Chelsea manager Emma Hayes has been accused of “throwing players under the bus” after her team lost the Continental Cup final to Arsenal.
The Gunners ended a four-year trophy drought with a 3-1 victory over Chelsea at Selhurst Park.
Sam Kerr had opened the scoring for the Blues after just 98 seconds, but they lost their lead following goals from Stina Blackstenius and Kim Little. An own goal from Niamh Charles then sealed the victory for Arsenal.
The Gunners had been considered the underdogs, having failed to win against Chelsea in their last five attempts. Manager Jonas Eidevall was subsequently delighted to witness his team triumph, while Hayes was left disappointed with her players.
Some football fans have suggested that Hayes overstepped the mark with her post-match comments, however, claiming that she was placing too much of the blame on her team.
What did Emma Hayes say after Chelsea’s loss in the Conti Cup final?
Hayes suggested that the loss to Arsenal was down to complacency among her players, who had won considerably more trophies in the past four years.
“I think when you’ve won a lot, and we’ve won a lot, over a long period of time,” she said. “We looked like a team that had won a lot, and they hadn’t.
“That was a huge difference in the game today, because it was just the basics. The amount of 1v1 duels, first and second situations they dominated today, I think is the thing I’m most disappointed with.
“When you have so many players that play poorly, I don’t think anybody in our team played well today. I don’t think our team today looked anywhere near the side that I know.”
Hayes continued: “Sometimes when you have a lot of trophies and we have lots of them… I saw the fire in the players for Arsenal. I didn’t see that in us today.
“I think that it made it really really difficult to get back into the game and the third goal killed that off, I’m very disappointed with that complacency from us.”
Hayes then declined to answer a tactical question, saying: “When your team’s not at it and you have to work that hard as a coach, you already know you’re going to have a tough day. It didn’t matter what I did because it’s about the basics today.”
Video: Watch Emma Hayes respond to Conti Cup final loss
Football fans were not too impressed with Hayes’s comments, claiming that she should take more responsibility for the loss.
One Twitter user wrote: “I honestly can’t get over this. It’s your job as coach to make sure they do the basics? If they aren’t, maybe you did something wrong to prepare them?”
Someone else posted: “I usually have respect for Emma but this is weird to say as someone who’s literal job is to uplift a team and get them to work together in synergy? Take some accountability. Say you had no solution to the problems the opponent was giving you. This is not it.”
Another Twitter user agreed, writing: “As a coach, you can’t be saying no part of a loss is on you.”
Others claimed Hayes had thrown her players under the bus, with one fan writing: “Damn she really can’t take a loss without throwing her players under the bus”
Another joked: “Omg, she didn’t just throw her team under the bus, she backed it up and ran over them a few times just to make sure.”
