Disappointment and disaster of a ‘stupid’ Chelsea loss

Chelsea’s diplomatic captain and the man who gives the most blunt interviews had understandably a bit differing takes on Leicester City’s 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge.

César Azpilicueta was measured in his response.

“I’m really disappointed with the result. It’s true we had chances to score a goal and win the game, but the truth is that they were efficient, they were brave, they score. After this, they hold the result until the end.”

“We finish the first half very well, we were in control of the game, had chances, we were dangerous. And then halftime arrived, I think we started well the second half but after five, six minutes we concede the goal. Then they were more comfortable with the 1-0, [Puel’s] plan was to defend well and to counter. And obviously we were trying to find the solution to score the equalizer and build up and win the game. But we were not able to score even the 1-1 and obviously we were in trouble.”

And Azpi is looking forward, not back, to try to address what went wrong on Saturday.

“We know that the Premier League is very tough but our target is to win every game and obviously when we don’t win we are disappointed and we have to analyze and improve for the next games. In this period we know that it is very busy and so in four days we have another tough game and we have to be ready to get three points.”

-César Azpilicueta; source; Chelsea FC

Antonio Rüdiger, who bore first-hand witness to the through ball from James Maddison to Jamie Vardy, which the Slayer of Big Teams finished with customary aplomb past a despairing Azpilicueta and a helpless Arrizabalaga, was considerably more blunt.

In his post-match comments, Rüdiger called the result a disaster, saying that if Chelsea can’t win a home game against Leicester then maybe the team can’t compete. He, like Sarri, questioned the team’s mentality.

“It’s a disaster. We don’t talk about the title any more. If we can’t win these games, we can’t compete. We only talk now about top four. Maybe it’s a lack of mentality. Stupid.”

-Antonio Rüdiger

A “stupid” loss sounds about right.

Now Chelsea have four days to figure out how to right their wrongs.