France winger Florent Malouda has said excuses are for losers as he looks to raise his game to help Chelsea book their place in the Champions League's knock-out phase with a win at Bayer Leverkusen.
The 2-1 defeat to Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on Sunday was Chelsea's third in their last four Premier League games and the 31-year-old France star said he has to improve personally to help his team start earning results.
Chelsea are top of Group E in the Champions League, two points clear of second-placed Leverkusen, but Malouda says the players all have to take responsibility for the growing pressure on manager Andre Villas-Boas.
"We, the players, take responsibility. The solution is not to blame the manager, said former Lyon star Malouda.
"We go on to the pitch and perform either well or badly.
"We have all the ingredients at the club to perform and we have done it in the past.
"I need to step up my game, because it is not enough at the moment.
"You can't blame the weather, the pitch or the referee for bad performances, that is not how you become a top player.
"I am not looking for excuses, excuses are for losers and I just want to win."
Malouda says Chelsea come to Leverkusen with a lot of respect after they were held for more than an hour by the Germans at Stamford Bridge before two late goals sealed the Blues' 2-0 win in the first group game in September.
"We will start with a lot of humility, because we remember the first leg, both teams were evenly matched," said the Frenchman who has won more than 70 caps for his country.
"Tactically, there was a lot of discipline from both teams.
"We were the first team to force Leverkusen into a mistake, it is an away game, but we have come here to win and we want to try to control the game."
The Liverpool defeat leaves Chelsea fifth in the Premier League, 12 points behind leaders Manchester City and Malouda says the Champions League gives them some welcome relief.
"We have a great chance to win our group," he said.
"It's hard to talk about winning the Premier League at the moment, because we are 12 points behind Manchester City.
"It's hard to talk about long-term objectives at the moment, we just want to win tomorrow's game and then we can talk about the knock-out stages."
Source: AFP
Source: AFP