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Men’s Football Frank Lampard knows he has struck gold with Silva

by Simon Williams

FRANK LAMPARD has backed new signing Thiago Silva despite a disastrous debut against West Bromwich Albion.

The Chelsea manager was hoping that former Milan and Paris Saint-Germain defender would solidify his team’s defence.

But the Blues found themselves a goal down after just four minutes against the Baggies, a low drive from Callum Robinson finding the back of the net following a mistake from Marcos Alonso.

Robinson netted his and the Baggies’ second on 25 minutes after he pounced on a mistake by Silva and slotted the ball past Willy Caballero.

And it was 3-0 to the home side before the half-hour mark when Kyle Bartley netted from a corner following some woeful Chelsea marking.

But it was a game of two halves as the away side made changes at the break and mounted a comeback which was started by Mason Mount on 54 minutes, before substitute Callum Hudson-Odoi made it 3-2 with 20 minutes of normal time remaining.

And the Chelsea pressure paid off when Tammy Abraham tapped home from close range deep into injury time to give his side a share of the spoils.

After the game Lampard was asked about the performance of Silva, who was substituted on 73 minutes, and whether or not the language barrier could be an issue moving forward.

He said: “I’m not sure how relative it was [in this game] but he doesn’t speak the language very well. It’s something we’ll have to work through because it is what it is. 

“We haven’t had any time [with him]. Thiago’s turned up pretty fresh and he’s been in and around the US.

“I’m sure he’ll learn pretty quickly as some of the players do speak languages he speaks, French being the main one. We also have Brazilian and Portuguese speakers and he also speaks Italian. 

“If the language is a slight barrier we need time to work so that’s what we have in front of us.”

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