Gareth Taylor on a 2-0 defeat against Chelsea Women
16/11/2024
Stamford Bridge, London, UK
16/11/2024
Stamford Bridge, London, UK
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SportsTranscript
00:00Hi, Gareth. A tough result for you, I'd imagine. Just tell us what your emotions are and what you were so surprised by?
00:08Emotions are fine. I think obviously disappointed, but I think it was a game of errors, both teams.
00:16A lot of opportunities came from mistakes from both teams.
00:22I felt in the first half they made more than us and we weren't able to capitalise.
00:26The game looked like it was going towards a 0-0 and quickly it slipped away from us,
00:33but I think in terms of those errors, we slightly evened it up in the second half.
00:38Obviously there's a long way to go in the title race and then the 400th minute is obviously a big game,
00:44but let's say Chelsea don't win their game at hand, you're five points behind.
00:50Are we going to talk fantasy here or are we going to talk about the game and we're going to talk about our next game?
00:54I can't control what Chelsea do in the next game. We are still up and around the top of the league,
01:00we had a very good start to the season, we've had a setback,
01:03I can't tell you about what they're going to do with their game in hand.
01:08Obviously Lauren Kent out injured, can you tell us any more about the time?
01:14I can't tell you any more really, no. We were hoping she'd be available for this game,
01:19but that was quickly taken away from us yesterday.
01:22So, of course, losing a player like Lauren for these types of games is tough for us,
01:29but we'll manage, we have good players and we'll regroup after this game.
01:38Hi, Gareth, can I just ask about Chelsea's first goal?
01:41It seemed like maybe your midfield got caught a little bit high up the pitch and that led to the counter-attack,
01:47I still think we're in good shape.
01:50Sustaining attacks was difficult for us tonight, second half especially,
01:54I felt that we were in and around the edge of their box and sustaining the attacks was difficult for us.
02:00They're quite a physical team, they try to break quickly with Canard and Ramirez.
02:06I still think even in that situation around the halfway line, we're still in good shape and we can deal with it better.
02:13You had a bit of a penalty shout when Bunny went down, I'm sure it was Jocelyn, but from ARS, do you think you had a case there?
02:19Well, we appealed. It's hard for us to see because it happens really quickly,
02:23I've not had the opportunity to see it again, but it's really hard for me to speculate any more than that.
02:30Just two more questions.
02:35It felt like Chelsea's press really limited Yui in this game, is that a concern for you?
02:44Chelsea's press?
02:46Really limited Yui and her ability to get on the ball?
02:49Yeah, but I always say if Yui can't get on the ball, it means one of our centre-backs is free.
02:53If they come and jump onto our centre-backs, it means that maybe Yui's free again or one of our midfielders is free.
02:59You could see tonight that Chelsea paid the ultimate compliment in trying to stop Hasegawa.
03:05That's normal, we have that in many games and we can cope without that.
03:11We didn't do it super well tonight, I don't think our problems lay in the build-up play.
03:19We were a little bit scratchy in some parts, but for me it was more around the final third.
03:25We just needed to make our moments into better opportunities with just a little bit better decision-making,
03:31maybe an extra pass.
03:33It looked like both teams were struggling with that in that final action.
03:39Like I say, the game was looking like it was going towards a nil-nil.
03:43Before you know it, we make another error and they make the most of it.
03:50Final question?
04:08Obviously when the goal goes in, you're forced into trying something a little bit different.
04:13I think it's kind of easy when you're away from it and the emotion of the game.
04:17I think the reasons why myself and Sonja probably didn't make changes is because the game is really tight.
04:23Neither of us want to give the game up, so it's really hard.
04:29I think substitutions are always an interesting one where you're trying to affect the game or chase the game or see the game out.
04:36I think we won't function as effectively as we normally would, but I would suggest Sonja would probably say the same with them.
04:46I think substitutions are always really difficult in that sense because you're still in the rhythm of the game.
04:52It's hard to bring a player from the sidelines sometimes.