Sonia Bompastor discussed Chelsea's shock defeat at the hands of runaway leaders Manchester City as they eight-time title winners lost 5-1 at the Etihad Stadium in the Women's Super League.
It is the Blues' heaviest league defeat of the 2020s and their joint-widest scoreline of their entire WSL history, only eclipsed by a 5-0 hammering at the hands of Arsenal eight years ago. It is also the first time Bompastor has lost consecutive matches as a manager.
"For me, after having this tough result, it's difficult to talk about the title race. I said before the game and I still have the same mindset, I think we focus on ourselves.
"The staff and the players, we have to stay together and understand where we are, what we need to focus on, what we need to do to get back to a better position.
"The squad is not the same as last season. A lot of people talk about Chelsea being an example in terms of having depth in the squad, having different profiles who can make a big impact when they come in the game, and I think right now we are not in that place.
"Two top teams playing against each other, one was really efficient in both boxes - defensively, offensively - and the other was not. I'm not putting everything on the players, but we made too many mistakes today."
The defeat leaves Chelsea third in the WSL and closer to a Champions League dogfight than a title battle. Their 27 points puts them only a point ahead of **Tottenham**in fifth, with **Arsenal**and Manchester United sandwiching them in fourth and second respectively.
"A lot of individual conversations and small group conversations," Bompastor said regarding how to improve things in West London.
"I would say maybe it's better to lose one game with five goals conceded than losing five in a row [by] one goal difference.
"It's tough for everyone, but we are professionals, we are high level athletes, and we need to find the solutions."
Bompastor expanded on her frustrations with injuries. Defender **Lucy Bronze**returned to the sidelines after "pain in her shin" that kept her out of the beginning of the campaign.
"I think if we want to get back to where we were last season we need to have all the squad available.
"I think we have quality enough [with] the players who are available. It can change a lot, because when you have many games in a row, you can't rotate as much as you want.
"When you make substitutions, you can't bring the exact profile you want depending on how the game is going. If you have all your squad available, it's a lot better. That's not the case, so we need to find solutions."
Bompastor also admitted that she would have liked further reinforcements in the summer to aid her squad's fitness woes.
"Without making too many comments on that, probably I would have liked to be in a better place in terms of the last transfer windows we had.
As for new additions before Tuesday's deadline?
"We'll see."