Chelsea manager, Emma Hayes, spoke to the media following their 1-0 win over Manchester City in the Continental Cup semi final. Lauren James booked Chelsea a ticket to the final where they will face Arsenal thanks to her early goal.
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Déjà vu from recent clashes
The sides last met recently, Manchester City taking the three points from a 1-0 win. Hayes recognised some similarities in this fixture.
"I felt like was the reverse of the fixture two weeks ago," Hayes said. "They scored early two weeks ago, defended second-half. I felt like that happened tonight. We scored, I thought we had the better in the first half."
"At this level you have to take the chances, we took our one chance," she added.
Hayes spoke about the tactics she employed after facing this City side multiple times in recent months.
"You can go one of two ways, you can decide you wanna go aggressive in that press, but then it goes in that space in between the lines. We were OK to leave that the ball, that was a decision we took as a team and for the most part that worked really well," Hayes said.
"I then felt we got a bit stretched as we got tired, then went to a back five with three in the middle, two and a one so we could go 3v3 in the midfield and I felt we got hold of the game again."
"There were late free kicks, ill discipline, late challenges - that's what nearly cost us in the game. But also listen, they have to credit that Bunny Shaw’s a top player, Lauren Hemp’s a top player. Credit to us to keep a clean sheet," Hayes reflected.
"I’ve been up here [Joie Stadium] a lot of times and we’ve been the better team and not come away with much, trust me, so I'll take tonight!"
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Injuries and scheduling
Chelsea are currently competing in the Women's Super League, FA Cup, Continental Cup and Champions League making the club's schedule packed and intense. There of course is little room for error, making rotation less of an option. Most of Chelsea's squad play senior international football meaning that their club commitments are intertwined with stints with their national teams, often playing in other continents.
"We don't talk about injuries in our environment, but trust me, we're having to come through this congested schedule with limited numbers," Hayes said.
"I say that because these are playing international football etcetera, and I felt like that was a Chelsea standard in terms of you're gonna suffer without the ball and we had to make it difficult."
"I think the team as a whole deserve credit for just digging in and like I said, I felt that you wouldn't have the best the longer the game went on but listen, we know how to do this and it felt gutsy from us," Hayes continued.
"With the bare bones, I thought, they've [City] had the same XI for a long time. I haven't been able to play my best XI the whole year so I think for once my team deserved that."
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Forced substitutions
Emma Hayes was forced to substitute off Mayra Ramirez in the first half and Guro Reiten later on due to injury. Hayes did not have an update on Ramirez, having not spoken to the Colombian international. However, she was optimistic about Reiten.
"When you played in an international break, you come back and play three days later then another, three days later, then another three days, it takes its toll on the players so sometimes it’s just muscle fatigue." she said.
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Praise for Ève Périsset
"She stuck to her task. I thought she did a great job," Hayes said.
"I knew that they would push on and her back post defending is really, really good. I think it's one of her strengths. She reads the playing really, really well when it goes across and the ball’s into areas."
"That's what you gotta do, City did it two weeks ago when we played and it was just our turn to do it well," she added.