Rüdiger backs Chelsea to recover from Manchester City loss and get back on track

It’s never easy to talk to the media after a disheartening loss, but Chelsea new boy Antonio Rüdiger took the plunge after Saturday’s game and stopped by for a quick chat with Chelsea TV.

Of course, post-match interview with players often devolve into canned responses to all the usual questions even in the best of times. In these darker hours, those cliches serve the occasion just as well, if not even better.

“We knew from the start it would be a tough match and we wanted to give our all, but not everything went well, like it did against Atletico. We have to keep our heads held high, come back after international duty and start again.

“Against Man City it’s not always easy, especially on the wings because they have quality players. We have a lot of quality as well but they had one shot which made the difference.

“Of course everyone is very disappointed. We had a very good month until this game. It was tough but every game in this league is tough.”

Chelsea was in fact having a very good month with five wins and one draw heading into the match and certainly five wins from seven is still a decent haul. That would roughly equal an 80-point season and a solid top four spot — though that’s ignoring that both non-wins came in the league, so our Premier League record was only two wins from four including two straight matches at home without scoring.

Certainly plenty of room for improvement, though it should be noted that, especially in hindsight, Chelsea’s defense against City did fairly well. The trouble was that we posed no danger at the other end and eventually the one-way traffic got its reward when De Bruyne wasn’t tracked properly in his run through the center. That said, a goal-line clearance from Rüdiger himself and a desperation block from Marcos Alonso are just couple events that give pause for praising the defending too much on Saturday.

“First of all I hope everybody stays healthy [when they are away], that’s the main thing, and then after we have to set our minds straight and go back on a winning run. We have to win against Crystal Palace, it won’t be an easy match but that’s the only way you can get back on track.”

-Antonio Rüdiger; source: Chelsea FC

Another sequence of seven games in 21 days awaits Chelsea after the international break.