5 hours ago
7
A Veerle Buurman own goal punished a profligate Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, securing a point for Aston Villa in a frustrating start to the hosts’ push to win back the WSL title.
How Villa came away with a point having conceded 65% possession and having amassed just seven shots to Chelsea’s 34 and five touches in the opposition box to the home team’s 57 is somewhat inexplicable.
Chelsea were creative and Lauren James was at her free-flowing best, but they could not convert their many chances, and the new Villa goalkeeper Akane Okuma’s monumental performance was a big part of that.
“If you analyse the performance today and the statistics of the game you can say that’s crazy we couldn’t win the game,” said the Chelsea manager, Sonia Bompastor. “You need to make sure you kill the game because when you are only one-nil up, you are always exposed. That’s what happened today and I think at the end of the game we are all frustrated because it’s not a good result.”
Chelsea’s summer has been one of change after a somewhat transitional season that broke a run of six consecutive WSL titles, and spirits have been high about their potential. However, they have a problem up front: with the new signing Melvine Malard, who came off the bench and scored two in their Champions League qualifier home leg against Real Sociedad, out with an injury, and Mayra Ramírez yet to make her return from a long lay-off, Aggie Beever-Jones failed to make the most of the opportunity to lead the line.
“In football, some of these things are also about mentality and mindset when it comes to being ruthless, being critical in the box,” said Bompastor. “The best teams don’t need to have many opportunities. So, that’s something we need to work on and find solutions for.”
Ushering in a new era in front of 7,900 fans at Stamford Bridge, where they will play all their WSL home games for the first time, Chelsea’s aggressive and relentless pressing in the opening half-hour caused all sorts of problems for Natalia Arroyo’s team, forcing error after error.
It was no surprise when that physical effort yielded results. In the 11th minute when pressure caused confusion between Okuma and the target of her pass out from the back, the loose ball was worked to James who glided into the box, shifting her weight as she went, before lashing the ball into the roof of the net. It was a statement goal from a statement player.
This was always going to be a tough opening game for Villa, who had lost all 12 of their previous WSL games against Chelsea and were starting five of their eight summer signings,. They only began to look a little more comfortable and structured as the home team’s pressure eased off towards the end of the first half.
“We just need to go through that and understand that when you’re in the middle of the jungle or whatever, at some point, you arrive at a point where there’s no more trees and I think that’s what we do at the end of the first half,” said Arroyo. “We get the energy back in the changing room and we talk about how to avoid these moments.”
after newsletter promotion
Chelsea’s profligacy in front of goal was the big frustration for Bompastor, and Villa were clinging on for large swathes of the game with Okuma, signed from the Japanese champions INAC Kobe Leonessa, key to keeping the margin to one goal.
At no stage had it felt like the visiting team would be able to take something from the game. They were patient, but Chelsea were the masters of their own downfall, and in the 79th minute the ground was silenced when they failed to clear Lynn Wilms’ cross, Noelle Maritz swiped it goalwards from eight yards out, and Hannah Hampton’s block sent the ball bouncing off Buurman and over the line.
The home side pushed hard for the winner but Okuma was equal to every attempt. “We gave her some nice tests this week trying to know where she was at, if she was nervous, if she had any doubt and in which ways we could help her,” said Arroyo. “She’s still settling in here, she’s still trying to learn the language to be able to communicate with all the players, but we were surprised to see that she was safe in some of the actions, she read the game really well.”
On the final whistle the Japanese goalkeeper was enveloped in the hugs of her teammates as the players in blue digested how they had ended up with only a point from such a dominant performance.
