14 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

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.

But you can ONLY judge players who might be potential purchases by how they play with other formations and players. 

A single example  of someone who turned in a great season after a move doesn't really make a full case.  For every David Johnson, I give you a Kezman, a Torres, a Shevchenko, a Sutton, a Veron, blah, blah, blah. 

And that's JUST our purchases, in the last few years.

Wilson was pants on Wednesday, was pants in every other match against Bournemouth that I have watched and appears to actually be a downgrade on Morata, if that is actually possible. (At least there is normally a defender within 10 yards of Morata when he falls over)

He played well out wide but it looks weird a guy that big playing on the wing.

He’s kept his head down and let his football do the talking and in my opinion has played himself into Sarri’s plans.

Got to respect the lad for that.

Good discussion of RLC in this article. 

http://www.espn.com.au/soccer/chelsea/story/3733313/chelsea-manager-maurizio-sarri-say-there-is-no-christmas-for-us

He was *iss poor today when he came on - running around like a big half-hearted floppy rag doll.  No commitment to making tackles.  Not going to ever be a Chelsea great.

Not sure why he didn't start today. If Pedro or Willian had played a blinder then fair enough but both were utterly sh*t.

I still don't rate him at CM, I still don't think he has the minerals.

5 minutes ago, Bloo said:

He was *iss poor today when he came on - running around like a big half-hearted floppy rag doll.  No commitment to making tackles.  Not going to ever be a Chelsea great.

Log out mate.

See him as a wide man really, most of his effective performances have come there for Palace and for us.

After his performance against Bournemouth he should have started today I think. It is often tricky to come on as a sub when you are chasing a game against a well organized team. 

Really having to do it the hard way if he is to make a success at our club.

Sarri just won't give him a chance from the start in a league game (Wolves the only exception so far).

Agree with all the above, RLC should have started today in place of Willian who just looks completely jaded and looks like he has played far too much football recently.

On 22/12/2018 at 17:23, RIP Mourinho said:

Log out mate.

 

On 22/12/2018 at 18:43, Nickcook26 said:

Really having to do it the hard way if he is to make a success at our club.

Sarri just won't give him a chance from the start in a league game (Wolves the only exception so far).

Agree with all the above, RLC should have started today in place of Willian who just looks completely jaded and looks like he has played far too much football recently.

But can either of you explain exactly what Ruben did against leicester?  |To my mind he was worse than Willian, and the poster above summed it up perfectly "running around like a big half-hearted floppy rag doll.  No commitment to making tackles. "

I like Ruben a lot, but he was a feckless waste of trousers on Saturday.

41 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

 

But can either of you explain exactly what Ruben did against leicester?  |To my mind he was worse than Willian, and the poster above summed it up perfectly "running around like a big half-hearted floppy rag doll.  No commitment to making tackles. "

I like Ruben a lot, but he was a feckless waste of trousers on Saturday.

Read the last line of his comment, you'll understand why i told him to log out.

30 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

 

But can either of you explain exactly what Ruben did against leicester?  |To my mind he was worse than Willian, and the poster above summed it up perfectly "running around like a big half-hearted floppy rag doll.  No commitment to making tackles. "

I like Ruben a lot, but he was a feckless waste of trousers on Saturday.

He's always seemed a moody lad to me. Has all the tools to develop into a top player but the mentality is just not there. 

He's been impressive in most of his appearances this season, improving each time, then 1 poor sub appearance, when the whole team was sh*t, and all of a sudden he's not going to make it again. You people never cease to astound me.

27 minutes ago, Zeta said:

He's been impressive in most of his appearances this season, improving each time, then 1 poor sub appearance, when the whole team was sh*t, and all of a sudden he's not going to make it again. You people never cease to astound me.

 

He's being praised when he does well and is being criticized when the opposite happens. Can't see a problem here.

1 hour ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Read the last line of his comment, you'll understand why i told him to log out.

Yeah, fair point, well made.  I didn't spot that.

Doesn't change the fact that he was pants on Saturday, in a game when we really needed him to step up (as well as all the others, to be fair)

Edited December 24, 20187 yr by yorkleyblue

3 hours ago, yorkleyblue said:

 

But can either of you explain exactly what Ruben did against leicester?  |To my mind he was worse than Willian, and the poster above summed it up perfectly "running around like a big half-hearted floppy rag doll.  No commitment to making tackles. "

I like Ruben a lot, but he was a feckless waste of trousers on Saturday.

He was bought on when we were chasing the game.

After Kovacic had drifted through the game offering little to nothing in terms of attacking threat Ruben is thrown on to try and rescue the game. So he’s tasked with taking risks and forcing the issue.

That’s not easy, especially when the whole team has been pretty impotent for an hour. When you’re doing those things when it doesn’t come off you look poor, especially when contrasted to playing safe sideways 5 yard passes.

RLC had played well coming on against Brighton, played well in mid week against Bournemouth and was then bizarrely left out of the line up against Leicester. 

Should have started the game ahead of either Kovacic or Willian

I don't really think the "when we were chasing the game" point works.  He HAD played well in the previous matches, I agree, and I thought initially that he should have started, but when you can say that we were worse off when he came on and that he was actually worse than Willian in the Leicester match, then putting in his best efforts when chasing the game is the very least you should expect.  Instead, he was tripping over his own feet, running into his own players, constantly losing the ball and generally being ineffective.  As above, floppy and half-hearted describes his (and a lot of  the team's) performance.

Maybe it's attitude, maybe it's fitness, maybe it's I don't know what, but Saturday was not his finest hour.  Despite how much some of us want it, perhaps Ruben isn't starting matches regularly because the manager and training staff see something of that in him.  

Honestly, to me, it looks like when he fancies it, he is a very good player, and when he doesn't fancy it, he just cant; be arsed.  In my opinion, If he was to fancy it every minute he gets on the pitch, he would get more minutes on the pitch.  If my back was against the wall, I'd rather have a Willian or Kovacic than Ruben not being arsed.  If I KNEW that Ruben would turn up and play as we all know he could, I'd take him over any of those in an instant.

Just a bad game on Saturday, no excuses, and he was far from the only one.  Worst for me in the second half was Hazard.  Also half-hearted and seemingly couldn't be arsed.

5 hours ago, yorkleyblue said:

Yeah, fair point, well made.  I didn't spot that.

Doesn't change the fact that he was pants on Saturday, in a game when we really needed him to step up (as well as all the others, to be fair)

Oh yeah i know he was sh*t, as were the rest of the team, just annoying seeing him make a statement that he'll never be a great because of a 30 minute performance. The bloke has completely ignored all the games this season when he has been by far our best player. He should have started this game from the start, then i'd be more inclined to accept criticism against him. 

12 hours ago, yorkleyblue said:

But can either of you explain exactly what Ruben did against leicester?  |To my mind he was worse than Willian, and the poster above summed it up perfectly "running around like a big half-hearted floppy rag doll.  No commitment to making tackles. "

Of all people, I would have imagined you having a more horizontal view on the particular performance you are discussing.

Willian played in the 60 minutes where we were in total control of the ball and the game. He had a wonderful chance, a chance all top players should put away, but he didn't. The rest of the time, he walked into blind allays and lost the ball.

I am not a grand defender of Loftus-Cheek, but assessing him on this particular game is unfair. He was subbed in when the team, according to Sarri, had already pulled the plug on playing the system they had been trying to perfect since July. 

Edited December 25, 20187 yr by opinionsarelike

Is he injured?

Can't see confirmation either way as to whether he was carrying a knock or just not selected.

If the latter, I'm very concerned. Hopefully he is injured but not seriously.

On 25/12/2018 at 00:02, opinionsarelike said:

Of all people, I would have imagined you having a more horizontal view on the particular performance you are discussing.

Willian played in the 60 minutes where we were in total control of the ball and the game. He had a wonderful chance, a chance all top players should put away, but he didn't. The rest of the time, he walked into blind allays and lost the ball.

I am not a grand defender of Loftus-Cheek, but assessing him on this particular game is unfair. He was subbed in when the team, according to Sarri, had already pulled the plug on playing the system they had been trying to perfect since July. 

So we can only assess Ruben if he has a decent game, is that what you mean?

And Willian being on the pitch for 60 minutes and us being " in total control of the ball and the game" could well be related, don't you think?

1 hour ago, Nickcook26 said:

Can't see confirmation either way as to whether he was carrying a knock or just not selected.

If the latter, I'm very concerned. Hopefully he is injured but not seriously.

Unless there is an impeding transfer with another club?