Guardian writers’ predicted position: 1st (NB: this is not necessarily Suzanne Wrack’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)
Last season’s position: 1st
The plan
A new manager, Sonia Bompastor, a largely new backroom staff and a new start. Keeping Chelsea at the top will be no mean feat but the balance of the freshness that change injects with the consistency provided by the general manager, Paul Green, could be a winning formula. If their form in preseason is anything to go by then the signs look good. Defeats of Gotham FC and Arsenal on their US tour was followed by a staggering 9-0 dismantling of Feyenoord. After that win, Bompastor gave an insight into how she wants her team to play.
“I told the players something really important: we want to be a dominant team,” the Frenchwoman said. “We have a lot of ambition and when we don’t have the ball, I want all the players to make sure we recover the ball as fast as we can. This is from the defensive side and after, when we have the ball, we like to have possession to control the game.
“I like it when my players are able to scan and see when there is space or not, to recognise that, and if there is space in the opposition we go through and score goals because this is what fans come to the stadium for. They want to see us scoring goals. I think in the last game they were really enjoying it and the players were enjoying it as well.”
How quickly the players have adapted to their new manager is evident. Whether they can maintain that coherence across the course of the season remains to be seen, but the quality in a talent-packed squad will make that easier. Bompastor’s biggest challenge will be producing what Emma Hayes could not: European glory. The difference, Bompastor said, could be “the chemistry and power we have together as a team”.
The manager
Bompastor has big shoes to fill with Hayes having spent 12 trophy-laden years at the club. Having won the Champions League as a player and a manager though, Bompastor comes with some impressive pedigree. She has proved an instant hit in London, her dry wit and laid-back manner combined with an intense competitiveness has recruited Chelsea fans to her cause instantly. Is she the person, alongside assistant Camille Abily, to bring European success to Chelsea? Major signing Lucy Bronze thinks so. “Chelsea have got that winning mentality, they’ve got that experience of beating Barcelona and Lyon, and being in a Champions League final,” said Bronze. “But, sometimes, it’s not just talent that you need. It’s those last bits: the knowhow of winning the final, being ready and focused, having clear minds going into that final – Sonia, myself and Camille can add that to Chelsea and push this team over the line because the talent’s there.”
Off-field picture
Reports of a civil war between the US private equity firm Clearlake Capital, which owns a majority shareholding in the club, and billionaire co-owner Todd Boehly do not paint a pretty picture of Chelsea off the pitch. So far, the impact on the women’s team seems minimal, with more games being played at Stamford Bridge, heavy investment in the squad and a top-class manager recruited. The spin-off of the women’s team from the men’s into a separate holding company, BlueCo, with the same owners, may be playing a part in that. The better the women’s team does, the more attractive it will be to investors.
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Breakout star
Ask Chelsea players who has surprised and impressed them in pre-season and you will be hard pushed to find one who does not mention the Dutch 19-year-old Wieke Kaptein. Will the midfielder play enough in such a stacked squad? Bompastor is certainly dangling that carrot in front of all the young players. “My vision is that I don’t care about age. It’s about performance and if a player who is 17, 18 or 19 is performing better than more experienced players, she plays. It’s that simple,” she said. “At the moment, she is performing and deserves to be a starter for this team. She’s smart. She runs a lot. She’s technical. She sees the game and understands the game.”
A-lister
About 80% of the squad could qualify for this category. Lauren James, Millie Bright, Mayra Ramírez, Guro Reiten, Erin Cuthbert, Sam Kerr, Catarina Macario, the list goes on and on. Let’s give a special mention to Bronze though. She is edging towards the end of her career but shows few signs of wear and tear, her gut-busting performance for Barcelona in the Champions League final rolled back the year and then some. Her European knowhow could be the difference for Chelsea this year. Not least in her five Champions League wins, but also with her multilingual skills. “The game the other day we had Sandy Baltimore and Mayra Ramírez in the No 9 and No 10 and neither of them speak English. So, I was trying to shout in French and Spanish at the same time,” said Bronze, who is also translating football expressions into English for Bompastor.
This summer’s business
Even with no new additions, Chelsea would still boast the strongest squad in the league. Among their six new recruits are Bronze and Paris St-Germain’s Sandy Baltimore. There have been a number of outgoings too, with Fran Kirby, Maren Mjelde, Jess Carter and Melanie Leupolz among the 12 departing players. They have also sent eight players out on loan. Shrewd recruitment and knowing when to let players go was a key feature of Hayes’s tenure.
Where do they play?
Chelsea did an excellent job at making Kingsmeadow a home for the women’s team. The branding and thought that has gone into the stadium was impressive, but it came just as the Blues were starting to outgrow the ground. Parking is a nightmare, queues are not great, but that is the price of success. Four of the team’s WSL games and all Champions League games will be played at Stamford Bridge this season. This step has been long overdue. The club have struggled to get ticket pricing right though. Solve that, continue to show ambition in increasing the number of games at the main stadium and it will not be long before this side are selling out Stamford Bridge regularly.