Hope he plays against MK Dons. Would love to see a midfield pairing of him and mikel bossing the game around

And that is the biggest problem with Mourinho, in that he would never have played the youngsters.    His biggest fault (besides his monstrously huge ego), in my view.

Edited January 26, 201610 yr by Phillip

Got anothe assist today.

Got anothe assist today.

And he will be back on the sub bench or stands on Wednesday.

The lad is a starter, if he gets a good run of games he'll be just as good as anybody we could sign in his position next season.

needs to work on his team ethic though ....jose was right when he said he was strolling ...did it a few times today when he lost the ball......lets not big him up into a butch/ hoddle...hazard [mickey]........talents there but,,,

He's just turned 20 last week, that was his first 90 minute game for the first team.

 

He would be better off next to Mikel.

 

Needs to close down quicker, stay focused, and increase the energy output.

 

More game time, and he will be guaranteed to improve, especially playing with the class players around him.

 

He doesn't need to be the next Hoddle, Butch.......

 

Just the next Loftus-Cheek.

I don't see him as a number 10 though, next to a Matic or Mikel in midfield for me.

Yeah, seems abit of a kop out to play him at 10 instead of 6.

 

Reminds me when Carlo played Sturridge on the RW instead of as a Striker, Less pressure I guess, mistakes count for less.

Didnt see the game so im willing to be corrected/informed but from what I have read many people are saying RLC didnt really impress and lacked workrate.

If he wants to be playing premier league football he needs to be able to shine in a game against Championship opposition. Has to catch the eye somehow in order to displace matic/fabregas/mikel. If he's not doing it against Dons, who can he do it against?

i think ruben just hasn't got the engine for a high work rate. i don't know why that is, but it's similar for toure. maybe their size and genetics causes their stamina issues. 

Yeah he defintely looks abit lazy and lacks the high work rate. That said, Fabregas strolls about and he still gets game time.

his touch and passing ability are brilliant. Hopefully it will come with time.

He looked completely fagged out by the 75th minute to me and stopped looking for the ball.

He had a good first half, not sure the match fitness/stamina is there just yet and as others have said, his off the ball, defensive side can improve. Looks disinterested at times when we're not in possession.

Very positive that he got a full 90 minutes under his belt though, hopefully he continues to play decent minutes until the end of the season.

In my opinion, he's missing fitness game, I mean a lot of players that regularly play in every game they improving their fitness and RLC doesn't get that yet. I think it's just matter of time, once he will start play in games, he will improve his fitness game and his work rate will improve.

Thought he was pretty damd good for a 20 year old playing his first full game. His touch and decision making when in possession where excellent. For any one who think's the defensive side of his game was lacking. Spend some time watchng Pogba because that is what you wan't us to spend 70 mill on 

In terms of him looking lazy, that is just his style it seems. I critised him when I saw him play in the youth cup a couple of seasons ago, at the time I thought I was him feeling too comfortable at that level.

I think he needs to improve his stamina and concentration, if he can play with more intensity for longer periods, he will be top drawer.

The only way his stamina will improve is first team football.

The intensity, speed and physicality of the EPL will be night and day from the U21 football which he is used to.

We may as well use him in the league as the top 4 is all but gone. Nothing to lose

to be fair to him, from what i've seen of pogba he has a similar style too. i don't see him help much defensively. ruben was chasing the ball here and there though, which is positive. i am excited we have another academy product on our hands and have high hopes for him, so don't want to be overly critical of him every time he doesn't have a great game. 

He looks like a stylish lazy type of player, with good technique when he receives the ball.

But lets be fair, yesterday's game was like a training session. Bit different to playing fast in your face teams like Leicester or Tottenham. I would play him as a target man up front if we end up not signing any new strikers.

As I think he's not tenacious enough in the top level big matches to be layer in the engine room of midfield. If he becomes more aggressive and faster then I would play more.

I think playing him at the 10 position is a good starting point for him.

 

His technique and touch are excellent but he can get lazy with his ball protection at times. You can see he is used to having an easy time with younger players and hasn't understood that you have to expend more energy to protect the ball against men. He also needs to make some quicker decisions at times instead of putting himself in tight situations.

 

That being said I think he has loads of talent and potential and MUST be given consistent playing time for the rest of the season. Oscar having a big game will delay that a bit though.

Very similar style to Ballack, people understood it with him because he'd made a career of it before he got to us.

What I like about Ruben (besides he's homegrown) is that he wants to take the ball off players that have been at the top for years, yesterday he didn't set the game on fire but he didn't look out of place either.

Well done kid and here's to the proper opportunity that you deserve.

In my opinion, he's missing fitness game, I mean a lot of players that regularly play in every game they improving their fitness and RLC doesn't get that yet. I think it's just matter of time, once he will start play in games, he will improve his fitness game and his work rate will improve.

 

How much of the lack of fitness could have been prevented by him training harder on his own? If he had put in more time in the gym on his own, run more laps after the others had left, would he still lack fitness? I was never a player, so I don't know how much you can accomplish on your own. 

 

For many coaches evaluating youth, technical and tactical mistakes by youth players are more forgivable to managers than lack of passion. They know that youth players will feel lost and confused sometimes. They know youth players will make mistakes on the pitch. Youth players MUST make mistakes on the pitch; mistakes are great teachers. At that age, those mistakes will improve with good coaching, practice, and experience. 

 

Guus Hiddink has alluded to the value he places on effort and passion. He said that Pato must show his desire, and he said that an over-passionate Diego Costa is fine because it's easier to tell a player to dial back than it is to tell them to step it up. I don't know about Guus in particular, but for many managers evaluating youth players, it can make a better impression if you run around like the Tasmanian Devil from the Looney Toons even if that running doesn't do anything productive. 

 

If Ruben Loftus-Cheek is in the "need to step it up" category, that bodes poorly for his future. 

 

P.S. Speaking of the Tasmanian Devil, doesn't he sort of look like Costa?

 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c4/Taz-Looney_Tunes.svg

Edited February 1, 201610 yr by offside

I wouldn't say he was lacking effort against mk dons, he has in the past mainly for the England U21, and I can see why it is a point which will be highlighted and scrutinised, but i wouldn't say that yesterday he wasn't trying to put in a shift and he definitely didn't look like he was lacking passion. I will concede he wasn't running around constantly, like a headless Dirk Kuyt or Ji Sung Park but I don't think that should be required of him especially if he is in the no.10 role, where a constant press will only tire you out, open up gaps in which the opposition can exploit and therefore make the team press and yourself less effective.

What is needed though is intelligently pressing, where you work in waves where the whole team presses as one, this is something Oscar does really well and will often lead this team press. RLC doesn't seem to have this capacity yet but that will be more down to his youthful inexperience and will take time to learn and replicate.

He was pressing the mk dons defense and midfield in particular the left back with Oscar often drifting in field and he was tracking back.

His attacking movement however looked far more intelligent he was constantly finding space and pulling players out of position and his pass for Oscars second was top quality.

For his first full game I thought he conducted himself very well and had a decent game look forward to seeing him move and the undoubted progression we will see in him. Onwards and upwards.    

How much of the lack of fitness could have been prevented by him training harder on his own? If he had put in more time in the gym on his own, run more laps after the others had left, would he still lack fitness? I was never a player, so I don't know how much you can accomplish on your own. 

 

For many coaches evaluating youth, technical and tactical mistakes by youth players are more forgivable to managers than lack of passion. They know that youth players will feel lost and confused sometimes. They know youth players will make mistakes on the pitch. Youth players MUST make mistakes on the pitch; mistakes are great teachers. At that age, those mistakes will improve with good coaching, practice, and experience. 

 

Guus Hiddink has alluded to the value he places on effort and passion. He said that Pato must show his desire, and he said that an over-passionate Diego Costa is fine because it's easier to tell a player to dial back than it is to tell them to step it up. I don't know about Guus in particular, but for many managers evaluating youth players, it can make a better impression if you run around like the Tasmanian Devil from the Looney Toons even if that running doesn't do anything productive. 

 

If Ruben Loftus-Cheek is in the "need to step it up" category, that bodes poorly for his future. 

 

P.S. Speaking of the Tasmanian Devil, doesn't he sort of look like Costa?

 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c4/Taz-Looney_Tunes.svg

 

Spot on.

 

One of the problems with these 'wonder kids'  is that they are like X Factor contestants.  Friends, family, agents and personal managers convince them that they are great, are worthy of big money and are suited to top level football in a top team.

 

Usually absolute rollocks too - I thought he looked like a fish out of water for most of yesterday's match - and it was a very easy match too.

 

We've spent half a season berating a number of senior players for lack of effort but yesterday RLC could hardly be arsed to chase the ball down and shied away from many tackles.

 

If he is so full of potential then maybe he needs to go to the Championship or League 1 etc for a season or two and see how he copes.

 

Mad world football - akin to management trainees in industry thinking they are fit to be a board director when they have only been out of their school blazer for 5 minutes.

Spot on Bloo !

Too much money goes to their head, they don't even have to clean their own boots, let alone the senior players boots like Lamps and JT used to.