Exclusive to Sonia Bompastor: Chelsea Women’s manager says she’s found the balance between Emma Hayes’ legacy and her own vision

Starting a new job is daunting. Getting into a senior role is perhaps even more so. But taking on the role of a trophy-laden football manager, leaving after 12 wildly successful years at one of the world’s best-known clubs, comes with a completely different kind of pressure.

None of this seems likely to phase Chelsea Women manager Sonia Bompastor. Calm, open and willing to answer any question with a smile, the Frenchwoman has settled into the good life with the Blues.

“We felt really involved from the beginning and I feel like I’m part of the Chelsea family,” she said. Sky Sports Ahead of the Blues’ WSL clash with Crystal Palace.

“It’s good because for me it’s the best way to give it my all and be in a good position to perform. You never know what’s going to happen until you join the club, but when I had my first conversations with Paul Green and other members of the staff I knew this was a special club with values and I could feel that he was important to me.

“I’m in a very good place, where I feel like people have the same vision, the same passions, the same values, which is really important because doing your best is the best thing for you.”

And naturally there will be comparisons to former coach Emma Hayes for the foreseeable future. The seven-time WSL champion left Chelsea for the USA in the summer, paving the way for Bompastor’s arrival.

But the former midfielder arrives in France with his own impressive CV as a player and manager, including the Champions League that continues to elude Chelsea.

When asked how he felt about the comparisons, Bompastor said: “It’s normal for people to make comparisons because he’s had such great success here.”

“I’m really grateful to Emma for the legacy she left me. She’s had a great time, she’s achieved great results and the transition takes some time.

“I’m okay with comparisons because Emma is a person and a coach with a lot of good qualities, so I don’t think people are comparing me to a bad person.

“If I can have the same success that he had at Chelsea, I will be the first person to be happy about it, even if I am a different person. I am not Emma Hayes, I have my own personality. I try to put forward my own ideas. Yes, maybe some things are the same, some are different It will happen.

“I’m trying to find a good balance between trying to bring my own philosophy, my own vision to the club, building on Emma’s legacy.”

Bompastor regarding recruitment to Chelsea…

“It’s really important to spend time on recruitment. I have a philosophy as a coach and the most important thing is to work with people who are already at the club to make sure we’re all on the same page.

“We have the same vision and share the same ideas about recruiting. It’s really important to have a good balance between players with a lot of experience, young players coming from the academy and talent from different countries.

“Sometimes it takes a lot of talking to make sure we have the right squad and the right people to achieve the club’s goals.”

‘We’re not where we want to be yet, but we’re not far off either’

Bompastor likes possession-based football, controlling the midfield (perhaps not unusual given that he plays there) and using pass-move football to create chances and exploit wide areas.

“I’m very pleased with the way the players have adapted to all this new stuff,” he said.

“It takes a lot of time, but when you are a top-level coach you don’t have time. The important thing is to get results from start to finish.

“But the players are adapting very well, they are really open-minded and happy to learn. We are still at the beginning of the season and although we are not quite where we want to be yet, it is normal that we are not too far away.” “We still have work to do.”

So how far were Chelsea from Bompastor’s vision in their 1-0 win against Chelsea in their opening WSL match last week?

“It’s really hard to be really definitive, but defensively I’d say maybe 70 percent. Offensively maybe 50 percent, there’s still room for improvement.”

“The result was good, although I would have liked us to score more goals. We had some good things in our performance, we created a lot of opportunities and when you are not efficient you give more confidence to the opponent.” .

“They put us under pressure in the last minutes of the game because they were trying to score a goal and maybe we could have done that better. But we are still in the process.

“I’ll take that as learning from that game to move on to the next game.”

This presents a whole new challenge for Chelsea in the WSL as they visit Crystal Palace live at the newly introduced Selhurst Park. Sky Sports.

Bompastor said about the match: “We are really excited to play the derby and to play away in a beautiful stadium.” “Crystal Palace had a great season last season with Laura (Kaminski), she is doing a great job.

“For us, we also want to focus on ourselves because it’s really important to think about our last performance against Aston Villa and move on and want to do well again against Palace.

“It will not be easy because this league is very competitive and we should not take any match for granted. It will be a difficult match but we just want to focus on what we need to do on the field in terms of performance.” Be assured that we will get a good result.”

Regarding the injuries to Bompastor, Charles, Ingle and Fox…

“All three of them are in good shape mentally and physically. We’re sorry for them and we truly are. It’s never good to lose players, but that’s the way it goes sometimes when there’s so many games to play.”

“Niamh had shoulder surgery and is doing well. It was a bit sore at the beginning but she’s doing well now.

“Sophie is still waiting to have surgery next week and although she really wants to have surgery and move on with her life, she is in a good place mentally.

“Jorja is recovering from her injury and is with us during treatment and I think she is doing well.”

How is women’s football developing in France?

The WSL has grown exponentially over the last few years, with its popularity soaring after the Lionesses won Euro 2022.

Last summer, they reached the Women’s World Cup final, losing to Spain. However, some players of the victorious La Roja have recently said that interest in the country has not increased as much as they had hoped.

France hosted the World Cup in 2019, and while Bompastor says that the opportunities were not taken advantage of at that time, he says that positive changes began to occur in his own country.

“The French Federation noticed and the clubs also realized that we need to work harder to have a competitive league,” he explained.

“They’ve made some good decisions in recent months. The French league is a professional league this summer so they’re trying to work on the environment, they’re trying to get some fans into the stadiums, I know that’s probably the toughest challenge.

“They’re trying to help the clubs to make sure every club is professional, so they’re trying to have the best infrastructure, they’re paying the players good money to have good training conditions, facilities and infrastructures. They’re trying to reach out to people to invest in the women’s game in France.

“At the moment I think France is very far away from England and maybe from the USA and other leagues in Europe. It is never too late. So now they are trying to catch up and try to make the right decision.” .

“It will take some time, but they are working hard. By comparison, at the moment the league in France is not as competitive as the league in England, so that is one of the biggest challenges for them.”

Watch the WSL match between Crystal Palace and Chelsea live on Sky Sports Premier League from 19:00; start time is 19.30.