Captain John Terry was surprised by the harsh comments addressed to Chelsea players following Wednesday's Champions League game against Paris Saint-Germain.
The Blues came under heavy fire for putting pressure on referee Bjorn Kuipers in the 31st minute to show a straight red to striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
But Terry says it's all part of the game.
"You have to stick up for your team-mates. Every side is as bad as each other. It's part of the game," Terry said.
"Once they're charging the ref, the only thing we can do is respond.
"You can't as a group of players let them surround the ref, trying to get our players booked.
"For me if I have to run 20, 30 yards, it doesn't look great but when you're standing back and seeing five or six of their players surrounding the ref, I think I support my team-mates.
"And once I go, four or five go with me, it doesn't look good at all but that's part of the game. We'll match it if people want to mix it, that's part of our game as well.
"[But] we [now] have to pick ourselves up and go again at the weekend now. There's enough experience in the squad to rally round and get everyone going again.
"Southampton will come here playing on the front foot and, if we're not at it, we'll drop points and slip away in the Premier League."
