need a new midfielder.

[Rom2013 446]

He deserves it, it must be difficult to play 1 minute in one game, and 10 in another for a kid that wants to show what he can do. Played well against Sporting and I hope he can do it in the next games. I was expecting to see him run more in the game against Sporting, with more desire (something normal when a young player starts to play) but with the ball he was really good.

Well deserved chance.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Because in the big games Cesc struggles while playing deeper. We have Ramires and Mikel who both can play next to Matic but lets be honest their not up to scratch, especially Mikel. Ramires is more of a box to box player but his lack of technical ability is astonishing. We need another top class footballer in the middle of the park who can play deeper in the big games. We dont really want another season of playing Zouma next to Matic do we?

You want players better than Mikel and Ramires to sit on the bench?! Unless we've become Real Madrid, that is going to be incredibly hard to do.

Cesc has played much worse in advanced areas than deep, especially in bigger matches. Also, the issue of him playing deeper in those matches seems to have been solved by Rami on the right wing and Oscar/Willian in front. I think that has worked very well.

Zouma doesn't play in midfield unless everyone else is out or we need someone to win headers and first balls in front of the back four when the opponents are playing with two strikers.

Are you serious? We've seen this season how our form and quality has plummeted along with Fabregas'. God forbid one of Matic or Cesc got a long term injury because the quality of their replacements drops off massively.

Also, as much as I hate to admit it, Cesc is was pretty awful against the biggest sides and gets exposed by top quality midfielders who are athletic and have pace.

We 100% need a new midfielder.

You can't have 22 world class players in your team in case someone gets a long term injury. You get top starting players and solid squad players who are okay with reduced playing time but can fill in adequately when needed.

And I completely disagree with pinning our whole style and performance on Cesc's form. I think that's a ridiculous simplification. There were various factors, the biggest of which was probably manger choice, which for me proved to be right in the end.

So, we barely 3.14% need a new central midfielder!

Anyway, back to RLC, signing a FIFTH central midfielder drops him back to SEVENTH choice (considering Zouma). So we might as well sell him already.

[DYC. 7,542]

Central midfielder? Unless someone leaves, of course we won't buy a central midfielder.

We just spent upwards of 50m the two transfer windows before last on central midfield and it's a position where we have top class starters and quality squad players. Why in the world would we spend more money there?!

I disagree with the quality squad players part. Cesc and Matic were played to death. It even got to the point where you could obviously tell they were very tired. But the drop in quality is too big when even just one of the two is missing from the starting XI. Both Ramires and Mikel are lacking in too many areas. So barely any rotation there, bar injuries, suspensions and the big game shuffles.

That can't happen again. Adding a player for rotation but more importantly adding some competition is key imo. And that way neither Cesc or Matic can become too comfortable with their nailed on starting spots. I hope one of Ramires and Mikel moves on, with a new player coming in.

[Pizy 18,909]

You want players better than Mikel and Ramires to sit on the bench?! Unless we've become Real Madrid, that is going to be incredibly hard to do.

Cesc has played much worse in advanced areas than deep, especially in bigger matches. Also, the issue of him playing deeper in those matches seems to have been solved by Rami on the right wing and Oscar/Willian in front. I think that has worked very well.

Zouma doesn't play in midfield unless everyone else is out or we need someone to win headers and first balls in front of the back four when the opponents are playing with two strikers.

You can't have 22 world class players in your team in case someone gets a long term injury. You get top starting players and solid squad players who are okay with reduced playing time but can fill in adequately when needed.

And I completely disagree with pinning our whole style and performance on Cesc's form. I think that's a ridiculous simplification. There were various factors, the biggest of which was probably manger choice, which for me proved to be right in the end.

So, we barely 3.14% need a new central midfielder!

Anyway, back to RLC, signing a FIFTH central midfielder drops him back to SEVENTH choice (considering Zouma). So we might as well sell him already.

The new midfielder would replace Oscar in our first XI, not sit on the bench.

RLC can play in the secondary competitions next season like the FA Cup and League Cup. Maybe the occasional PL match as a sub. Now that we've seen Zouma can fill in as a DM Mikel has become redundant and can be moved on.

There's a reason we've been linked with all of these world class CM's. We certainly need one.

[Barbara 15,149]

Cesc pretty awful in big matches?

I think I've missed many Chelsea matches this season...

[!Hazard! 3,394]

When was the last time academy player was given a start in Premier League? Very excited to see RLC today!!

[Pizy 18,909]

Cesc pretty awful in big matches?

I think I've missed many Chelsea matches this season...

Awful was perhaps too strong a word.

He certainly found it hard to impose himself in matches in the new year, that much is unquestionable.

Can't remember the amount of bitching I've done in match threads about how easily we were bossed in midfield even by terrible sides. Much of that was down to Cesc being as slow as a tanker and getting blown past.

[boshman 1,073]

Go on Ruben. Smash it today, mate!

[Eidur the Spider 4,515]

GO ON RUBEN!!!

[ZOS 580]

was looking forward to see him with Matic and Cesc ... but Jose had to flip this one last middle finger to the 'boring boring chelsea' band wagon by putting Mikel ... such a troll .. can't complain though

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I disagree with the quality squad players part. Cesc and Matic were played to death. It even got to the point where you could obviously tell they were very tired. But the drop in quality is too big when even just one of the two is missing from the starting XI. Both Ramires and Mikel are lacking in too many areas. So barely any rotation there, bar injuries, suspensions and the big game shuffles.

That can't happen again. Adding a player for rotation but more importantly adding some competition is key imo. And that way neither Cesc or Matic can become too comfortable with their nailed on starting spots. I hope one of Ramires and Mikel moves on, with a new player coming in.

That has nothing to do with the quality of the backup because it happened for every single position. Jose WANTED to play the best team in every single game even when there were options he's showed he can trust like Zouma, Luis, Ramires and even Cech. According to Jose himself, defensive midfield "is the only position where we have duplicates" because he sees Matic and Mikel as very similar. You won't see rotation unless Jose decides so.

The new midfielder would replace Oscar in our first XI, not sit on the bench.

RLC can play in the secondary competitions next season like the FA Cup and League Cup. Maybe the occasional PL match as a sub. Now that we've seen Zouma can fill in as a DM Mikel has become redundant and can be moved on.

There's a reason we've been linked with all of these world class CM's. We certainly need one.

Like we're linked to Pogba?

Attacking midfielder is whole different story. He may play centrally but the central attacking midfielder in our system cannot play the deeper role. We saw that with Cesc this season. The roles and duties are just too dissimilar. We definitely need an attacking midfielder but I think we will much more likely go for someone who plays on the right (as well as a back up for Eden) because both Oscar and Willian can play centrally.

Oh, and Zouma can fulfill a job as defensive midfielder in certain scenarios but he is not one. He is a CB. He does not have the technical ability nor the positional awareness to play there for prolonged periods if needed.

[Yeboii 1,844]

was looking forward to see him with Matic and Cesc ... but Jose had to flip this one last middle finger to the 'boring boring chelsea' band wagon by putting Mikel ... such a troll .. can't complain though

Maybe using Mikel so Loftus-Cheek has more freedom to go forward and such.