League Cup final: Arsenal Women 1-0 Chelsea Women
Well, there’s always the treble!
Chelsea Women’s ambitious target of doing the quadruple was scuppered this weekend, with a 1-0 extra-time defeat to Arsenal in the League Cup final at Molineux.
The Blues looked dead on their feet at the end of the match, played in front of more than 21,000 fans (the majority of them Gooners) in a windswept Wolves stadium.
For Chelsea Women it was their eighth game in March, against Arsenal’s five. However, manager Emma Hayes refused to blame fixture congestion for the defeat.
“Would you have asked about that if we’d won?” she responded, post-match, to the question of tiredness.
Chances not taken
In fact the Blues had a string of chances to win, with striker Mayra Ramirez netting a rocket from outside the area in the 21st minute, only for VAR to rule it out for a handball in the build-up.
Lauren James came close to breaking the deadlock, but fired into the side-netting.
Minutes before a tight match seemed to be heading for penalties, Stina Blackstenius scored a late winner for the Gunners.
The game was overshadowed by the dramatic collapse of Arsenal’s midfielder Frida Maanum. The Norwegian was stretchered off near the end of normal time, but regained consciousness in the changing room and was able to return to London on the same coach as her teammates.
It all just leaves the Women’s Super League, FA Cup and Champions League to go for, although European glory now hinges on the daunting task of overcoming Barcelona over two legs in the semis, while the WSL is currently led by a resurgent Manchester City.
“We’ve still got so much to play for; this isn’t our only competition,” said Hayes, in a little dig at Arsenal's season’s hopes.
Strong words from Emma Hayes
Those words followed an unseemly push-and-shove between her and Gunners head coach Jonas Eidevall – two managers who really do not get on.
“I think there is a way to conduct yourself on the touchline, I really do, and I think that it is absolutely essential that we role-model in the right way, but I’m not down for male aggression on the touchline, I’m not,” said Hayes.
She was defending second-half captain Erin Cuthbert, who had a sharp exchange of words with Eidevall on the touchline after she used a spare ball to take a late throw-in.
Eidevall, wearing the kind of long brown coat you used to see on owners of local hardware stores, was protesting that the Blues had made a pre-match deal to just use a single ball in the cup final, rather than a multi-ball format.
But Hayes stuck to her assertion. “For me it’s unacceptable and, yes, I was disappointed and I told Jonas that. I don’t think it’s OK to behave like that. He got a yellow card; in fact he probably should have been sent off.
“I’m all for competing to win, I’ve never been booked in 12 years. I totally accept he’s a winner and he wants to win, but his behaviour on the touchline wasn’t acceptable.”
Eidevall defended his conduct, but Hayes had the last word, describing the League Cup final as “dull and boring”.
It’s fair to suggest she’d have found different words had the Blues triumphed.
Meanwhile all’s far from happy at Stamford Bridge where the men were held to a 2-2 draw by 10-man Burnley, piling more pressure on manager Morrie Pochettino.
Fans are getting very restless, and will be expecting better when the Blues visit Sheffield United on Sunday night.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
