Chelsea Women’s opposition today, West Ham, are not in a good place this season. Sitting second-to-last in the Women’s Super League with five points recorded in 11 matches, they used the winter break to shake things up by hiring former Juventus and Inter Milan head coach, Rita Guarino.
A new manager can help bring that initial boost that sometimes saves an entire year for a club. But it’s hard to get such a boost going when you’re facing the reigning champions in your debut.
No wonder it all went wrong very quickly for the visitors. A low Ellie Carpenter cross turned into a Yu Endo own goal only 46 seconds into the match.
An already shaky defensive line didn’t get much better after the opener. Hence Lauren James’ goal on a extremely bad back-pass to goalkeeper Kinga Szemik where the Chelsea attacker needed only to block her kick attempt to get herself in the scoreline.
Before the end of the half there was time for Chelsea to squeeze in two more goals. One from Alyssa Thompson on a very good collective play to set her up, and one from Sandy Baltimore with good infiltration and a bullet of a shot to beat Szemik between the posts.
The second half wasn’t as action-packed since we didn’t need it to be. We still found a fifth with Sandy scoring from the spot.
* A 3-5-2/3-4-3 shape with Lauren James acting as a false-nine of sorts.
* Four goals in the first half, and very little to worry about in the back.
* Great performance from Sandy Baltimore today. A true two-way threat on the pitch.
* Next up: Crystal Palace at home in the FA Cup.
* KTBFFH!
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