Chelsea manager Frank Lampard backed up Ruben Loftus-Cheek after Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher’s criticism.
Chelsea won against Brighton on the away turf on Monday this week. Sky Sports pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher criticized Ruben Loftus-Cheek as he played for the Blues.
The Chelsea gaffer, however, found the comments relentless. This is because Loftus-Cheek went through injury problems.
At a recent press conference, Lampard said: “If there is a harsh criticism of Ruben in the game against Brighton then it is certainly very harsh because coming back from an injury like that is difficult.
“He has put in a lot of hours into it and he is a hugely talented player, a great lad, and there will be lots more to come from Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
“Unfortunately the nature of this game is very reactionary and people will say it is as they see it, but knowing Ruben’s story behind the scenes he has fought back really hard to get where he is.”
Neville, who rivaled Lampard in their Premier League time said that Loftus Cheek’s performance was unsatisfactory.
“I don’t think Loftus-Cheek can complain,” Neville mentioned.
“He’s been given games. I don’t think he’s ever grasped his chance yet. There’s going to come a point when they’re going to cash in and get £25m for him.”
Whereas, Carragher said: “When he was at Crystal Palace you thought ‘what a player’.
“He’s got to say he wants to play every single week. If you get your chance you have to grab it. He’s had his chances now.”
“I know Ruben’s story probably second best to how he knows it,” Lampard backed the Chelsea midfielder.
“Ruben had a terrible injury – one that he worked hard to come back from over the course of last season.
“He was just about to play under-23s games when lockdown came in.
“Ruben worked incredibly hard in restart and got a start against Aston Villa and was due to start against Bayern Munich in the last game of the season but had a bit of an issue on the day of the game.
“Ruben has trained brilliantly again to get fit for the start of the season.”