Bompastor unhappy with Chelsea performance despite maintaining 100% record

Sonia Bompastor was not happy with Chelsea’s performance in their 2-1 away victory against Celtic in the Champions League on Wednesday, despite it extending her 100% record since joining the club.

The visitors had to fight back from a goal down after conceding a Murphy Agnew opener on 22 minutes but had turned things around 10 minutes later. Aggie Beever-Jones, meanwhile, was sent off in second-half stoppage time for two bookable offences.

While Bompastor was not impressed by her own side, she was quick to give credit to their opposition.

“I knew it would be a tough game for us, especially because of the Celtic mentality. They showed a lot of heart, and they played with a lot of energy. We were expecting that they were going to be really motivated,” she said.

Chelsea came into this game without Millie Bright, Mayra Ramirez, Sjoeke Nusken and Kadeisha Buchanan, with Bompastor deciding to leave them out of the squad. It was a decision that resulted in some rustiness among the starters, according to the manager.

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“I decided to rotate my squad, so sometimes it can happen that the players don’t get the same chemistry together. But I wanted to have a better impression from my team. I’m really happy with the three points and the victory, but not really happy with the performance. We were not efficient enough tonight,” she said.

“Every game is always an opportunity to learn. Tonight I learned a lot and I will share that with my players as a team, but also as individuals.”

Following their Champions League victory, Chelsea face WSL leaders Manchester City at the weekend, with their opposition having dropped just two points in their opening seven league games.

Having given some fringe players a run out in Scotland, Bompastor was pleased at the prospect of a fresher squad going into such a big game.

“There are some positives. With our squad, we are still able to rotate players and rest some. We have the three points and the victory, so we stay in the good dynamic for that, but in terms of the performance, we needed to do a better job in different aspects,” she added.

“As a manager, I always have different plans for the game and the three substitutions were planned. That’s the positive. We are just now moving on and going into the Manchester City game exactly with the plans we wanted to have.”