Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor was impressed with her side’s mental energy and intensity as they defeated Everton 4-1 at Goodison Park on Sunday.Sam Kerr netted a brace while Ellie Carpenter and Erin Cuthbert were also on target for The Blues.
Chelsea battled out a 1-1 scoreline in the first half before increasing their intensity in the second half. When speaking to the media after the match, Chelsea boss Bompastor said that she was impressed with her side’s stronger second half display.
“I think as you could see, probably the performance in the first half was not good enough from us,” Bompastor said. “If you reflect on that, they only had one shot on goal and they scored a great goal in one moment in the game from transition. We knew that we were prepared, but it happens when we take the risk we take with the way we play.
“It made things more difficult for us, especially in terms of physical aspects. We had the conversation at half-time where we were mentioning that we needed to mentally bring more energy on the pitch for the second half and to play with more intensity. I think we did that in the second half and the moment after we scored the second goal I think it was maybe the moment where the game probably turned for us.”
One of the key players for The Blues was midfielder Keira Walsh and Bompastor hailed the England international’s qualities.
She said “I think Keira is a really important player for me, for Chelsea. I think she brings a lot of really positive things into the team. I think her quality on the ball, she’s one of the best players in terms of technicality. I think she’s smart, she understands and she reads the game well, so she’s a really important player for me as a manager for what we want to achieve on the pitch in terms of game model and the performance we want to put out. She’s playing a key position as well, she can create a lot. She has already scored many goals in this league, she scores a lot in training sessions also, but today, she didn’t have success because we had to face a good goalkeeper.”
It was announced last week that Chelsea will be playing all of their home games in the Barclays Women’s Super League at Stamford Bridge next season. Bompastor shared her thoughts on the news.
She said “I’m proud to be part of this history with the club. I think a club like Chelsea should be playing every game at The Bridge. We lead by example in many ways on the pitch, off the pitch and I think this decision just shows how much we will also lead by example for all the other clubs in England.
“We will really enjoy that experience because we want to create a special atmosphere at The Bridge. We want to create a really good experience for the fans to come to our games and to really enjoy before the game, during the game and at the end.”
Chelsea are next in action when they travel to Leicester City on Sunday afternoon.