By Emmanuel Faith (01/06/2025)
Above: Sonia Bompastor with her domestic treble. Photo: Chelsea Women website.
12 POINTS.
That was the difference between the first and second position in the WSL this season, the largest numerical point difference in the WSL era between the title winners and the runners-up.
This time last year, I wrote this detailed article analyzing Emma Hayes’ era, suggesting that Chelsea’s systems and structure would cope with the major transition to Sonia Bompastor.
12 months later they have won the league, their 6th consecutive WSL title – and this time they did it with points to spare.
What is the secret to their dominance?
Let’s dive in.
Effective Recruitment
As highlighted in the article last year, one thing Chelsea has gotten right, is timely and effective recruitment – and a new coach has not upset that.
Chelsea don’t just buy players, they buy player the coach and the team need to raise the bar. Case in point, Sandy Baltimore.
The French winger was signed at the beginning of the season, and slotted into Bompastor’s formation by playing more defensively, especially after starting left-back Niamh Charles got injured.
Another pivotal signing was the Lionesses legend, multiple Champions Leagues-winner Lucy Bronze. Bronze’s initial recruitment led to divided opinions, but ended up being a great addition.
A quick glance at Chelsea’s rivals and you see an obvious gap. For instance, Chloe Kelly would have made a lot more impact for Arsenal domestically if she was signed in August 2024 instead of January 2025, and Kerolin’s goals would have definitely come in handy for an injury-laden attack of Manchester City’s squad earlier in the season.
Simply put, Chelsea’s ability to make proactive recruitment decisions executed with the speed of light distinguishes them and means they are constantly building, never sitting still.
Resilience and Adaptability
60 points. The total amount of points ever won in a single WSL season.
Fascinating, isn’t it? But this doesn’t tell the whole story.
Chelsea’s first half of the season and the second half, were almost in contrast. 60% of their WSL total tally (34 out of 56) came in the first half of the season.
In fact, they only won two matches (out of eleven) with more than one goal-difference in the last 11 matches, a really low number compared to the first eleven matches, where they won six matches with at least two goal-difference.
This paucity of goals was caused by different reasons, from incessant injuries to key players like Lauren James, Guro Reiten, Erin Cuthbert and even Mayra Ramirez which led to the continuous iteration of formation based on available players.
Despite these odds, Chelsea kept showing up and grinding out results, picking up the three points by any means necessary – a 91st minute shot from Lauren James, a 93rd winning header from Aggie-Beever Jones or a 65th minute equalizer from Wieke Kaptein, this resilient adaptability kept the team going.
Heavy Rotation:
From giving youngsters the platform to shine, to rotating as many players as possible, a major trait the Lyon coach inherited from her predecessor is her ability to rotate players, without changing a lot to the spine of the game.
While there are players like Millie Bright and Hannah Hampton who started almost all the WSL games, there were a lot more fringe players who played crucial roles when asked.
For instance, you might not hear a lot about names like Maika Hamano, or Orian Jean Francoise, or Ashley Lawrence but they all played a part in picking up pivotal points at different timelines of the season.
The Canadian fullback Lawrence had two match-winning assists that got Chelsea a weighted six points.
Unlike Gareth Taylor who struggled with managing players like Chloe Kelly and Marc Skinner who struggled with managing Geyse, Bompastor has been able to manage her myriad of talents, keeping everyone averagely happy while giving them the room to show up and deliver for the team when required.
There are a lot more factors that contributed to Bompastor’s record-breaking season, like the versatility of team, beating their direct rivals twice to garner crucial points, but this season has only shown the rest of the park that a change in coach doesn’t automatically translate to a change in dominance.
It’s another season, and as the Blue army keeps marching, will they take it a notch higher and attain their European quest given their neighbor’s recent triumph?
Only time will tell.
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