Emma Hayes’ long goodbye and the farewell tour narrative

A little over a month ago the Chelsea women’s team were still in contention for a quadruple, but now the odds are massively stacked against them winning any shiny pots at all. It is a scenario that seemed utterly unthinkable when their charismatic manager announced in November she’d be taking herself through the door marked “Do One” come season’s end, but on Wednesday night even Emma Hayes conceded it is one that is almost certain to come to pass. No stranger to adversity on and off the field, Hayes has suffered a series of setbacks since it was revealed she was off to take charge of USA USA USA. Always fond of an eff and a jeff on the touchline, blue has been the colour of the air over assorted technical areas in which she has stood watching her team get knocked out of three different cup competitions and all but relinquish their stranglehold on the Women’s Super League title, capped by losing a seven-goal thriller at Liverpool. With the finishing line very much in sight, the WSL title – like its men’s equivalent – is now Manchester City’s to lose.

Despite being almost universally popular because she’s generally brilliant and seems like she’d be mighty good company on a night out, Hayes has come in for quite a lot of largely unprecedented criticism this year. A gaffe here and an uncharacteristically ungracious snipe there haven’t helped, while her team’s downturn in performances have inevitably led to suggestions that the manager and/or her players might have mentally checked out as soon as it became known that this season at Chelsea would be her last. And while we can never know for certain whether or not her long goodbye has had a detrimental effect on attitude or performance, the most plausible explanation for her team’s lack of success actually seems far more mundane.

Losing one of the world’s best players in Sam Kerr and her back-up striker Mia Fishel to serious knee-knack in quick succession was always likely to have an adverse effect on Chelsea’s season after the turn of the year, while the absence through “ouch” of Mayra Ramírez for their Big Cup semi-final second leg defeat against Barcelona was about as helpful to the collective cause as the two extremely questionable and match-changing refereeing decisions that went against them at Stamford Bridge.

On Wednesday night at Prenton Park, Chelsea played like a team down to their bare bones who had just come off the back of consecutive games of mentally and physically exhausting football against arguably the best team that has played the game. If proof of fatigue was needed, after half an hour against Liverpool, Chelsea’s players had visibly wilted and went on to concede three goals from corners in 41 minutes – the same amount they’d shipped from set-pieces in their previous 18 WSL games. One suspects that while he lurches towards the latest leg of his own possibly ill-advised farewell tour, Jürgen Klopp may well order a few gallons of whatever the Liverpool team were drinking for his own misfiring players before their appointment with Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur, Mate this weekend.

Join Simon Burnton from 7.30pm BST for hot Premier League minute-by-minute coverage of Chelsea 2-2 Tottenham, while Luke McLaughlin will be on deck at 8pm for updates from Roma 1-1 Leverkusen in Big Vase. Taha Hashim is in the hot seat at the same time for Aston Villa 1-0 Olympiakos in Tin Pot.

“You know what, that is a fair point because I haven’t had too much to eat. I’ve had a cheeseburger at about half two. It might explain why I am slurring my words. I’ve had about eight pints in the Yellow Wall. I’ve got a new family, a family of friends, we all look after each other, I gave them a few bob after half-time” – when asked by CBS Sports colleague Kate Abdo whether he was in a decent enough condition to conduct an interview with Jadon Sancho after Dortmund’s 1-0 Big Cup win over PSG, Jamie Carragher explains he had been partaking in the local speciality, Das Tin.

As an Ipswich fan of 50 years, the key achievement of the last two seasons is not breaking numerous goalscoring and points records, gaining one – and potentially two – promotions back to back on a meagre budget (by Championship standards) or playing swashbuckling football, but an article in Football Daily. Truly, this is the Promised Land” – Richard Bradshaw.

Nearly choked on my cuppa when yesterday’s Football Daily waffled on about Ipswich and talk of reaching the Premier League with back-to-back promotions. Big Website and the Daily never miss a chance to remind us of the fact football existed before the Premier League arrived and liberalised yet another national institution. But here you were making a few comparisons since the coming of the PL. What a load of cobblers. Northampton Town did it as well on their way to the old Division One, completing a round trip from the fourth tier and back in nine years” – Dave Gibson.

Re: yesterday’s Memory Lane, full email edition. Garry Birtles is far from the only European Cup-winning player to see their career stall at Manchester United. He just happened to be 40 years ahead of his time” – Ed Taylor.

Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Ed Taylor.

In the space of 20 painful years, Southend United have tumbled down the leagues and seen their Roots Hall ground fall apart. Is a revival finally coming – or will hopes be dashed again? Settle in as Tim Burrows catches up with long-suffering supporters, manager Kevin Maher, owner Ron Martin and more for a deep dive in this essential feature about the Shrimpers.

Dortmund’s first-leg win over PSG in their semi-final means the Bundesliga, not the Premier League, will get an extra spot in next season’s competition. And should BVB finish fifth in the league and go on to win Big Cup, the team who finish sixth would also qualify.

Premier League bigwig Richard Masters has laid out a series of detailed objections to plans for an independent regulator for English football, arguing that it would be too “risk-averse” for the liking of his clubs.

Will Still is done at Reims. “It was mutually agreed that the two parties would not continue the sporting adventure together next season,” cheered the club.

Ralf Rangnick will not – as reports have claimed – be taking over at Bayern Munich next season, remaining instead in his current role after Euro 2024. “I am national team coach of Austria with all my heart,” he cooed. “This task brings me a lot of joy and I am determined to continue down the road we have started. I want to clearly stress that this is not a rejection of Bayern Munich but rather a decision for my team and our common goals.”

Ange Postecoglou doesn’t want his Spurs players taking a leaf out of Arsenal’s book with their set-piece conduct after Ben White tried to snaffle Guglielmo Vicario’s glove during Sunday’s north London derby. “­Seriously, we’re not in the schoolyard,” he sniffed. “To be honest, if I saw one of my players do it, I’d be saying: ‘Mate, seriously? Get the ball and play some football.’”

If any Ipswich fans are in possession of chips, best to put some protective shielding over them given that Brighton are sniffing around Kieran McKenna.

And too much youth has been to blame for Chelsea’s inconsistencies, according to Mauricio Pochettino, but he reckons it’ll work out in the long run. “We need them to make mistakes,” he tooted, which, in fairness, they’ve delivered on.

Rotherham keeper Viktor Johansson has put 600 pints behind the bar at local hostelry, the Cutlers Arms, for consumption from 9am before their final-day Championship game against Cardiff on Saturday. “This isn’t a goodbye, it’s a thank you,” explained the sought-after Swede, who is still expected to be snapped up from the relegated Millers over the summer. And before Jamie Carragher gets any ideas, they’re meant for the home fans.

You can check out an extract from the latest edition of our sister email now, focusing on Zambia’s Copper Queens and why they still have to look for opportunities with the armed forces. If you’re not already, subscribe here to get the full newsletter sent directly to your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday.

It’s John Brewin’s Big Cup team of the week.

Ben Fisher writes on Unai Emery’s group of heroes and Villans, who are on the cusp of bringing Big Cup nights to the Midlands.

With Thomas Tuchel on his way out the door, Jonathan Liew asks questions about Bayern Munich’s full embrace of the Red Bull lifestyle.

From Marseille, Nick Ames reports on how Les Phocéens are attempting a revival to become a modern European power in the right way.

John Duerden questions whether mid-season tournaments like the Asian Cup and Afcon negatively impacts the form of players such as Son Heung-min, Mohamed Salah and Kim Min-jae.

And Ryan Benson crunches the numbers to find out who will win this season’s Premier League golden boot.

After being named the 1996 Cat of the Year, Jimmy takes in a game of Subbuteo with his 10-year-old owner Andrew Tierney of North Yorkshire. According to this great gallery, “the four-year-old feline was rescued after being thrown on a bonfire and would regularly be found swiping a paw on the Subbuteo pitch”. Not sure even he could deal with that surface, mind.