Jump to content

6. Thiago Silva


Jase
 Share

Recommended Posts

9 hours ago, killer1257 said:

One mistake is all it takes til TC fans start hating on a player.

Gesendet von meinem VOG-L29 mit Tapatalk
 

I am so not hating

I think he will end a superb free acquisition

I certainly did not go bonkers at AC for the red card either

only player hate I truly have hate for is for Kepa (as a player, not as a person)

Alonso as a trad LB makes me rage too far too often, but that is not new and we soon have Chilwell

as long as Mendy is adequate there is only one main thing making me ultra stressed out

Lampard

its been building for ages

he has been given magnificent players

yet seems so clueless far too often

and our defence and set pieces are STILL SHIT

this dwarfs all else for me atm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Analysing Thiago Silva’s Premier League debut (not just that slip)

https://theathletic.com/2095406/2020/09/27/thiago-silva-chelsea-debut-west-brom/

silva-debut-scaled-e1601193193342-1024x683.jpg

Thiago Silva never got off one knee as he looked back towards his own goal, giving himself the best view in The Hawthorns of the immediate aftermath to his own personal horror show: Callum Robinson pouncing eagerly on his mis-control and advancing confidently on a scrambling Willy Caballero, knowing just as well as Andreas Christensen did that the sprinting Dane could not get to him in time to stop the shot.

As the ball hit the net, Silva bowed his head.

It was a moment eerily reminiscent of Steven Gerrard and Demba Ba at Anfield in April 2014, and cast Frank Lampard’s glowing pre-match endorsement of Silva in the same cruelly ironic light as the legendary Liverpool captain’s fervent vow that “This does not f***ing slip now” in an emotional team huddle following a stirring win over Manchester City, two weeks before Chelsea crushed their Premier League title dreams.

“Experience, quality, leadership,” had been Lampard’s response when asked by Sky Sports what he expected Silva to offer Chelsea as captain on his Premier League debut. “We have Azpi (Cesar Azpilicueta) as our captain but where he’s not starting, Thiago takes the armband with his presence. He’s not speaking the language well enough to do it in that sense, but it doesn’t matter with someone like him. He delivers it through actions, presence and how he is with the people around him. He’s been a winner throughout his career, so I want to see that with us.”

Robinson

Robinson had already put West Bromwich Albion 1-0 up by the time Silva gifted him the chance to double their lead in the 25th minute, but it was the moment that changed the game. Chelsea had recovered well from their early setback, pinning their newly-promoted opponents back and building a series of dangerous attacks around the crossing threat of Reece James on the right flank. The nature of the mistake from their on-pitch leader staggered them, setting the stage for the latest defensive corner farce of the Lampard era two minutes later.

“Thiago Silva is going to be fantastic for us,” Lampard insisted after the match. “He has been incredible in his career and absolutely, I will not look at him (to blame him). I can talk about the mistakes, they are clear and I am open and honest about that. We are a team but we have to react around that and, to be fair, the team did in the second half. There is nothing on Thiago — I am sure he will stand up and say it was a mistake. But other than that, I thought he was pretty faultless in the game.

“That’s his first Premier League game done and in the bank. We will get a lot more from him as well, especially as he gets fitter and as the whole squad get fitter.”

It was the second time in four days that Silva had presented the ball to an opposition striker in a compromising position. The first happened in the 14th minute of the Barnsley game, when his poor control led to a scuffed pass that went straight to Patrick Schmidt. The young Austrian’s touch took him too wide to shoot himself, his cross failed to connect with a team-mate and Chelsea went on to win 6-0. This time there was no such reprieve.

Thiago-Silva-gaffe-1.png

Silva is not known for such errors; his reputation as one of European football’s finest centre-backs at AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain was founded on the composure he displayed with the ball at his feet, as well as his defensive fundamentals. He certainly regards himself as a ball-playing centre-back, citing it in his unveiling press conference as a primary reason why he was reluctant to come to a Premier League that he perceived was dominated by long-ball football earlier in his career. “That didn’t really appeal to me,” he insisted. “I know how to play that way but my preference was to play football on the ground. I knew my quality.”

If anything, Silva’s mistake sprang from too much confidence in his ball skills. He took his eyes off the ball as it came back to him from Mateo Kovacic in favour of surveying his own passing options, and tried to control it with a roll of his studs rather than the safer option of his in-step. A key part of his adjustment to English football might be realising that his margin for error is significantly less than what he has become accustomed to in Ligue 1 with PSG; as “Welcome to the Premier League” moments go, this was a particularly brutal one.

Thiago-Silva-gaffe-3.png

Overall he was very good in possession against West Brom, completing 80 of his 87 passes and regularly succeeding in playing forward, through pressure, into the feet of Chelsea’s midfield creators. His only unsuccessful passes were several more ambitious diagonal switches of play that resulted in low-risk turnovers.

Thiago-Silva-passmap-vs-West-Brom.png

Silva’s pass map against West Brom. Yellow passes are successful, red are unsuccessful

Lampard’s overall assessment of Silva’s display rang true. He generally worked well with Christensen and projected an air of assurance despite being close to Marcos Alonso, the worst performer on the pitch in the first half. West Brom’s opening goal was a direct result of the Spaniard’s careless header to Matheus Pereira, their third a consequence of him drifting away from Kyle Bartley at a corner.

There was also a perfect storm feel to the first half at The Hawthorns; Tammy Abraham and Timo Werner both missed gilt-edged chances while Chelsea’s opponents scored with all three of their shots on target. Abraham’s failure to convert a brilliant James cross in the 12th minute was the culmination of a swift move that Silva had initiated with a sharp, progressive pass out to the right.

Thiago-Silva-gaffe-2.png

Lampard has every reason to be confident that he can trust Silva going forward, but the broader hellscape of Chelsea’s defending under his management cannot be explained as a series of perfect storms: that’s now one clean sheet in 21 Premier League away matches (December’s 2-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur) since he took charge, and six goals conceded in the first three league matches of this season to follow the startling tally of 54 given up in 2019-20. On top of it all, his latest change of marking system doesn’t seem to have improved the team’s ability to survive opposition corners.

Silva will surely have better days for Chelsea than this one and his pedigree suggests he could become part of the solution. Lampard needs him to be. He needs to find a solution to the defensive half of this team if the biggest spenders in Europe are to get any benefit from their spectacular attacking firepower.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
7 hours ago, Superblue_1986 said:

Haven't had chance to look at last night's game thread, but surprised no one has made any comments in this thread.

It is imperative that we keep this man fit to play as many games as possible this season. I'm sure there will be a couple of times throughout the season where we're stretched and he's made to look his age, but his awareness and reading of the game is exceptional and makes it look like he's a 28 year old out on the pitch.

He's also vital to provide the ability to play out from the back. His calmness and assuredness on the ball is superb (it's everything Christensen was expected to develop in his game).

So far, even as a short term measure and cost effective move to allow us to invest in other areas of the team this summer, he is looking to be a complete masterstroke of a signing.

What I like the most is he hasn't let that mistake Vs West Brom get in his head, you'd be surprised how many players go into their shell for a while after a big mistake mainly to minimise the odds of something like that happening again. It can mentally effect even experienced players.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thiago Silva feels “a bit more relaxed” at Chelsea than at PSG

Speaking in an interview with Esporte Interativo, Chelsea central defender Thiago Silva described his new club as being a bit more relaxed than former employers PSG.

“For me, it would have been difficult to do another year with all this pressure to win the Champions’ League. I am changing scenery a bit and I feel a bit more relaxed. Not to say that there isn’t pressure, pressure is the same. I play for a great team that is looking for titles.”

https://www.getfootballnewsfrance.com/2020/thiago-silva-feels-a-bit-more-relaxed-at-chelsea-than-at-psg/

west-bromwich-albion-v-chelsea-premier-league-806x518.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, killer1257 said:

Read in twitter that he carries a hip injury.
So AC might ne back again

Gesendet von meinem VOG-L29 mit Tapatalk
 

FUCK

well, AC and Tomori then, or drag back Rudiger

Zouma needs to be benched until we can ditch him in January

he is simply horrid

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Vesper said:

FUCK

well, AC and Tomori then, or drag back Rudiger

Zouma needs to be benched until we can ditch him in January

he is simply horrid

Despite Zouma's inability on the ball, for me he's the best partner at present for Silva. 

His strengths for me are better than the strengths of Christensen, who just seems to have been on a downward trajectory for a couple of years now despite a lot of chances and opportunities.

Tomori may be a better long term choice but whilst Silva cannot speak English, and considering his experience and ability to organise the defence are important parts in his game at his age, it makes much more sense that he is partnered with someone he can speak and converse with fluently. Swap Zouma out for Tomori and you're potentially left with no one in the back 4 that Silva and Mendy can speak fluently to.

If Silva is out for this weekend, I'd rather Tomori is given a chance over Christensen. He's had enough opportunities and has regressed rather than developed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Superblue_1986 said:

Despite Zouma's inability on the ball, for me he's the best partner at present for Silva. 

His strengths for me are better than the strengths of Christensen, who just seems to have been on a downward trajectory for a couple of years now despite a lot of chances and opportunities.

Tomori may be a better long term choice but whilst Silva cannot speak English, and considering his experience and ability to organise the defence are important parts in his game at his age, it makes much more sense that he is partnered with someone he can speak and converse with fluently. Swap Zouma out for Tomori and you're potentially left with no one in the back 4 that Silva and Mendy can speak fluently to.

If Silva is out for this weekend, I'd rather Tomori is given a chance over Christensen. He's had enough opportunities and has regressed rather than developed.

it isn't just Zouma's shambolic ball play and even worse passing, it is his shit positioning too

the only thing he is good at is defending crosses in the air and the occasional last ditch tackle (but many of those come from poor positioning to begin with)

he even misses so many open headers

I have been saying for 2 years he will never be Chels starting quality, and have given reasons why, and thsie reasons are manifested most every week

if he is still here after next summer, we are so not serious about fixing the defence

Zouma is a nightmare waiting to happen on far too many occasions

if he is the  best we have, we are fucked in terms of top 4

he is deffo perm now on my chalked off list, I was patient and gave him plenty of chances, and he failed

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • 0 members are here!

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

talk chelse forums

We get it, advertisements are annoying!
Talk Chelsea relies on revenue to pay for hosting and upgrades. While we try to keep adverts as unobtrusive as possible, we need to run ad's to make sure we can stay online because over the years costs have become very high.

Could you please allow adverts on this website and help us by switching your ad blocker off.

KTBFFH
Thank You