Mauricio Pochettino has dropped Thiago Silva for tonight’s game against Aston Villa.
The defender’s wife made a controversial Tweet at the weekend after Chelsea were beaten, calling for “change” at the club which was interpreted as a call for the sacking of Pochettino. Pochettino revealed that the defender had been to see him to discuss the incident yesterday before the manager took his press conference.
Today he responded sharply to questions about his decision to remove Silva from the side:
“I am professional… I always pick my players because of performance and balance,” he told ITV.
We honestly think he’s just been rested as much as punished. Pochettino has rarely played him twice a week, let alone 3 times in 7 or 8 days, so even without the off the field questions we wouldn’t have been surprised to see him left out.
But the fans feel like it’s a punishment, and they’ve decided to back the Brazilian – they’ve been heard singing their Thiago Silva song from the stands.
