“When we talk about ambition, we have to turn words into action,” said a frustrated Sonia Bompastor after Chelsea dropped their first points of the season to Leicester. “I need my players to be ready from the start of every game “.
The demands at the highest level are brutal, but Chelsea are never one to lead by luck or chance. Bompastor has readily accepted the taskmaster baton passed by Emma Hayes, who left in the summer, and run with it at impressive speed.
Under the Frenchman’s leadership, Chelsea went six points clear in the Women’s Super League, reached the knockout stages of the Champions League with a 100 per cent record and averaged 2.8 goals from 90 in all competitions.
They have been virtually unstoppable, but the trip to the King Power was a timely reminder that, despite the provocation, the WSL continues to fight fiercely and no team is infallible.
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Highlights of the Women’s Super League match between Leicester City and Chelsea
Bompastor bemoaned the lack of intensityintent and efficiency as Chelsea drew 1-1 despite having 82 touches and 28 shots on target at Leicester.The expectation is to win and anything less is ultimately a disappointment.
Still, getting to the halfway point of the season with 15 wins and one draw from 16 games is pretty remarkable, and while such a feat looks easy on paper for the WSL’s best-assembled team (and biggest budget), things are rarely that simple.
When impregnable dynasties may fall, take it Manchester City’s decline under the great Pep Guardiola as evidence, but this empire is not one to break, at least for now.
The ideas are fresh, with a new identity as Bompastor looks to build a team that wins with their own hands and style rather than sheer power. He wants the same winning machine that Hayes built, just with a splash of French flair as he put it, je ne sais quoi.
Speaking after Chelsea beat Celtic in November to secure European progression with two games to go, Bompastor said: “It’s important to work hard to make things easy, even if they aren’t easy.”
Simplicity is hard to come by in football. Some teams have a habit of showing results without effort. Chelsea are in that category, but the process of getting there is often more difficult than it seems, so what are the real differences with Bompastor?
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Bompastor has set his sights on winning all 22 WSL games this season by the time Chelsea host Leicester City.
“You never put your brain on hold. It’s 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” he said Sky Sports before beating title rivals Manchester City in Nov. And that obsession with what he calls the “perfect game model” is what keeps pushing the standards to different levels.
He arrived with respect for Chelsea’s previous culture and trophy-laden history, but Hayes’ brand of football was never going to marry with a ball-playing midfielder who loves a high-tempo game that thrills and excites. Bompastor has struck the perfect balance between consistency and change to ensure confidence in his philosophy with the players.
“He demands a lot from us,” striker Guro Raiten said recently. “There are things in training and the way he wants us to play, it’s a little bit different, but so far it’s going well. Whatever Sonia wants me to do, I’ll do it.”
Without the luxury of injured pair Sam Carey and Lauren James, Chelsea’s most prolific pair in recent campaigns, Bompastor has had to rely on the likes of Reiten, but where his eye for detail and softer style have been, Hayes has been typically hard-nosed , promoted a healthy team-led approach.
Kerr and James are traitors. Hayes loved it. They’re unpredictable and individual. Now Chelsea have others to wear that mantle. Thirty-one more goals than any other team. 14 different players scored. No other team in the division has even hit double figures for different goalscorers (Brighton are the closest with nine).
Reiten has been a big beneficiary, coming in for more focused action, scoring six goals in 10 WSL starts, but he’s not the only one. Johanna Wrighting Cannerid is having the season of her life, Mayra Ramirez is scoring big goals in big games (against Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City), while youngster Aggie Bever-Jones has the second-best minutes-to-goals ratio in the league. .
Now for the adjustment part. How does Bompastor take such a talented group of passers. Chelsea’s distribution stats are the least flattering of their game. They average fewer passes than Manchester City, Arsenal ” and “Brighton”, and their possession share in all 10 WSL games (57 percent) is far below Bompastor’s wishes; gear accuracy too.
14 different players have scored for Chelsea in the WSL this season
Most great football dynasties have combined the will to win with the wow factor. Hayes’ Chelsea used the mentality as a superpower.
If: With Bompastor able to instill his core tenets of hard-hitting possession on his way to silverware this season, his relentless pursuit of perfection may be closer than he thinks.
