Antonio Rudiger

[killer1257 3,282]

He is not wrong though. When you watch the goals we conceded last season, Rüdiger played a big part in that. This is why I said that he is not good enough last season and nobody believed me.
I also did not want him at Chelsea because of his weaknesses. Poor positional awareness, poor technical abilities and poor decision making. His strengths are that he is a good 1 vs 1 defender and his physicality is a big strenght, but that is not enough for being world class. He does not even know how to do an offside trap and you have many examples at Chelsea where he did not do the offside trap, even though he should have done it. He started playing as a CB very late and that is why he can't do the basics right. It is too late now to teach him the basics

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[Vesper 28,822]

22 hours ago, killer1257 said:

He is not wrong though. When you watch the goals we conceded last season, Rüdiger played a big part in that. This is why I said that he is not good enough last season and nobody believed me.
I also did not want him at Chelsea because of his weaknesses. Poor positional awareness, poor technical abilities and poor decision making. His strengths are that he is a good 1 vs 1 defender and his physicality is a big strenght, but that is not enough for being world class. He does not even know how to do an offside trap and you have many examples at Chelsea where he did not do the offside trap, even though he should have done it. He started playing as a CB very late and that is why he can't do the basics right. It is too late now to teach him the basics

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you missed the point of my LOLOL

Quote

 the nations favourite defensive scapegoat David Luiz,

 

[Vesper 28,822]

Rudiger has not had a vintage season but numbers suggest it hasn’t been all bad

https://theathletic.com/1922861/2020/07/12/rudiger-woe-chelsea-sheffield-united/

At a time when Chelsea’s season will be defined as a success or a failure, the club’s most experienced centre-half finds himself out of the starting line-up and with question marks over his future at Stamford Bridge.

Antonio Rudiger surely never envisaged the possibility of being named on the substitutes’ bench for three successive matches. That was something that had never happened since he joined Chelsea from Roma for an initial £29 million in 2017… until now.

The Germany international has clearly paid a price for Chelsea’s first defeat of Project Restart, when he came under heavy scrutiny for the goals Frank Lampard’s side conceded in their 3-2 defeat at West Ham — since then Kurt Zouma has been named alongside Andreas Christensen in the middle of defence instead.

Rudiger’s unwelcome hat-trick of omissions was completed against Sheffield United on Saturday evening. Yet there was still a chance to catch coach Frank Lampard’s eye for the right reasons when he replaced Christensen for the second half. Unfortunately, the 27-year-old only succeeded in setting up David McGoldrick’s second goal of the evening with what looked like a tame lay-off straight into the forward’s path.

Should Rudiger be blamed for the defeat? Of course not. The damage was inflicted before his introduction at the interval, by which stage Chelsea were already 2-0 down and playing with an inexcusable lethargy given a place in next season’s Champions League is at stake. But with coach Frank Lampard clearly already having one eye on his desired set-up for next season, now is not the time to be making eye-catching blunders. The Chelsea boss suggested as much immediately after full-time as he said rather menacingly: “I learned a lot and I won’t forget that.”

With two years left on his current deal, Rudiger is reaching a significant juncture. It is at moments like these that clubs often decide to either offer a player an extension or sell up in the hope of avoiding big losses should the player run his deal down. After all, not everyone is Eden Hazard (sold for up to £150 million to Real Madrid in 2019 despite having just a year left).

There were reports in April that negotiations between the club and Rudiger’s representatives had begun over a three-year extension, with the option of an additional 12 months. However, sources have told The Athletic that talks are yet to take place and there is no offer on the table.

When you consider this is all occurring amid the backdrop of Chelsea aiming to buy another centre-back, with Declan Rice one of their main targets for the role, then the reality of Rudiger’s current situation shouldn’t be dismissed.

In saying that, The Athletic has been assured the former Stuttgart star and his family are very relaxed about the situation and feel there is no rush to begin a conversation about an agreement. As far as the Germany international is concerned, he is very happy at Stamford Bridge and will do what he perceives to be the right thing for him at the right time.

Lampard also downplayed any suggestions there is an issue between him and his player, telling The Athletic: “He has been very positive (after being dropped), very positive in training.

“I have selection problems, I say this in every press conference, with trying to pick a team out of the squad because of competition within the group. There is no problem with him.”

But having been regarded as a bit of a fan favourite for his first two years in blue, Rudiger has become the subject of intense criticism during 2019-20.

It was something he discussed with Sky Sports earlier this month and it clearly rankles a little bit. He said: “You will always have people (saying things). Football can be up and down. You win and everything is good. You lose, then it’s…

“This is not my problem. Everyone can have their opinion and I’m fine with that.

“It is something we have to deal with. The most important thing is what the coach says, not what is said on the outside. You can have your opinion, no problem, but this doesn’t count to me.

“Fans go with emotions. This week can be like this (he raises his hand upwards), the next week you’re the worst. As players, we just have to keep a cool mind and look forward to the next game.”

But it is not as if he is in complete denial about his form under Lampard either. One shouldn’t forget, he returned from a knee injury which kept him out for five months at Wolves in September, only to suffer a groin problem during the contest and came off at half-time.

Rudiger wasn’t seen in a Chelsea shirt again until December and during the third appearance of his second comeback, complained of being racially abused at Tottenham.

Things obviously haven’t been easy. “The season didn’t start really well for me with all those injuries and everything,” he added on Sky Sports. “Yes I have been back, but I am not looking for an alibi or something. Personally I am not really happy with my season. But I don’t have time to think about that because we have games upcoming. I want to be in the Champions League next season.”

So how bad has it been compared to the two previous years, when the chant ‘Ruuuudi’ was affectionately shouted out by the Chelsea crowd on every occasion he made a strong tackle?

As always statistics only tell part of the story. Memories of the way Rudiger was outjumped for goals by Newcastle’s Isaac Hayden and Manchester United’s Harry Maguire, let alone the McGoldrick assist, will be hard for some to forget.

However, his overall Premier League numbers compare quite favourably with those from previous seasons. This season he has won 80 of 140 duels at an average of 57.1 per cent. His averages in the previous two seasons were 52.9 per cent and 52.5 per cent respectively.

There have been 116 recoveries at a rate of 6.82 per match, the previous two seasons came in at 6.48 and 6.24. For a defender, he has made a surprisingly low 50 tackles in nearly three seasons in English football but this year’s record of winning 61.9 per cent of them is an improvement on the 47.1 per cent of his first season, although is a slight decline on last season’s 67.7 per cent.

There is a suggestion he is more susceptible in the air, but there has been no radical decline over the last three years. He won 60.2 per cent of aerial challenges in 2017-18, 52.5 per cent in 2018-19 and his current return for 2019-20 is 58.1 per cent. There is little difference in the average amount of headed clearances made in a league fixture over the three campaigns either: 1.9, 1.75 and 1.71.  He has also already made more blocks (eight) than the previous season (seven) despite playing a lot less (17 Premier League appearances to 33).

Sometimes spending too long with your head in the numbers can leave you in as much of muddle as Chelsea’s defenders at set pieces, and it paints just a bit of the picture. But it does raise the question of whether Rudiger’s form is as bad as some are suggesting.

Lampard has a lot of tough decisions to make in the short, as well as the long term, to get the squad where he wants it to be.

Rudiger’s situation is one to keep monitoring, but he shouldn’t be written off yet.

[Puliiszola 519]

I am sure zouma's numbers are way better. 

No amount of stat padding can cover the absolute fiasco that has been rudiger this season. Should be the first CB to be sold as he has just 2 years on his contract 

[NikkiCFC 7,953]

 

[whats happening 1,525]

feel bad for rudiger. he's a good player in a rough form now. if he had a wc partner he would be great again.

[Puliiszola 519]

16 minutes ago, whats happening said:

feel bad for rudiger. he's a good player in a rough form now. if he had a wc partner he would be great again.

Well.same can be said about Andreas, zouma, tomori. Infact we have seen it actually happening to the likes of gomez and matip.

Does not mean Rudi should be given that chance. 

[OneMoSalah 8,778]

Pretty poor performance tonight. Go as far as saying he was the worst outfield player on the park. 100%. infuriating because he played great v Man United. 

[NikkiCFC 7,953]

10 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

Pretty poor performance tonight. Go as far as saying he was the worst outfield player on the park. 100%. infuriating because he played great v Man United. 

But tbh our CBs have nothing to do with first 3 goals we conceded.

[OneMoSalah 8,778]

7 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

But tbh our CBs have nothing to do with first 3 goals we conceded.

True but he was just rash all game. Got far too close to Salah and he just would knock it by him or do a one two and run behind. Or rush in and miss the ball completely. Happened far too much. Needs to know when to be a bit more clever anticipating these sort of movements and drop off a bit sooner and when to engage, especially when playing as the left sided centre back in a back 3. Salah wasnt necessarily at his best tonight but he still had Rudiger every time.

[MoroccanBlue 5,302]

32 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

Pretty poor performance tonight. Go as far as saying he was the worst outfield player on the park. 100%. infuriating because he played great v Man United. 

Salah almost ended his career tonight. 
 

He’s been god awful all season. Biggest let down out of our CBs. He’s now getting fundamentals wrong. 
 

 

[Fernando 6,463]

I think he would improve a lot with a better defender. 
Not the best in the world but I still think he is the best defender we got. 

Just get rid of Zouma, and Andreas. 

Tomori I like, very good prospect. 

[Magic Lamps 11,653]

was an absolute monster defensively today and even pinged a few great long balls

[killer1257 3,282]

was an absolute monster defensively today and even pinged a few great long balls

Yes, I agree. But there was one moment where he went into a tackle and completely missed the player and Zouma saved him but apart from that, very good performance. Alonso was also amazing lol

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[King Kante 1,476]

I wouldn't say he was that amazing today as he got himself into a couple of bad positions and against rushed out and missed something and Zouma had to bail him out. 

For me, Rudi is going to be saved by the age and quality of the rest of our CB's but I do not really want him to be anything more than CB3 next year. 

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Puliiszola 519]

29 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

Fair play to him for saying this. Now lets hope he has 2 great perfomrnaces. We need those.

[SUNZ 155]

Truly awful. An embarrassing player.