Thiago Silva

[My Blood Is Blue]

Putting Chelsea defenders in a top 10 list, that is tricky and no doubt controversial… but I’m going to give it a go. My list is based on how good they were for Chelsea, not their overall career. This is defenders as well, not just CBs.

1. Terry

2. A.Cole

3. Carvalho

4. Silva

5. Gallas

6. Ivanovic

7. Azpilicueta

8. Cahill

9. Rudiger

10. Desailly

 

James has the potential to move up into this list, but he needs to stay fit first!

 

[JaneB]

@My Blood Is Blue

That's some list of greatness!!! 

[thevelourfog]

50 minutes ago, JaneB said:

Chelsea: Thiago Silva hits back at criticism after Forest defeat | Football | Metro News

I don't think he was 'arguing'.  He was explaining his viewpoint in a very nice and respectful way.

Completely agreed that he came across as respectful and reasonable. I think arguments can and generally should be exactly this way, but perhaps disagreement would have been a fairer choice of word. No intended criticism of how he articulated himself. I'm just not sure it's sensible to get into it at all with fans on the internet. Much better to ignore all that noise, imo, and the old expression about never reasoning with a fool jumps to mind. 

I think any and all criticism of Silva, and he's not perfect so there are some fair lines of it, have to be tempered by acknowledgement that he is here. He signed a new deal, in fact has done so twice, at times of huge upheaval and uncertainty for the club when it would have been much easier to wind down his career elsewhere. He's one of very few Chelsea players who can look back on the last 15 months and hold his head high. Age will finally catch up with him, but it does with us all.

[boratsbrother]

My top 10.

1 - Terry 

2- Cole

3.- Gallas.

4 - Ivanovic.

5 - Azpi.

6 - Carvalho.

7 - Silva.

8  - Le Saux

9 - Rudiger.

10 - Desailly.

 

 

[thevelourfog]

No super Dan Petrescu in these lists?! In all honesty I was too young to be watching with much of a mind to analyse how good he was and I'm sure he comes nowhere close, but he's definitely one or the defenders I've most enjoyed watching. 

Probably find it easier to list those I've least enjoyed watching. Jes Hogh, anyone?

[Dwmh]

1 hour ago, Sleeping Dave said:

Not even close for me.

1. John Terry (by a country mile)

2. Riccy Carvalho

3. William Gallas

4. Marcel Desailly

5. Thiago Silva or Gary Cahill (close call for me)

7. Branislav Ivanovic

8. Frank Leboeuf

9. Antonio Rudiger

10. David Luiz 

1. JT
2. Desailly (close to first)
3&4 Gallas and Rudiger (both were absolutely brilliant for us - how many vital rescue tackles saved matches?)
5. Silva (but he was 36 a few weeks after he arrived, so imagine)
6+  Ivanovic, Chopper Harris, Carvalho
other favourites Cahill, Duberry, Monkou, Droy obvs and I though Jason Cundy was excellent as a young lad - not sure what went wrong with him at Spurs (before the cancer).  The young Mickey Nutton looked really classy, maybe he should have played further forward, maybe I should have paid more attention to his Div 1 form than his Div 2 form.

I still think that Desailly was the best player we had between Wilkins and SFL/JT.
Not a common view i know except possibly for JT himself.

[chara]

2 hours ago, Dwmh said:

1. JT
2. Desailly (close to first)
3&4 Gallas and Rudiger (both were absolutely brilliant for us - how many vital rescue tackles saved matches?)
5. Silva (but he was 36 a few weeks after he arrived, so imagine)
6+  Ivanovic, Chopper Harris, Carvalho
other favourites Cahill, Duberry, Monkou, Droy obvs and I though Jason Cundy was excellent as a young lad - not sure what went wrong with him at Spurs (before the cancer).  The young Mickey Nutton looked really classy, maybe he should have played further forward, maybe I should have paid more attention to his Div 1 form than his Div 2 form.

I still think that Desailly was the best player we had between Wilkins and SFL/JT.
Not a common view i know except possibly for JT himself.

If it sounds like a Droy and writes like a Droy then it is DROY!!!!😁

Too far back for most but Dempsey was as solid a 5 as you could ask for.

[flllerywhereru2]

1-John Terry-such a great leader and reader of the game, excellent passer too and a habit of popping up with important goals over the course of nearly two decades has to be number one

2-Silva/Desailly both arrived late in their careers but both are/were total class in fact world class 

4-Carvalho-magnificent player, had the odd blooper in him but overall one of the best at the time we had him would have thrived in the moderb game too as with the 3 above him

5-Azpilequeta/Ron Harris-High quality over a long period as with JT was able to play in several positions and got the odd goal, had they been  better players going forward would be high i think. I only saw Chopper at the end of his career but it was clear that he had more in the locker than just whacking people.

7-Ashley Cole

8-Gallas

9-Ivanovich-the fact that he played out of position for much of his time and made it his position was a sign of a top player, also fond of an important goal. His sudden decline was sad to see  something that none of the above players experienced (so far-please no re silva)

10-Colin Pates-underrated imo played champions league football at Arsenal later in his career, was a good enough ball player to play in midfield as well as at the back

 

Honourable mentions- Steve Clarke, Micky Droy, John Dempsey, Eddie Mcreadie, paul elliott, good call from Droy (welcome back) too Micky Nutton, nice player he was

 

Honourable mentions for

 

 

[paulw66]

On 08/09/2023 at 11:43, thevelourfog said:

No super Dan Petrescu in these lists?!

I don't think Petrescu was ever really a defender, more of a midfielder. When he joined, he was a wing back in Hoddle's 3-5-2, then when Gullit reverted to 442, he essentially played right midfield from there on in.

I think he only ever played right back, in a 4, on one or two occasions for us.

[paulw66]

On 08/09/2023 at 11:00, Sleeping Dave said:

Not even close for me.

1. John Terry (by a country mile)

2. Riccy Carvalho

3. William Gallas

4. Marcel Desailly

5. Thiago Silva or Gary Cahill (close call for me)

7. Branislav Ivanovic

8. Frank Leboeuf

9. Antonio Rudiger

10. David Luiz 

I'll tell you who I think was under appreciated, and that was Alex. 

I wouldn't deviate far from your list of centre backs though. If Desailly had played in a better Chelsea team, he would be sitting at the very top table, IMO.

[east lower]

One name that has escaped the lists here is Paul Elliot. Rolls Royce of a player whose career was ended by a disgraceful and dare I say malicious tackle by Liverpool’s Dean Saunders.

 

[Mark Kelly]

26 minutes ago, east lower said:

One name that has escaped the lists here is Paul Elliot. Rolls Royce of a player whose career was ended by a disgraceful and dare I say malicious tackle by Liverpool’s Dean Saunders.

 

It was definitely malicious and he definitely was that kind of player 

[east lower]

Only when he played for Villa, Swansea & Derby...................apparently, surely the 'best fans in the world' couldn't support that sort of action.

Listen to the sound on the clip to see how disgusted their fans are!!

 

 

[Sleeping Dave]

5 hours ago, paulw66 said:

I'll tell you who I think was under appreciated, and that was Alex. 

I wouldn't deviate far from your list of centre backs though. If Desailly had played in a better Chelsea team, he would be sitting at the very top table, IMO.

Agreed regarding Alex. Hard to keep him out of the top ten. 

[chara]

@flllerywhereru2...reference to Chopper...from an OG who first saw him as a junior and playing at Wembley for England youth....much more than just his nickname...far more of a playmaker (not quite the word I want but) than appreciated especially as a youngster.

As mentioned many times by me (yawn!),,Chopper and Tommy Smith as wing halves at Wembley...young but still terrifying!

[Dwmh]

4 hours ago, chara said:

@flllerywhereru2...reference to Chopper...from an OG who first saw him as a junior and playing at Wembley for England youth....much more than just his nickname...far more of a playmaker (not quite the word I want but) than appreciated especially as a youngster.

As mentioned many times by me (yawn!),,Chopper and Tommy Smith as wing halves at Wembley...young but still terrifying!

Playmaker is certainly not the word I would use.  Couldn't pass 20 yards accurately.
protector sure - Wilkins could pass accuarately 60 yards largely because if someone hacked Wilkins they's get done over.
We loved that.

[chara]

17 minutes ago, Dwmh said:

Playmaker is certainly not the word I would use.  Couldn't pass 20 yards accurately.
protector sure - Wilkins could pass accuarately 60 yards largely because if someone hacked Wilkins they's get done over.
We loved that.

Take your point Droy but as a youngster I do remember him being a constructive player as well as destructive one..I seem to remember..could be wrong..that the destructive side was "encouraged" to the detriment of other skills. BUT I was a lot younger too and probably not as cynical as I am now but boy I did enjoy the Chopper days!!!

I'm sure you recall the old story of Bestie being photo "followed" for a magazine or catalogue feature,,,,something about a complaint that every photo seemed to have this bullet headed guy all over him!!!..guess who......

And again..good to "exchange" with you once more...

[JaneB]

Happy 39th Birthday Thiago Silva 🥳

Chelsea don't deserve you  😞

[paulw66]

4 minutes ago, JaneB said:

Happy 39th Birthday Thiago Silva 🥳

Chelsea don't deserve you  😞

I duno. Been a mutually beneficial partnership. I bet, when PSG let him go, he never thought he'd be playing at this level at age 39.

I always thought he had been signed for 1 season. What  player he must have been in his prime

[Dwmh]

57 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

I duno. Been a mutually beneficial partnership. I bet, when PSG let him go, he never thought he'd be playing at this level at age 39.

I always thought he had been signed for 1 season. What  player he must have been in his prime

The motivational benefits of 1 season contracts....

[paulw66]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/feb/11/thiago-silva-chelsea-football-mauricio-pochettino?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[flllerywhereru2]

1 hour ago, paulw66 said:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/feb/11/thiago-silva-chelsea-football-mauricio-pochettino?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

lady Karma didnt take long to catch up with Steinberg did it, within hours of this snide article his team suffers their biggest home defeat for decades...keep em coming...

[Milaria]

Legendary figure, I would choose him as a coach.

[Plurathon]

On 08/09/2023 at 12:39, boratsbrother said:

My top 10.

1 - Terry 

2- Cole

3.- Gallas.

4 - Ivanovic.

5 - Azpi.

6 - Carvalho.

7 - Silva.

8  - Le Saux

9 - Rudiger.

10 - Desailly.

 

 

How can you put Desailly below  Carvalho or Ivanovic??

[Mark Kelly]

14 minutes ago, Plurathon said:

How can you put Desailly below  Carvalho or Ivanovic??

In my opinion he's way below Carvalho