​“We’ll be a real contender” – Bronze on Chelsea DrawAnne Butzelaar, Women’s Football EditorLucy Bronze believes Chelsea showed enough in their 1-1 draw with Aston Villa to demonstrate their credentials for the season ahead, despite admitting the Blues need to become more ruthless in front of goal.Chelsea began their Women’s Super League campaign with a frustrating afternoon at Stamford Bridge. Lauren James’ first-half strike appeared to have Sonia Bompastor’s side on course for three points, but an unfortunate Veerle Buurman own goal allowed Villa to equalise late on.It was a difficult result to digest given the balance of the contest.Chelsea controlled long periods, created chance after chance and repeatedly tested Akane Okuma, while Keira Walsh was denied by the crossbar. Yet their dominance produced only one goal.For Bronze, the performance deserved considerably more.“Overall today, the performance probably deserved the win,” she reflected after the final whistle. “But at the end of the day, we didn’t put the ball in the back of the net enough times, and that’s what football can do. It can get punched to the other side. That’s just what’s happened today. We’ve still got one point from the game and things to improve on. But overall, performance-wise, it was good. We just need to get the goals now.”Finding the final pieceChelsea’s inability to turn their opportunities into goals was particularly frustrating because of how regularly they managed to open Villa up.Bronze herself threatened from distance during the opening stages, while James, Aggie Beever-Jones, Ellie Carpenter and others all had opportunities to extend the advantage.Asked what had prevented Chelsea from finding the decisive second goal, Bronze jokingly pointed towards both Okuma and the goalposts before highlighting something potentially more significant.Chelsea are adapting to a slightly different system, and Bronze believes there are still moments when the understanding between players needs to become instinctive.“We’re playing a little bit of a different system,” she explained. “Maybe a slight bit of hesitation, but we created loads and loads of chances. I guess it’s just getting used to that clicking. I feel like once that moment kind of clicks and everybody’s on the same page at the right moments and the right times, games like today, we can kill that off in the first half.”That provides both a source of frustration and encouragement.Chelsea did not struggle to progress the ball or manufacture openings. Instead, the missing ingredient was the final action required to turn their control into a comfortable scoreline.No excuses after European turnaroundChelsea entered the game having only recently returned from European action in Spain, but Bronze refused to use the demanding schedule as an excuse.The Blues played away in Europe on Wednesday before returning to Stamford Bridge for their league opener, leaving little recovery time b