Chelsea Women boss Emma Hayes says her players are suffering from stress and anxiety due to Covid-19

‘Our heads were all over the place’: Chelsea Women boss Emma Hayes insists her players are suffering from stress and anxiety and are thinking ‘oh no, ANOTHER Christmas alone’ due to Covid-19 fears – after crashing out of Champions League against Wolfsburg

By Kathryn Batte For Mailonline

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Emma Hayes said her players were suffering with stress and anxiety due to fears over Covid-19 before their 4-0 defeat by Wolfsburg – which sent them crashing out of the Champions League on Thursday.

The Women’s Super League champions only needed a point to top their group or avoid defeat by two clear goals to progress to the knockouts but were well beaten by their German opponents.

Goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger and Drew Spence were both ruled out of the match after returning positive PCR tests. Chelsea’s players were unable to go home for Christmas last year after a mass Covid outbreak in their squad and Hayes said players fear they will be in the same position next week.

Hayes said her players were suffering with stress and anxiety due to fears over Covid-19

Emma Hayes said her players were suffering with stress and anxiety due to fears over Covid-19

The Women’s Super League champions were well beaten by their German opponents

The Women’s Super League champions were well beaten by their German opponents

And the Blues’ boss believes that fear and anxiety had a major impact on their performance.

‘I don’t expect anybody to understand but we had 20 cases of Covid last year that saw my entire team struck off and unable to go home to see their families,’ Hayes said.

‘They don’t earn hundreds and thousands of pounds every week. A few days ago we had two players struck down with Covid and we know inevitably when we land tomorrow there will be positive cases. Our heads were all over the place. We are human beings.

‘The stress, the anxiety, the worry, of having to perform in a game when you’re thinking “I just want to go home, I haven’t seen my family, I’ve been to an Olympics, oh no another Christmas alone.” I’m not making an excuse for the players, but I can tell you that the three days have been all over the place with worry that we have to play this game.

‘So while fixture congestion is a thing, Covid is real and when you’re in a team environment and you know that it spreads like wildfire in a team, I’m gutted for the players because we all know that was nowhere near a team that represents my team.

Goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger was ruled out after returning a positive PCR test

Drew Spence also tested positive for Covid-19

Ann-Katrin Berger and Drew Spence were both ruled out after returning positive PCR tests

‘I’ve got players being sick in there, they’ve got diarrhoea, they’re exhausted. And maybe some of that mental anxiety plays a part in it but I just feel like this was deja vu and we’re here again 12 months on after a really, really bad Covid outbreak at exactly the same time last year and I think that played a major part in our performance tonight.’

Chelsea are due to face West Ham in the league on Sunday before the WSL takes a two-week winter break.

But when asked whether she was on the fence of a pause in the season due to rising Covid cases, Hayes said: ‘I’m definitely not on the fence, we do not get paid millions of pounds. I want my players to go and see their families.

‘Unfortunately, we couldn’t separate that anxiety from the performance. I didn’t recognise my players tonight. I thought we were all over the place. If we land tomorrow, take our PCR tests and we have a mass outbreak of Covid then, what do you want me to say?

Hayes admitted she 'didn't recognise her players' as she emphasised the stress of the situation

Hayes admitted she ‘didn’t recognise her players’ as she emphasised the stress of the situation 

‘We’ve gone out of the Champions League and I know we’re absolutely gutted about it. 

‘But I can honestly tell you I don’t recognise my team tonight. I’ve never seen a performance like that from them.

‘Stress and anxiety is real and while I wish, wish they could have separated it to perform, we were nowhere near it to be in a position to win.’

Since beating Arsenal in the FA Cup final, Chelsea have gone three games without a goal and Hayes admitted her team have not been good enough across their group games to progress to the quarter-finals.

Hayes admitted her team have not been good enough across their group games to progress

Hayes admitted her team have not been good enough across their group games to progress

‘We conceded too many goals. Us at our usual best wouldn’t be 4-0 worse off in this game.

‘We haven’t been good enough to progress with the number of goals we’ve conceded, the mistakes we have made.

‘We’ve had lots of fantastic moments in this club and this is not one of them. 

‘When you’re faced with having to get the right result, everything has to be so right and unfortunately tonight it was not.’

HOW OMICRON HAS THE PREMIER LEAGUE ON EDGE

Brentford

The Bees have 13 cases among players and staff – the club are now calling for a circuit-breaker shutdown to help clubs recover. Their training ground has been closed and as a result their trip to Southampton on Saturday has been postponed. 

Leicester

Would have been without several players for Tottenham’s visit on Thursday due to Covid before the game was postponed – despite initial calls being rejected – hours before kick-off.  Their training ground was closed on Thursday morning to contain the outbreak but given they have an insufficient number of players available, their weekend trip to Everton is also off.

Manchester United

Case numbers are currently unknown but a large outbreak saw their game with Brentford postponed. Calls to have Saturday’s game with Brighton to be postponed were accepted on Thursday due to the outbreak at the club.

Brighton

Had request to have Wednesday’s game with Wolves postponed rejected by the Premier League following an outbreak at the club. Graham Potter confirmed there were ‘three to four’ positive cases before the game. Game with Manchester United has now been postponed.

Norwich

Dean Smith was facing an anxious wait to discover the full extent of the outbreak at the club. The Canaries had discussions with the Premier League over Saturday’s clash with West Ham and it was agreed to postpone as they have an insufficient number of players available.

Watford

Saw the game with Burnley postponed just hours before kick-off. Case numbers currently unknown. With their training ground closed, their home match with Crystal Palace has now been confirmed as postponed.

Tottenham

Spurs were the first Premier League club to be hit by the Omicron variant last week and saw games against Brighton and Rennes postponed after cases reached double digits among players and staff. Those who tested positive for the virus are expected to return in the next couple of days after completing their 10-day self-isolation period. Spurs’ clash with Leicester on Thursday is postponed despite initial demands to have the game called off were rejected.

Chelsea

After Brentford, the Blues became the latest club to be hit by a Covid outbreak, after it was confirmed ahead of their game with Everton that four more first-team players – Ben Chilwell, Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner and Callum Hudson-Odoi – had tested positive for Covid, with Mateo Kovacic the first Chelsea player to get the virus this week.

Liverpool

It was confirmed just an hour before kick-off against Newcastle on Thursday night that Fabinho, Curtis Jones and Virgil van Dijk are all out having tested positive for Covid.  

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