Chelsea Women: Sonia Bompastor has come close to perfection with incredible unbeaten run but there is surely more to come | Football News

“When we talk about ambitions, we need to turn words into actions,” said a frustrated Sonia Bompastor after Chelsea dropped their first points of the season to Leicester. “I need my players to be ready from the beginning of every game.”

Demands at the highest level are brutal, but Chelsea are never top by luck or chance. Bompastor has willingly accepted the ‘taskmaster’ baton passed on by Emma Hayes, who left in the summer, and run with it – impressively fast.

Under the Frenchwoman’s rule, Chelsea have raced into a six-point lead at the top of the Women’s Super League, cruised into the Champions League knockout stages with a 100 per cent record, and averaged 2.8 goals per 90 in all competitions.

They have been virtually unstoppable. But the trip to the King Power offered a well-timed reminder that, despite the provocation, the WSL remains fiercely fought and no team are infallible.

Bompastor bemoaned a lack of intensity, intention and efficiency as Chelsea were held to a 1-1 draw, despite taking 82 touches in the Leicester box and registering 28 shots at goal. The expectation is to win, and anything less is ultimately a disappointment.

Still, to have reached the season’s halfway point with 15 victories and one draw from 16 games is quite remarkable. And while, on paper, such a feat appears easy with the best-assembled squad (and biggest budget) in the WSL, things are rarely that straightforward.

Once impregnable dynasties can fall – take Manchester City’s implosion under the great Pep Guardiola as evidence – but this empire, in this moment at least, is not for breaking.

The ideas are fresh, with new identity, as Bompastor attempts to shape Chelsea into a team that wins with possessional flair and style over sheer might. She wants the same winning machine that Hayes built, just with a sprinkling of French refinement, or as she would phrase it, je ne sais quoi.

Speaking after Chelsea beat Celtic in November to secure European progression with two games to spare, Bompastor said: “It’s important to work hard so things can become easy, even if they are not easy.”

Simplicity is hard to come by in football. Some teams have a habit of making results appear effortless – Chelsea are in that category – but the process to get there is often harder than it appears. So, what are Bompastor’s real points of difference?

“You never put your brain off. It’s 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” she told Sky Sports before beating title rivals Man City in November. And that obsession with what she calls the ‘perfect game model’ is what continues to push standards to different levels.

She arrived with respect for Chelsea’s pre-existing culture and trophy-laden history, but Hayes’ brand of football was never going to marry with a ball-playing midfielder who favours a high-tempo game that excites and thrills. Bompastor has struck the perfect balance between consistency and change to ensure trust with players in her philosophy.

“She demands a lot from us,” forward Guro Reiten said recently. “There are things in training and in the way she wants us to play that’s a bit different, but it’s been working good so far. Whatever Sonia wants me to do, I’ll do it.”

Without the luxury of injured pair Sam Kerr and Lauren James – Chelsea’s most prolific duo in recent campaigns – Bompastor has had to rely on the likes of Reiten to deliver. But here is where her eye for detail and softer style – Hayes was typically hard-nosed – has fostered a healthy squad-led approach.

Kerr and James are mavericks – Hayes loved that. They are unpredictable and individualist. Now Chelsea have others able to carry that mantle, except it feels a bit more joined up. Thirty-one goals – at least 10 more than any other side – scored by 14 different players. No other team in the division has even hit double figures for different scorers (Brighton are closest with nine).

Reiten has been a big beneficiary, tucked inside to operate more centrally, scoring six times in 10 WSL starts. But she is not the only one. Johanna Rytting Kaneryd is having the season of her life, Mayra Ramirez has delivered big goals in big games (against Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City), while young Aggie Beever-Jones has the second-best minutes-to-goal ratio in the league.

Now for the refinement part. How does Bompastor take such a talented group and mould them into pass-masters? Chelsea’s distribution stats are the least flattering dynamic of their game. They average fewer passes per 90 than Man City, Arsenal and Brighton, and their possession share across all 10 WSL games (57 per cent) is much lower than Bompastor desires – passing accuracy too.

Most great footballing dynasties paired the will to win with the wow factor. Hayes’ Chelsea used mentality as their superpower.

If Bompastor is able to instil her core principles of heavy-possessional dominance on the way to silverware this season, her relentless pursuit of perfection may well be closer than she thinks.