This new period at Chelsea is brimming with expectation as Sonia Bompastor prepares for her first WSL fixture accountable for the membership.
The reigning champions face Aston Villa at Kingsmeadow on Friday night within the first take a look at of their title defence. Nevertheless, this season carries an air of uncertainty, with a brand new supervisor within the dugout for the primary time in over a decade.
Former supervisor Emma Hayes delivered a fifth consecutive WSL trophy earlier than her departure this summer time, abandoning a legacy the place successful is the norm. Bompastor, her successor, is not any stranger to the calls for of top-tier soccer, having guided Lyon to 3 league titles and a Champions League crown throughout her time in cost.
“The ambitions are the identical,” the 44-year-old stated on the Barclays WSL’s 2024/25 season launch media day. “I don’t like to match, however Chelsea is among the most well-known golf equipment in Europe, as Lyon was, so for me, coming to Chelsea is a giant transfer and a giant problem.
“There’s a duty and stress on the outcome, because it was in my final expertise. Possibly the massive distinction is my job with the media. Even when I used to be one of many leaders in Lyon, perhaps the media was not that a lot.”
On the pitch, Bompastor is on the lookout for evolution somewhat than revolution. Her type blends possession-based soccer with quick transitions and a need to win the ball again rapidly when it’s misplaced.
“I informed the gamers [before the Feyenoord friendly] one thing actually vital: we wish to be a dominant crew,” she defined. “We now have a variety of ambition, and after we don’t have the ball, I need all of the gamers to ensure we recuperate it as quick as we are able to.
“When we’ve got the ball, we wish to have possession to manage the sport. I like when my gamers are capable of scan and see when there may be house or not. I feel within the final recreation, the followers actually loved it, and the gamers did as properly. Particularly as a result of we have been capable of rating many targets from completely different gamers.
“We simply wish to get pleasure from and be environment friendly, so when the house is just not there, we’d like to ensure we’re affected person and create the house.”
There have been important adjustments to the enjoying squad over the summer time as Bompastor stamps her authority on the crew. Skilled figures akin to Jess Carter, Fran Kirby, Melanie Leupolz, and Maren Mjelde have been amongst these to depart, whereas Lucy Bronze, Sandy Baltimore, Oriane Jean-Francois, and Julia Bartel have been simply a few of the new arrivals. Moreover, 19-year-old prospect Wieke Kaptein returned from her mortgage spell to additional enhance the squad.
Squad depth has been synonymous with Chelsea lately, permitting them to compete on a number of fronts 12 months after 12 months. Issues can be no completely different underneath Bompastor, who recognises the bodily toll on gamers within the trendy recreation.
“You realize now that the gamers are enjoying so many video games for membership and nation, they journey quite a bit,” she added. “We have to have a giant squad with a variety of high quality as a result of we’d like everybody.
“If I have a look at the Feyenoord recreation, the gamers who began did very well, and the finishers did the job after they got here on – they scored 5 targets within the second half, so it stored the tempo within the recreation. That is what I count on from my gamers: to maintain the standard, whoever is on the sphere. As a result of we’ve got a giant squad with a variety of high quality.”
Except for Bronze, all of Chelsea’s recruits this summer time are underneath the age of 25. Final summer time adopted an analogous sample, with 9 of the membership’s 11 signings aged 25 or youthful, with solely Nicky Evrard and Nathalie Björn falling exterior that vary.
Chelsea’s concentrate on youth has been clear lately as they goal to construct a squad able to competing within the current whereas securing a few of the world’s brightest younger skills. Earlier than taking cost of Lyon’s first crew, Bompastor labored with the membership’s academy, and her expertise in nurturing younger gamers can be essential to managing Chelsea’s present squad.
“I’m actually pleased with this recruitment,” the supervisor emphasised. “I used to be head of the academy at Lyon for eight years, and I liked working with younger gamers.
“The membership in the intervening time is perhaps top-of-the-line on the earth at looking for and recruit younger skills and convey them to Chelsea. I deliver a employees that is ready to help them and make them enhance.
“My imaginative and prescient is de facto clear: I feel Chelsea is the most effective membership on the earth at recruiting younger expertise, and it’s actually useful for the subsequent seasons. I might say it’s all the time good for the younger gamers to get somebody [specialised].
“Working with skilled gamers and younger gamers are completely different jobs. You don’t ship the identical messages. Having the expertise and being actually desirous about working with these areas is one thing actually vital for the membership and for them.”
One key query Bompastor has confronted this summer time is how she is going to construct on Hayes’ legacy. Changing a determine of such excessive calibre is not any straightforward process, however the French supervisor is concentrated solely on what lies forward.
“I don’t actually give it some thought [replacing Hayes],” Bompastor concluded. “She’s been supportive of me, and I do know she is going to keep a Chelsea fan without end.
“Nevertheless it’s now my time, and I’m simply fascinated by the current and future, not in regards to the previous.”
