Thiago Silva has had a long week.
He was run ragged in the 4-2 home defeat to Wolves on Saturday, before turning on his phone to see his wife Belle had taken to X to cryptically call for Mauricio Pochettino’s head.
Of course she is free to share her opinions, but it didn’t exactly help her husband’s case. Belle has since apologised, but Thiago still had to meet with Pochettino to discuss the comments, which have brought his place at the club under greater scrutiny.
The 39-year-old was benched for Chelsea’s crucial FA Cup fifth-round replay against Aston Villa on Wednesday, a decision Pochettino said had been taken “based on performance and balance”. The Blues then won 3-1, producing perhaps their best showing of the season and only conceding once Silva had been subbed on with 10 minutes to go.
Chelsea fans still love Silva, and they are right to. The Brazilian was a crucial member of the 2020-21 Champions League-winning side and has come to represent the best of the Roman Abramovich era while Todd Boehly’s ownership has continually collapsed into itself.
He is a vocal, passionate leader, actively engages with fans and has been one of the club’s most important players since signing in 2020. Even if it ends this summer, he will undoubtedly be remembered as a Chelsea legend. Throughout the first half at Villa Park, the away crowd sung his name even as he watched on from the bench.
Yet a central defensive partnership of Axel Disasi and Benoit Badiashile gives Chelsea a dynamism and mobility they simply cannot get from Silva, certainly not alongside Disasi.
The Frenchman is slow to turn and can struggle for acceleration, but former Monaco teammate Badiashile understands this and is better equipped to compensate for it. Defensive pairings are as much about covering each other’s weaknesses as they are about embellishing strengths.
Levi Colwill can also play the same role as Badiashile, who finally looks to have settled after his rocky return from injury. In Pochettino’s tactical system and with this squad make-up, Silva is best suited to being Disasi’s back-up, rather than his partner.
Playing Ben Chilwell and Silva together in a four-man backline also doesn’t work. The former can’t get forward as he is expected to and the latter still ends up exposed.
Just take Wolves’ third goal on Saturday. Chilwell was near the halfway line, leaving 39-year-old Silva to handle Pedro Neto running directly at him. The inevitable ensued.
Matheus' hat-trick
— Wolves (@Wolves) February 4, 2024pic.twitter.com/S6XtfBo9TH
The space left between the two is an obvious area of weakness teams will continue to exploit if provided the opportunity. A three-at-the-back system would suit and protect both, but Pochettino’s reticence to employ that is clear.
It has also been proven that Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez simply aren’t well-suited to covering the space Silva needs them to. This leaves the Brazilian too often relying on his ever-draining pace, rather than able to utilise his on-the-ball skills. He has made the fifth-most passes of any Premier League player this season, highlighting the importance he can still have, although he can slow the play with his decision-making.
Against Villa, Chelsea’s starting XI had an average age of 22.8, with nine players at least 15 years younger than Silva. There’s a fair argument to be made that is too young, that they need more experience in the long term, but getting it all from one cantankerous 39-year-old is perhaps not the answer.
Silva’s contract ends this summer and a renewal seems increasingly unlikely. He has begun studying for his coaching badges, which indicates retirement may not be far away, while a final return to Fluminense has also been mooted.
“I don’t have anything scheduled for later,” he said recently. “There’s nothing scheduled here. I’m just looking to have fun. We know [my career] is almost over, but it’s not the end yet, so pick the right time.”
Maybe now is the right time. Silva can no longer be relied on as a key figure at Stamford Bridge, certainly not on the pitch, and he is becoming a distraction off it. He doesn’t fit into this brave new world, and it is harming his ego and Chelsea’s prospects of success.
Give him the big send-off and the standing ovation, paint him a new banner, sing his name until you can no more, but the Thiago Silva era at Chelsea is over.
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