With the first international break of the women's season upon us, it is a good opportunity for Sonia Bompastor to assess her team’s start to the new campaign and reveal what she has learned since arriving in England.
With our ultimately emphatic 5-2 victory over Tottenham on Sunday, Bompastor became only the third head coach to win their opening four WSL games – and have come in different shapes and sizes. As well as the big success over Tottenham, we thrashed league newcomers Crystal Palace away from home. Victories against Aston Villa and Arsenal were, meanwhile, much tighter.
Allied to our bright domestic beginning is a flawless start in Europe, with wins at home to Real Madrid and away to FC Twente recorded. On paper, it couldn’t have gone any better, but Bompastor is quick to warn against complacency.
‘In terms of results, it’s a perfect start, ideal,’ she said. ‘But it’s only the beginning of the season.
‘It gives us some good confidence going through the season, but we haven’t won anything yet. When I say I’m someone who is really demanding with my players, it’s about this. Yes, it’s good to make this good start, to be near the top of the table, but we haven’t won anything.
‘I like defensively not to concede anything,’ added Bompastor of where there is room for improvement. ‘When we can get clean sheets I am really happy, but I have to be fair with my players. This league is so competitive. We have so many teams at a really good level.’
Bompastor expanded on that belief as she considered the differences between the Premiere Ligue in France and the WSL. She is beginning to understand in what ways she must temper her methodology to ensure the best outcome for her Blues.
‘Coming from France it’s a bit different,’ she acknowledged. ‘Sometimes we were controlling the game more because we had less teams who were able to cause problems to us.
'Coming to this league, I am learning about that. If you look at Tottenham on Sunday, they are a team who are really good at build-up. Even if you want to press, sometimes they are able to break your press.
‘I have already started to adjust my game model. Sometimes it’s frustrating, but as much as I like to be dominant with the team, sometimes you have to accept the other teams are doing a good job. They have talent in the team.
'Sometimes, when I was in France with Lyon, we were dominating so much, and we were able to press really high all through the game.
‘In the end, my management and my game model has to help the players on the pitch perform and get some good results. I have already started [changing] some elements, and that’s the way a manager needs to adapt to make sure we get the three points every single game.’