Chelsea's David Luiz accepts criticism is part of a defender's job and declined the opportunity to answer his detractors after his man-of-the-match display in Saturday's victory over Manchester City.
Goals from N'Golo Kante and Luiz saw Chelsea inflict City's first loss of the season, as the Blues absorbed the visitors' pressure and pounced to claim a triumph many did not expect.
Luiz's performance in the loss to Tottenham was scrutinised, but the Brazil defender insisted it did not affect him.
The 31-year-old told Chelsea TV: 'I know what it means to play for a big club.
'(At) big clubs it's like that: if you win, everything is good. If you lose, it's your fault, especially defenders and goalkeepers.
'Strikers never lose games... we have to be honest and say that.
'We have to accept that in the right way, in an intelligent way.
'It was good to play against a fantastic team, keep the clean sheet and have a great game.'
The Blues' success was overshadowed by allegations of racist abuse by home supporters towards City forward Raheem Sterling. Chelsea and the Metropolitan Police are investigating the matter.
Chelsea had lost to Spurs and Wolves, either side of victory over Fulham, before ending City's 21-match unbeaten sequence in the league.
The result was due to the preparation of Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri, Luiz said.
'It's never easy to play against City,' Luiz added.
'They are synchronised, they have three years together, so they know what they have to do.
'When you press high and if you're able to come out of this pressure, after you have a lot of space to enjoy.
'It was a team with humility, but also a team with the right planning.
'It was a bad result against Wolves. We're happy because we did great against the best team in the league.
'I think it can give us a lot of confidence.'
Sarri says he has been happy with Luiz since his arrival.
The Blues boss added: 'There are matches in which it's really very difficult to stay in the defensive line, like Tottenham, because the defensive phase of the team is a disaster.
'(Against City) he played a great match, but all the team helped him to play really well.'
tosbceimty
188
you still need to proof more, Man city was just leading the league not the best term of all the time ,so winning that game is a good thing,continue proof it ,
wocemnty
118
I know peopledont All is well right now. Good game, good result. Everybody is happy. But let's face the reality. I don't like the approach of the coach - Sari gave too much respect to Man City which we could have dearly paid for this. The match changed after we got our first goal. The guys believed in themselves so they took the ball to City. Bravo!!! Let for the approach we could have lost to City in the first half. The team should believe in themselves. They are equal to the task. They can beat any team in the world. They should not seat with the mediocre, who will think and believe a goal cannot be achievable, beat one nor some team. Up blueeeeeee!
Nesaiknruy_Legend
90
Off course. The thing I don't understand with Luiz is how he can show up against City, Liverpool, Arsenal etc at his best but against smaller teams he suddenly becomes a liability. Maybe it's due to lack of support from Alonso since last night Alonso was a lot more supportive defencively but who knows. Perhaps Sarri needs to test Emerson next to Luiz, I think they'd make great partners and Emerson is capable of getting back to support Luiz defencively cos let's be honest, Luiz always has a sudden brainfart in defence. Overall a great player but has been a very suspect player in the side.... In still for replacing Alonso and Luiz on the left unless Luiz can be better with a different left back e.g Emerson.....