Rüdiger questions Chelsea’s personality and physicality, and warns that “no one is irreplaceable.”

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Rüdiger questions Chelsea’s personality and physicality, and warns that “no one is irreplaceable.”

Antonio Rüdiger has been one of Chelsea’s biggest personalities since his arrival in 2017, and his influence both on and off the field has only grown over the years, particularly in the last season or so as he’s re-established himself as a key player in the team.

Rüdiger is a bit of a throwback in a squad full of young, technical wizardry, the emotional leader who isn’t afraid to dabble in some of football’s, shall we say, darker arts on a regular basis. If you will, proper Chels.

His key phrase is “always believe,” and his operative word is “hustle.” Chelsea were lacking in both of those categories yesterday, much to his (and our) dismay.

After their first Premier League defeat to Man City, Rudiger said:

“Normally what we are strong in, today we didn’t show. We’ve played against them before and we played out from the back and it was not a problem like today. Today I think it was more on us, we have to play more ourselves. Obviously they played good, but we were not at our best.

“Today is the first time that the opponent was physically better than us. They ran more than us, they made it very difficult for us. But from ourselves, it was very disappointing.

“We have to admit we had a very bad day in the office. We didn’t perform on our usual level and that’s why we were punished and this is what we have to take for the next games, to give more intensity, because to be honest in every aspect they were better than us.

“Today we didn’t show our personality that we usually show. Obviously this can happen, but in a game like this it shouldn’t happen.”

Of course, you can’t change the past, and dwelling on it is pointless. You can, however, learn from it and make sure it doesn’t happen again, especially in a big match like yesterday’s clash with the defending champions, to whom we’re attempting to close the proverbial gap.

Beyond the game plan, the lack of execution, and the lack of belief, this is perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the loss.

If there was one game Chelsea were going to get up for, it was this one, just like we did in the Champions League final or the two meetings before that, which they all won.

“For us it’s a team effort, it’s not about the individuals, and we have enough good players to replace anyone. No-one is irreplaceable so that’s why I think that doesn’t play any factor.

He continued,

“[We] did not perform at our high level that we usually do and we got punished for this. We just had a bad day at the office. [Now] it’s always important to bounce back after a loss and that’s what we need to do. So now we’ll just fully focus on that. The aim is obviously to bounce back and to win and to get back definitely to winning ways.”

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Rüdiger questions Chelsea’s personality and physicality, and warns that “no one is irreplaceable.”