‘Strategy’ needed to fix Chelsea crisis, says Thiago Silva

Thiago Silva has urged Chelsea to come up with a “strategy” to prevent the club’s slump stretching into next season after Real Madrid ended their Champions League campaign. The Blues’ final hope of salvaging a disastrous season was snuffed out on Tuesday as the Spanish side wrapped up an emphatic 4-0 aggregate win in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Brazil defender Silva admitted the season had been tough for the club and said Chelsea’s bloated squad ensured there were always unhappy players. Chelsea have spent more than £500mn ($620mn) on transfers since a consortium led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital Group bought the London club from Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich last year.
Frank Lampard, the current caretaker boss, is their fourth manager this term following the sackings of Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter and one game under interim coach Bruno Saltor. Lampard has lost four successive matches since returning on a temporary basis, with his side scoring just once in that period.
Chelsea are languishing in 11th place in the Premier League table - 17 points adrift of the top four - with seven games to go and are unlikely to qualify for European competition.
Silva, speaking after Tuesday’s 2-0 home defeat to champions Real in the second leg of their quarter-final, said it was important to assess what had gone wrong rather than apportioning blame.
“It is not enough to look at the coach, say ‘it’s this person’s fault, it’s that person’s fault’ if we don’t assume our responsibilities,” he said. He added: “We have to stop and have a strategy to not repeat the same mistakes next year.”
Silva, 38, said the club had been forced to increase the size of the changing room to accommodate their huge squad, with eight new signings in January alone. “I think it is a difficult time for the club, with a lack of definition at the beginning, a change in owner, many players arriving – they even had to increase the size of the dressing room because there was not enough room for all the players,” he said.
“A positive point is that there are great players in the team but a negative point is that someone is going to get upset, because not everyone can play and the coach has to pick 11 players and there are 30-something.”
On Tuesday, Chelsea started brightly but rued a number of huge missed chances that would have heaped pressure on the defending champions. Real Madrid giants made Chelsea pay for their profligacy when Rodrygo scored in the 58th minute after a speedy counter-attack and he made it 2-0 with 10 minutes to go.
“We suffered a lot and helped us stay at 0-0 at the end of the first half,” Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti said. “Second half we were much better and scored the two goals. We are happy to have qualified.”
Lampard, who also managed the club from 2019 until early 2021, bemoaned his team’s profligacy. “We played really well for 60 minutes,” he said. “We created chances but you have to take them.”
The former Chelsea midfielder said his men must find motivation from playing for the club as they contemplate a bleak final few weeks of the season. “You’re playing for Chelsea,” he said. “So regardless, every game you play you have to give everything. I won’t let anyone off the hook and we have to show. That standard cannot drop.”
Roared on by an expectant crowd despite their current woes, the home side made a good start against the 14-time winners. They had a glorious chance to take the lead but Kante skewed his left-foot shot wide from about 12 yards. The visitors, content to bide their time, looked sharp on the break.
Midway through the opening period Rodrygo created space for himself and thumped an effort against the outside of the post from an acute angle while Luka Modric tested Kepa.
But Chelsea should have been ahead on the stroke of half-time when James fizzed a ball across the box from the right and it fell to Marc Cucurella at the back post. The defender took a touch and shot but Thibaut Courtois came flying out of his goal to save.
Kante had another golden opportunity to take the lead early in the second half but his close-range effort hit Eder Militao and deflected away to safety. Real took the wind out of Chelsea’s sails with just over half an hour to go, when Rodrygo scored from close range after an assist by Vinicius Junior.
Lampard made a number of attacking substitutions, bringing on Raheem Sterling, Joao Felix and Mykhailo Mudryk in a desperate bid to get back into the match. But Rodrygo found the net again in the 80th minute, tapping home after a clever assist from Federico Valverde.