Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor discusses Chelsea's chances of success in a competition she won as a player and manager, the UEFA Women's Champions League.
LONDON -- After the exit of legendary manager Emma Hayes to the USWNT this summer, Chelsea couldn't have dreamed of a better opening to the 2024-25 season under her replacement Sonia Bompastor. With a flawless record across all competitions -- three Champions League wins and six commanding Women's Super League (WSL) victories -- Bompastor has led the Blues to their best-ever start to a WSL season.
When Bompastor left Lyon -- where she spent 17 years in total as a player, academy manager, and first-team coach -- to move to London, some wondered how she and the Chelsea players would handle the transition after Hayes' glittering 12-year spell. But Bompastor has silenced any doubts, seamlessly putting the club on track for what would be their sixth-consecutive WSL title, and ending any suggestions that she would need time to adapt.
A source told ESPN that there was initial uncertainty about how smoothly the team would adapt to new management. However, the squad have quickly embraced Bompastor's leadership, adjusting to her style with remarkable ease.
The new manager's impact was immediate and decisive. Bompastor led Chelsea to a crucial 2-1 win over Arsenal -- the club's first victory at the Emirates Stadium -- and set a league record with four consecutive away wins. Her Champions League experience, including titles as both player (2011, 2012) and coach (2022), has been instrumental, with Chelsea picking up a pivotal group-stage win over Real Madrid, and their early-season form has resulted in them being installed as one of the favourites.
"It's a huge target on our backs," Chelsea goalkeeper Zecira Musovic told ESPN. "Everyone wants to beat us, and that's, of course, something that we know because we've won the league so many times now.
"Of course, someone else wants to win it but I think that's something that is just a friendly reminder that we have to keep the hard work up, that we have to really be disciplined, and that we can't relax in any moment. Because the moment we relax, someone else would definitely grab that from us."
Despite the perfect start, Bompastor and her players know the job is far from finished. Chelsea face two critical tests in the weeks ahead as they prepare to host Manchester City in Saturday's high-stakes WSL clash (stream live on ESPN+ at 12.30 p.m. ET), before the rescheduled showdown with in-form Manchester United.
But how has Bompastor managed to hit the ground running, and will this momentum carry the Blues through their upcoming battles?
High demands in training
Bompastor's drive for excellence is as fierce as it is relentless, setting high standards and demanding intensity from every player -- a reflection of her deep-seated hunger to win.
"As a manager, I am really competitive, and maybe I don't like losing," the French coach told ESPN when she joined in the summer. "This is something I need to work on. I am so competitive, and I am a really bad loser. I am a manager who really likes to take care of people as well. It's a difficult job, actually."
Thankfully for her, losing hasn't been a problem so far. Chelsea's blistering league form has yielded six consecutive wins and 23 goals, with 13 different players finding the net. This depth has put Chelsea eight goals ahead of first-placed Manchester City on goal difference -- the edge that clinched last season's title when points were tied.
"She's very demanding," midfielder Erin Cuthbert told ESPN. "That's something I really like from a manager. She knows what she wants, she doesn't settle, she doesn't like sloppiness in training, she doesn't let you sit back and chill for 10 minutes. There's no let up from her, and I really enjoy that she knows exactly what she wants."
Cuthbert also revealed that Bompastor's ethos is based around rigorous preparation on the training pitch.
"She demands a lot of technical execution from everyone, and I think she will never settle on what she wants to achieve, which, for sure, certainly demands training at a high intensity; if you can't do it in training, then you can't play it in the game," she said.
"I think that's been part of the reason why we've had a good start to the season because training at such a high level, and we're starting games really fast. We're scoring the first 15 minutes of almost every game so far so at least what we're doing in training has been working with."
Bompastor has already begun shaping Chelsea into her own vision, bringing in fresh talent like Sandy Baltimore and Lucy Bronze, and retooling the style of play that Hayes established over more than a decade. The shift is apparent on the pitch, where the side have a renewed intensity and dynamic approach.
"I think the differences [between Bompastor and Hayes] are maybe slightly more focused on training and how she manages players; how she manages them on the pitch, what she demands," Cuthbert said. "I think Emma demanded things, but she demanded different things. I think Sonia demands a lot of technical execution. There's a greater focus on building up from the back."
Musovic believes both managers had an impact on her development but, while she credits Hayes for the foundational skills that inspired her own coaching ambitions, the goalkeeper is learning a lot under Bompastor already.
"I really like to work with Sonia and the new management," she told ESPN. "I think she's really ambitious. She's intense in a good way. She knows what she wants from us, from herself and that's a type of coach that I really like, someone who's demanding, and I'm a curious person so I was really excited to get to know them all and to get to know a different type of coach.
"For sure, [she's] a really good coach, a good person, something that we value in Chelsea as well, you have to be a good person because that's when we can find each other and work together."
"Every game is important"
Chelsea may be the only team yet to drop points in the WSL, but they are not the only ones who are still unbeaten. Last season's runners-up, Manchester City, have only dropped two points in their 2-2 draw with Arsenal; while Marc Skinner's Manchester United are also yet to lose, though they have slipped to three consecutive draws to leave them in fifth place with 12 points.
Chelsea take on City this weekend and it will be their biggest test of the season thus far. But the players always ensure they face the big games with the same intensity as any other.
"I think another strength of ours is that we prepare in a similar way regardless of which opponent we're facing," Musovic said. "We have our identity; we have our game model that we want to fulfil in the best possible way. Yes, we're playing against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge, and hopefully a sold-out Bridge, so that's something that we are super excited about. But we have our style of play, how we want to come across to our fans and the standards that we are creating for each other.
"So I don't think we'll be preparing in a different way. Of course, they have amazing players that we will watch out for. We have a respect for that challenge. But we definitely have a strong belief in our group and what we are capable of. So that's something that we will focus on."
While it might reap benefits come the end of the season, there are no extra rewards for beating a title rival and this mindset keeps the squad grounded.
"From a personal level, I prepare no different because every game in the league season is a maximum of three points, and that's the way you see it," Cuthbert said. "No game is more important to the other; I guess the fans obviously see games that are slightly more important, and as a player, you still want to be playing in the biggest games, but if you can do it in the other games and there's no point you are doing it in the big games.
"Every game is important to me. Of course, having the opportunity to play Manchester City at Stamford Bridge is a big moment and it's certainly a big game in the women's football calendar for the fans."
Always room for improvement
One overriding theme that comes from everyone at Chelsea right now is that no matter how well things have gone, there is always more to do, room to improve, and no time to settle before focusing on the next game.
This is the mentality has made the side far more competitive. They are able to ride the high, enjoy the moment but not get too carried away. The focus is always on an area to improve ahead of the next game.
"The standard is to win every game, so we just look at how we can improve," Musovic said. "Yes, we won [six games], but we still have a lot of things to improve, and we have big goals for this season, so we just have to keep pushing
"I think that's something that's really important in this environment. Yes, [when] we win a game you can be happy about it, you can celebrate a little bit. But then the next day is like: 'OK, next game, we have to focus. What can we do? What can we improve?'
It's finding that balance between being satisfied and happy for that game, but still be a little bit frustrated about what we can learn and what can we improve to have an even better performance next game? We are definitely celebrating our wins, but not too much because we're an ambitious bunch who want to do better each game."
Even after the dominant 7-0 win over newly promoted Crystal Palace at the end of September, Bompastor saw room for improvement and her feedback was clear and direct.
"You can always ask for more. There is always room for improvement, especially from the first half," she told a news conference after that game. "I think we created some opportunities and good chances, but we only scored one. I think we should probably have scored two or three. When you are able to be clinical, it kills the game, and this is the mentality we want to have."
Bompastor's outlook balances optimism with realism. She's not one to get carried away by big wins or past results to sustain momentum. For her, each victory is simply another building block toward the ultimate goal: winning titles.
"Even if it has maybe been a perfect start for us in terms of results, points and also performances -- we haven't won anything yet," she said following the 3-0 win over Liverpool last weekend. "We need to keep a good balance between confidence, which is really important for the players, but also we need to keep our head on our shoulders and be in line with reality. That's my job to make sure I maintain that balance."
Chelsea managed to break their curse of dropping points against Liverpool away -- the first time they've won there since 2019 -- but that only adds to the feeling that something new is happening at the club. For Cuthbert, a ninth WSL title -- and sixth in a row -- would mean the world to her. But with City to come, she knows the journey ahead will be challenging.
"We're exactly where we want to be right now," she said. "I think to win it six times in a row would be unprecedented, to be honest with you, but I'm under no illusions that it's also the hardest thing to win."