Chelsea manager Emma Hayes has called for her side to be more relentless when they face Servette FCCF in their third UEFA Women’s Champions League group match in Geneva this evening.
The Blues were 1-0 winners at Aston Villa at the weekend but they struggled to create many clear-cut chances and when they did, they failed to convert them.
When speaking in her pre-match press conference, Hayes said that she does not like to see her side battle out narrow 1-0 scorelines and she has called for her side to be more relentless in their attacking play in Switzerland.
“What I want to see when we get that first goal is to be more relentless instead of feeling like we’ve got the goal and it takes the pressure off because we know that teams like Villa aren’t going to attack in numbers,” Hayes said. “When you lead a game 1-0, you leave the other team in it.
“I want to see the team persist with being a bit more relentless after scoring the first goal, it is something that we are going to make more consistent about us.”
The fixture against Servette sees Chelsea face Swiss opposition for the very first time in the UEFA Women’s Champions League. The hosts have lost two out of two in the group stage but while they have lots to learn about playing in Europe, Hayes still sees them as a threat.
She said “To become streetwise (in Europe) you have to suffer, you have to experience something and to me, that’s when you are defeated.
“For them as a team, understandably, they’re not going to be at our level yet but they are worthy of being in this competition and they will no doubt learn from the two previous games and from those learnings I think they will add even more in this game.
“They are always a danger, an unknown team that have lost two games and they are playing at home with a packed crowd but as I know with this competition, experience really, really matters.
“The confidence and conviction in the performance is not always about dominating, it’s about being disciplined, you have to be so disciplined away from home. There are different variables and we will see different ones against Servette, a new team in Europe, and hopefully, they will learn something from us that will help them in their journey.”
The UEFA Women’s Champions League group fixture between Servette and Chelsea kicks-off at 5.45pm and will be available for fans to stream live on DAZN.