Sam Kerr’s former Chelsea manager tips her to recapture her best form as Matildas suffer another defeat
The Matildas have suffered another loss, but the eventual return of Sam Kerr from injury should improve them, according to her former Chelsea manager.
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Sam Kerr’s former Chelsea manager, Emma Hayes, has backed the star striker to be at her “very best” when she returns from the knee injury that has sidelined her for the past 13 months.
Hayes, now coach of the United States national women’s team that beat the Matildas 2-1 on Monday in the She Believes Cup, remains a huge admirer of Kerr, who hasn’t played since rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in her knee during a Chelsea training session in January last year.
Since then, Kerr has also been embroiled in legal controversy after being charged, and subsequently found not guilty by a London court, of racially aggravated harassment of a police officer after calling him “f**king stupid and white”.
And while debate continues to rage about whether Kerr should regain the national captaincy when she returns from injury, there are also questions about whether, at 31, she can recapture her best form after so long out of the game injured.
However, Hayes has no doubt Kerr won’t miss a beat when she returns.
“I love Sam Kerr – I’ll always love Sam Kerr,” Hayes said.
“She’s amazing, and I’m sure she will find another step to be the very best Sam Kerr.”
Hayes praised the Matildas’ effort in Arizona on Monday, saying that after being trounced 4-0 by Japan last Friday they could have easily caved in after the Americans took the lead inside the first minute through Lynn Biyendolo.
The Americans doubled their lead in the 68th minute through substitute Michelle Cooper.
The Matildas fought back with an 80th-minute goal from substitute Michelle Heyman, but there was no doubt the USA – who fielded an experimental team – were deserving winners.
“One of the hardest games to play in football is to play the team that just got thrashed,” Hayes said.
“They’ve got a lot of pride, and they’re a top side and rarely does it happen twice, so after the first couple of minutes, when we went 1-0 up, one or two things (could have) happened.
“Either that team falls apart, which they didn’t. I thought they recovered really well, particularly after the first 20 minutes.
“They caused us problems the second part of the first half, and in the second half they showed great resilience to come back into the game at 2-0 down, which you’ve come to expect with the Australian program.”
Matildas interim coach Tom Sermanni said his side’s “effort and attitude was so much better” compared with the embarrassing performance against Japan.
“Given the performance in the last game and the result, and then losing the goal after less than a minute (against USA), we could easily have caved in, so from a perspective of the team digging in and sticking in there, I was really pleased,” Sermanni said.
However, Sermanni – who made four changes to the side that started against Japan, including the inclusion of impressive goalkeeper Teagan Micah – was unhappy with the Matildas’ failure to keep possession.
“We do need to still keep the ball better. Our movement needs to be a bit slicker, our rhythm needs to be better, but we also need to identify threats and be a little bit more aggressive with our forward running and … our ability to see forward passes,” he said.
Sermanni also called for the Matildas, who meet Colombia in San Diego on Thursday, to be more “physical” and “get into the habit of doing stuff that is part of our DNA.”
“If I go back to the Japanese game, I felt that we were basically bullied by the Japanese. We want to have an edge about our game that Australian teams in any sport have,” he said.
Originally published as Sam Kerr’s former Chelsea manager tips her to recapture her best form as Matildas suffer another defeat
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‘Back to her best’: Why Kerr won’t miss a beat when she returns
The Matildas have suffered another loss, but the eventual return of Sam Kerr from injury should improve them, according to her former Chelsea manager.