Keira Walsh exclusive: Chelsea and England Women midfielder flourishing as changed mindset and willingness to shoot reap rewards

For a few years now, Keira Walsh has been one of the world's best defensive midfielders. Chelsea and England function better with her in the engine room, pulling the strings and breaking the lines.

But even with multiple winners' medals - likely found on her mum's mantlepiece - she is still learning all the time, as any good footballer should.

This season alone has seen a shift in Walsh's play. She is operating further forward than she did in her WSL games for Chelsea last season, and is registering better numbers in many attacking metrics.

That shift is perhaps illustrated best by two contrasting stats: in her seven WSL games last term, she had just one shot; in eight games this year, she has already had 14, including her first Chelsea goal.

Walsh puts such a change down to her own tweak in mindset, and encouragement to shoot as much as possible.

Ahead of Sunday's game against Liverpool Women, she exclusively told Sky Sports: "It's maybe not position and playing further forward, but Sonia [Bompastor] and Cami [Abily, Chelsea's assistant manager] are always telling me to shoot, and it was the same when I played at Barca. The girls were always encouraging me.

"For myself, I've always preferred playing the assist or the assist before the assist. That's something that I've always liked doing.

"It was about me changing my mindset a little bit and still trying to help the team in that respect - maybe it is taking a shot more, and sometimes I was probably overplaying a little bit.

"It's feeling more confident, and Sonia and Cami really encouraged me to do that. Not a lot of central defensive midfielders do, apart from [Moises] Caicedo.

"The way I play defensive midfield, it is more about breaking lines and trying to break presses, and contributing a little bit more in attack. I'm not known for my big tackles, although I am working on that.

"When it opens up, Sonia's encouraged me to take the ball forward, and if I feel like a shot is on, then it's being free to do that."

And if Walsh is shooting, it is usually coming from outside the box. All four of her WSL goals since the 2020/21 campaign, at both Man City and Chelsea, have come from range. 'She only scores stunners' is an apt description.

"In the position I play, a lot of it will be on the second phase or drop-downs, and maybe from set-pieces with the drop-downs there as well," Walsh explained of her long-range prowess.

"It's trying to be in the right place at the right time. I'm not as good as Sam Kerr at that, but recently, I feel like I've been lucky with where the ball has landed and opened up for a shot.

"Previously, I would have tried to make a pass in the box, and with a lot of bodies around, it's not ideal. Cami is always going on at me to shoot, whether it's right foot or left foot. The left foot's not so great, so I try not to do that too much."

The art of simplicity is something Walsh has discovered over time.

The art of winning is not always about being pretty either. Sometimes it's just plain ugly - something both England and Chelsea have demonstrated in recent months.

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But despite the optics, the 'never give up' attitude has led to a domestic treble and a second European Championship title, forcing Walsh to adapt her own views.

"When I was younger, I was obsessed with playing the perfect game and playing beautiful football all the time with loads of passes and lots of possession," she said.

"But realistically, as you get older - especially in a competition like the Euros or if it's a one-off game in the Champions League final - sometimes it doesn't matter how you play.

"You want to play great football, but ultimately the goal is putting the ball in the back of the net and winning. If you can do that in one long pass, then that's great.

"Something I've learned from playing in these teams is that it doesn't always have to be pretty. It's just about having the grit to go and win, even when it's not great and it's not going your way.

"Chelsea already had that before I came so I've learned that from them. It's something that we had to learn at the Euros pretty fast, too, when the first game didn't go our way. I think the girls were fantastic at that."

Walsh is a key part of the that mentality, especially if graced with the captain's armband. She wore it for Chelsea against St Polten in the midweek Women's Champions League win, and was one of the Lionesses' vice-captains against Brazil last month.

"I was a bit surprised to be captain against Polten because we've got a lot of players who are leaders, but it was a really nice moment for me, and my family were really happy," she reflected.

"What I've learnt as I've got older is it is about being the captain that you want to be. It's not about emulating what someone else has done, because everybody leads in different ways.

"When I'm captain, I'm probably not the loudest in the changing room. I'm not the one who's going to be shouting and screaming. I speak a little bit more on the pitch in terms of tactics and how we can solve certain things.

"With England, I was a little bit nervous when Sarina [Wiegman] asked me to be vice-captain a few years ago. I wasn't sure if I was ready for it, but she said she doesn't want me to change, she's chosen me for who I am and to carry on doing that, which was nice.

"Working with Millie [Bright] and Leah [Williamson] too, who are two incredible captains, and learning off them. Leah was the one who told me to do it in my own way and I always ask her for advice, because she's so good at it."

It is another area for Walsh to grow as she continues to flourish for both Chelsea and England, demonstrating how small changes can help even the most talented of players evolve.

Watch Liverpool Women vs Chelsea Women from 11am on Sunday live on Sky Sports Main Event; kick-off 12pm.

(c) Sky Sports 2025: Keira Walsh exclusive: Chelsea and England Women midfielder flourishing as changed mindset and willingness to shoot reap rewards