Thiago Silva: ‘A team like Chelsea can’t go a long time without a victory’

More often than not, football matches are decided on slim margins. Unfortunately that was not the case at all for Chelsea, in our encounter with Manchester City on Sunday — even if the referee(s) overlooked the obvious penalty in our favour early in the game, which could have made things a little bit better for us.

City pressed home their superiority by taking a 3-0 first-half lead. Even veteran centre back Thiago Silva was at a loss for words to explain what was going wrong with the team. But he did find the words to explain what didn’t happen.

“It was a match different from all the others we have lost recently.

“City have a good coach and have been playing together for four years. It’s not easy to play against them, but in a period in the first half we didn’t suffer enough to try and win the match. We conceded three goals in the blink of an eye.”

There were few, if any, positives to take as solace from the game, but at least the second-half performance, especially after the entrances of Callum Hudson-Odoi and Kai Havertz, was a much better showing for the men in Blue.

“It’s the most difficult league in the world. You need to be attentive, to work harder, be stronger as a team, but I think we are a good team and the second half was much better. That was the one positive.

“We didn’t give up. We had more gusto and tried to play more. We saw that if we keep the ball well and play in the opposition half we can create space, but against a team with such a high level it’s very hard to come back.”

One source of inspiration for the improved performance after half-time were the positive words from manager Frank Lampard. According to Thiago, Lamps is always trying to keep the spirits up no matter the struggles.

“It was a positive message, to go back out there and try to play more. He gave confidence to the team after a complicated first half.

“The coach always keeps us positive. Of course it’s a difficult period for us because we are not winning, but it’s necessary to continue working and be prepared for the next match when it arrives.”

Obviously, Chelsea should not be digging holes so deep that we simply cannot recover from them, regardless of any positive or negative words. And as a player who was part of a dominant Paris Saint-Germain team, who were in the Champions League final last season, Thiago is well aware of the need to get back to winning ... and then keep on winning.

“We have to do much better, work harder. A team like Chelsea can’t go a long time without a victory.”

-Thiago Silva; Source: Chelsea FC

Of course, words will not be enough. We need to start delivering on the pitch.