Jamie Carragher was left stunned by Thiago Silva’s goal-line tonight in Chelsea’s 3-1 defeat against Arsenal.
Chelsea’s miserable season continued on Tuesday night by losing away to rivals Arsenal, who earned the three points that takes them back to the top of the Premier League table.
Martin Odegaard scored two identical goals in the opening half an hour before Gabriel Jesus added another before half-time. The Blues did salvage some kind of response with Noni Madueke’s first goal for the club in the 65th minute, but they were second best this evening at the Emirates Stadium.
Frank Lampard has now lost all six matches since he returned to Chelsea last month as the caretaker manager. Next, they travel to Bournemouth on Saturday in another league fixture.
Sky Sports pundit Carragher, who was on co-commentary of the Arsenal vs Chelsea contest, was blown away by a second-half incident involving Thiago Silva.
The 38-year-old defender showed all his class and composure to prevent his side going 4-0 down early into the second period. He positioned himself on the goal-line when defending a corner and showed supreme calmness to control the ball with his knee before volleying it away.
Carragher told Sky Sports’ Main Event channel (9:15, 2 May) that he could never have replicated Silva during his playing career as a centre-half.
“No! I wasn’t capable. There is no doubt at his best he is one of the best defenders in world football. When you are getting beat 3-0 at the Emirates and you bring it down and volley it away! They are brought up differently, no doubt.
In fairness, there’s not many defenders past or present that can match Silva for composure.
We’ve seen throughout the course of the season the veteran centre-back be the club’s most consistent player, so he must feel as frustrated as the supporters when it comes to the results.
It was a rare night where the Blues backline did look shaky and all over the place, especially in the opening 45 minutes.
We’ve relied on our defence far too much this season. Everyone knows it’s in the top end of the pitch that the biggest issues lie.