The Chelsea midfielder was magnificent against Brentford but must learn to use his sublime gifts more consistently
Thomas Tuchel has always been a puzzle-solver. One early interview lists his chief hobby as “an interest in furniture design”. A famous long afternoon with Pep Guardiola spent furiously shuffling pepper pots around a Munich restaurant table has already passed into modern managerial lore.
On a boisterous afternoon in west London there was more evidence of exactly how that restless brain has set to work on a footballer who might qualify as the most bafflingly underexplored all-round talent in England. How do you solve a puzzle like Ruben Loftus-Cheek? And will Chelsea really have the patience to find out?