Chelsea limped to a 1-0 win away to BATE Borisov on Thursday in the Europa League group stages, but it was far from a vintage display from Maurizio Sarri’s side.

The Blues secured qualification from their group by making it four wins out of four in Europe and centre-forward Olivier Giroud ended his goal drought by netting the winner with a header early in the second-half.

(Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

But the Premier League side rode their luck, as the hosts missed a couple of great opportunities in front of goal to gain a result.

Sarri’s side should be delighted to continue the unbeaten start to the campaign, but a number of fringe players failed to make a serious impact on their chance in the starting XI.

(Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

A selection of fans decided to single out midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek for his individual display against BATE Borisov and instead that he was well off the pace.

Chelsea weren’t at their fluent best despite seeing much of the ball and struggled to create a host of opportunities from midfield.

Loftus-Cheek earned his seventh first-team appearance of the season with a start against BATE Borisov, who he scored a hat-trick against in the previous group game against them in Stamford Bridge.

(Photo by Shaun Brooks/Action Plus via Getty Images)

The 22-year-old England internatonal was unable to have the same impact in the game in Belarus and may see it as a missed opportunity.

He has stiff competition to break into the starting XI regularly and wasn’t quite on top of his game on Thursday, but certainly wasn’t the only one.

Here are some of the Chelsea fan tweets criticising Loftus-Cheek’s performance:

 
Have something to tell us about this article?