Nedum Onuoha confessed that he does get riled by Antonio Rudiger’s antics in a Chelsea shirt.
Speaking on the Guardian Football Weekly, the former centre-back turned ESPN pundit voiced his annoyance at the German international’s usage of football’s dark arts.
Teasing Leeds
Rudiger is never one to stray too far from controversy.
Last weekend’s enthralling victory over Leeds United was a prime example of the defender’s devilish persuasion.
He earned two penalties in perhaps a smarter fashion than some are giving him credit for.
Leeds were clearly aggrieved by the awarding of both spot-kicks, especially the one in the 94th minute that Jorginho tucked away to seal the three points for Chelsea.
At the final whistle, Junior Firpo turned on Kai Havertz, which caused a melee down by the Stamford Bridge corner flag.
Like a shark smelling blood, Rudiger rushed in to back his teammates, but also to frustrate Firpo even further.
“With people like him, I’ll hold my hands up and say I think he’s a good player, but the way he does stuff like that, it does rub me up the wrong way,” said Onuoha.
“But when I look at it, overall, he’s done well for Chelsea in the last year, year-and-a-half, so he kind of backs it with his play.
“I think if he was all hype and then couldn’t really back it then you’d say ‘maybe you need to wind it down just a little bit.’
“Lots of people will be rooting for him to fail.”
Can’t argue with the facts
As Onuoha rightly pointed out, Rudiger can talk the talk because he’s been walking the walk since Thomas Tuchel took over Chelsea in January.
He now has the licence to be a little barmy or over the step the mark by a few toe-nail lengths.
The 28-year-old is built very much in the mould of Diego Costa.
Both crazy in their construction, but brilliant in their craft.
As long as the £29m (BBC) signing from Roma continues to provide the goods, he can enjoy the bad boy life.
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