Sonia Bompastor has made the type of start to her managerial stint at Chelsea that is the envy of the footballing world, unbeaten in her first 27 matches as manager including 25 wins. At the earliest opportunity possible the French head coach has the chance to win her first silverware in the Chelsea hot seat.
First Chelsea will have to get past Manchester City, the only other side left standing in the Subway Women’s League Cup. Prior to that much anticipated final on Saturday, Bompastor faced the press and The Halfway Line were present to hear what she had to say.
‘No change’ in Cup final team news
Often a cup final hinges on a single moment, a moment of brilliance, opportunism or even luck. A single player can be the difference between popping the champagne in celebration or in commiseration. So when Bompastor entered the press conference team news was the question on everyone’s lips, and the Chelsea head coach confirmed:
“No, no change [in the available squad]. No new injuries from the Crystal Palace game. So for this weekend, we still [don’t have] Keira Walsh and Naomi Girma, Guro Reiten [who all] won’t be available for the game on the weekend, and Maelys Mpomé as well.”
When pressed for more specific return dates Bompastor explained: “We have been assessing Naomi, and I think we’ll take it week by week with her. Keira Walsh is not too far from joining the group. It was just a little bit short for her this weekend. Maelys is the same as Naomi. We have been assessing her and will take it week by week. And I think with Guro, it will be maybe a little bit longer. We still have a small chance to see her before the end of the block [fixtures against Manchester City] but I’m not sure 100%”
‘We expect them not to change a lot’ says Bompastor on City under new management
Chelsea’s opponents Manchester City made the eyebrow raising decision to sack their manager five days before a major final and a four game block against the unbeaten league leaders. With Gareth Taylor exiting stage left, entering stage right is former Manchester City head coach Nick Cushing in interim charge.
Cushing remains the only manager to win the Barclays Women’s Super League with Manchester City and represents a new challenge for Bompastor’s charges. Bompastor was asked for her thoughts on the new man in charge of the side on the sky blue side of Manchester, she replied:
“They have a new manager, [in] Nick Cushing, I think he has a lot of experience. He already won a lot of titles with Man City women’s team before. So I think preparing this game, we probably know City wouldn’t change a lot of things. They have big principles, and we expect them maybe not to be able to change a lot from what we saw before. But the main focus in it’s in ourselves as well, because we know exactly what we need to do if we want to be successful on the game on Saturday. So yeah, we prepared the game as much as the same as we did before.”
On facing Manchester City four times in a row Bompastor noted:
“We look at these four games, as I said, we’ll take them one by one but also we need to anticipate and look at the bigger picture and all the block. So when I say that, of course, in terms of management, this is where it’s really important to have depth on the squad. So we know it won’t be possible for all the players to play four times 90 minutes. So this is where we need to be prepared to rotate the squad, and we know already how we want to do that in the different games, different competitions.”
Bompastor continued: “But also my job is to make sure going into the game on Saturday, I learned as much as I could about Nick when he was before with Man City, he had a lot of success, as I said, but also when he was in New York with the men’s team. So yeah, I think I’m prepared to go into the game expecting maybe what he could do on the game on Saturday.”
Balance between being ‘confident’ and ‘humble’ key for Bompastor
On Saturday the first silverware of the season will be presented, and a battle between last season’s top two will decide its destination. Bompastor spoke about the opportunity in front of her side:
“The game on Saturday is an opportunity for the club to grab the first trophy, and I think that’s the main focus for us, obviously, playing Man City four times in 12 days, the first game is really important. And as I already said, I think we’ll take game by game, but yeah, in terms of results, but also in terms of mentality, it is really important to be able to win on Saturday.”
It will not be the first time that Bompastor has managed a side to a major final, and the former Lyon head coach was asked about how that informs her approach to her first major final in charge of Chelsea, she replied:
“I’m lucky enough to have in my squad a lot of players who have a lot of experience. I think most of them, they have already been in that situation, playing in big tournaments with the national team, but also with the club. And I think they are prepared, and from their experience, they know how to prepare these games.”
Bompastor continued: “The main thing coming from me is to make sure the game plan is ready. Everything is clear in terms of tactics and in terms of mental part, I think the confidence is a big one, so I just make sure my players are as much confident as they can be, finding the right balance between being confident but also humble going in to this game and making sure we work hard to get things right. But yeah, that’s the main thing, just giving them the confidence they need.”
Finals are ‘for the players’ reports humble Bompastor
Sonia Bompastor has a bit of a habit of creating history at old English stadiums, she captained Lyon to their first ever Champions League final victory at Craven Cottage in 2011 and before that at UEFA Euros 2005 she captained her nation to an opening game victory at Deepdale against Italy.
The Halfway Line asked Bompastor if Pride Park might be added to that historic list and if there is something about those type of stadiums that makes her feel at home? She laughed: “Not yet, maybe one day” she quipped with a smile, as the room erupted in laughter, before she continued:
“But no, I think the main thing for me is this game is an opportunity for us to grab the first trophy in the season. We are going to play in the nice stadium. And, yeah, great atmosphere. And I think that’s something good for the players. But again, you know, these finals for me, are more for the players. This is the game they want to be involved. They want to play. And as a manager, you just need to make sure you put them in the best possible version of themselves to perform on the day.”
‘It’s difficult for me to just let things go’ says Bompastor on lacking set piece potency
Last weekend Chelsea were able to beat Crystal Palace, but spurned a number of chances to make the victory more comfortable eventually downing their London rivals 1-0. One area of profligacy in particular was at set-pieces, they had 10 corners, most of which were unproductive as Bompastor’s side were uncharacteristically wasteful.
The Halfway Line asked Bompastor whether this was just unlucky for her side on the day or if it is something the team have worked on since, she replied:
“I think you should by this time know me” Bompastor said with a smile, “It’s difficult for me not just to let [these] things go without working on it. So now the set pieces are really important. I think you can see on the men’s game, but also the women’s game in the big tournaments. It’s one out of three goals in the big competitions [are set piece goals], and that’s something really important.”
The Chelsea head coach continued, “We have been working since the beginning of the season. We had a plan for beginning of season until December, and another plan for January until the end of the season. We are going with the second plan now, and things are working quite well even if we would like to score even more goals from the set pieces but yeah, I hope the players just get them for the next games.”
Bompastor keen to make club legend Hayes ‘happy’ with continued success
Bompastor took over from the most successful manager in the WSL era Emma Hayes, but the French head coach has made that daunting task look easy, still unbeaten and heading into her first final as Chelsea boss. She was asked if she’d received a good luck text as yet from the now USWNT head coach:
“She didn’t send a message yet! But I’m expecting to receive one in the few hours…” joked Bompastor before continuing:
“But yeah, she’s always supporting the team from far away, from a distance. But yeah, it’s great. I think Chelsea will be always really special club for her. And yeah, so if I can make her happy with making sure Chelsea continues to win titles, and make sure with the players, we’ll try as much as we can to do that.”
