Manchester City Women 2-0 Chelsea Women
Exhausted by their European exertions, and depleted by injuries, Chelsea came a cropper at Manchester in the much-vaunted women’s weekend of football.
It has left some of the fans who made a crack-of-dawn start to trek to City’s ground, after losing an hour’s sleep when the clocks went forward, questioning Emma Hayes’ obsession with winning the Women’s Champions League.
Most supporters’ real goal is domestic domination, and some now feel the Blues may be sacrificing the league in favour of continental glory.
The test will come on Sunday when the team bus sets off for the Midlands to try to recapture WSL momentum in the tightest title race in years having entertained Lyon at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night.
Chelsea looked jaded and accident-prone last Sunday in the 2-0 defeat by City, with Hayes calling it “one game too much” and admitting “it’s hard to win the league when you have three games in a week”.
The once-dependable Magda Eriksson, understood to be in her final three months at the club she captains, made a couple of fluffs in the Manchester City match that would have seemed unthinkable a year ago.
Meanwhile the question mark over Ann-Katrin Berger’s judgement in goal grows larger after she failed to deal with the two shots which clinched the win for City.
Hayes pronounced herself proud of the Blues’ second-half performance, but the stark reality is that her charges never truly looked like scoring.
Victory against Aston Villa at 6.45pm on Sunday would steady the ship, but with Erin Cuthbert and Millie Bright joining the sick list, it looks a very tall order.
The squad which once seemed too big suddenly seems human after all, with a reshuffle in defence needed before the trip to Birmingham.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
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