14 minutes ago, Kentonio said:

I thought he did once or twice, but it might have been pre-season games. I could be wrong though, my memory is terrible. 

Yeah a couple of times in pre-season when still trying to use a 4-2-4. Would be interesting to see if it could work in Sarrismo though.

He played in three different positions tonight and didn’t look out of place in any of them. Looked best on the right, did ok on the left but I was glad Ross made way for Eden because I was half expecting it to be RLC. 

Can he play striker just as good? Was he ever tried ? He seems more physical than Morata and has the height and pace that Giroud does not.

If he can i would love to see an attacking team like this: 

Kepa

Caesar Rudiger Luiz Emerson

Kante Jorginho Kavacic

Willian Hazard Pedro

RLC

2 minutes ago, brownindian said:

Can he play striker just as good? Was he ever tried ? He seems more physical than Morata and has the height and pace that Giroud does not.

If he can i would love to see an attacking team like this: 

Kepa

Caesar Rudiger Luiz Emerson

Kante Jorginho Kavacic

Willian Hazard Pedro

RLC

Problem with that team is we would be cheating.

1 minute ago, jack_super_class said:

Problem with that team is we would be cheating.

heh heh - i dunno if RLC can play striker - but if he can, man that is one huge problem solved. We have our own home grown striker, we can play youth/academy in the starting line up., that 30 million for Callum Wilson can be spent elsewhere. All this assuming that he will be great in that role.

16 minutes ago, brownindian said:

heh heh - i dunno if RLC can play striker - but if he can, man that is one huge problem solved. We have our own home grown striker, we can play youth/academy in the starting line up., that 30 million for Callum Wilson can be spent elsewhere. All this assuming that he will be great in that role.

It's 12 players.

14 minutes ago, Zeta said:

It's 12 players.

Depends on how you currently view Willian  some people here would argue it’s still 11!

He’s grown as a player over the course of the season, which I thought he would do and I still think he’s some way off his peak. There’s room for improvement, his stamina is still questionable and he needs to keep up his performance for the 90 minutes, as he does tend to dip in the last 15 minutes of games, but he’ll get there. The media are linking him to Bournemouth and West Ham, which if I was Ruben, I’d find disrespectful tbh. They seem desperate for him to leave for some strange reason, if they truly cared about English talent they’d want him to stay and be apart of a big club surely? He won’t be leaving anyway.

Edited December 20, 20187 yr by Floyd25

2 hours ago, Zeta said:

It's 12 players.

Doh !! Clumsy me (Remove Willian)!

but u get the idea - i want to try to move away from Morata. Also, replacing our MF for RLC is good for RLC but oes not make us better but trying to replace a Morata with RLC sounds like it has potential. I can see this wont be good for the England squad but it might be better for RLC getting game time with Chelsea and us not depending on Morata.

37 minutes ago, Floyd25 said:

He’s grown as a player over the course of the season, which I thought he would do and I still think he’s some way off his peak. There’s room for improvement, his stamina is still questionable and he needs to keep up his performance for the 90 minutes, as he does tend to dip in the last 15 minutes of games, but he’ll get there. The media are linking him to Bournemouth and West Ham, which if I was Ruben, I’d find disrespectful tbh. They seem desperate for him to leave for some strange reason, if they truly cared about English talent they’d want him to stay and be apart of a big club surely? He won’t be leaving anyway.

They just want him to be a starter consistently and given his competition it is not easy. 

5 hours ago, brownindian said:

They just want him to be a starter consistently and given his competition it is not easy. 

Exactly. But that doesn't mean he should give up. Find it a strange attitude from some pundits. 

10 hours ago, brownindian said:

Can he play striker just as good? Was he ever tried ? He seems more physical than Morata and has the height and pace that Giroud does not.

Conte played with it a bit, but it never seemed to really work. Maybe in this new system though he could push on. It might be a bit wasteful though, as his ability to drive through from midfield would be lost. Personally I think we should just keep giving him game time in that attacking midfield and let him fully develop. He's already feeling like a genuine member of the squad instead of just a kid who might get a few minutes if he's lucky.

11 hours ago, brownindian said:

30 million for Callum Wilson

Is that the donkey Callum Wilson who played last night?  Were some people SERIOUSLY suggesting we should be thinking about buying him?

3 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

Is that the donkey Callum Wilson who played last night?  Were some people SERIOUSLY suggesting we should be thinking about buying him?

He seemed to be watching Morata, spent more time falling over and appealing for non-existent free kicks than playing football. 

9 hours ago, brownindian said:

They just want him to be a starter consistently and given his competition it is not easy. 

They’d love him more if he was at Spurs or Liverpool though. The best thing for him to do is stick around and keep fighting, he’s only going to get better and he’s building up more game time.

3 hours ago, benjsross said:

Exactly. But that doesn't mean he should give up. Find it a strange attitude from some pundits. 

Agreed, I wish they’d stop saying he needs to leave, or he could leave in January. First of all we’ll never sell him or loan him in January because we need him for squad depth and home grown reasons and secondly, he’s getting more and more game time. 

18 minutes ago, Floyd25 said:

Agreed, I wish they’d stop saying he needs to leave, or he could leave in January. First of all we’ll never sell him or loan him in January because we need him for squad depth and home grown reasons and secondly, he’s getting more and more game time. 

I'd love to have a chat with one of these pundits. 

"Why would Chelsea sell him and if they did, who would they get to replace him that is as good?"

13 hours ago, Floyd25 said:

He’s grown as a player over the course of the season, which I thought he would do and I still think he’s some way off his peak. There’s room for improvement, his stamina is still questionable and he needs to keep up his performance for the 90 minutes, as he does tend to dip in the last 15 minutes of games, but he’ll get there. The media are linking him to Bournemouth and West Ham, which if I was Ruben, I’d find disrespectful tbh. They seem desperate for him to leave for some strange reason, if they truly cared about English talent they’d want him to stay and be apart of a big club surely? He won’t be leaving anyway.

I have exactly the same opinion as you. He's playing very well at the moment, but I still think there's a long way to go. I rate him very highly. Like you said, he's playing brilliantly for 60-70 minutes then seems to tire. I'm hoping this will improve with more game time.

He's the one player in the team other than hazard who I feel can create something out of nothing in the final 3rd. It's exciting when he's on the ball and running at defenders - for that reason I'd have him starting most games for us.

RLC always had talent, even last season you could see on loan but it just wasn't enough. He was very static for a midfield player, but that's where he was played a lot most of the time, so we didn't really know where his best position was. I think this season was the task for him to come into himself and find and show what he's good at. He's definitely an attacking player, all the attributes are there and he loves going forward with and without the ball. 

I think this is where the Europa League comes in handy, if we were in the Champions League I really doubt RLC would've started any games, nevermind CHO... But because of the Europa League has heeb given a great chance to show what he's about and he has definitely done that. For me he's above Barkley in the pecking order right now, and I'm definitely not against him starting some Premier League games. 

For me RLC's best position would be at the top of a midfield diamond yet that shape has not figured under our last two Italian tacticians.

He still has it all to do defensively, as soon as he dropped back Bournemouth started exploiting gaps and creating dangerous situations. However this last month he has improved in ways i thought were beyond him (mainly more influence on a match) so he has brought himself time but if he doesn't improve defensively he will carry on being what he is now which is a rotation player for four positions.

8 hours ago, yorkleyblue said:

Is that the donkey Callum Wilson who played last night?  Were some people SERIOUSLY suggesting we should be thinking about buying him?

Its hard to view players in other teams with a different formation and different supporting players.

I remember when David Johnson could barely get a game for Ipswich and when he did he was bang average. Then, somehow, he got a free move to Liverpool, probably as back up, and the next season hit the record as the highest goalscorer in the league.

I had to add this video to the Legend that is RLC

Edited December 20, 20187 yr by robdog

5 hours ago, robdog said:

I had to add this video to the Legend that is RLC

If willian's first touch hadn't been sh*te that would have been a sumptuous assist. And if his shot was inches further to his lift he'd have had a goal too. Also put in some key tackles late in the game when we were under pressure. Hopefully he starts at the weekend, or at least gets 30 or so minutes if he's to start on the bench, he's looking like a lethal player the more game time he gets. 

Yeah... I like him so much more on the front line... looking like a top 3 choice there to me.