“After we speak about ambition, we have to flip phrases into actions,” stated a pissed off Sonia Bompaster after Chelsea misplaced their first level of the season to Leicester Metropolis. “I would like my gamers to be prepared from the beginning of each sport.”
The calls for on the prime are brutal, however Chelsea’s prime run has by no means been about luck or likelihood. Bompast willingly accepted the Overwatch baton from Emma Hayes in the summertime and ran with it – at a powerful tempo.
Below the Frenchwoman, Chelsea sit six factors clear on the prime of the Girls’s Tremendous League, have reached the knockout phases of the Champions League with a 100% report, and are averaging 2.8 targets per 90 video games throughout all competitions.
They’re nearly unstoppable. However the King Energy journey was a well-timed reminder that, regardless of provocation, the WSL battle rages on and no group is infallible.
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Girls’s Tremendous League match highlights between Leicester Metropolis and Chelsea
Bompaster laments lack of intensityRegardless of having 82 touches and 28 photographs within the Leicester penalty space, Chelsea drew 1-1. Expectation is victory, and any failure will in the end result in disappointment.
Nonetheless, to achieve the midway level of the season with 15 wins and one attract 16 video games is sort of exceptional. Whereas on the floor such a feat could appear straightforward to attain for the group with the most effective roster (and largest finances) within the WSL, issues are hardly ever that easy.
As soon as the impregnable dynasty falls – take Manchester City collapses under great Guardiola As proof─however this empire, a minimum of at this second, will not be for destruction.
The concepts are contemporary, with a brand new id, as Bompast makes an attempt to construct Chelsea right into a group the place aptitude and magnificence on the ball prevail over sheer power. She wished the identical profitable machine Hayes had constructed, simply with a contact of French sophistication, or as she places it, je ne sais quoi.
After Chelsea beat Celtic with two video games to go in November to safe qualification for the European competitors, Bompast stated: “It is essential to work laborious in order that issues turn into simpler, even when they do not. Not straightforward.
In soccer, simplicity is difficult to come back by. Some groups have a behavior of constructing outcomes look easy – Chelsea fall into that class – however the strategy of reaching that is typically harder than it seems. So, what’s the actual distinction with Bompastor?
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Bompast outlines her purpose to win all 22 WSL video games this season earlier than Chelsea had been held to a draw by Leicester Metropolis
“You by no means cease. 24 hours a day, seven days every week,” she informed me sky sports activities earlier than defeating title rivals Manchester Metropolis in November. The obsession with what she calls “the right sport mannequin” continues to push the bar to completely different ranges.
She arrived with respect for Chelsea’s established tradition and trophy-laden historical past, however Hayes’ model of soccer was by no means going to mesh with a midfielder who favored an thrilling, fast-paced sport. Bompastor strikes the right steadiness between consistency and selection to make sure gamers belief her idea.
“She calls for loads from us,” ahead Kuro Raito stated not too long ago. “Some issues in coaching and the best way she desires us to play are a bit completely different, however up to now it is understanding effectively. No matter Sonia desires me to do, I will do it.”
With out the injured Sam Cole and Lauren James – Chelsea’s most prolific duo in latest seasons – Bompast has needed to depend on the likes of Retten to make an affect. However right here, her consideration to element and softer model — the place Hayes is normally hard-nosed — have fostered a wholesome sense of group management.
Cole and James are mavericks — and Hayes loves that. They’re unpredictable and individualistic. Now, Chelsea have another person able to taking over that function, it simply feels extra united. Thirty-one targets – a minimum of ten greater than some other group – had been scored by 14 completely different gamers. No different group within the division has had double-digit factors from completely different scorers (Brighton comes closest, with 9).
Retten has been an enormous beneficiary, working extra centrally inside, scoring six targets in 10 WSL begins. However she’s not the one one. Johanna Rytting Kaneryd is having the most effective season of her life and Mayra Ramirez scored an excellent objective in an enormous sport (vs. Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester Metropolis), whereas teenager Aggie Beever-Jones has the second-highest minutes-to-goals ratio within the league.
Now for the refinement half. How does Bompastor take such a gifted group and develop them into passing masters? Chelsea’s distribution numbers are essentially the most unflattering dynamic of their sport. They common fewer passes per 90 than Manchester Metropolis, Arsenal and Brighton, and their possession fee (57%) in all 10 WSL video games is effectively beneath Bompasto’s expectations – Passing The identical goes for accuracy.
14 completely different gamers have scored for Chelsea within the WSL this season
Most nice soccer dynasties mix a will to win with a wow issue. Hayes’ Chelsea use mentality as their superpower.
if Bompastow has been in a position to instill her core rules of ball-heavy dominance on her solution to trophies this season, and her relentless pursuit of perfection might be nearer than she thinks.
