Sonia Bompastor's Chelsea are breaking jinxes and building relationships
After banishing bogey team Liverpool, the new head coach of the reigning WSL champions is starting to see her plans come together.
There must have been a sigh of relief around Cobham when it was announced that Liverpool would no longer be playing at Prenton Park. It had not been a happy hunting ground for Chelsea over the past few years.
Last season, It was the spot where it looked as if their title challenge had come to a bitter and chaotic end when they lost 4-3. On that day, manager Emma Hayes hauled Aggie Beever-Jones alongside her in a sort of Sky Sports hostage situation as Chelsea players fell to their knees on the ground.
In the end, Arsenal’s Stina Blackstenius got them out of a tight spot but three years without a win had firmly embedded the view that Liverpool away is the match where Chelsea dreams go to die.
Chelsea jinxes? Meet Sonia Bompastor.
Having already landed her new club a first win at the Emirates against Arsenal, she followed it up with a 3-0 away win against Liverpool. It was certainly a different experience for Beever-Jones on Sunday as she got to put the cherry on top of the win at Liverpool’s new home - the Totally Wicked Stadium in St Helen’s.
The first half was Chelsea’s most fluid performance yet under Bompastor. They took their time to take the lead but goals from Mayra Ramirez and Guro Reiten put the side in a comfortable position. A lot of the early hallmarks of Bompastor’s side were on show in this one, with Chelsea’s aggressive press paying dividends, particularly when Liverpool goalkeeper, Rachel Laws, passed the ball directly out to Reiten. However, what was more positive was Chelsea’s confidence in possession.
“I need to adjust”
When Bompastor arrived at Chelsea, she emphasised her desire to turn them into a more possession-based side but early signs have been that this was perhaps harder than she anticipated. The move to the Women’s Super League was also going to be a learning curve, and Bompastor admitted as much following her side’s 5-2 win over Tottenham before the international break.
“I’m already starting to adjust my game model,” she said. “It’s frustrating because I like to be dominant but sometimes you have to accept that other teams are doing a good job.
“When I was in France (as manager of Lyon), we dominated so much, we were able to press high throughout the game.
“Here teams have really good build up and even if you want to press, they can break through. So I need to adjust because at the end of the day, my management has to help the players.”
Bompastor’s time at Chelsea so far has been characterised by fast starts that have turned into tired legs. Against both Real Madrid and Arsenal, Chelsea took a 2-0 lead before conceding goals. The challenge has been to find more control in games that stop the opposition from overwhelming Chelsea.
In that sense, the match against Liverpool was a step in the right direction. Chelsea finished the game with 67% possession, their second-highest total of the season in all competitions. They recorded their third-highest number of successful passes in a match this season but their highest number in their own half.
That reflects the more aggressive approach Liverpool came out with in the second half where they looked to cause Chelsea more issues by pressing them higher up the pitch. But the number of passes Chelsea were able to make indicates far more comfort with taking their time to try and play through that press. In earlier matches in the season, it has felt as if they just wanted to play as quickly as possible to try and escape.
Part of that has come from better relationships among players forming. Sandy Baltimore has looked more assured at left back with every passing week and it is clear that there is a growing understanding between her and Reiten. Whereas earlier in the season, they would find themselves occupying the same space, they dovetailed to great effect in this one.
Similarly, the increased minutes for Maika Hamano as a result of injury has taken time to pay off but, whilst she did look lightweight in moments against a physical Liverpool side, she looked constantly creative as the number 10.
There are certainly still elements to work on. Liverpool are a good counter-attacking side and they should have threatened Chelsea more in the transitional moments they got than they actually did. Their press also did cause Chelsea problems in the second half but the two-goal cushion meant it never felt like a serious threat. They created few clear-cut chances and finished with an expected goals of 0.44. It means that Chelsea have conceded 0.5 xG or less in four of their six WSL games so far.
Chelsea lost three matches in the WSL last year. Two of them have already been converted into wins this time around - Arsenal away and Liverpool away. The third was Manchester City at home. That will be Bompastor’s biggest test of the season come Saturday.
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