Jamaal Lascelles blasted his Newcastle United team-mates for their sloppy first half show at Stamford Bridge.
The Magpies conceded twice in eight minutes to go in 2-0 down at the break and never recovered.
But Lascelles felt his team weren't "nasty" enough and showed the Blues too much respect.
He said: "I just think we did not start well enough.
"From our goal-kick, we kicked it out for a throw-in and that set the tone.
"We need to realise we shouldn't need to go one or two down to get going.
"We were off them a bit and made it easy.
"Against a team like Chelsea you have to be nasty and if you don't do that their quality will come through."
Lascelles did try to demonstrate United's nasty streak but ended up injuring Tammy Abraham in the process.
He said: "I hope Tammy Abraham is OK but I knew I got the ball, I was not concerned about getting sent off.
"I got the ball and followed through on him but it was a tackle I had to make otherwise he would have put the ball in the net."
Newcastle head to Old Trafford to face title-chasers Man United on Sunday night.
Lascelles said: "The performances have been better but tonight was not good enough, especially the first half, we did not give up in the second half and them positive signs are always good to have."
