Why Bompastor's tactical tweak didn't work against Brighton
Sonia Bompastor gave Naomi Girma her debut and switched to a back three against Brighton, will we see it again?
For only the second time this season, Chelsea dropped points in the Women’s Super League, as they drew 2-2 with Brighton on Sunday. Sandy Baltimore had given Sonia Bompastor’s side the lead with a spectacular volley but goals from Marisa Olislagers and Vicky Losada put Brighton ahead at half time. A tap-in from Lauren James in the second half, which appeared to be offside, helped Chelsea at least preserve their unbeaten record.
Much of the build-up to the game was focused on Naomi Girma’s debut. The $1.1-million world record transfer had yet to feature for the club due to a calf injury and was thrown into the starting line up against Brighton for her long-waited debut. However, onlookers were surprised when Chelsea began the match in a back three, with two wing-backs being deployed in a 3-4-3 formation, rather than a back four in Chelsea’s customary 4-2-3-1.
Bompastor made clear throughout January when questioned about Chelsea’s links to Girma that she wanted an extra centre-back in order to be able to set up in a back three, following Kadeisha Buchanan’s anterior cruciate ligament injury in November.
“If you look at the first part of the season with our squad, we were able to play with a back four or back three,” Bompastor said following an FA Cup win over Charlton in January.
”We lost Kadeisha Buchanan which didn’t give us the opportunity by the end of the year to play back three again. So maybe this will be something that we are looking for [in the transfer window].”
Bompastor has played with a back three once so far this season, in a 2-1 win away against Celtic in the Champions League. That night she used Maelys Mpome, Nathalie Bjorn and Eve Perisset as the trio. Here it was Girma, Millie Bright and Lucy Bronze. On both occasions, Chelsea ended up looking uncertain in possession and struggled to impose themselves on the game in the way they have at their best this season.
“We didn’t start the game with the right intentions,” said Bompastor following the draw against Brighton.
”You could feel the difference between the first half and the second half for us. We were able to score quickly in the game but we just need to realise that football is about being efficient, scoring goals.
“Sometimes it is good to keep possession of the ball but if you want to hurt the opposition, you also need to have a more vertical game and be able to play balls behind the back line. Especially in the first half, Brighton left us a lot of space behind the back line but we didn’t use that in a good way.
”Sometimes when you play wide or back, you just invite the opposition to press you. So you need to realise as soon as you break the pressure of the other team, you need to stay forward and also have players who make runs behind the back line.”
With Aggie Beever-Jones playing upfront, Chelsea ostensibly had a player who could make those kinds of runs but she struggled physically playing with her back to Guro Bergsvand in the Brighton defence. Unsurprisingly, Bompastor’s team looked much more threatening when Mayra Ramirez came on with Beever-Jones able to make runs from a slightly deeper position and avoid the attentions of Brighton’s centre-backs.
Chelsea had had issues with Brighton’s press in the reverse fixture, a 4-2 win, but Bompastor insisted that the change in formation was not just an attempt to match them up.
”The main reason was to be efficient and to win the game, as always,” said Bompastor.
“But it was also about the way we wanted to press them. I think we were able to do that for some moments in the game but it was not consistent enough.”
Given Chelsea’s clear struggles with the formation, it was surprising that Bompastor did not change it, even when Girma went off after 58 minutes. With matches against Leicester City and Crystal Palace coming up, perhaps the Chelsea manager felt this was her last chance to test it out ahead of their quadruple header against Manchester City.
With Girma seemingly aggravating her calf issue, it may well be the case that Bompastor also wanted to trial the use of a back three of Nathalie Bjorn, Bright and Bronze, which Chelsea ended up finishing the game with. The seven-point cushion that they had at the top of the WSL at the start of the weekend gave them the freedom to take more risks in terms of result.
There are some other personnel benefits from playing this way. Guro Reiten was unavailable for the match having sustained a back injury on international duty, but she also seems to have fallen out of favour. That has led to Lauren James playing on the left. Switching to a 3-4-3 allows James to play as an inside 10 without any of the defensive responsibilities that have sometimes limited the enthusiasm of managers to use her as a 10 in a 4-2-3-1. Wieke Kaptein struggled as the other 10 in the system and it is easy to imagine that if Erin Cuthbert had been available, Chelsea might have been able to take greater control of the midfield areas of the pitch.
James created the first goal and scored the second but it is hard to seriously argue those moments stemmed from the system being used as opposed to James’ own ability. It is understandable that Bompastor wants to make her team versatile enough to play with different systems but the evidence suggests that the only unpredictable thing about using this back three is Chelsea’s quality.
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