Why did Chelsea lose the Continental Cup final (again)?
Let's take some time to talk about the actual football
Arsenal’s Continental Cup final win has generated a lot of noise and attention for what happened away from the field of play but not quite as much about what went down in the match itself. Stina Blackstenius’ extra time goal gave Arsenal a 1-0 win and consigned Chelsea to a third consecutive Conti Cup loss. So what stood out about the actual match?
Chelsea dropped Guro Reiten and it was probably the wrong call
The fact that Chelsea and Arsenal had played each other only a couple of weeks ago made this meeting an intriguing test of how managers Jonas Eidevall and Emma Hayes altered their teams. Midfielder Lia Wälti picked up an injury since that match so Eidevall used Kim Little, Victoria Pelova and Frida Maanum in midfield whilst Emily Fox came in at right-back allowing Katie McCabe to revert to left-back. Alessia Russo had been unwell in the week so Stina Blackstenius started as she had at Stamford Bridge. Cloe Lacasse replaced Caitlin Foord.
Chelsea meanwhile had Mayra Ramirez back fit and chose to start the Colombia striker up top, with Sjoeke Nüsken continuing her second striker/number 10 role. That meant Guro Reiten was dropped on the left wing to make room for Lauren James.
Reiten has played a variety of roles for Chelsea during her career but has predominantly been used this season as an inside forward. This means that she normally positions herself slightly off the flank with Niamh Charles given the freedom of that whole left hand side. It also allows her to contribute in midfield. With James used in that area instead, she drifted around to pick up the ball, whilst Nüsken remained alongside Ramirez. This meant that Arsenal found an overload in midfield as Melanie Leupolz and Erin Cuthbert were left to deal with Arsenal’s trio.
When asked about the tactical implications of the decision after the match, Hayes demurred.
“I felt that going forward, we didn’t use the ball well enough in the first half.
“That was our biggest problem. They locked us off to play down the right. We didn’t switch it enough. I thought we didn’t take care of the ball in the right ways.”
Arsenal continue to look ponderous in attack
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Flying Geese to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.