David Luiz maintains he will take both criticism and praise in his stride as he concentrates on just doing an "honest" day's work at the heart of the Chelsea defence.
The Brazilian centre-half has become something of a cult figure at Stamford Bridge following his £21million move from Benfica just over a year ago.
The 24-year-old has produced both solid displays as well as the odd eccentric performance - one of which in the defeat by Liverpool caused Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville to declare Luiz looked as if he had been "controlled by a 10-year-old in the crowd on a Playstation".
As Chelsea look to replace the disappointment of letting a 3-0 lead slip against Manchester United last weekend with a positive result at Everton, Luiz insists meeting his own work ethic is all that matters.
"I have been working in the same way as always, training at my best level," said Luiz, whose goal had put the Blues into a seemingly commanding position at the start of the second half before United launched a fightback to snatch a share of the points.
"Sometimes you get criticism, like I did, and recently I have been applauded for my work.
"As long as I can go home and lay down on my bed and have my conscience clear that I am doing an honest job, I am happy."
Luiz added on the club's official website, www.chelseafc.com: "The main thing is to continue working and maintaining the philosophy that the coach instructs.
"We have to do this, sometimes we are doing things that are great and not getting the results and sometimes we do things not so good and get the result.
"The main thing is to continue working hard and obviously we are not where we want to be at the moment, not fighting for first place, but we have to keep looking for victories and believe in ourselves until the end.
"There are games we have lost where we could have done better, but we can't change the past, we can only look to the future and know that we can do better and move up positions."
Chelsea could have Frank Lampard available again this weekend, the midfielder having today returned to train with the squad for the first time since injuring his calf against Norwich on January 21.
John Obi Mikel has also resumed full training after seven weeks on the sidelines because of a hamstring problem.
Full-back Ashley Cole has served a suspension, but captain John Terry (knee) remains a doubt.
Owner Roman Abramovich was also understood to have again attended training today - this third recent visit to Cobham.
The club though have already denied any suggestion that manager Andre Villas-Boas was coming under increased scrutiny from the billionaire owner.
Chelsea are aiming to fall in line with UEFA's new financial fair play rules and recently announced a total loss of £67.7million for the financial year ending June 30, 2011
Accounts have now been made available at Companies House, and show revenue rising by 8 per cent, with a 2.6 per cent fall in wages.
However, the next six months will see the "amortisation charge" - which is how transfers spending is recognised across the life of a player's contract - go up to take into account the deal for Luiz and Fernando Torres, signed for £50m in the same January window last year.
The club's overall operating loss had reduced from a figure of £70.9m to £67.7million.
UEFA's new rules at curbing football's finances are set to kick in from 2013/2014.
Clubs hoping to take part in the Champions or Europa Leagues must balance their football-related expenditure over a three-year period, but will initially be allowed to make a loss of £37.5m (45m Euros), falling to £25m (30m Euros) from 2015/16.
Chelsea also list some £41.9m of "exceptional" costs in the figures, which include £28m for the termination of contracts for former manager Carlo Ancelotti and backroom staff, as well as subsequent compensation to Porto after hiring Villas-Boas.
Following the departure of Jose Mourinho in September 2007, the Blues have dispensed with several managers - including Avram Grant and Felipe Scolari - which will have added to their bill for severance pay.
Post Comment
