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When asked why he benched Thiago Silva during Chelsea’s thrilling 3-1 FA Cup victory against Aston Villa, Maurice Pochetino became icy.
After Sunday’s 4-2 loss to Wolves, Silva’s wife Isabelle said on social media, “It’s time to change.” However, she later expressed regret for her “outburst.”
On Wednesday, Blues manager Mauricio Pochettino substituted Benoit Badiashile for 39-year-old Silva, resulting in an inexperienced center defense led by Axel Disasi.
But Chelsea mocked Villa’s incredible home record with one of their best performances of a wild season.
But Poch lost his cool before the game started when he was questioned regarding Silva.
The former Tottenham manager replied in response to Gabriel Clarke of ITV: “Why the question?
“As a professional coach, I choose my players based on their 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.”
“My answer was clear, no?” Poch asked when asked whether there were any further reasons the Brazilian had been fired.
Pochettino had earlier disclosed that he had met with Silva to talk about a “private” topic, which was probably Isabelle’s post on X.
“I am not going to talk in the way we were talking,” he continued. What matters is that he approached me and expressed a want to speak.”
Chelsea’s elegant replay victory at Villa Park went on to secure a home match against Leeds in the fifth round.
Just before the half, Conor Gallagher and Nicolas Jackson made a clean attack.
The Blues’ outstanding third goal was then curled in by Enzo Fernandez, while Villa’s substitute Moussa Diaby scored a late consolation goal.