Chelsea Womens manger Sonia Bompastor previews Liverpool Women FA Cup semi final
11/04/2025
Chelsea Training Ground, London, UK
11/04/2025
Chelsea Training Ground, London, UK
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00:00up tomorrow lovely okay cool yep got that message thank you hopefully everyone on zoom can hear us
00:07okay we're going to start with catherine until we're in the room so we'll come across you guys
00:12straight away if that's all right catherine thank you absolutely yeah um you see just
00:20yeah yeah so um as you mentioned jay just came back from international break with a
00:33hamstring injury so we already assess her but we still need to assess her again next week earlier
00:41next week to see how is she's recovering and going uh so we'll go week by week but she won't be
00:48available for the game tomorrow um and for the rest of the squad yes some players had some
00:55little things but nothing serious so uh everyone will be involved in the squad for the game tomorrow
01:01and we have guru right turn who is back uh in the squad and maelie senpome and naomi giama not too far
01:09really close to get back to the squad maybe next week and um selka went away with australia junior
01:15international break to kind of relink with them um how was that for her and up what kind of was it
01:19as part of a recovery process yeah really important for her first of all uh mentally because uh yeah
01:26she had the chance to be around the national team which is something really important for her but also
01:31she could see her family which is really nice uh for someone to to have the opportunity to do that
01:37uh it was part of the process with some uh but i think we still have a few weeks uh away from her
01:45returning uh fully on the beach so again it's difficult to put a time frame on the sound i just
01:52wonder what your thoughts on were on having an international break in april because it feels like
01:56it's the busiest part of the season domestic wise and you obviously have those four you know grueling
02:01games against man city before the international break and then there's a lot of fixtures in the short space of
02:06time i just wonder whether you think maybe you know in the future whether you think this break
02:11should come earlier at a different time in the season um you know we already had some conversations
02:17and we made uh we made some decisions uh we moved out the september window which was a good thing for
02:24the clubs because sometimes when the players had big tournaments in the summer especially in august
02:30we felt as clubs sometimes we didn't have time to prepare them going into the season they were
02:36coming back from the big tournament and sometimes we only had them for one week ten days and they
02:41were going again so i think it was a good thing so i think it would be difficult maybe in the future
02:46to move this uh april window even if it's in the men's game they removed it but um yeah i think maybe
02:54in the women's game it will take some time the only thing we can control and what i can say it's like we
03:00are really happy to be in that situation it means we are still competing for free competitions we are
03:07really busy with a busy schedule but this is the place we want to be and i yes i think most of the
03:13teams would love to be in our place so what we can control is to make sure anytime the players are going
03:19with national team we have a really good communication with the staff which is the case for all the players
03:25we have and yeah we are trying to do the best for them to stay fit just finally you mentioned
03:31on the scene of the competition um liverpool on on saturday for chance to get to weble the fa cup final
03:37what are you expecting from them and how much would you like to get that chance to play when
03:41first time is yeah um as you mentioned liverpool is in a really good run really good dynamic in terms
03:48of results and performances so we expect to face a team who will be usually motivated for the game
03:56tomorrow as you just said it's a semi uh final uh for the fa cup uh final in wemblay it says a lot
04:05just for the motivation both teams will bring into the game and uh yeah we expect a tough game again
04:11because they as i said they have been in a good run with good results so we also want to focus on
04:18ourselves i know if we play our best version we can qualify for the final we play home with the
04:24support of the fans so i think uh yeah it's a lot of positives thanks catherine tom please
04:32hi sonia thanks for speaking to us um i wanted to uh piggyback on that point from catherine about
04:38wemberley and obviously i know you had the challenge a little before that but what would it mean for the
04:44team to play at wemberley again and then also for yourself personally to manage at wemberley what does
04:49wemberley mean to you uh yeah as you said first of all we need to focus on the game tomorrow to have
04:56the opportunity to play and to qualify for the for the final but um yeah for me wemblay represents uh
05:04yeah football in england and um when you look at the games who have been played there for the women's
05:10team the men's team it's a lot of history uh the stadium has been almost sold out any time yeah
05:16the women's team play there so yeah it's a big opportunity for every player every manager to be
05:21part of that uh so yeah it would be a really positive thing for me if we can qualify for the final but
05:29again first of all the focus is on the game tomorrow really important
05:32i wanted to ask you a little bit more specifically about nary guerma is there any chance that she would
05:41yeah no i just said uh no not for this weekend i think yeah i think it's uh too soon but she's really
05:48close so yeah um she would she should be included in the squad for the barcelona game
05:54um and i just wanted to ask you about uh do you get the chance to sit down and enjoy the games
06:03so you don't have a pressure of managing or is it like you're just worried about like your players
06:13no no it's important uh as a staff we just go through all the games and we share the games so
06:19everyone in the staff needs to observe our players so that's really important and um i get
06:25the chance to observe most of them um so yeah that's really important for me to watch my players
06:31when they are with the national team and uh yeah so sometimes i'm watching double screen three screens
06:36in the same time so it's difficult to really know what is going on you just see all the goals and uh
06:42sometimes it's more difficult to follow the individual performances but uh yeah really nice to watch my
06:47players um i think we should be proud to have that many players representing their country um in the
06:55club so i'm yeah i was myself a national team player and i think that's something really positive
07:02you're welcome thank you tom we're going to jump across to zoom now please can we come to you amy
07:06thank you for waiting all right hi sonia um i just wanted to ask you a little bit about um
07:13lola brown who i think here in england we know a lot about what talent she is but i just wonder
07:19what you think she's gaining from you know this kind of period of the season where you're playing
07:23huge games like every three days and she's kind of getting to see what it takes to be at the very
07:28top level from a mental perspective as well as you know with her talent yeah um i agree with you lola is
07:35a really young talented player and she just came back from international duties she had good performances
07:43she scored a hat-trick on the last game which is good for her individually uh so yeah i think she
07:49is one of the most talented young players for england and i'm really happy to work with her
07:55she really has the right mentality she's um being around the team since the beginning of the season and
08:02i think she's learning about how to become a professional player and she already knows a lot
08:08about it and i think just watching the example coming from some leaders in the team it's really
08:13good for her but i really appreciate her as a player but also as a person she has the right
08:20mentality she works really hard and she's always keen to receive some information to make some progress
08:26how important do you think that is that she has that mentality like is that quite a hard thing to
08:31to teach a player do you think yeah my vision on that is uh i think you have this on yourself
08:40or if you don't have this mentality it's really difficult to teach that to someone you can make
08:46some progress but if it's not inside yourself it's more difficult so i think lola has all this
08:53winning mentality ruthless mentality she works really hard and that's something really positive
08:59you thanks sonia good luck tomorrow thank you thanks amy dan can we come to you next please
09:06hey sonia i hope you're well um just the one question from me i know recently you know you've
09:11been kind of pushed to the limit by the likes of brighton and west ham who've obviously got points
09:16against you similar level probably to to liverpool in terms of the danger that they bring so you know
09:21what what have you learned about your team and kind of how you approach those games um yeah you're
09:27right uh we had a review um this morning with the team and we talked a little bit about that and uh yeah
09:36in march we dropped four points against brighton in the beginning of the block and the last game in the
09:42block i think as you just mentioned um as a team we can't drop our standards uh like we did in that games
09:52um i think it's up to us to make sure we have this ruthless mentality as a team um for the game tomorrow
09:59i just want to see the best version of chelsea on the pitch um and probably the best version of ourselves is uh
10:06is uh the game we had against man city the second leg in the champions league uh uh quarter final but
10:12also the 31st minutes we played against west ham and i think uh yeah if you analyze these games uh
10:19every details are really important so we just need to make sure the details for tomorrow are set up
10:24and uh we execute the game plan on the right way that's brilliant thanks very much and best of luck
10:30thank you thank you thanks dan aisha can we come to you please hi sonia nice to see you um you've got
10:38an incredible four weeks ahead fa cup semi-final champions league semi over two legs and a wsl to
10:45go and win is this would you say the most important month of your chelsea career so far and how do you
10:52make sure you keep those high standards that you've been uh having throughout the season uh yeah as you just
10:59said that's the home straight um i think the most decisive and important moment of the season not
11:05only for me as a manager but for the entire club staff and players together um i feel we are ready for
11:13that this club has been about making history winning titles and that's the time of the year we can do
11:20that so as you just mentioned uh we are still in three competitions and we have the opportunity to
11:28play against the best teams in europe uh big games and that's the opportunity for us to just show our
11:34best version and our level and uh yeah making sure we keep high standards as you just mentioned i think
11:40that's important to show that in the big games coming and um aggie beaver jones has been so good for you
11:48guys this season and it was really nice for her to see her get her first international goal as well
11:54how proud were you to see that and she see her proving herself on on the international stage as
12:00well yeah really proud uh especially because aggie is doing well she's working hard also um we were
12:07talking about lola having the right mentality i think aggie is the same she works really hard she has the
12:12right mentality and she played a lot with us and i think she deserved to play with england uh she earned
12:20that by her hard work she put on the pitch and i was really proud of the fact she was able to score
12:26her first ball it means a lot for her and it's a lot for us as well thank you very much good luck tomorrow
12:32thank you thank you sondra next please hi sonia excuse me i hope you're well um good thank you
12:42good good i was just you were talking a little earlier about uh i mean obviously you say you don't
12:47want to look too far ahead but wembley and what it means to you in terms of it being you know
12:50representative of english football but i wanted to ask you what your thoughts are on the fa cup as a
12:55competition uh your memories of maybe watching it uh in the past and how you feel about you know um
13:02taking chelsea to this point and the prospect of obviously that first final as chelsea manager
13:08uh yeah the fa cup means history again for me i think uh there are always games where you can see
13:15some drama sometimes it's a cup games so sometimes you can go to penalties uh yes sometimes you have
13:22big names who are just out of the competition and i think that's exciting for everyone so hopefully
13:28tomorrow it won't be the case for us we will go through uh but again like we need to yeah make sure
13:34tomorrow we focus on the semi-final we know how good liverpool can be they proved that in uh yeah the last
13:41games they had against big teams they were able to beat uh arsenal and had some good games and also
13:47against man united so i think we need to be prepared for that and uh yeah i just want to make all the
13:53focus on the game tomorrow absolutely and just talking of that and talking of liverpool obviously
13:58we saw and you mentioned that that win against arsenal and they were quite quite tenacious i would
14:03say against arsenal but we've seen with chelsea you've got different ways to win this season whether
14:08it's the pretty football or that that that performance in the final against city where
14:13was it bright mini bright was talking about put the bodies on the line and just throw your body in
14:17front of the ball if anything how important is it to have those different ways to win particularly
14:21when you face a team like liverpool who it could be a scrap sometimes yeah really important first of all
14:28i would say maybe to also be unpredictable for the opposition i think that's really important when you
14:34find different ways to win um as i already mentioned i think before it's always for the manager really
14:42important to make sure we perform and we get a good results but sometimes you need to give some credit to
14:47the opponent and when it's more difficult you have to find a way to win so yes sometimes it's a with a
14:54really good style of football sometimes it's more with a direct style of football transition style
14:59uh but uh yeah if you find a way to win that's the most important especially coming in this time of
15:05the season so just one more i mean you talked about be the jones there and we saw you obviously the
15:11debut golf senior debut go for england but what more would you do you think that she can go to i mean
15:18what more would you like to see from her in terms of that potential and what the level she can reach
15:23um i would say she's already doing well with us i'm really pleased with her performances i think she's
15:30having an impact giving some assists and scoring some goals that's the most important for her to be
15:37able to have these statistics but again now it's for her maybe time to be consistent and yet to be able
15:45when she's starting a game from the beginning until the end of the game to get this consistency but she's
15:51already doing a good job so yeah it's um just keep going like this and uh yes she will improve again
15:58uh more and more but we are already really pleased with her performances and the impact she has for
16:04the team that's great good luck thank you sonia thank you thank you last but not least david please
16:10thanks for waiting no you're very welcome hello sonia hope you're doing well um just want to talk a bit
16:16more about you know uh kira walsh because kira walsh i believe scored her first ever goal during the
16:23international break how pleased are you that she finally got her goal for england and uh and do you
16:28think she can sort of bring back to the midfield at uh chelsea uh yeah really proud also uh about
16:36kebra the fact she scored her first goal i was a little bit surprised because i didn't know it was
16:42only her first goal uh she was happy as well so it's really nice for her confidence um yeah kira is
16:50an important player for us she has a lot of leadership on the pitch uh she just brings her
16:56calmness and her quality in possession of the ball she's so smart she's able to read the game
17:02um and she is really really important in that position in front of the back line
17:06um yeah because she's uh as i said she has a lot of experience and she's smart enough to control the
17:12game so yeah really pleased to have her with us in chelsea but also we just mentioned some young
17:19players as lola uh kira scoring her first goal aggie scoring her first goal for england i think uh yeah
17:27all the english people should be proud to have these players in chelsea and in england because they are
17:32world-class players and they are making a big impact for the women's game and we
17:36have chelsea um got a trophy already this season how important have the more experienced players
17:42have been in terms of helping the likes of lola brown um captain um in terms of not only helping
17:49them on the pitch but off the pitch but also instilling that willing mentality at chelsea
17:53and do you think that's going to be really important when they take on liverpool tomorrow
17:58yeah for sure um as i said we have the right balance in the squad i think uh we have some young
18:05talented players and uh the experienced players our world class players they have a really good
18:12leadership in the team and um yeah their leadership is really important for the young players because
18:19they can learn their job and how to become a professional player uh being around them so i think
18:25when i say we have the right balance this squad is really well balanced in terms of leadership and
18:30how we help and support the young players to develop and i think uh yeah part of that is uh
18:36the job the leaders are doing in the team every day in the building on the pitch training sessions games
18:43and i think that's really important to have this experience and uh yeah this winning mentality coming
18:48from leaders appreciate it thank you very much bonne chance thank you thanks david all right one last
18:55cheeky question from phil please thank you all right sorry to be cheeky um hi sonia um yeah just uh
19:05looking back at the west ham game i just wonder sort of on reflection now what what you sort of make
19:10of what happened at the end of that game um and how important is it to sort of respond to that to
19:16what happened at the end this time around with as you say sort of a ruthless performance and i don't
19:21know sort of to send send a message almost yeah i just uh said that this was left mentality we need
19:28to be more consistent during the game from the beginning until the end i think if you analyze
19:34the western game we really start strong uh we have the opportunity to win the game by three four goals
19:40difference we didn't score the third and the fourth goal and we just gave away um we considered the goal
19:48really easy easily in the throw in and i think uh yeah you can't um you can't give any hope to your
19:55opponents when you are chelsea so after that the second half was more difficult in terms of performance
20:03and uh again i think in terms of high standards you can't concede a goal at the last minute of the
20:08stoppage time i think here you need to be more consistent you need to be fighting until the end and
20:14you need to win your jewels when it's needed so yeah we just learned that from that game and i think
20:20tomorrow we need to be aggressive we that's a semi-final we will be facing a team who will be
20:27hugely motivated and i think yeah in terms of mentality it will be really important for us to show up
20:34great cheers thank you i think that's a good place to leave it thanks very much everybody have a
20:39have a lovely weekend thank you very much thanks