Plenty for Chelsea to improve says Bompastor despite victory over Aston Villa

Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor said that there was plenty for her side to improve on following their 4-3 win over Aston Villa at Kingsmeadow on Sunday afternoon.

Chasity Grant gave Aston Villa a second-minute lead before Chelsea netted three times through Sam Kerr, Naomi Girma and Lauren James. The Villans then levelled matters through a Kirsty Hanson double before Sjoeke Nüsken scored the winner for the hosts late in the game.

When speaking to the media after the match, Chelsea boss Bompastor stated that she was pleased with the game’s result, but expressed concerns about the three goals conceded in the first half. 

“Six goals in half an hour was good for the women’s game, good for the fans, but probably not good for what we want to achieve and the way we want to play,” Bompastor said.

“It was a great result. We know from now until the end of the season, every game will be difficult. We will have to fight and put in a very good performance if we want to win.”

Going on to discuss the first half further, Bompastor admitted that there were elements that were not good enough.

She said “We wanted to start strong, but we conceded a goal early in the game which was not good and not the start we wanted to have. I really liked the reaction from the team and from my players because we were able to score three goals in a really quick time, however, especially at 3-1, you should control the game. If you reflect on the first half, Aston Villa had three shots on goal and scored three goals, so not good enough at all from us in terms of the defensive aspects.

“I think in the second half, we controlled the game most of the time. We had a lot of opportunities and scored the fourth goal which was very important for us.”

Reflecting on Nüsken’s winning goal, Bompastor admitted that the moment brought great relief to Chelsea.

She said “It was a relief for everyone; for players, staff and me to score that goal because the reality right now is that we are fighting for the Champions League spots and this win is great and important.”

Chelsea are back in action on Wednesday evening when they play host to Arsenal at Stamford Bridge in the second leg of their UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final tie.

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Bethany Barker

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