Thiago Silva says Chelsea's squad size is an "issue" which even forced them to expand the dressing room, while the club must "put together a plan" to avoid making the same mistakes next season.
Chelsea sit 11th in the Premier League table and 17 points off the top four after their slim hopes of salvaging a torrid season were ended on Tuesday night with a 4-0 aggregate defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals.
They now face a season outside of Europe's premier competition, leaving them with little to play for in their remaining seven games despite having spent more than £600m on transfers since Todd Boehly's takeover - and Silva admitted their bloated squad is not helping matters.
"I think we've already taken the first step. It was a mistake, but it's happened. Now we've got to take a step back and see what we did wrong," Silva said after the Real defeat.
"There's no point looking at the coach and saying, 'It's this guy or that guy's fault', if we don't step up to the plate.
