Antonio Rudiger ‘is the alpha male in Chelsea’s locker room’ … but some teammates ‘believe his training challenges will cross the line’ as the defender comes under fire for his role in firing Frank Lampard
Antonio Rudiger is seen as the ‘alpha male’ in Chelsea’s locker room and the player many think Thomas Tuchel needs to be on the side to make his Premier League spell a success.
The Germany international was severely criticized for his role in Frank Lampard’s dismissal on Monday for selection under the Englishman.
Detailed in the Daily Telegraph, Rudiger is painted as the loudest player in team meetings and one of the louder voices in the locker room in both good and bad times.
Antonio Rudiger is described as the ‘alpha male’ personality in Chelsea’s dressing room
He would have ‘crossed the line’ during practice with tackling in the eyes of some teammates
Rudiger represents a strong character in a young locker room, and while his leadership is vital, the report adds that his brutality was not always welcomed in training.
Teammates are said to have been ‘surprised’ by some of the challenges he faced during training sessions, with some of the belief that they are ‘crossing the line’ as to what is acceptable.
It was detailed earlier this week that Rudiger, Jorginho and Marcos Alonso were ‘causing problems’ while training in Lampard’s tenure.
Chelsea forward Tammy Abraham (left) has jumped to the defense of teammate Rudiger (right) who has come under fire from sections of Chelsea supporters after he was reportedly the subject of team outage prior to Frank Lampard’s dismissal
Rudiger is said to have ‘collided with Cesar Azpilicueta several times’ in what became a hostile environment before Lampard left.
Both Azpilicueta and Tammy Abraham came to the defense of the German on social media on Tuesday to claim he is a difficult presence in the Blues roster.
‘Today I hear some crazy things about Antonio Rudier on social media. Utter nonsense. Toni is a big brother to all of us, ‘Abraham wrote on Twitter.
Azpilicueta then quoted Abraham’s tweet with three blue-hearted emojis and a photo of him next to Rudiger.
Lampard would not be the only coach Rudiger would find difficult to manage, as the German had a difficult relationship with Antonio Conte at times.
Lampard tried to sell Rudiger last summer after pushing the German into pecking order
Rudiger is seen as a dominant personality and Thomas Tuchel will have to get him out of the way
Conte is incredibly fiery and the Telegraph says the Italian Rudiger has still found a ‘handful’ in the dressing room.
Lampard tried to sell Rudiger last summer, but without luck, so he continued to play Kurt Zouma alongside Thiago Silva.
In the two games leading up to the FA Cup victory over Luton, Lampard brought Rudiger back into the fold.
They were arguably the two biggest games of Lampard’s career as a Chelsea boss and it spoke to Rudiger’s fighting spirit that Lampard went with him from the start of those games.