Getty Images/USA Today Sports/GOALThere were many positives for new coach Sonia Bompastor to take from wins over Gotham and Arsenal, but also one big negative
There is plenty of time yet until Sonia Bompastor makes her competitive bow as the new head coach of Chelsea, but the signs from the Blues' pre-season tour of the United States would certainly suggest that this winning machine is not going to let up as it enters its post-Emma Hayes era.
After 12 trophy-laden years, Hayes departed for the U.S. women's national team at the end of the 2023-24 season and she made a flying start in that job by winning an Olympic gold medal at Paris 2024. It's fitting in some ways that, in the last week, her old team have been showing positive signs on her new patch, a short pre-season tour of the States producing wins for Chelsea over NWSL champions Gotham and London rivals Arsenal.
Bompastor's first competitive game in charge won't come until September 20, when the Blues welcome Aston Villa for their Women's Super League opener, and that makes this short trip all the more promising, as there's still plenty of time to fine tune everything. That said, there are still a couple of things for the new boss to finalise and perhaps even be concerned about over the next few weeks.
So, what did we learn from Chelsea's pre-season U.S. tour? GOAL picks out six things…
