2 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

That would be incredibly stupid. Loftus-Cheek is nowhere near ready for a game like that.

Rushing him back risks him getting another injury, which is something that has already plagued his career. How would playing him now help us? he wouldn't improve our performances in his current condition. He hasn't played a game of football in nearly 9 months.

The only game I can see him starting in any time soon is F.A cup 5th round game.

 

2 hours ago, dkw said:

Do you really think rushing back a young player with a history of bad injuries is a good idea? As Scott says he needs nursed back in, 20 minutes here and there to begin with. 

Forgive the excitement gentleman. He is several levels above anyone else we have in our side and a joy to watch. I am hopeful his recovery takes a massive step forward soon.

We really need to take a step back in terms of expectations regarding RLC and his return.

For a start I don't expect him to be remotely at his best till next season.

Furthermore the more we are struggling to break teams down the greater RLC is being portrayed as being a world class talent. We are in danger of expecting the love child of a gang bang between Messi, Ronaldo, Zidane and some bird that Bosnich sent over.

59 minutes ago, loz said:

We really need to take a step back in terms of expectations regarding RLC and his return.

For a start I don't expect him to be remotely at his best till next season.

Furthermore the more we are struggling to break teams down the greater RLC is being portrayed as being a world class talent. We are in danger of expecting the love child of a gang bang between Messi, Ronaldo, Zidane and some bird that Bosnich sent over.
 

He has the potential to be world class and I believe he will become so IF he can stay fit.

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

 

Forgive the excitement gentleman. He is several levels above anyone else we have in our side and a joy to watch. I am hopeful his recovery takes a massive step forward soon.

That's fair enough, I think we all want to see him back and playing like we all know he has the potential to do. 

12 hours ago, Sindre said:

It's going to incredibly interesting to see how he looks after he comes back.

His achilles was shredded to the point where it looked like a horses tail. And he's had several set-backs during recovery. His calves halved in size as well so it was a horrifying injury.

For this season i think we should be happy enough if he gets back to playing. Even a littlebit here and there.
I certainly am not expecting more. His injury is one that could easily derail careers but we all need to hope he makes it back to his best.

That's what's worrying me to be honest, expectations for his return are far too high and I worry he's in for a hard time when it dawns on the impatient section of our fanbase (especially on social media) that it's going to take a long time till we see the version that ended last season.

I'm already mentally preparing myself to defend him against some pretty inane comments like I've had too with the rest of the young players.

I don’t think he will play for another 3/4 weeks 

Started and played 60 minutes of a behind closed doors friendly today against Brentford B. Came through it completely unscathed with no sign of any pain. He's getting close!

On 03/02/2020 at 00:51, loz said:

We really need to take a step back in terms of expectations regarding RLC and his return.

For a start I don't expect him to be remotely at his best till next season.

Furthermore the more we are struggling to break teams down the greater RLC is being portrayed as being a world class talent. We are in danger of expecting the love child of a gang bang between Messi, Ronaldo, Zidane and some bird that Bosnich sent over.

The far greater concern is whether he actually fits with the high pressing game Frank wants to play. Ruben has been called out as lazy off the ball his whole career, with that in mind I can't see him stepping into the role Mount is playing atm which is where he played under Sarri. There is also a big concern about whether his fitness would hold up in a game where you need to work harder without the ball.

Bringing him in will mean a very different way of playing than the way we have set up this season if we want the best out of him. So I'm not sure  he's certainly not the silver bullet to fix our problems.

Any highlights of his performance?

Any highlights of his performance?

12 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

The far greater concern is whether he actually fits with the high pressing game Frank wants to play. Ruben has been called out as lazy off the ball his whole career, with that in mind I can't see him stepping into the role Mount is playing atm which is where he played under Sarri. There is also a big concern about whether his fitness would hold up in a game where you need to work harder without the ball.

Bringing him in will mean a very different way of playing than the way we have set up this season if we want the best out of him. So I'm not sure  he's certainly not the silver bullet to fix our problems.

I have accused him of being a bit lazy in the past but i did change my opinion in that he is just a bit languid similar to how Ballack didnt always look like he was busting a gut but then the stats would show he ran the most and did the most sprints... some players just look like that 

2 hours ago, Bonzodog29 said:

I have accused him of being a bit lazy in the past but i did change my opinion in that he is just a bit languid similar to how Ballack didnt always look like he was busting a gut but then the stats would show he ran the most and did the most sprints... some players just look like that 

I always disagreed with the Ballack assessments. He dId much more than people thought he did without the ball. Our midfield was never as strong after he left.

Ruben on the other hand I still have question marks over. Great attacking strengths. Rolls Royce with the ball. But even last year under Sarri he largely had a role that didn't require much effort without the ball.

6 minutes ago, Spiller86 said:

I always disagreed with the Ballack assessments. He dId much more than people thought he did without the ball. Our midfield was never as strong after he left.

Ruben on the other hand I still have question marks over. Great attacking strengths. Rolls Royce with the ball. But even last year under Sarri he largely had a role that didn't require much effort without the ball.

We already have Kante and Mount that are doing a lot without the ball, we really need RLC to do something with the ball!

6 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

We already have Kante and Mount that are doing a lot without the ball, we really need RLC to do something with the ball!

Sure but you have to do both. What I am saying is the high pressing style doesn't suit him, so we may need to bin it to fit him in. 

With a high press either everyone presses properly or it doesn't work. You just leave gaps for other teams to pour through. Witness Sarri last season when Hazard didn't press. 

5 minutes ago, Spiller86 said:

Sure but you have to do both. What I am saying is the high pressing style doesn't suit him, so we may need to bin it to fit him in. 

With a high press either everyone presses properly or it doesn't work. You just leave gaps for other teams to pour through. Witness Sarri last season when Hazard didn't press. 

Part from Mount pressing high I don't see the rest of the midfield doing it, when Kante does it as well it leaves us very open so even he should take it down a notch...If RLC is to play without Mount then it would be enough just to have him a bit higher up the pitch and that problem is solved.

30 minutes ago, Spiller86 said:

Sure but you have to do both. What I am saying is the high pressing style doesn't suit him, so we may need to bin it to fit him in. 

With a high press either everyone presses properly or it doesn't work. You just leave gaps for other teams to pour through. Witness Sarri last season when Hazard didn't press. 

RLC worked wonders under Sarri and he played a high press.

The only caveat I would mention is RLC had success with previous managers and with Hazard on the pitch.

Without Hazard think the other side always has a spare defender.

Last season under Sarri was his best season with us to-date and it will be interesting to see how Frank uses him once fit.

16 hours ago, evissy said:

Exciting, looking sharp already Ruben 🙂

13 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

RLC worked wonders under Sarri and he played a high press.

But we didn't though. RLC came in as we were binning the high press after the City debacle. 

6 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

But we didn't though. RLC came in as we were binning the high press after the City debacle. 

We never binned the high press, might have been a little more conservative but still stuck with it until the end. 

Playing again in the next U-23 match, he's so close to being ready now.

Could potentially be involved on Monday. Probably a bit too soon though. 

3 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

Could potentially be involved on Monday. Probably a bit too soon though. 

Maybe could make the bench and be an option for 10 minutes if the game allows for it.

He's playing for the u23's against Arsenal on the same night we play United, so there's no chance he'll be involved in that. If he does well for the u23's on Monday then we could start seeing him in the first team squad from the Spurs match onward.