Chelsea wins the sixth direct title of women Super League to prove internal dominance did not end with Emma Hayes | Football news

They say good things come to those who wait.

Patience and perseverance are two principles of Sonia Bommaster’s values ​​after taking the time to learn the art of training in the Lyon Academy system before graduating from the first team, and eventually accepting a carefully chosen opportunity to manage in the women’s super league.

But it has not been necessary during her first year at the top of Chelsea. This season has been an exhibition of inevitability by the royal champions. A reminder to all those who suggested their crown can slip after the end of the Emma Hayes era that the established hierarchy is no less immovable.

It happened again. Blues have another collectionist article for the trophy cabinet. The only difference is this year that they have won with games to save. No risk-filled finals for bommaster-it has finished work faster than it could get great Hayes in its last winning title campaigns.

Very little of this season has been a nephew and tuck. That way it feels different, perhaps even startling. As if Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City had knocked on the door for as long as it was starting to open, only for the bommaster to slam it mercilessly. Signs reading “Closed for Business”.

Previous years have probably satisfied the idea that Chelsea can be destroyed for much longer. Hayes herself famously accepted the title after being lost in Liverpool late in her last season: “It’s not to be. I don’t think the title is there anymore,” she said, before eclipse Man City only in the goal difference. He felt and says but this is the name of the game.

Chelsea doesn’t care who they violate their way to silver as long as they get there. Such a greedy hunger is difficult to find – much less to maintain for so long. The pure, memorable desire is a constant, reimaginated over the years, but always present. Through the hand that feeds this title winning machine again and again.

And yet no one predicted that such a useless approach would be transferred to Chelsea of ​​the bommaster so quickly. How can they? People talked about a transition period. A break of species. Some time in the middle where the Frenchman, after never coaching abroad before, is used to her surroundings and the team she inherited is acquainted with their new leader.

Bommaster has broken that pretext.

This is simply unclear Chelsea 2.0, more patient in possession, but still able to impose itself in the same exhaustive way that every Hayes team did. A unit in which each single part operates from its share exactly, all aligned with the same attitude ‘victory at any cost’.

But this, with their six peat, is as impressive as it is problematic for WSL and its offer to stay competitive. How do rivals become challenging again? Arsenal fell to the final obstacle in 2021-22. Man United suffered the same fate next year, and Man City recently. Internal dominance cycle – Europe remains frustrating out of reach – it is so unclear that it opposes faith.

Strange then that very few Chelsea players have been the Stat leader in their right this season. No better class performer among the biggest shows in the city-can this be? It seems special that from the back to the front most individuals with higher WSL achievements play for other clubs.

There are some external but this latest title has not been about tremendous solo acts-when the ruthless Fran Kirby led the show in the years 2020-21 or when Sam Kerr scored 20 goals on the way to the Golden Boot in 2021-22. Or when Lauren James’s Maverick quality led last year’s occupation.

This season’s story has been much more nuanced. Extraordinary finding in unexplained is something that only Chelsea are capable.

In defense, Lucy Bronze is the only player to present significantly in any of the categories used to measure protective solidity. It ranks second for tapping after ASH Neville of Tottenham. No Chelsea player is listed within five first five solutions, cleaning, assets earned or blocked shots.

The record of Hannah Hampton’s pure sheets (11) is impressive, but not as big as Man United’s Phallon Tullis-Joyce (13) -The best goalkeeper with better performance in the league this season. Tullis-Joyce tops tables for the number of goals also prevented (6.9).

Offensively, Chelsea Aggie Bever-Jones and Guro Reiten’s top scorers have eight goals, ranking them fifth after Martinez (West Ham), Elisabeth Terland (Man UTD), Alessia Russo (Arsenal) and Khadija Shaw (Man City). Bever -jones is similarly set for targeted shots (17) – which is the same Vivianne Miedema of Man Man who posted losing half the season with injuries.

Johanna Ryting Kanoryd is placed in fifth place for the chances created (33) but is miles away McCabe of Arsenal (45) and Marie Hobinger of Liverpool (38). The Chelsea winger has touched the ball in the opposition box 116 times, with the teammate of the Mayra Ramirez team near (114), but it is Russo (133) sitting on top, while all passing metrics are dominated by Man City and Arsenal players.

These numbers will feel relatively useless when wearing a WSL winners medal, in addition to highlighting an obvious topic. With the superstar striker Kerr spending the whole season removed with an ACL and James injury just managing six starts of the league, Chelsea needs to rely on collectively smart. Engage a package mentality. And that does not mean winning a title that plays anti-football, because some shows and results are excited.

But their power has long been felt in the team’s strength, like the team with the best pool of cumulative talent throughout the table – the depth beyond the wildest imagination of other WSL parties. Substitutes for their substitutes. Solutions to any problem.

Talking to talk Heavenly At the end of March after retiring to defeat Man City from two goals down to the Champions League, Bommaster said: “I have told my players that you will have different statuses.

“Sometimes you will start the game. Sometimes you will not be in the squad. Sometimes you will be final. And no matter what status you have, you are here to help the team. It is for the club, the team and what we reach together.”

Very few WSL managers have a part of that luxury nor bullishness to use every inch of it. The bommaster, who described this title as “unexpected”, has squeezed and formed her team, producing every imperfection and required more. Instead they barely collided. Treble is very lit.

And so, here we have the largest women’s football team of this country, already in the practically inviolable field, with potential and means getting even bigger.

*Accurate data since April 29 (does not include statistics from games played on April 30)