Ruben Loftus-Cheek

[OhForAGreavsie 5,773]

On 22/03/2017 at 9:33 PM, Stats said:

Yes. Who remembers this run he done for our U19 in the Uefa Youth League three years ago. A certain Leroy Sane was playing for the Schalke U19 in this game. The way he has accelerated to the top is amazing. But this run brings back memories of what RLC is capable of.

No one who saw it could ever forget it I think. Nor will I ever forget the post match comments of the Schalke coach. Not a single one of his team, he said, would have any chance of getting into that Chelsea line up and, as you pointed out, Sane was in his team that day.

This passage of play does though contain a glimpse of an area in which Ruben needs to improve. Having been commenting on this for the last 5 years however, I can't justify being optimistic that the penny will drop. People often observe that Ruben is defensively lazy but I don't really agree with that. My gripe is that he needs to be more active when we have the ball. There are often spells in games where Rubes barely touches the ball and makes no impact on the game whatsoever. He needs to be busier getting open, demanding the ball, affecting play, then getting open again. Notice how, after he has released the ball to Charly, Ruben immediately slackens his pace with a body language which says my work is done.

I grant you this is not the worst example of this trait but I'd want to see him determinedly supporting the ball again. It doesn't matter how godd you are, if you don't get on the ball, the game will pass you by.

 

[Special Juan 27,092]

Palace season long loan, done.

[Chelsea4 1,521]

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[Johnnyeye 7,403]

On 10/07/2017 at 11:07 AM, OhForAGreavsie said:

Notice how, after he has released the ball to Charly, Ruben immediately slackens his pace with a body language which says my work is done.

in this instance a player like Lampard would have kept running and maybe receive the ball back to score in the process, thats what Lampard has given us for so many years, those runs in to the box, Ruben can work a lot on that aspect of his game, i think he´s got that in his arsenal, that run against Schalke from the back was simply amazing, beating 5 players in the process, he showed he´s got something special, hope he can develop even more at Palace, it will be great for him and his confidence. I would love for some of our players to have that kind of movement Lampard used to have, Cesc and Hazard comes close but they are no Lampard in terms of scoring. Cheers

[xPetrCechx 13,546]

“It’s nice to see Ruben Loftus-Cheek going to Crystal Palace,” Allardyce told the Press Association.

“I think if he’d done it five years ago he may well have been another Dele Alli or Harry Kane but unfortunately his development has been blocked by staying at Chelsea so long.”

Sam Allardyce

[mccg 1,528]

Elsewhere among our loanees in England, Ruben Loftus-Cheek played the entirety of Crystal Palace’s friendly against Schalke 04 in midfield and managed to look good despite playing alongside Jason Puncheon, who may be many things but is certainly not a central midfielder. Loftus-Cheek has started Palace’s last three friendlies, impressed on each occasion and may well start their opening Premier League fixture against Huddersfield.

[akgw13 867]

I hope RLC gets a full season in the CP midfield and shows his potential. I always dreamed he would be a B2B for us, Conte had him playing too high up for me personally. Lets hope he finally puts it all together and comes back to be a contributor in our Midfield. I am back on the hype train with him. 

[termninja 5,290]

49 minutes ago, akgw13 said:

I hope RLC gets a full season in the CP midfield and shows his potential. I always dreamed he would be a B2B for us, Conte had him playing too high up for me personally. Lets hope he finally puts it all together and comes back to be a contributor in our Midfield. I am back on the hype train with him. 

Agree fully with your post, I don't like position Conte seems to play him in. Freedom in midfield for him, but it could be that Conte hasn't been satisfied with his defensive work rate in midfield so he pushed him higher up.

[akgw13 867]

Just now, Sh0n3x said:

Agree fully with your post, I don't like position Conte seems to play him in. Freedom in midfield for him, but it could be that Conte hasn't been satisfied with his defensive work rate in midfield so he pushed him higher up.

Very possible, Id think if we transition to more of a 352 this year RLC will have a better chance in a 3 man as the most attacking player of the 3. In a 2 man I think you are right he hasn't shown the work rate(he might this year) Either way a full year playing an important role for a sneaky good team in CP will do wonders for him I think.

[termninja 5,290]

3 minutes ago, akgw13 said:

Very possible, Id think if we transition to more of a 352 this year RLC will have a better chance in a 3 man as the most attacking player of the 3. In a 2 man I think you are right he hasn't shown the work rate(he might this year) Either way a full year playing an important role for a sneaky good team in CP will do wonders for him I think.

Yes, I'm happy he's on loan, hopefully he will get a good amount of games in his legs.

[The Mak 4,459]

FYI, it looks like he had a good game. Really grew into it as it went on.
 

 

[Chelsea? 892]

Would've been easier to incorporate him in next year if we had kept Matic. We wouldn't need to spend money on a Drinkwater. Then next year, if this guy really impresses at CP, he can come in and take 65min sub role, Cesc current role. 

[Gilvorak 3,734]

Fecking hell...........

[Pizy 17,860]

 ^ Wow. Looks a completely different player when he's playing with confidence like he did there. Also pretty clear that he's a CM who's best at running with the ball from deep rather than almost a striker like Conte tried him as.

Hopefully he develops nicely there and returns a much better (less lazy) player who's ready to slot into the first team.

[Mufassir08 2,400]

Woah some crazy skills from Lofty there. Let's hope he can keep it up for the entirety of this season and comeback a much more refined player next year.

[The Mak 4,459]

4 hours ago, Pizy said:

 ^ Wow. Looks a completely different player when he's playing with confidence like he did there. Also pretty clear that he's a CM who's best at running with the ball from deep rather than almost a striker like Conte tried him as.

Hopefully he develops nicely there and returns a much better (less lazy) player who's ready to slot into the first team.

Yep! I always wondered why he was continued to be deployed as an AM when running from deep was one of his biggest traits...I remember that friendly against City, he was out-Yaya'ing Yaya with those types of runs...

It's actually quite frustrating when I think about it. He could have been getting this experience well over a year ago. I hope his development has not been stunted because of the wish to fulfill homegrown rules.

[The Mak 4,459]

Palace fans:
 

Quote

Loftus-Cheek - 7
For me, he was our best player - he was quick, powerful and on it. He linked up well with everyone, successfully took on the opposition and provided us with options. I have no clue why Chelsea have let him go on a season long loan, because he is quality and will be an England regular one day.

 

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Loftus-Cheek: 7 (MOTM)- Best player in Red and Blue by far, looks more composed in possession than the rest, especially in the second half when playing CM.

 

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Only Loftus-Cheek looked good today. The worst was Riedewald who looked so far off the pace, and Ward who was played out of position.

But the worst was the manager who is trying too much too fast and without the personnel to do it. We're a counter-attacking team that needs two good wingers.

 

 

[Blue Armour 4,158]

Why do these boys play so differently when with us? Just tactics or just become so much more nervous when playing for the Blues 11?

Barring McEachran/Kakuta, haven't seen any of the academy products play to their best when slotted into the starting 11 in recent years..

Christensen is not an out and out academy product but I hope he will be the one to finally seize the opportunity he's going to get.