I gave up on a lot of the youth lads unfortunately.

 

I used to follow McEachran for years and I truly believed he was going to be a star, at 17 years old the lad looked absolutely on another planet, he had technique like Scholes and his vision was just outstanding.

 

Now look at him and I can't believe how downhill he has went. I think that new contract didn't help him at all, he didn't focus on football after that.

 

But now that I've just put that very depressing post on here, I'll now say that I'm looking forward and hoping to see if we have any youngsters playing, been a while since I have seen some play.

You've just described John Obi Mikel

 

Excellent reading of the game? 

 

He's also capable of ghosting past players, picking out a pass in the final third and contributing goals. 

He definitely can ghost past players:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5r1yV2Zfsro

Because he proved that he is ready to be a squad player?

After one game? Hardly. I think the fact that he cant even get in the squad at Cologne speaks volume about how ready he is

It's great seeing the youth is getting a shot. Does anyone know if Ake is fit and ready for playing time tonight?

Quite a few people seem to be concerned that Loftus-Cheek looks lazy off the ball. Might be worth remembering that exactly the same was said of Peter Osgood throughout his brilliant career. I'm not comparing him to Ossie, just saying that some players have this laid back style - Matt Le Tissier was another. Doesn't mean he's lazy or no good, let's just give him a chance.

Hes not even a squad player at Cologne, not sure why you think hes ready to be a squad player here. 

 

I hope to see Kalas make it here, but one good game against Liverpool isn't enough to assess his potential. Yes, he played well at Anfield last season, but playing with a parked bus like we did you could have taken a League 2 CB and he would have played just as well.

Edited December 10, 201411 yr by the special one

It's great seeing the youth is getting a shot. Does anyone know if Ake is fit and ready for playing time tonight?

Hamstring injury I think ?

It's great that we have an opportunity to rotate players ahead of our game against Hull, especially in light of our run of six games in eighteen days.

 

I'm interested to see if we can maintain our defensive solidity despite the changes. It will be fantastic if Loftus-Cheek gets some minutes.

Quite a few people seem to be concerned that Loftus-Cheek looks lazy off the ball. Might be worth remembering that exactly the same was said of Peter Osgood throughout his brilliant career. I'm not comparing him to Ossie, just saying that some players have this laid back style - Matt Le Tissier was another. Doesn't mean he's lazy or no good, let's just give him a chance.

 

Some players are like that, it's how they play, it can be a trait aswell as a disadvantage, those sort of players never seem to let the pressure get to them.

 

Look at the likes of Berbatov and Toure, not all youth players have to be dedicated and hard working, however they do have to be talented so we shall see.

I watched Loftus Cheek vs. Man city in the American end of season games and he was physically matching Yaya toure and Kompany at 17 years and 5 months, that was 18 months ago. Since then I've watched him in youth matches and I have to day I think he has a very good chance of making it at the club. I hope he starts tonight.

I think loftus cheek is getting harshly judged to be honest, I saw him play against Italy and he was fantastic. He has the ability to break forward like Toure does, and he looked like he had improved greatly from what I saw of him last season.

Lovely debut. Dodgy first touch but didn't get deterred and showed some lovely touches against a team who were somewhat out on their feet.

 

Still, a very positive step forward for him and the club.

Those 5 minutes were amazing for him. He had like 6 successful passes, 1 dribbling, 1 shoot. Very impressed me, this boy has a future.

Would like to see him, Ake and Baker start against Watford in the cup, mixing them with the top players like Hazard and Matic and so on.

Not entirely happy he got a measly 8 minutes. We had the game won, it meant nothing anyway.

Surely playing 20-30 mins wasnt too much to ask.

He did well when he came on, but very hard to form any sort of reasonable opinion from 8 mins.

Not entirely happy he got a measly 8 minutes. We had the game won, it meant nothing anyway.

Surely playing 20-30 mins wasnt too much to ask.

He did well when he came on, but very hard to form any sort of reasonable opinion

He isnt even training with first team full time yet, I think a 10 minute cameo was probaby expected, even if it would have been nice from a fans point of view for him to get longer.

He actually played more than 8 minutes due to injury time.

I really think you're overreacting to how many minutes he got. Those 10 mins will have meant the world to him and he looked good. He won't be back in the first team now for a while so whether it was 20, 10 or even 5 minutes it was just to give him a taste. Training with the first team is where the real development will be.

Edited December 10, 201411 yr by Bobbywoodhogan

He did well when he came on, his size and power give him a real advantage in getting into the first team squad. Next up Boga please Jose.

He is very strong and persistent, i especially like the way that he just continued to plow through those two players and got the pass away too. 

For the short time he was on the pitch, for a youngster making his Champions League debut, Rosie* did ok,. In fact, he did more than ok. The offside chance towards the end would have added a touch of magic to the occasion, had he managed to put it awway... but he knew he was offside (don't argue!) and I'm as sure as I can be that he will have other opportunities to show what he can do on the bigger stage.

 

 

 

 

*Rosie Cheeks

He actually played more than 8 minutes due to injury time.

I really think you're overreacting to how many minutes he got. Those 10 mins will have meant the world to him and he looked good. He won't be back in the first team now for a while so whether it was 20, 10 or even 5 minutes it was just to give him a taste. Training with the first team is where the real development will be.

Possibly, but it's so very rare that we get a competitive game where we have nothing to lose really, and I thought Jose would have done more for the boy after bigging up 'academy day'.

no doubt the experience was good...but it's not much for him, the coach or the fans to go on going forward. Has a token feel to it.

He'll probably be sent on loan to Vitesse and have constant loans. If Jose can't even start him in what is literally, a meaningless game then he's never going to play for Chelsea.

Bet we'll never see him again this season.

Edited December 10, 201411 yr by JM7

He'll probably be sent on loan to Vitesse and have constant loans. If Jose can't even start him in what is literally, a meaningless game then he's never going to play for Chelsea.

Bet we'll never see him again this season.

 But was it so meaningless? We'd already qualified as group winners, so I can't argue that the game had no relevance as far as the Champions League goes.

 

But in the context of the season as a whole, more immediately the run up to the Christmas/Holiday period. Winning is a habit, and so is losing. Having just lost our unbeaten record at the weekend, it was surely important to get back on to a winning track as soon as possible. It certainly wouldn't have been a disaster had we not won tonight's match, but  neither would it have helped with morale.

 

And so the meaning to tonight's match was the restoration of the winning mentality, the feelgood factor, going some way towards repairing any dents in the team's self-belief that may have occurred as a result of losing at St James.

 

To return to the subject, I fully agree with Bobbywoodhogan in that those few minutes on the pitch will have been massively significant to the player himself. He's now made his full Chelsea debut, he's had a taste of the big time, and if he's any kind of player - which we have every reason to believe he is, then having had a taste, he'll be wanting more and more.

 

Given that the huge expectations at a club like ours make it difficult for youngsters to breakthrough, and equally difficult or the manager to find the right time to play the youngsters, then we really do have to be patient. For those bewailing the lack of youth team prospects making it into the first time, bear in mind that the Chelsea Academy isn't the finished article: it's a relatively new venture that's only just beginning to bear fruit.

 

We may or may not see Ruben Loftus-Cheek playing for the first team again this season, with ties against Watford and Derby in the offing, I certainly wouldn't write off the possibility of the player making further first team appearances. Who knows, we may even see him on the pitch on Saturday.

 

I hope he makes it, as I'm sure we all do. The longer it is since the Academy was first established, the higher is the quality of the players it produces, and with this increase in quality so does so do the odds of a player (or players) from the Academy making a real breakthrough, not to be loaned to Vitesse, or settling for a career either in the lower leagues or at a not quite so ambitious Premier League club, but as a Chelsea player. It'll come, of that I'm confident.

Sadly he didn't have a lot of playing time last night but I liked what I saw. There's definitely something to work with and continue nurturing as he develops and matures through the coming years.

 

Those 10 minutes will be invaluable for a young kid like that! Good on him!