Bompastor pleased with Chelsea progress after Arsenal win

Sonia Bompastor hailed her Chelsea players for taking her ideas on board quickly following Sunday’s 1-0 friendly victory over Arsenal.

New arrival Sandy Baltimore scored the only goal of the game as Chelsea overcame their London rivals at Audi Field in Chicago.

Chelsea begin their quest for a sixth straight Women’s Super League crown against Aston Villa on September 20, following a period of upheaval at Stamford Bridge.

Former Lyon boss Bompastor took the reins after Emma Hayes left to take the United States job and has overseen two pre-season victories, with the Blues also beating Gotham FC 3-1 on Monday.

Though she acknowledges there is more work to do ahead of their WSL opener, Bompastor believes her new players have already made plenty of progress.

“What I take from the game is that we worked really hard as a team and even if we had difficult moments, we were able to manage them,” Bompastor said.

“This is a good team spirit and I like that. Of course, the result was good even if we know we still need to work. These have been two good games for us to build on and to progress.

First derby dub for Sonia Bompastor. #BluesInTheUSA pic.twitter.com/7b0YZ1cu09

— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) August 26, 2024

“We are in the beginning. It’s not even been one month working with the team and it takes time to make sure all the girls understand our game model and the expectations I have of them on the field.

“I’m really happy. I think what we have wanted to work on since the beginning has been about the team spirit and from the two games we’ve played you can see we are playing like a team together, even when we have hard moments in games.

“From these two games, we will be working, progressing and reinforcing the messages on the game model.

“I’m already happy with the girls, their performance and what they’re achieving on the field.”