Chelsea manager Emma Hayes has hailed forward Sam Kerr for stepping up and helping her team to win another Barclays FA Women’s Super League title.
The Blues defeated Manchester United 4-2 at Kingsmeadow this afternoon to win a sixth title. Chelsea twice fell behind to The Red Devils but they managed to get back into the game before finally killing the contest off in the second half.
Australian international Kerr was instrumental in Chelsea’s revival, scoring two superb second half goals to help turn the game and the title in The Blues’ favour. When speaking in the post-match press conference, Chelsea boss Hayes said that Kerr’s goals show why she is regarded as one of the very best whilst claiming that the forward is made to play for the club.
“The second goal was world-class, it was outrageous, audacious, she’s the best for a reason,” Hayes said. “She steps up once again for this football club.
“I always said ‘come and play for us at Chelsea, you’ll win trophies here’ and I can sit here confident that we both made the right decision, we are both made for Chelsea and we are both made for days like today.”
Hayes made two substitutions at half-time which really changed the direction of the game, Ji So-yun and Beth England being introduced from the bench. The Blues boss explained that her decision was made in a bid to drive Chelsea forward at Manchester United.
She explained “I changed shape, changed personnel, decided that even if they had the double trip or triple-wit so did we but we weren’t nullifying it.
“When you get pushed back by Manchester United and they want to overload the inner-outer corridors, they actually have a lot of bodies centrally. I felt that if we went one v one which we did in the second half then they had to find something else.
“I think this team are not really a very good back-footed team, we are a front-footed team and I think Beth came in and helped Sam, Ji coming in calmed the whole team down. She has been struggling with a calf injury so to play 45 minutes was a tall order but she wanted this day in-front of the fans, she planned her speech, everything. She wanted to be instrumental today and I think Ji was.”
Chelsea’s title celebrations will need to be brief as The Blues will fight for another trophy next weekend when they contest the 2021/2022 Vitality Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley.
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