Thiago Silva has put Chelsea's "not excellent" season down to the "small details" as the club prepares for a new era under Todd Boehly. The Blues were beaten in both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup final to Liverpool with penalty shootouts deciding both matches.
Chelsea finished third in the Premier League and were triumphant in both the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup. Despite this, the season perhaps underwhelmed plenty of supporters, with the off-pitch chaos maybe having a detrimental impact on the on-field performances.
"In general, it was a good season - not excellent," Silva said to the club's official website. "We were in the top three and over the course of the campaign we had a couple of cup successes and we lost a couple of cup finals. It's not what we wanted, but it was okay.
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"It's the small details. When you look at it, if we had won those two penalty shootouts, it would have been an excellent season instead of a good season because you always remember those who win. Liverpool won the two penalty shootouts and it was an excellent season for them.
"If it had been the other way, it would not have been quite so good for them and it would have been a great season for us because we would have been celebrating winning four competitions instead of two. But it's what people remember - and those small margins are what make the difference that win you competitions."
Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel, when reflecting on the season, said it was one of the most challenging seasons he's had as a manager to date. The German coach said: "It makes it maybe at the very top of the list of [challenging] seasons that we've had.
"In that moment, you adapt to that situation, you try to adapt and you try to find solutions and it's always challenging. It can be from results, from the atmosphere in the dressing room, from crazy things like sanctions, which nobody could predict or ever think of.
"It was very challenging, but at the same time, it was also demanding, but also a lot of fun. It is a pure pleasure to be in the middle of it and still have the chance to guide the team and to be a part of it."
He added: "Of course, I think we can do better. I think it is not a lot; it is margins.
"We will look into that - it is not the moment when I have analysed everything and I don't have the answer because we would have changed it before. We struggle with efficiency, with goal-scoring records, with consistency, with determination, with precision in the box against teams who defend deep."
