Ruben Loftus-Cheek believes individual mistakes are the main reason behind Chelsea’s recent poor Premier League form.
The midfielder shared the same sentiment with his boss Thomas Tuchel with the German coach citing individual defensive errors for Chelsea’s poor form.
Chelsea has now lost four consecutive matches at the Goodison park against Everton thanks to a second-half goal from Richarlison and impressive saves from Jordan Pickford.
The Blues are now drawn in a top-four battle with Arsenal and Tottenham with Chelsea three points above Arsenal and four points above Tottenham.
Loftus-Cheek who made his 50th Chelsea start at the Goodison Park against Everton believes It’s up to them as individuals to tune in and sharpen up as a team together. Getting everyone ready for the game, these are basic in football.
What did Loftus-Cheek say?
Speaking to Chelsea in-house media the England international said:‘We’re all very disappointed. Coming into the game we knew it was going to be a hostile atmosphere and it’d be like a final to them. We felt that straight away.’
They came out of the blocks in the second half and caught us napping. We were fighting an uphill battle from then on, the fans were behind them, and it was hard to break them down. It was disappointing.
‘We’ve made a few mistakes over the past few matches and haven’t kept clean sheets from individual errors. That is how football is, if you keep shooting yourselves in the foot it will be difficult to get out of it.
‘It’s up to us as individuals to tune in and sharpen up as a team together. Getting everyone ready for the game, these are basic in football. If you don’t have these basics, you will struggle as we have in the last four games. This is not Chelsea standard at all. Our concentration levels were not good enough.
“We want the top four but we cannot perform like that with other teams doing well around us. We need wins. It is hard to process it right now and we will look back at it once the emotions have calmed down.
‘We had chances to score numerous times. Their keeper made some great saves. If we put them in, I think we could be coming away with a win.’
The Chelsea Midfielder also showed support for Chelsea Captain Cesar Azpilicueta whose error gifted Richarlison Everton’s only goal.
It can happen to anyone. I can’t remember in his career when that happened to him. It is one of those and I am sure he will put it behind him very quickly as we have some big games coming up. Azpi is a fantastic player and no one will blame anyone.’
Thomas also shared his disappointment after Cesar Azpilicueta’s error gifted Everton’s only goal.
“No, what can I do? The ball is free, then gives a goal away. It is the worst thing that can happen to you in this atmosphere and situation. It happens too often, and we struggle to play without big mistakes. That’s why we struggle to have results.