What's Willian doing in that team & especially in the #10 role lol? Awful player.

Huge day for Loftus Cheek, supposing Alli is out. Good luck!!!

I feel oddly excited for this. I have no one to cheer for in the WC besides Chelsea players so I'm hoping the man does well and it propels him upward. We are sorely missing this kind of pace and power in the team. 

 

Until now he hasn't done anything special. Acceptable in my opinion, first start in his first world cup and play against Panama players isn't easy, they're so aggressive!

Best assist I have ever seen.

On a more serious note he looked solid but was outshone by Jesse Lingard, hopefully he can keep his place but I see Dele coming in a soon as he is fit.

Did ok nothing to rave about. Good performance. 

Another solid "tactical performance", nothing special though. We need someone who plays to Hendo, Lingard and Kane's level - even Trippier influenced the game more than RLC imho. He had one good moment where his forward run created a dangerous situation.

Still not convinced unfortunately.

Edited June 24, 20188 yr by the special one

11 minutes ago, the special one said:

Another solid "tactical performance", nothing special though. We need someone who plays to Hendo, Lingard and Kane's level - even Trippier influenced the game more than RLC imho. He had one good moment where his forward run created a dangerous situation.

Still not convinced unfortunately.

Agree though he looked very good last time coming off the bench. I used to think Lingard was only a substitute yet thinking he is growing on me more now.

Some so-called Chelsea ‘fans’ gave him abuse on social media after that performance, not surprising is it? Anyway, not his bet performance by any means, I’m happy to admit that, but he was shoved out wide and saw little of the ball, I think he would have effected the game a lot more in his natural position. I think some tend to forget he’s still young and still learning, we have yet to see the best of him imo, time will tell what happens, I think the club are keen to keep hold of him, so the naysayers should probably get used to it. 

Not surprising we spank an opposition after RLC starts. 

Had flashes of quality, gliding past players, finding his teammates with nice passes in tight areas, but didn't see too much the ball out of the right.

He was a bit nervy to start with but grew into it. Nothing special but that's okay. He played his role and the team won. I feel like yesterday was similar to other starts for Chelsea, when he does a job and isn't man of the match people say he isn't good enough. 

I do have a feeling that mason mount will end up being the better player. For me, RLC doesn't have a proper position and that's the problem.

He has stamina issues which need to be addressed because in a sarri press system I don't see how he would cope too well with a poor engine.

I still find him a quality player, but until a coach can bring out the best in him and find the best position for him he isn't really going to progress that much.

Right now, Barkley is going to be ahead of Loftus-Cheek in the pecking order. 

 

 

17 minutes ago, enigma said:

I do have a feeling that mason mount will end up being the better player. For me, RLC doesn't have a proper position and that's the problem.

He has stamina issues which need to be addressed because in a sarri press system I don't see how he would cope too well with a poor engine.

I still find him a quality player, but until a coach can bring out the best in him and find the best position for him he isn't really going to progress that much.

This is a myth created by Mourinho. Ask any Palace fan and they'll tell you his defensive work rate is one of his biggest assets.

16 minutes ago, enigma said:

Right now, Barkley is going to be ahead of Loftus-Cheek in the pecking order. 

Also so not true. Barkley will likely be on loan whilst Chelsea hierarchy will do everything they can to see RLC play. 

1 hour ago, enigma said:

Right now, Barkley is going to be ahead of Loftus-Cheek in the pecking order. 

Idk what leads you to believe this. Why?

Didn't help that he wasn't playing in his preferred position but he certainly didn't do enough to keep Ali out of the starting 11 if Ali is fit again.

 

Chelsea posted up an image of Ruben's heat map for the game which shows that he was pretty disciplined with sticking to the right hand side of the pitch. 

He did okay, was maybe the least impressive England player out of the starting XI but at the end of the day it was his debut start in a World Cup and he's not going to put in man of the match level performances every time. 

He's got plenty to be proud of with getting himself selected for England and I think he deserves at chance at Chelsea next year... We've but up plenty of road blocks for his path to the first team in the last couple of years, signing Drinkwater, Barkley and Bakayoko and in hindsight RLC has out performed all of them.

He's done everything that could be expected of him to get a chance at Chelsea so now it's on us to put our money where our mouth is and give the lad a fair chance at establishing himself in the team. 

1 hour ago, Nibs said:

Didn't help that he wasn't playing in his preferred position but he certainly didn't do enough to keep Ali out of the starting 11 if Ali is fit again.

 

what makes you think this? Alli has disappointed every time he's played for England and we looked a far better team with Ruben in the 11 yesterday. 

1 minute ago, RIP Mourinho said:

what makes you think this? Alli has disappointed every time he's played for England and we looked a far better team with Ruben in the 11 yesterday. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of Ali. But he is a highly rated player and despite not doing a huge amount for England to date (although I think he has a couple of goals?), he is still way ahead of RLC in the pecking order. As we progress (hopefully), there will be huge pressure and it will call for big-game players and as much as I hate to admit it, Ali has a lot more big-game experience than RLC and will almost certainly get the nod. IF RLC had really pulled up trees yesterday it would have given Southgate a tougher decision to make, but he didn't and most will agree that on the day, he was one of the lesser England performers.

 

If big game experience was so important then Cahill would start over Maguire. I like the notion that you should stick with the same team if it is working well. 

8 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

If big game experience was so important then Cahill would start over Maguire. I like the notion that you should stick with the same team if it is working well. 

Maybe Cahill will start v Belgium (or the later stages if England qualify), in terms of the relative strength of the opposition I wouldn't go as far to say Panama or Tunisia were 'big games'. 

Edited June 25, 20188 yr by the special one

1 hour ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Chelsea posted up an image of Ruben's heat map for the game which shows that he was pretty disciplined with sticking to the right hand side of the pitch. 

He did okay, was maybe the least impressive England player out of the starting XI but at the end of the day it was his debut start in a World Cup and he's not going to put in man of the match level performances every time. 

He's got plenty to be proud of with getting himself selected for England and I think he deserves at chance at Chelsea next year... We've but up plenty of road blocks for his path to the first team in the last couple of years, signing Drinkwater, Barkley and Bakayoko and in hindsight RLC has out performed all of them.

He's done everything that could be expected of him to get a chance at Chelsea so now it's on us to put our money where our mouth is and give the lad a fair chance at establishing himself in the team. 

That may explain why we are not raving about him perhaps we was told to stick on the right to pull out their wide players. Good to see him get an assist too.

Like Nibs I also expect Alli is ahead of him yet still think he will figure before we come home.

 

10 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

If big game experience was so important then Cahill would start over Maguire. I like the notion that you should stick with the same team if it is working well. 

In the world cup rotation is a must, lack of it is what f**ked up the golden generation.