Analysis: Midfield battle was where FA Cup final was won and lost
Manchester United held the upper hand with their energetic midfield display at Wembley for an hour until Chelsea unleashed Pernille Harder
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It is easy after a big game to look at the match winner, and in truth it was no shock to see Sam Kerr's name as the only goal scorer at Wembley on Sunday, such now is her penchant for a big game goal.
In fact, while her tap-in from Pernille Harder's low cross was one of the easier goals she will ever score, it was also the sixth major domestic final she's found the net in for Chelsea, and whichever way you spin it that's pretty incredible.
But Kerr was not the focal point of this final. As so often, the game was won and lost in midfield, with some vital tweaks and the introduction of the aforementioned Harder at the heart of what helped Chelsea turnaround an opening hour where they looked anything but the free-flowing side we've come to expect.
On the face of it, there was nothing major which stood out in the midfield battle when the teams lined up. Chelsea opted not go with a back three and matched up Manchester United's usual midfield three.
Marc Skinner went with the tried and tested trio of Hayley Ladd, Katie Zelem and Ella Toone, while Hayes went with Erin Cuthbert, Melanie Leupolz and Jessie Fleming.
Harder started on the bench, and while her superb 30-minute cameo won the game, it would have been interesting to see how the game had developed if she'd started, such was her impact in changing how Chelsea played, and indeed restricting their opposition.
United's energetic press caused issues almost instantly as several errors led to Leah Galton thinking she'd fired home the opener inside 30 seconds, only for an offside flag to deny the winger, but the warning signs were there.
Not only did Chelsea not get to grips with the press, they had absolutely no outlet up front. With Cuthbert, Fleming and Leupolz restricted, Kerr was isolated, with Guro Reiten quiet and Lauren James more lively but still fairly well managed by Hannah Blundell.
With no runner from midfield, Kerr became a bit part of the first half, rarely in the game. Hayes made no tweak at half-time, but it wasn't long until both Harder and Sophie Ingle were introduced for Leupolz and Fleming, with Harder pushing further forward and Ingle sitting alongside Cuthbert, in a more narrow 4-2-3-1.
"Just to bring fresh legs and calm things down a bit," said Ingle post-match. Like Hayes, she pointed to Chelsea's busy schedule which saw them face Leicester City on Wednesday night, while United had a week, as a contributing factor to a sluggish first half performance.
"It's tough in a final and we'd played a lot of games in the last block and they haven't. We had a game midweek, so it was just to come on, be calm and give the instruction that we changed formation a little bit as well."
The experienced Ingle praised United's first half performance and admitted Chelsea were "off with our press", but pointed to that match-winning experience and quality of someone like Harder off the bench to turn the game.
The Dane became the catalyst with her running in behind, which almost led to two goals for herself had she converted, and suddenly Kerr had someone to get up the pitch with her with Fleming having struggled to do so in the opening hour.
It started to stretch United's defence and when Harder broke through a third time in quick succession, she picked out Kerr for the winner.
"I'd like to think so," said the Wales international, of Chelsea's winning experience. "Bringing Pernille on is a great addition for us. She has the legs to run in behind and I think that's what we were lacking, we didn't have the runners in behind their back line.
"Sam would come deep, hold the ball up or flick it on with no one running off her and that needed to change."
Scotland's Cuthbert was also part of that midfield in the first half and she offered an insight into what was going wrong, and how they worked to change it and turn the tables on United in the second half.
"During the second half we made some tactical adjustments," said Cuthbert "They were exploiting our spaces a bit, we were popping out of position when we didn't have to.
"We were jumping out of spaces and Ella [Toone] had the freedom of the pitch to get on the ball. We had to be narrower and it let me get closer to make a tackle. First half I felt so far away I wasn't able to do the best part of my game."
Toone's ability to roam, often out wide, allowed Galton to push up front with Alessia Russo and pin Chelsea's centre-back duo of Maren Mjelde and Magdalena Eriksson, while Nikita Parris in particular was a thorn in the side of Niamh Charles until both were replaced.
Harder herself admitted the message from Hayes was about running in behind, the key thing Chelsea had lacked in the opening hour, allowing Maya Le Tissier and Millie Turner to keep Kerr quiet, which had been a huge part of Skinner's game plan.
“We talked about the need to run a bit more in behind, just ‘come in with energy’, with the experience we [me and Ingle] have," said Harder.
Despite a change in momentum after Harder's introduction, United head coach Skinner lamented a combination of a switch off in his team's defence, as well as a lack of cutting edge in attack which saw his side miss several big chances, especially in the first half.
He responded with Rachel Williams to add more physicality in the middle, with Toone pushing out on the right before being replaced by Lucia Garcia, at the expense of the lively Parris who was generally impressive.
"There was nothing in the game, I didn't feel much changed," said Skinner on the second half. "It was a throw in into a central area where we can either press it from behind to stop it going in front of us. They break behind our full-back, but I thought Hannah was excellent all game, and Sam peels off behind Maya.
"That's a chain reaction of something they've done quickly. We'd stopped them to that point and switched off in one moment, but I don't want to dwell on that because they players were excellent to that point.
"Sam didn't have a sniff until then. We could have been better with the ball second half, be a bit braver, but we had to take our chances. We fluffed a few shots, chances you have to take in major finals, and we have to bridge that gap whether through experience or through recruitment."
Analysis: Midfield battle was where FA Cup final was won and lost
The difference was, we out played Chelsea once again, as we did in the away WSL game, didn't get a penalty when we should have, & missed a lot of good chances.
Kerr has probably had two shots in two games against us recently, and scored both of her chances, we on the other hand, miss far more than we score, which is a huge issue for us.
Russo is a "scorer of great goals, not a great goalscorer", that for me is or was the difference between the two sides.
As frustrating as it was on the day, we are getting closer and closer to Chelsea, two 1-0 defeats where we were the better side, show this to be the case.