Jonas on derby defeat, Caitlin’s goal and more

It was a battling performance but a disappointing result as we lost 2-1 at home to Chelsea in the Barclays Women’s Super League on Saturday.

The visitors went 2-0 up thanks to goals from Mayra Ramirez and Sandy Baltimore, but Caitlin Foord did well to beat Lucy Bronze and find the back of the net before half-time.

Stina Blackstenius hit the crossbar late on as we pushed for an equaliser, but Chelsea held on for all three points.

“We got off to a really poor start,” Jonas Eidevall accepted. “Obviously, really disappointing conceding two goals early on. I think the players showed massive heart, massive character in finding a way back into the game. We get the goal, we were creating enough chances to score the second goal as well but, unfortunately, it was not enough today.

“Caitlin has had strong performances. I think there are a lot of individual positives to take from the game today. I think there’s a lot of players that turned up their performances, showing a stronger version of themselves and that’s of course important for us, going for the future. Of course, it’s disappointing that it’s not enough to get the result today.

“I think we got really good impact from the players coming off the bench, they were real game-changers. It was a much different feeling from the one we had in Munich. That’s exactly how we know this squad and how we usually are, so that was nice to see, unfortunately, again, it wasn’t enough.”

There are two opportunities next week to show a response, with Valerenga visiting Emirates Stadium on Wednesday in the UEFA Women’s Champions League before we face West Ham United away in the WSL on the weekend.

“You can see how the team were responding from Munich coming here to play Saturday with only one training session,” Jonas said. “It’s a very determined group of players. They have a lot of character, they have a lot of heart, you can see that with the way we responded, we were 2-0 down so early in the game today and they’re going to keep going to make this club successful.

“Resilience comes from support and the perceived support that you have. By sticking together in these times here is the only way to go forward. So of course, it’s fundamental.”