Chelsea WSL draw exposes clinical finishing issues despite dominant performance

With 11 minutes remaining, Chelsea appeared to be cruising to victory in their Women's Super League opener against Aston Villa.

Yet, after 57 touches in the opposition box, 23 shots inside the area, hitting the crossbar and having another goal disallowed for offside, somehow they drew 1-1.

The statistics are alarming given they did everything right to win, except score more.

It is an issue that has reared its head on several occasions during manager Sonia Bompastor's time in charge and is why many have tipped rivals Arsenal to win the title this season.

While England international Lauren James oozed quality and summer signing Katie McCabe had a strong WSL debut, Chelsea's lack of ruthlessness in front of goal could prove costly.

"We started really well. We wanted to start with energy and create opportunities but at this level, we need to be more clinical," McCabe, who joined Chelsea from Arsenal this summer, told BBC Sport.

"We're frustrated to drop points at home. We're not going to panic - it's the start of the season. We'll look to rectify next week.

"But we're disappointed. It's not Chelsea standards to drop points at home."

Chelsea attempted 34 shots in the game, their highest total in a WSL match since the start of last season.

James hit the ground running with a superb strike that flew into the roof of the net within 11 minutes and Chelsea fans expected the floodgates to open.

Villa barely laid a glove on their opponents and had only five touches in Chelsea's box.

But, against the run of play, Noelle Maritz's shot ricocheted off goalkeeper Hannah Hampton and bounced in off Chelsea defender Veerle Buurman late on.

Villa boss Natalia Arroyo threw her arms in the air and their supporters punctured the silence of disbelief that fell across Stamford Bridge.

"If you analyse the performance and the statistics, then you would say it's crazy that we didn't win. We created so many opportunities," said Bompastor.

"The reality of football is that if we were two or three nil up then the game is over. It's a completely different game in the second half.

"We have to speed up the game, keep that momentum and sustain that. We need to make sure we accelerate to kill the game. That is not what happened today.

"At the end, we are all frustrated because it's not a good result."

Bompastor's biggest frustration was that she could do little to help.

With summer signing Melvine Malard out with a minor injury picked up in training and Mayra Ramirez still continuing her recovery, attacking options were limited.

England forward Aggie Beever-Jones led the line, taking the baton from recently-departed Sam Kerr, but her confidence is clearly low.

She had opportunities but scuppered them and when she did eventually put the ball in the net, it was ruled out for offside.

"What can we do in this scenario? We have to stay confident, stick together and work hard," said manager Bompastor.

"In football some of these things are mental. It's the mentality - the mindset of being ruthless and clinical in the box.

"The best teams don't need many opportunities. They just need one or two and maybe that's enough to win the game. That is something we need to work on."

This was not the first time Chelsea have dropped points because of a lack of ruthlessness.

Despite beginning the 25-26 WSL campaign with victory over eventual champions Manchester City, they ended up finishing third.

Four draws proved costly, on top of three defeats - one particular loss at Everton in December ending a 585-day unbeaten streak in the WSL.

In that 1-0 defeat, Chelsea had 79% possession, 30 shots and hit the woodwork three times. It was deja vu against Aston Villa on Saturday.

"You should be able to convert those chances. In the first half, they had chance after chance," said former England striker Ellen White on BBC One.

"To go for the title you have to score and get points on the board. This is two points dropped. Last season, they only dropped six points at home."

Manchester City begin their title defence on Sunday at home to newly-promoted Birmingham City (14:30 BST), while Arsenal travel to Brighton (12:00 BST).

That will give Chelsea a better idea of their competition after London City Lionesses put down a marker with a win at home to Manchester United on Friday night.

Bompastor hopes the return of other attacking players will improve their conversion rate going forward.

But the biggest issue is the hardest one to find a solution for at Chelsea.

"Some things are easier to coach and other things are more difficult. The mindset you can improve, but you have to have a killer instinct and desire inside," she added.

"We need to stay together and a lot of this is keeping the confidence. We just need to analyse all these things to help the players be confident for the next game."