Chelsea are 11th in the Premier League, 17 points off the top four with seven games remaining; Real Madrid ousted Frank Lampard's side by sealing a 4-0 aggregate victory in the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday; Chelsea have spent more than £600m since Todd Boehly's takeover
Thursday 20 April 2023 00:00, UK
Thiago Silva says Chelsea's squad size is an "issue" which even forced them to expand the dressing room, while the club must "put together a plan" to avoid making the same mistakes next season.
Chelsea sit 11th in the Premier League table and 17 points off the top four after their slim hopes of salvaging a torrid season were ended on Tuesday night with a 4-0 aggregate defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals.
They now face a season outside of Europe's premier competition, leaving them with little to play for in their remaining seven games despite having spent more than £600m on transfers since Todd Boehly's takeover - and Silva admitted their bloated squad is not helping matters.
"I think we've already taken the first step. It was a mistake, but it's happened. Now we've got to take a step back and see what we did wrong," Silva said after the Real defeat.
"There's no point looking at the coach and saying, 'It's this guy or that guy's fault', if we don't step up to the plate.
"The club are going through a tough patch, it was all a bit vague at the beginning, then there was a change of ownership, many players came in. We even had to extend the dressing room as it wasn't big enough for all the players.
"A positive is that we've got great players in the squad. On the flipside, someone is always going to be annoyed or feel down because not everyone can play. The coach can only pick 11 players yet there are 30-odd here. That's an issue, isn't it?
"Some players are out of favour. Auba (Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang) came in as a starter but he's not in the Champions League squad as there was a limit of three, and we made eight signings in January.
"We've got to take stock and put together a plan for next season so that we don't make the same mistakes."
Lampard has lost four successive matches since returning on a temporary basis, with his side scoring just once in that period.
The Blues resume an underwhelming season at home to neighbours Brentford next Wednesday ahead of fixtures against Arsenal, Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest, Manchester City, Newcastle and Manchester United.
Lampard is the club's fourth manager this term following the sackings of Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter, plus one game under interim coach Bruno Saltor, and Silva also warned there are no guarantees another new boss will spark a revival.
"Everybody talks too much about replacing managers," said the 38-year-old. "I think we, as players, must also take responsibility.
"We have had three managers this season, plus a fourth with Bruno where we failed to win. We have lost [against Real] and with Lampard, we have failed to win.
"Everybody is talking about the manager but we must look at what has been done wrong and try to change."
April 26: Brentford (H) - Premier League, kick-off 7.45pm
May 2: Arsenal (A) - Premier League, kick-off 5.30pm, live on Sky Sports
May 6: Bournemouth (A) - Premier League, kick-off 3pm
May 13: Nottingham Forest (H) - Premier League, kick-off 3pm
May 20: Manchester City (A) - Premier League, kick-off 3pm
May 28: Newcastle (H) - Premier League, kick-off 4.30pm
TBA: Man Utd (A) - Premier League
