Ruben Loftus-Cheek has urged his Chelsea team-mates to cut out the sloppy individual errors after another mistake proved costly against Everton.
The Blues slumped to a dismal 1-0 defeat by relegation battlers managed by Frank Lampard at Goodison Park on Sunday after captain Cesar Azpilicueta inexplicably lost the ball to Richarlison, who promptly slotted home what proved to be the winning goal just after half-time.
Chelsea were then thwarted by a combination of their own profligacy, the woodwork and an outstanding display from England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford as Everton picked up a vital three points in their fight against relegation from the Premier League and their opponents were left to rue another self-inflicted disappointment.
Manager Thomas Tuchel lamented his side’s sudden penchant for critical mistakes, which also cost them against Arsenal last week and in their agonising Champions League quarter-final defeat by Real Madrid.
Loftus-Cheek was one of the few Chelsea players to come out of the defeat on Merseyside with any credit, denied a goal by the excellent Pickford and trying to drive his team forward whenever possible on his 50th start for the club.
“We’re all very disappointed,” the 26-year-old told Chelsea’s official website. “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 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.”
Chelsea will be desperate to iron out those blunders before they face in-form Liverpool in a domestic cup final for the second time this season at Wembley on May 14.
A third defeat in six Premier League games has also loosened their grip further on third place, with resurgent Arsenal now just three points behind and Tottenham five adrift of Chelsea with four matches left to play this term.
Asked how Tuchel’s side could go about eradicating those repeated errors, Loftus-Cheek added: “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 basics in football.
“If you don’t have these basics, you will struggle like we have the last four games. This is not Chelsea standard at all. Our concentration levels were not good enough.
“We want 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.”
