Antonio Rudiger Says Chelsea Players Should Be 'Ashamed' After Bournemouth Loss

Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger believes his team-mates should feel "ashamed" after their shocking loss to Bournemouth in the Premier League on Wednesday.

After a goalless first period, the Blues capitulated after the break, with the Cherries running out comfortable 4-0 winners.

While the defeat allowed Arsenal to leapfrog Chelsea up into fourth place in the Premier League, the nature of the loss will also be deeply concerning to manager Maurizio Sarri ahead of a busy end to the campaign.

When asked about the performance, Rudiger said the players need to shoulder some of the responsibility and said the team's lack of care with the ball in attack was the trigger for the heavy loss, per Jack Wilkinson of Sky Sports:

"Everyone needs to be ashamed of what happened in the last game. Everyone needs to think very deeply about that because you can win, lose or draw, but it's the manner which is important.

"In the second half, I can't really describe it. We went out and they scored after two minutes then things went very badly. Nothing came from us—N'Golo [Kante] had a half chance but that was it. 

"If you look at the view of football, we made it too easy for Bournemouth by losing the ball up front—everyone knows Bournemouth are going on the counter, and they were waiting for this."

As Kristof Terreur of Het Laatste Nieuws relayed, the Blues boss clearly wasn't content with his team's performance:

While Chelsea had a vibrant attacking trio of Gonzalo Higuain, Pedro and Eden Hazard on the field, they looked dull in comparison to the Bournemouth forwards. David Brooks, in particular, was excellent for the Cherries, with his movement and passing incision too good to for his opponents.

Despite this terrible result and the consequent anger from large portions of the Chelsea fanbase, the campaign can still be a successful one if they get back on track quickly.

Defensively, the team needs to sharpen up. While Rudiger has largely been solid at the back, his centre-back partner, David Luiz, has a reputation for being erratic, as Zito Madu noted:

The Blues will face Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final towards the end of February, giving Sarri a chance of winning silverware in his first season in charge. Chelsea also remain in the FA Cup, in which they will face Manchester United in the fifth round, and the UEFA Europa League.

What is for certain is the Blues will need to improve their performances if they are going to be a serious contender for any of those prizes. They host Huddersfield Town, who are anchored to the bottom of the table, in the Premier League on Saturday, which feels like an ideal chance for them to get back to winning ways.