Hayes: It was nice to think about football for 90 minutes
By Paul Lagan
Chelsea let their boots do the talking on a momentous day when the future of the club has been brought into sharp relief.
The decision by the UK government to seize the assets of Russian owner Roman Abramovich following Russia’s invasion of neighbours Ukraine means the club is hamstrung in what it can do.
It’s up for sale but can’t generate cash.
But for now it can play matches and head coach Emma Hayes oversaw a functional and occasionally clinical performance that just had too much for West Ham.
The 4-1 away win was justified,
Hayes said: “I’m delighted after that performance. It was nice to think about football for 90 minutes. I’ll leave here, go home and watch it back, prepare for Sunday’s game. "Routine is absolutely key. I want to focus on doing my best for the team, and make sure we perform. I’m really pleased with what I’ve just seen. “I think the players did an amazing job. The staff said it to them at the end. It’s important we control what we can. When we step on the pitch, we focus on putting points on the board. It’s a tricky game to play. "It was calm in the dressing room before the game. I thought we were outstanding, especially in the first half. “The club’s put a statement out, and I respect that. As far as I’m concerned, I have to give the club the time to dissect DCMS, and the implications of the sanctions. "There has to be a two-way process between the club and them to determine how to run, how to operate, how to exist, in this period. We need to let them do their job. I don’t have answers. We all have a million questions. I will probably learn more in the coming days and weeks.”
West Ham manager Olli Harder said : “I’m disappointed that we didn’t get more out of the game. When we made it three-one, we had momentum, we looked good.
"We obviously conceded a fourth goal, which was a little bit of misfortune and things we could have done better. In the first half, we were good, but not good enough, and they’re ruthless.
"They exploit those circumstances which is why they are where they are. They’re a quality team.
“They were efficient. We presented them with two of the three opportunities. The first and third goal could have been prevented if we had not put ourselves in those circumstances.
“I didn’t think we were three-nil poor for the first half. I thought we were ok, we were just second to a lot of things. They exploited us, with ruthless efficiency. We weren’t terrible. Arguably I thought we were the better team second half, and that was with the substitutions that she [Emma Hayes] made to keep her side moving in a positive direction.”
