“When you talk about ambition, you have to turn words into actions,” said a frustrated Sonia Bompastor after Chelsea lost their first point of the season to Leicester. “I need the players to be ready from the start of every game.”
The demands at the top level are brutal, but Chelsea never get to the top by luck or happenstance. Bompastor happily accepted the ‘Taskmaster’ baton handed down by Emma Hayes, who left in the summer, and ran at a surprisingly fast speed.
Under the French coach, Chelsea are six points clear at the top of the Women’s Super League, cruised to the Champions League knockout stages with a 100% record and averaging 2.8 goals per 90 minutes in all competitions.
They were virtually unstoppable. But the trip to the King Power was a timely reminder that, despite the provocations, the WSL remains in contention and no team is infallible.
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Highlights of the Women’s Super League match between Leicester City and Chelsea
Bompastor lamented a lack of intensity, intent and efficiency as Chelsea were held to a 1-1 draw despite having 82 touches and 28 shots in the Leicester box. Expectations are what wins, anything less is ultimately a disappointment.
Nevertheless, it is quite surprising that they reached the middle of the season with 15 wins and 1 draw in 16 games. And on paper, with the best-formed team (and biggest budget) in the WSL, such a feat might seem easy, but things aren’t that simple.
Once an impregnable dynasty can fall (take the collapse of Manchester City under the great Pep Guardiola as proof), but this empire cannot, at least not at this moment.
The idea of a new identity is refreshing as Bompastor attempts to turn Chelsea into a team that wins with possession and style rather than raw power. She wants a winning machine with the same French sophistication that Hayes built. Or, as she puts it, the je ne sais quoi.
“It’s not easy, but it’s important to work hard to make things easier,” Bompastor said after Chelsea beat Celtic in November to secure European qualification with two games remaining.
Simplicity is hard to come by in football. Some teams have a habit of making results look easy. Chelsea falls into that category. But the process of getting there is often more difficult than it appears. So what is the real difference between Bompastor?
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Bompastor outlined his goal of winning all 22 WSL games this season before Chelsea’s defeat to Leicester.
“You never take your head off, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” she said. sky sports before beating title rivals Manchester City in November. And her obsession with what she calls the ‘perfect game model’ continues to push the standard to another level.
She arrived with a respect for Chelsea’s established culture and trophy-laden history, but Hayes’ brand of football will never be married to a ball-playing midfielder who prefers up-tempo games with excitement and thrills. Bompastor’s philosophy is to strike a perfect balance between consistency and change to ensure trust with players.
“She demands a lot from us,” forward Guro Reiten said recently. “The training process and the way she wants it are a little different, but so far it’s going well. I’ll do whatever Sonia wants from me.”
Without the injured Sam Kerr and Lauren James – Chelsea’s most prolific duo in recent campaigns – Bompastor had to rely on the likes of Leyton. But here her eye for detail and gentle style (Hayes is typically cool-headed) fostered a healthy team-led approach.
Kerr and James are unique. Hayes loved it. They are unpredictable and individualistic. Now, Chelsea could have someone else take up that mantle, except it feels a little more cohesive. 31 goals (at least 10 more than any other team) were scored by 14 players. No other team in the division has reached double figures in terms of scorers (Brighton are closest with nine).
Reiten has been a big beneficiary of settling inside to operate more centrally, scoring six goals in 10 WSL games. But she’s not the only one. Johanna Rytting Kaneryd is having the best season of her life, Mayra Ramirez has scored big goals in big games (against Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City), and young Aggie Beever-Jones has the second-best goals-to-minute ratio in the league. I did it. .
Now for the improvement part. How does Bompastor take such a talented group and turn them into passing masters? Chelsea’s distribution statistics have some of the most unremarkable dynamics in their game. They average fewer passes per 90 than Man City, Arsenal and Brighton and their possession rate (57%) across 10 WSL games is far lower than the Bompastor would like. The same goes for passing accuracy.
14 players have scored for Chelsea in the WSL this season.
Most of the great football dynasties have combined the will to win with an element of surprise. Hayes’s Chelsea used their mind as a superpower.
if Bompastor may be able to instill the core principle of her strong sense of ownership on her path to victory this season, and her relentless pursuit of perfection may be closer than she thinks.
