Mauricio Pochettino Addresses His Decision to Snub Thiago Silva from Wolves Fixture

Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino was left fuming after he was asked about the reason for dropping Thiago Silva from the FA Cup fourth-round clash against Aston Villa on Thursday. The Argentine manager opted for an inexperienced pair in the heart of the defence, replacing Silva with Benoit Badiashile alongside Axel Disasi. The duo managed to live up to the expectations as Chelsea picked up a 3-1 victory in the away fixture to secure a spot in the next round of the cup competition.

After the Blues suffered a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Wolves last Sunday, Silva’s wife Isabelle shared a controversial post on Twitter. “It’s time to change. If you wait any longer it will be too late,” she wrote. Though Isabelle did not mention anyone’s name, many thought her remarks perhaps referred to the sacking of Pochettino.

Isabelle later cleared her thoughts in a subsequent post where she also apologised for the previous comments. Identifying herself as “a passionate Chelsea fan”, Silva’s wife wrote, “I’m sorry that my personal outburst has caused such an impact. I’m passionate about the team, I thrive on victories and I’m saddened by defeats.”

While there were rumours that Isabelle’s comments had something to do with the snub of Silva, Pochettino was asked about the same during an interaction with ITV’s Gabriel Clarke. The Chelsea boss was quick to call it a strategic decision.

“I am professional and a coach and I always pick my players because of performance and balance. I think I understand the question but I want to be calm because I need to be professional and I always make my decisions because of the professional side,” he said, as quoted by the Sun.

Pochettino further admitted that he had a word with Silva about his wife’s social media post. “He came today to talk with me. I am not going to talk in the way we were talking. The important thing is he came and wanted to talk with me. We talked. It was private. And that’s it,” the 51-year-old said.

Silva is expected to return to action when Chelsea take on Crystal Palace for an away Premier League game on February 13.