We’re ready to challenge this season, says Jeglertz | OneFootball

Andrée Jeglertz felt City’s performance against Chelsea despite losing 2-1 showed we can challenge at the top this season.

Goals in either half from Aggie Beever-Jones and Maika Hamano meant Niamh Charles’ own goal with 20 to play proved a consolation in our Barclays Women’s Super League opener.

But City caused the reigning Barclays Women’s Super League champions plenty of problems at Stamford Bridge, hitting the post and testing Chelsea stopper Hannah Hampton on several occasions.

Ultimately, our new Head Coach was frustrated we couldn’t take a result back to Manchester but did feel his side’s display showed we can compete with the best this season.

“Of course, we’re disappointed because I thought we deserved more in the game, especially in the second half,” he said.

“We had some challenges in the first half with how they were playing, we didn’t expect that kind of formation but when we got that sorted out, I thought we created quite a few good scoring chances.

“[There are] A lot of things to bring with us, and the key thing for us was to feel we’re ready to challenge, which I think we showed in the game.”

City limited Chelsea to just eight shots across the 90 minutes, but the hosts made their small number of chances count on the night.

That’s something Jeglertz is keen to work on ahead of our home opener against Brighton & Hove Albion next Friday, with kick-off set for 19:30 (UK).

However, he’s proud of the way his team have already adapted to his new methods and is excited to see how we develop over the season.

He added: “It’s important with having new ideas and doing new things that it works against the big teams. But at the same time, it’s about winning.

“We conceded a little too easy goals I think, otherwise I don’t see that many chances from them. We need to be a little bit sharper in both boxes.

“The result is one thing, but I feel and the players as well that there are a lot of things we can bring with us for the game next week. It’s a long season, but we’re on our way.”