The Fosse Way

The score app I use had 90% of 5,000 users voting for a Chelsea win at Kingsmeadow today. This isn’t the most reliable statistic, but it really gets across the idea of the challenge we had here. While I don’t think Leicester were quite 90% likely to lose, avoiding a heavy loss was always going to be the aim.

After a Chelsea goal from Aggie Beever-Jones in the 7th minute, Sam Kerr getting minutes and Millie Bright’s rock-solid performance in defence, Leicester held strong to only lose 1-0 and showed a lot of promise for going forward into the rest of the season. This was our hardest game of the season, and we came out relatively unscathed. This is about a positive a loss as you can get.

Last week’s win at home to Liverpool showed lots of fight, but in the face of Chelsea’s dominance, you need a bit more than that. For those unfamiliar with the WSL, Chelsea were the first to seriously invest in their women’s team, and that headstart has put them miles out in front, with even Champions League-winning, Emirates-playing Arsenal looking on jealously at their setup.

Leicester lined up with their now customary 3-4-1-2 formation up against Chelsea’s similar 3 at the back system. We’re not a team with the kind of attack that will strike fear into the hearts of a defence, and this Chelsea backline, with Millie Bright in the centre of it, were not likely to feel too worried. Bright made that dominance clear early on with a huge, crunching tackle on Sam Tierney. It was the epitome of ‘let them know you’re there’, and it certainly announced Bright and Chelsea in this game, not that they’d need any introduction. 

In just the 7th minute, a passing move from Chelsea broke down in front of the sea of pink-shirted bodies blocking Leicester’s goal. The ball ended up at Aggie Beever-Jones’s feet, just behind our backline, with enough time to calmly slot it past Janina Leitzig. 

It felt like this could be a long old day. But ultimately, the complexion of the game didn’t change too much from here. Leicester were pressing well, nicking balls off the toes of Chelsea players and holding their shape well. Against Manchester United, players were jumping out of shape when they should have stayed and staying when they should have pushed the player on the ball, leaving gaps in behind constantly. From this point on and the rest of the game, Leicester were timing the press right, holding their shape and while they never felt completely safe, it wasn’t like they were under constant pressure.

Leicester’s priority was to sit deep, hold their shape, and try and get a half chance on the break. Chelsea were moving well around Leicester’s solid formation and found a few chances. On the other hand, Leicester found themselves breaking down the wing a few times in the first half, but not quite with the dangerous edge Chelsea had.

The best example of how we played was Beever-Jones pushing on through the middle of the pitch, running head-on into our back 3. Ellie Carpenter was running up their right from wing back, and our back 3 stayed solid and let it go out wide. Rick Passmore clearly had us betting on getting bodies in between Chelsea and our goal, and it worked well.

There was a fantastic challenge by Julie Thibaud, already on a yellow, on Beever-Jones in the box. She was composed and won the ball cleanly; it felt symbolic of Leicester’s mental toughness and a confidence that you’d feel would permeate throughout the backline.

Emily Van Egmond was lucky to get away with only a yellow for an atrocious tackle on Erin Cuthbert. It was two-footed, late and completely out of control. If we’d been down to 10 for the second week running, it wouldn’t have been unfair on us.

Leicester never really tested Hannah Hampton in the Chelsea goal in the first half, but Leitzig was busier. She pulled off an incredible save from a Keira Walsh shot, smashing back a loose ball from the edge of the box. We went into half-time with Chelsea frustrated.

From early in the second half, it felt like the plan in this half was to carry on sitting back, hitting long balls to get the odd half chance and then maybe push for an equaliser in the last few minutes. There was a round of applause in the 47th minute after the sad death of Matt Beard earlier this week. 

Leicester’s back line were pressed hard when trying to play out, to the point they didn’t even have the space to hoof it out. We’ve seen the positives of Leitzig’s shot-stopping, but her shortcomings with the ball at her feet can lead to these awkward moments. It carried on in much the same vein as the majority of the first half. After an hour, our shape was still consistently strong, and it had the feeling that Chelsea were going to need something special, or we were going to need to do something daft for them to score another.

Chelsea didn’t look quite as terrifying as they can be; it may well be that they’re happy to accept a 1-0 win here and focus on the holy grail of the Champions League. We didn’t offer much going forward, but there were a few bright spots. Asmita Ale got shepherded out wide after a run into the box and cut back to Hlin Eiriksdottir from level with the goal. Eiriksdottir did well to get it out of her feet, but the shot was an easy save for Hampton. 

Just as it started to feel like we could maybe come out of this pretty lightly, a reminder of Chelsea’s incredible depth came when they brought on Sam Kerr. Surely diminished by a lengthy spell on the sidelines, but even just bringing on one of the best players to ever do it is a huge boost for the rest of the team, the fans and has to instil a bit of fear in the Leicester defence.

Despite this, the game started to slow to a crawl in the last 15 minutes. Chelsea had a few runs down blind alleys down the side of Leicester’s defence. Millie Bright put her foot on the ball and picked out a few long diagonals from the back, and they were dealt with, but the threat of Kerr is always there.

In the 75th minute, Hannah Cain was substituted for Jutta Rantala to give us a bit more energy up front. The fact that Chelsea had already made 3 subs by this point, one of them being Chelsea’s second top WSL goalscorer, makes the gulf in resources painfully obvious.

The rest of the game passed relatively uneventfully, with even Kerr kept pretty quiet. In stoppage time, Emily Van Egmond nearly had the chance to be the hero again and score an unlikely equaliser with the rebound from a Rosella Ayane shot which Hampton saved brilliantly, but she was flagged offside. There was very little jeopardy though, and it felt like both sides had reasons to be happy with this result.

Many teams with far better squads than Leicester will come away from Kingsmeadow feeling a lot worse off. A good defence will be crucial to survival, and it’s just gone through the sternest test the season has to offer.

This game was a good advert for giving Passmore the manager’s job full-time. There is a plan, buy-in from the players and a clear path forward; it feels like we’re a lot better placed than we were after that first chastening defeat against United. This wasn’t pretty football, it wasn’t winning, or even drawing football, but it’s given me hope.