With the beginning of a brand new Barclays Ladies’s Tremendous League season looming on the horizon, Chelsea may be glad with their preseason because it was as profitable as they might have hoped. The Sonia Bompastor period kicked off with three wins from three matches, together with two vital victories over NWSL champions Gotham FC and the Arsenal Ladies. Their last preseason triumph got here at Kingsmeadow, the place they delivered a commanding 9-0 win in opposition to Feyenoord.
This tour supplied worthwhile perception into what we are able to anticipate from Chelsea within the upcoming season as they goal to defend their title for an additional consecutive yr. The summer time signings have been thrilling with a mix of skilled gamers and proficient younger internationals becoming a member of the squad, together with the return of a number of loanees, a few of whom like Wieke Kaptein who might doubtlessly be their beginning central midfielder.
Because the season opener in opposition to Aston Villa Ladies approaches on Friday, Sept. 20, it’s a becoming time to discover three key takeaways and classes from the preseason.
Cuthbert commanding the midfield
The brand new season will see a brand new make-up in Chelsea’s midfield with new additions resembling Oriane Jean-Francois, Julia Barthel, and the returning Wieke Kaptein. Nonetheless, it’s the ever-present Erin Cuthbert who undoubtedly will probably be pivotal for the midfield to work.
Bompastor likes enjoying with a 4-3-3 system with two attack-minded midfield and one holding midfielder. In doing so, she needs her two No. 8s to play with extra power and precision to assist the within forwards and striker. One of many No. 8s is prone to play a bit extra of a hybrid No. 10 function, which suggests there’s solely house for one ‘pure’ No. 8. Bompastor likes extra technically artistic midfielders with some bodily traits to occupy the central areas to create goal-scoring possibilities, management the tempo, and contribute out of possession. Whereas this must be seen in follow, Cuthbert ought to be a nailed-on starter as she fits Bompastor’s system in the best way Sara Dabritz and Lindsey Horan carried out this box-to-box-like function.
“Sonia likes power and her midfield to dictate the sport from what I noticed at Lyon – they’ve prime, prime gamers in midfield. I’m going to should be on the prime of my sport to be in Sonia’s workforce,” Cuthbert stated in a bit on Chelsea FC’s web site.
The Scotland worldwide is now thought to be the standout midfielder in Chelsea’s line-up, having delivered two successive breakthrough seasons with constant enchancment. Bompastor has made it clear in earlier interviews that choice will probably be primarily based on advantage, not fame, but it’s turning into more and more evident that Cuthbert will probably be counted on to play the aggressive function in midfield. Removed from turning into complacent, Cuthbert has already positioned herself as a key determine in Bompastor’s midfield setup in the course of the preseason.
There’s little doubt Chelsea and Bompastor will want all her expertise to marshall a brand new midfield of their title protection.
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Cohesion and depth in ahead traces
Chelsea have all the time been a membership with many attacking choices to navigate by means of a number of competitions, as they boast a few of the finest attacking gamers in Europe with the vast majority of them having been built-in into the workforce for over a season, but regardless of such choices, they nonetheless want depth and high quality rotations.
Although Chelsea’s ahead line has by no means been goal-shy, having sufficient gamers to navigate by means of the season turns into integral to success and it provides Bompastor sufficient assets to make tactical modifications all through video games.
At Olympique Lyon, Bompastor largely caught to her principal ideas of play and solely made tactical modifications when accidents compelled her hand. The striker in Bompastor’s system features each as a focus for interchanging passes across the field and taking over crosses from the huge areas. The striker is accountable not only for scoring objectives however crucially for creating house for the 2 inside forwards to function. The house created by the center-forward means the attacking gamers transfer nearer to the field and overload the opposition’s defensive gamers.
Sam Kerr might not be a carbon copy of Ada Hegerberg, however her strengths lie in her link-up play and distinctive back-to-goal expertise, permitting her to occupy defenders, flip rapidly, and launch huge attackers. Whereas Kerr continues to get better from her ACL harm, Bompastor will probably be desirous to discover the potential of star striker Mayra Ramirez.
The Colombian worldwide (who’s extra within the Hegerberg mould) excels as a hold-up striker and has a knack for locating harmful areas contained in the field for crosses and cutbacks. Supported by wingers Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, Guro Reiten, and Lauren James, Chelsea boasts a potent attacking drive able to inflicting issues each within the field and out huge.
With James, Reiten, Rytting Kaneryd, Aggie Beever-Jones, Maika Hamano, Sandy Baltimore, Mia Fishel, and Catarina Macario, Chelsea possesses sufficient depth in assault to compete throughout all competitions. That is accomplished with out even factoring in Sam Kerr’s eventual return to the lineup.
The addition of Lucy Bronze
Going into the summer time switch window, Chelsea have been all the time going to undergo a slight change within the enjoying squad after bringing in a brand new head coach, however the recruitment mannequin in place up to now is geared in direction of youthful profiles. This is the reason the signing of Lucy Bronze sits firmly outdoors of the norm and is considerably of a shock to many.
At 32, Bronze represents a extremely skilled signing and one that may simply be a very powerful. Millie Brilliant spent giant chunks of final marketing campaign out with harm which meant Chelsea misplaced a key management presence on the pitch, and with Kerr sidelined and Sophie Ingle now not a mainstay within the beginning eleven, Bompastor should depend on different senior gamers able to guiding the youthful squad members by means of matches. Hayes sought to domesticate extra leaders within the workforce final season by entrusting Charles and Cuthbert with the captaincy, and whereas each have thrived in these roles, the demand for skilled leaders stays crucial.
Bronze’s addition doesn’t simply carry expertise to the facet but additionally tactical and positional versatility, having performed in a number of totally different full-back roles together with each the inverted and conventional full-back roles. The necessity for freshness and rotation will probably be key and Chelsea now have 5 full-backs within the squad throughout the left and proper sides.
Each Eve Perisset and Ashley Lawrence are the right-back choices alongside Bronze, nevertheless it’s unclear in the mean time who will begin below Bompastor, although Lawrence matches the tactical profile extra so than both Perisset or Bronze. Bronze’s decline has been evident throughout the final couple of seasons when she made some high-profile errors — together with two within the 2023 UEFA Ladies’s Champions League last which left Barcelona 2-0 down in opposition to Wolfsburg, earlier than they ultimately got here again to win it 3-2.
Regardless of this, Bronze’s versatility and expertise will nonetheless be wanted at a time when Chelsea will probably be enjoying two video games every week usually when the UEFA Ladies’s Champions League and home cups kick off — particularly in terms of the latter levels of these tournaments. Judging groups purely on preseason isn’t a real reflection of how they’ll undergo the season however a constructive one is all the time a sign of the workforce pulling in the correct route. Chelsea will hope a brand new coach and gamers will yield higher outcomes, particularly in Europe.