“When we talk about ambitions, we need to turn words into actions,” mentioned a annoyed Sonia Bompastor after Chelsea dropped their first factors of the season to Leicester. “I need my players to be ready from the beginning of every game.”
Calls for on the highest stage are brutal, however Chelsea are by no means prime by luck or likelihood. Bompastor has willingly accepted the ‘taskmaster’ baton handed on by Emma Hayes, who left in the summertime, and run with it – impressively quick.
Underneath the Frenchwoman’s rule, Chelsea have raced right into a six-point lead on the prime of the Ladies’s Tremendous League, cruised into the Champions League knockout levels with a 100 per cent report, and averaged 2.8 targets per 90 in all competitions.
They’ve been just about unstoppable. However the journey to the King Energy provided a well-timed reminder that, regardless of the provocation, the WSL stays fiercely fought and no staff are infallible.
Bompastor bemoaned a scarcity of depth, intention and effectivity as Chelsea had been held to a 1-1 draw, regardless of taking 82 touches within the Leicester field and registering 28 photographs at objective. The expectation is to win, and something much less is in the end a disappointment.
Nonetheless, to have reached the season’s midway level with 15 victories and one draw from 16 video games is kind of exceptional. And whereas, on paper, such a feat seems straightforward with the best-assembled squad (and largest funds) within the WSL, issues are hardly ever that simple.
As soon as impregnable dynasties can fall – take Manchester Metropolis’s implosion below the nice Pep Guardiola as proof – however this empire, on this second not less than, shouldn’t be for breaking.
The concepts are recent, with new id, as Bompastor makes an attempt to form Chelsea right into a staff that wins with possessional aptitude and magnificence over sheer would possibly. She needs the identical profitable machine that Hayes constructed, simply with a sprinkling of French refinement, or as she would phrase it, je ne sais quoi.
Talking after Chelsea beat Celtic in November to safe European development with two video games to spare, Bompastor mentioned: “It’s important to work hard so things can become easy, even if they are not easy.”
Simplicity is tough to come back by in soccer. Some groups have a behavior of constructing outcomes seem easy – Chelsea are in that class – however the course of to get there may be typically tougher than it seems. So, what are Bompastor’s actual factors of distinction?
Please use Chrome browser for a extra accessible video participant
Bompastor outlined her goal to win all 22 WSL video games this season earlier than Chelsea had been held by Leicester
“You never put your brain off. It’s 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” she instructed Sky Sports activities earlier than beating title rivals Man Metropolis in November. And that obsession with what she calls the ‘excellent recreation mannequin’ is what continues to push requirements to totally different ranges.
She arrived with respect for Chelsea’s pre-existing tradition and trophy-laden historical past, however Hayes’ model of soccer was by no means going to marry with a ball-playing midfielder who favours a high-tempo recreation that excites and thrills. Bompastor has struck the proper steadiness between consistency and alter to make sure belief with gamers in her philosophy.
“She demands a lot from us,” ahead Guro Reiten mentioned not too long ago. “There are things in training and in the way she wants us to play that’s a bit different, but it’s been working good so far. Whatever Sonia wants me to do, I’ll do it.”
With out the luxurious of injured pair Sam Kerr and Lauren James – Chelsea’s most prolific duo in latest campaigns – Bompastor has needed to depend on the likes of Reiten to ship. However right here is the place her eye for element and softer fashion – Hayes was usually hard-nosed – has fostered a wholesome squad-led strategy.
Kerr and James are mavericks – Hayes beloved that. They’re unpredictable and individualist. Now Chelsea have others capable of carry that mantle, besides it feels a bit extra joined up. Thirty-one targets – not less than 10 greater than another aspect – scored by 14 totally different gamers. No different staff within the division has even hit double figures for various scorers (Brighton are closest with 9).
Reiten has been an enormous beneficiary, tucked inside to function extra centrally, scoring six occasions in 10 WSL begins. However she shouldn’t be the one one. Johanna Rytting Kaneryd is having the season of her life, Mayra Ramirez has delivered huge targets in huge video games (in opposition to Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Metropolis), whereas younger Aggie Beever-Jones has the second-best minutes-to-goal ratio within the league.
Now for the refinement half. How does Bompastor take such a proficient group and mildew them into pass-masters? Chelsea’s distribution stats are the least flattering dynamic of their recreation. They common fewer passes per 90 than Man Metropolis, Arsenal and Brighton, and their possession share throughout all 10 WSL video games (57 per cent) is way decrease than Bompastor needs – passing accuracy too.
Fourteen totally different gamers have scored for Chelsea within the WSL this season
Most nice footballing dynasties paired the need to win with the wow issue. Hayes’ Chelsea used mentality as their superpower.
If Bompastor is ready to instil her core rules of heavy-possessional dominance on the way in which to silverware this season, her relentless pursuit of perfection could be nearer than she thinks.
