Chelsea assistant coach Camille Abily hailed our wealth of rerace on her debut in our 5-2 win over Real Sociedad at Plough Lane on Wednesday
The striker combined with former Lyon teammate Ellie Carpenter for her second of the evening, the pair having worked under Abily and head coach Sonia Bompastor at the French club in the past
‘They know each other really well,’ said Abily, who was deputising on the touchline for the suspended Bompastor. ‘They also get on really well. They speak in French sometimes, so it helps because no one understands
‘It would be great anytime we are able to score five goals. Of course, we have quality on the pitch, and also on the bench, because today the subs helped the team a lot
‘Up front, we have Melvine. We have Mayra (Ramirez). She’s not here yet, but I hope she will be soon. Aggie (Beever-Jones) is able to play this position. Last year, Lauren James played in this position
‘That wasn’t what we wanted, but when we are missing forwards sometimes we need it. Melvine is really versatile. She’s able to play different positions and Aggie also, so it can help the team.’
Sociedad took the lead after just seven minutes, and fought back to level the scores at 2-2 before we extended our lead in the latter stages of the contest
Abily paid tribute to the opposition, and explained some of the half-time tactical tweaks she made to turn the performance around
‘It was a tough game,’ she said. ‘Especially in the first half because Real Sociedad are a really great team, but I think we had a good reaction. We were so much better in the second half. There was also more space for us. So a tough win, but a good win
‘At half-time we said we wanted to find and play in the spaces behind because their back line was really high. We score many goals like this, so this is sort of what we want to do, so it was good
‘It was a good experience on the touchline. It was fun, but it’s okay. Sonia can take the spot again!’
Finally, the assistant coach explained why defender Naomi Girma was replaced by Lucy Bronze in the second half
‘It’s more fitness,’ she said. ‘And also a decision because we have many good players on the bench, and we know with her calf we need to be careful. So for that, we didn’t want to take any risks.’
