Sonia Bompastor has stressed the importance of not dwelling on our WSL defeat to Everton and highlighted how building the players’ confidence was a key part of preparations heading into today’s clash with Brighton & Hove Albion.
Chelsea suffered our first domestic defeat under Bompastor last weekend when we lost 1-0 at home to Everton.
We responded perfectly midweek by beating Roma 6-0 in the Champions League but Bompastor was asked about needing a reaction when we returned to WSL action during her pre-Brighton press conference.
Bompastor said: ‘We see it as a new opportunity for us to have a good performance. We know it will be crucial for us to get the three points and the win.
‘I’m hoping we can show we have taken the learnings from the Everton game and we can get the three points.
‘We know it will be a tough game. It is never easy to travel to Brighton, they have a good team, they have momentum and they are confident after winning the game at the weekend so we are expecting a tough game.
‘But we are confident and we always have honest feedback when we review games and I am sure the players know what they need to do better going into the next game.’
Bompastor had not tasted defeat in the WSL since taking charge of Chelsea in the summer of 2024 prior to Honoka Hayashi’s crucial goal for Everton last weekend.
We went on to pepper the Everton goal after the 12th-minute opener, striking the post twice and the crossbar too, while Everton goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan made a string of fine saves to keep Chelsea at bay at Kingsmeadow.
And speaking ahead of the Brighton clash, Bompastor added: ‘The important thing is to try to stay light on the feedback and not to talk too much about it. We tried our best in the game and we gave our all. We could have done better for sure because we could have won the game but we reviewed the game, we were honest with each other and at the end of the day, it is about moving forward.
‘We focus on the details but not too much because that is when the players overthink and it becomes worse.
‘So the preparation for the Roma game was about good preparation and making sure the players stayed confident heading into the game and they knew we had the quality heading into this game and would score goals. It will be the same heading into the Brighton.
‘The preparation is crucial for me as the manager to keep the players confident and to have drills where the players can be confident.’
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