Chelsea manager Emma Hayes says that a ‘mentality of champions’ is what helped her side to end Arsenal’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup dreams at Kingsmeadow on Sunday afternoon.
The Blues recorded a relatively simple 2-0 victory over The Gunners with Sophie Ingle and Sam Kerr getting the goals.
The tie took place on the back of a very tight turnaround following the international break and Hayes was full of praise for her players for the way that they switched straight back into club football.
“First of all, I think this is challenging for both teams,” Hayes said when speaking in the post-match press conference. “Both have the exact same challenges to play a game so close after an international break where both sets of players returned later than they normally do.
“Sometimes, they come home on a Tuesday and a Wednesday, this time it’s Thursday and Friday, so well done to the players because that is a bit of a slog.
“That then dictates the type of game that it’s going to be, which in the first half, it was a game of transitions. Arsenal are a transition team, they create 60-plus percent of their goals with under four passes, so knowing that, you have to set up right and I didn’t think we did in the first half for their transitions.”
Hayes went on to praise her side for adapting to the situation, stating that Chelsea have a mentality of champions.
She said “I think we made the right adaptations today. I think that we have a mentality of champions and to do that when you are really tired is why I think we’ve always competed for titles. I thought so many of our players had really, really solid performances today.
“We adapted in the second half and as I said to the team at half-time, this game can be won and lost off a transition. It was won in the second half off a transition for us, so that’s football.”
Chelsea’s prolific goalscorer Kerr marked her 100th appearance for The Blues with her 81st goal in all competitions and Hayes reserved some individual praise for the Australian international.
“She comes in, she does everything necessary and lifts the spirit of the building,” Hayes said. “She does that when no-one’s looking. I think she’s the best in the business, but the best in the business for me isn’t just about 81 goals in 100 games; it’s that mentality.
“That’s why we are winners because of the mentality displayed by the team in challenging circumstances for both sides. We dealt with that better today.”
Chelsea’s next match is also against Arsenal with the pair set to contest the 2022/2023 FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup final on Sunday.
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