#also yes if you're not a player you are allowed to ask intensive questions about my campaign please I want to talk about my campaign | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

redwineconversation · 2 years ago

Text

Sonia Bompastor OLPlay Night Systems Interview (April 11, 2023)

Me looking at the list of everything I have to translate/transcribe: what is love if not self-loathing at this point?

'Blah blah usual stuff applies. Also Jule asks the best questions so I flag what is asked by him because I do have my favorites. I'm not going to name certain mouthpieces for other clubs but it turns out you can be part of their media / comms team and still hold the club and its representatives accountable. A novel concept for some, I know.

Finally, I will ask again that if you post this outside Tumblr - and I really am fine if you do that - to please just link to the post rather than a mass copy/paste. xx

SONIA BOMPASTOR OL NIGHT SYSTEMS INTERVIEW

[Jule gives synopsis of upcoming topics]

Journalist: Thank you, Jule, for that summary. How are you doing?

Jule: I'm good, thanks for asking. Hello to everyone. It's a good Tuesday with a good program ahead of us.

Journalist: I see that you have a big smile, even more than usual. I feel like you're happy to be doing this show.

Jule: I'm always happy to do it. But you're spoiling me, the day before my birthday, you're spoiling me.

Journalist: You're just like the players. They're always like "yeah, yeah, I'm super motivated for the next game". But we all know there are some games that motivate them more than others. You're the same.

Jule: Yeah, it's go time. It's what you aim for in Europe. I'm here for it, I showed up, I put on my best shirt for the occasion.

Journalist: Didn't button it up though. Let's not ahead of ourselves.

Jule: Well usually I'm in sweatpants. This is new to me.

Journalist: And if you're so happy about things, it's because tonight's guest is Sonia Bompastor. Hi, Sonia.

Bompastor: Good evening everybody.

Journalist: All good?

Bompastor: All good, yes. It's perfect.

Journalist: We're welcoming you in such good spirits.

Bompastor: Yes, everyone is in a great mood. But you're putting a lot of pressure on me. I know it's my job and that I'm used to it [pressure], but I thought it would be a bit more lighthearted.

Journalist: Well, Sonia, we're going to look back on the beginning of the season, the season overall, obviously, the month of March which was intense, the rest of the season since there is the French league to go win, the Coupe de France to go win. We're also talk about the French National Team, we'll talk about next season. There's a lot to cover and a lot of questions we want to ask you. But first of all. This international break, it must be good for you. The month of March was pretty intense. Here I can imagine that these 15 days off will allow you to breathe a little bit.

Bompastor: Yeah, it's true. It's true that the month of March was was intense. It was packed, we played games where there was a lot at stake. So the international break is actually something where we can work a little differently, with less players but more detailed, more focused. But we're still working. The days are a little shorter than usual but there's still a lot of work. The end of the season is coming up and we have to be ready for that.

Journalist: How did you experience this month of March overall? There were two rounds of the Coupe de France, three league games - I'm counting the Reims [Coupe de France] game even though it was on April 2 or April 3, for me it qualifies as being before - and then obviously the two Champions League games against Chelsea. How did you experience it overall?

Bompastor: Globally, there were some satisfying parts even if the frustration from the elimination of the Champions League is still predominant. We need to push it aside but that will take some time. But we're still in the race for the league title and the Coupe de France. We need to keep that in mind heading into the end of the season. There are still two objectives. We need to be focused on that.

Journalist: And we'll talk about it throughout the show, all the points you raised. But before we do that, Sonia, we want to focus a little bit on the men's team in that it concerns the role of a coach. You'll see why. It's because Jule and I decided to focus on non-changes from Laurent Blanc in the Reims game.

Jule: It's something that surprised us. Lauren Blanc didn't use any substitutes in the match against Reims. It was the first time he had done that, so it was pretty rare. We listened to both the head coach and assistant coach. Before we go into it, I suggest we listen to [the clip of] Lauren Blanc who justifies his decision not to use substitutes.

[Segment featuring the postgame interview with men's head coach Laurent Blanc]

Blanc: I kept the players as is because I was satisfied with what I was seeing in the second half, even if some of players were tired. We learned to our detriment that when you bring players on [during a game] there is a period of adaptation, so yeah. We've just played three games. I preferred not to make any changes. I don't know if I was right, but what I saw on the field really gave me a lot of satisfaction. And I think they deserved to see it through.

[Back to studio]

Journalist: So no substitutions, the explanations from Laurent Blanc are pretty clear. First of all because, and we talked about this yesterday, he was satisfied with his starting 11. And then, Jule, it's also because we've seen what the substitutes have brought onto the field. Or rather what they haven't brought.

Jule: There was a rather damning sentence in Laurent Blanc's explanation: "we learned to our detriment there can be a period of adaptation." Let's look at the numbers.

[Discussion about the men's statistics when it comes to substitutes]

Journalist: Sonia, I'm glad you're on the show since we're talking about this subject. I'm not going to bombard you with questions about substitutes. But I will ask, have you ever had a situation where you didn't make any substitutions, or, taking it a step further, make substitutions based on previous games or is it based on how the players perform in previous games or how they performed during the week in training? Are you punishing the players or rewarding them?

Bompastor: No. It's true that it's really rare these days to have head coaches who don't use any substitutions during a game. Why is it rare since we are allowed 5 substitutions, 5 possibilities to use a substitute. And it's true that when you're playing a lot of games in a season, it's also a form of load management when the score has been achieved. That was the case of the men's game last Sunday agains Rennes. Sometimes within the context and scoreline in the game, you can manage the load of the players. And that allows you to reward certain players. So that's an obvious thing. Now I think that if Laurent [Blanc] did not make any substitutions, it's also because he isn't satisfied with what he saw in the previous game, where it seems that he just wasn't satisfied with the performances of certain players. Now you do know that as head coach there is a context, and sometimes you do things with the aim of achieving a specific result. It doesn't always work out the way you want. Obviously we hope it will work out the way we want as much as possible, but sometimes it doesn't. And then you also have the context of the game itself, and you try to do what it best for the team in any case.

Journalist: And we know that amongst the players, men and women, there are some who perform better when they are starters, there are some who can perform really well when they come on as substitutes, and there are some who really struggle when they come on as substitutes. Is that something we take into consideration when choosing the starting 11?

Bompastor: Yes, yes of course. It comes down to how well we know our players. It's so important to know your players in order to make the best decisions. Now obviously I have some players who perform better as starters than if they come on as a substitute. And the reverse. I have players, sometimes the youngsters, who when they come on during the game, play better than when they are starters. But those are things we should know and what you take into consideration when deciding which starting 11 is best for the game,

Journalist: And what precisely do you do to convince a player that they will be a super sub? Because we know how competitive things are with OL Feminin, we know they all want to play, they all want to be starters. Is it easy to say "okay, you'll be on for 15-20 minutes because that's when you're most efficient which I know will get under your skin because you won't be a starter"?

Bompastor: But that's actually a positive thing, that they don't accept just sitting on the bench. That's great. It's better that they are like that rather than -

Journalist: [imitating a player] No it's cool, I don't care if I don't play.

Jule: [also imitating a player] Not a starter? I'll take 20 minutes, totally fine.

Bompastor: - so it's better to have to deal with those sorts of problems. But for me it's obvious that you need to focus on being objective [Malard????]. Often being objective is showing via film how the player is performing, it's statistics for some of them, saying "okay, when you start a match, these are your statistics, when you come in as a substitute, the statistics are different and are more in your favor." It can be in a speech, with film. It's always interesting for the players to have video as a form of reference, to be able to correlate the suggestions with the performances. It's always more pertinent and it helps them understand things better.

Journalist: You talk about film. During this international break, we know there are a lot of international players at Lyon, so there are very few players at practice. Do you use film during the international break or are there too few players and it's not worth it?

Bompastor: We use it less, because during training sessions we're more focused on individual aspects. There's also a lot of young [academy] players present. So less during the international break, but it's also a period where we take the time to talk things through with certain players. Film is something we use a lot when we're playing matches but also in certain training sessions when we're working on tactics. So now [in this international break] it's a bit more complicated when you have four or five players in training, working on the team or on tactics is more difficult.

Journalist: About that, what do you mean you say focused on the individual? At the moment there are only five players, five professional players at least.

Bompastor: The idea is - well, in the morning's training session, the idea was to focus on duels from a defensive approach as well as offensive. And on the strength side of it, the athletic side. And that really allows us to focus on the individual aspect with each player based on what aspects they still need to improve on. But during the international break we also use the boys from the academy, the U-15, U-16s. That allows us to inflate the numbers and maintain the intensity during the training sessions. For instance tomorrow, we will be able to play a little 7 v 7, with the group. That's also important because it allows us to work with a greater number of players, to have bigger plays. And also allows us to evaluate the academy players.

Journalist: And that allows us to say that it's going well in R1 [regional] and they are very close to being promoted to this Third Division. That's important to note.

Bompastor: Exactly.

Journalist: And also during the international break, we saw you make some excursions to OL Valley. As such we get the impression that since there are so few players, it's not quite like a camp, but it's the opportunity to break away from the daily routine, to have less pressure and just get away from things.

Bompastor: Yeah, exactly. First of all it allows for the players to get out of the Lyon bubble and have a change of scenery. That's always good for them, they come back refreshed. But it also allows for the players who stay behind to have a different work schedule. So we try to focus a bit more on the mental aspect, but in a ludic manner, all the while maintaining the expectations and demands we have to work. But I mean last Friday we did a 5 v 5, staff versus players.

Jule: Who won?

Bompastor: I'm not going to tell you. I can't say it. But there you have it, those are nice moments, it allows us to work on our relationship with the players that we might not get to do otherwise when we're on our normal daily routine and have games every three days.

Journalist: There's a lot of international games this evening, we'll get back to that. But for now we're going to focus on Sunday's game, the game against Paris FC. There are only five games left, Sonia. We're going to look at the calendar for the rest of the season. And it's easy to deduce we're at a really important part of the season. It's the final sprint.

Bompastor: Yeah, indeed. We're in the home stretch. There are five games left: the final of the Coupe de France and four league games. We're in the home stretch and have to perform. Now it's true that for the league, we have a one-point lead and we want to keep it. We hold our fate in our hands. And we'd really, really like to end with those two trophies which remain.

Journalist: When you look at the calendar, we see that Dijon and Reims are theoretically - and I do say theoretically because last season Lyon dropped points against ASSE, this season we dropped points against Guincamp. PSG also dropped points against Fleury and other teams, Le Havre. But in theory Paris FC and PSG are, on paper, two of the more formidable opponents than Dijon and Reims. So the game on Sunday against Paris FC is especially important. So let me phrase it like this, Sonia. Do you think that to win the title, you have to be ahead of PSG when you play the second to last league game [which is against PSG]? Mentally, will that change things or that we can go there and win even if we're behind on points, it's not at the end of the world?

Bompastor: I want to say both. But in the current situation what is important is to keep that one-goal lead, take it one game at a time with the goal each time of getting those three points. To be in a more comfortable position when we play the return game against Paris [Saint-Germain]. But we saw it in the home leg, where we were in front of Paris [Saint-Germain] before the home game in December, we played them here at home, and when they beat us they went ahead of us in the table. So it's more comfortable. But we have to win the last four games anyway in order to be champions.

Jule: And staying with what he is saying, do you think that the Coupe de France game which will be played a week before the league game, do you think it will have an impact on the league game or is two separate competitions with a completely different context and so won't matter?

Bompastor: Two separate competitions, that's obvious. However you will need to have the same state of mind. Final of the Coupe de France, final for the league. So the mental aspect will be really important. And for me whichever team wins the Coupe de France will have the mental edge going into the league game. But once again both teams have the qualities to turn the situation around no matter what happens in the first game.

Journalist: We're going to have a look at that goal which allowed Paris Saint-Germain to take the lead in December at the Groupama Stadium. At that moment you're right, they went ahead of you in the table, but in the way you played - and I will give you the chance to correct me - you were better than Paris Saint-Germain that night.

Bompastor: Within the context of the game, it's true that we have a lot of regrets over the final score. We feel like we dominated this Paris [Saint-Germain] team. But the top level - I say this all the time - you have be efficient at the top level. Today it's only the results that matter. If you had told me "Sonia, you will be dominated for 85 minutes, but at the end it's you who will get the three points" I would have taken that deal before the game. So we have to capable in the context of the game to perform well, to put away our chances by being efficient and scoring goals.

Journalist: Obviously by being efficient. But the context of the game - if they tell you, "For the next game against Paris Saint-Germain, you will have the same control in the game overall, you will put them in difficulty the same way" but also being efficient and scoring. Overall, would that work for you?

Bompastor: Yeah, but the point you brought up is the most important one. You have to capitalize on your chances. We performed really well from a defensive aspect. In terms of possession, we were able to control of the ball. But that's not enough. To be more of a perfectionist, to be in line with my expectations, you have to be more efficient. And this control, it needs to be complemented by playing well in the final third, where you're able to get into the box, to hurt the opponent -

Journalist: Like you did during the Trophee des Championnes.

Bompastor: Exactly. We were more efficient. We had Delphine [Cascarino] with the overlapping run, she took a shot at the goalkeeper, and we have people in the box who had followed up behind. We have the qualities to do that. We have to remain confident. So over these two games, we have the quality and talent to win, but we will have to take it very seriously because Paris [Saint-Germain] remains a really tough opponent.

Jule: There is something missing for the context though for the game in December. Lyon outshot Paris Saint-Germain 20-6, but the final shots on goal were 4-3. So when you're only putting one shot out of five on goal, it's more complicated. However for the game in the Trophee des Championnes, there was the ICC right before, it went really well, Lyon was in control of the game. PSG was able to create a couple of chances but they weren't threatening. We never got the feeling that PSG was going to turn it around.

Bompastor: Yeah. And at the beginning of the season we had a completely different dynamic. As you said, we had just finished preseason in the US, we won the tournament over there, we also had Ada Hegerberg on the field, who obviously helps us be more efficient.

Journalist: But she's coming back.

Bompastor: Yes. And that's really good news. And it's true that Paris was starting their season with a new coach, their roster had been shaken up, they were putting their project in place. They have more certainties on their side nowadays.

Journalist: And they did two good games against Wolfsburg. They came pretty close to knocking out Wolfsburg. That will give them - well I imagine you watched the games. You use it a lot to prepare for the upcoming games. Do you rely more on what they [PSG] did against Wolfsburg since it was so recent, just a few weeks ago, or do you rely more on the league game and the Trophee des Championnes game that we played against them in December and August respectively?

Bompastor: Our job is to use everything. We have to analyze all the games. It's nice that we have an experienced staff who is able to gather information as the games take place. But it's true that what happened against Wolfsburg reflects this Parisian team's form more accurately.

Jule: It's a question we asked Lyon's video analyst a couple of weeks ago.

Journalist: The final of the Coupe de France will be on May 13 between Lyon and PSG. But before that happens, there is the game on Sunday against Paris FC. A team that caused you a bit of difficulties in the first leg.

Bompastor: Yes. It's true that when we played them in the first leg it was in the same context as last season, meaning that we had just played a UWCL game that Thursday night, and then played Paris away. So a lot of tiredness from our part. It's true that Paris FC is a good league opponent with some really talented players, notably Mathilde Bourdieu, Clara Mateo, Gaëtane Thiney in terms of attack. So we know it will be a really difficult game, we will have to be very good defensively. And once again when we have the ball we need to be able to score.

Journalist: And you showed a lot of character in that game, because it was really complicated, as you said. There was a Champions League game a few days before, you had fallen behind 2-1 against the run of play - and there was an offside which wasn't called by the referee.

Bompastor: A really bad non-call. And that's actually where the mental strength of my team is so important. We see [on the images] that they're really tough competitors. They didn't accept the situation. Even with that error from the referee, the players didn't let it get to them, you see there with Wendie [Renard] they took it upon themselves to turn the situation around. They showed enormous strength of character to go get that win. And we got lucky with some defensive errors on their part, it must be said.

Journalist: But that defensive error [which led to Lyon's third goal] was provoked.

Bompastor: Delphine [Cascarino] believed in it until the end. So she definitely pushes the defender to have that miscommunication with the goalkeeper. All the better for us. It's true that you have to believe in it until the end. It's good. We have that mentality and it's important.

Journalist: And you will play in the Groupama Stadium. It's starting to be quite a few games played there. Jule, you ran the numbers. It will be the eighth game played at the Groupama Stadium. Before we do a recap, the fact that you play there so often, if I can say that, because eight games so far this season is a lot, what are your feelings about that?

Bompastor: Well first of all you have to understand that it's obviously different for the players. Playing at the Groupama Stadium, it's a big stadium, and there's a [love] story there between that stadium and the players. It goes together. So each time we've played there it's been pretty positive [I mean I wouldn't describe losing 5-1 as positive but whatever]. And in terms of performance, you feel that the players, playing there provides them with a superior motivation. So that's good. I think if you look back at the games we've played, and I'm thinking particularly of the game against Fleury, it's more imposing for the opponent as well. They have less experience and aren't in the habit of playing in big stadiums. And I know that for the game against Fleury the outcome of the game was pretty favorable for that reason.

Journalist: When you play against teams who aren't as used to it, like Fleury, like Rodez, it was the case against Rodez as well. It'll be the case against Paris FC as well. They aren't as used to playing in the big stadiums. This season however, Jule, it's pretty evenly split in terms of results.

Jule: Mitigated results for sure, especially because of the Champions League. Three wins, one draw, three defeats. The wins were against Rodez, Zurich in the Champions League, and Fleury in the Coupe de France where as you said, Sonia, Lyon largely dominated for the first 15 minutes before the men's game. It was a double feature. The draw was against Juventus in the final game of the group stages.

Journalist: it was a draw that was worth a win since it was the qualification. A positive draw.

Bompastor: You can't say that. A positive draw.

Journalist: I heard you say earlier the most important thing is the result. After that 0-0 draw, we were qualified for the quarterfinals.

Bompastor: But the result, 0-0 against Juventus... We owed it to ourselves to win that.

Journalist: I'll be honest, I didn't stand up very often during that game. I'll give you that. But I did stand up at the 95th minute when the referee blew the final whistle and that's the most important thing.

Bompastor: With the winter break right after, it's true that the qualification did a lot of good. But I would have preferred if we were much more efficient in the game.

Jule: And there is also the three defeats, against Arsenal in the group stages, against PSG in the league and against Chelsea in the first leg of the quarterfinal of the Champions League. It's also because the big games are played at the Groupama Stadium, so it makes more sense that you would get the defeats as well. But that does impact the review at the end of the season.

Journalist: Do you prepare a game differently when it's played at the Groupama Stadium, Sonia?

Bompastor: In terms of motivation you don't have to insist as much on the context of the game. The players have a fair bit of experience now in that stadium. We know it gets them going, as I said earlier. So the context becomes a bit more abstract. We know the atmosphere is going to be more in our favor so we concentrate a little bit more on the tactics.

Journalist: We hope there will be a lot of fans at the game on Sunday against Paris FC. There's a lot of deals going on for tickets. I'm sure Sonia, you have something to say about it.

Bompastor: I think the players have made their feelings known about it. The stadium is important for them, the public as well. We suffered a lot because of COVID, and that has affected fan attendance. So it's the opportunity to spend a nice Sunday afternoon at a nice stadium watching pretty football. The team plays pretty football. Come watch, everyone will be happy.

Journalist: And it will offset the last game the players played at that stadium, the quarterfinal against Chelsea. We're going to take the opportunity to talk about that elimination in the Champions League. I imagine you're still finding it difficult to swallow. You'll probably need to win the Coupe de France and the league to open up your throat. How would you analyze the quarterfinal overall? You lost 1-0 here at home, you were winning 1-0 over there in regular time, then it was 2-1, and then the penalty shootout which happened after you conceded a penalty in the final seconds.

Bompastor: Yeah, for sure. The predominant feeling is obviously disappointment and frustration. We didn't accomplish our objective. There are regrets in the first leg here at home where I don't think we were up to par and we should have been able to put this Chelsea team under in difficulty. You can see that we started the game off really well, there was that big chance with Eugenie [Le Sommer], that shot from Sara Dabritz. It just lacked finishing. There was also that chance for Lindsey Horan, who mishit Perle [Morroni]'s cross. So for sure there are regrets on the first leg. Chelsea in the first half took three shots, two of them on goal and one led to a goal. So they were really realistic in their opportunities. Well one goal and they hit the post as well, sorry. So regrets in the first leg and a lot of frustration in the second. Because I think we did the necessary to overturn the situation and accomplish our objective.

Journalist: You played a really great game in the second leg.

Bompastor: Yeah. And there was Signe [Bruun]'s chance there, we could have scored earlier in the game. In the first five minutes, there was Bruun, there was Delphine [Cascarino], both were creating chances. That would allowed us to have taken the lead really early in the game. Despite all that we still were able to score the two goals we needed, away, against a good Chelsea team. And the scenario that happened, I think it's the cruelest one possible. You concede that penalty at the 122nd minute. Now, penalty or not -

Journalist: Have you seen the replays?

Bompastor: I saw the replays when everything was still raw, right after the game. For me, I continue to believe it was a make-believe penalty. I'm not denying there was a tiny bit of contact between Vicki [Becho] and [Lauren] James. But the only thing she [James] was waiting for at that moment of the game was for someone to graze her so she could throw herself to the ground. In that situation, when you know the top level and women's football, you know it's not something that should be called. What's frustrating is that the referee doesn't signal [that there was a foul]. VAR intervenes and overrules the referee.

Journalist: And for VAR to overrule, it was to be an obvious error [from the referee].

Bompastor: Exactly.

Jule: And considering she had to watch the replays eight times, it wasn't an obvious error.

Bompastor: We're not going to hide behind any excuses. At the end of the day we were eliminated from the Champions League. Obviously it's a huge disappointment. Now it's a really cruel scenario because it happened at the 122nd minute, this penalty is still controversial, there's the VAR which overrules the referee for that penalty but I would have liked it if the VAR did its job until the end, and that means during the penalty shootout, it could have signaled to the referee that Chelsea's goalkeeper was moving forward by a meter each time. So yeah. Things could have been done better. But my role is digest what happened as quickly as possible. And it was something that had to be done because we had an important league game against Le Havre. So we had to quickly get our heads back in the game. I'll be honest. It took everyone about a day to process what happened. There was a lot of frustration. And then we had to turn our focus onto the two remaining objectives. It's my job, as I was saying, to mobilize everyone for the two objectives. You said it really well. I think that winning the league and the Coupe de France, it's the minimum for us, especially with the quality of the team and the potential we have on hand. We should be able to win those two titles.

Jule: I was just going to ask you how was the after. We're going to look at the highlights of the game against Le Havre. You steamrolled over them. Le Havre was able to draw against Paris Saint-Germain. There it was a big week. April 2, a 7-0 victory. We always say that a win does a lot of good. But it felt different here. it felt like the players were letting out all the rage, the disappointment, the frustration and Le Havre was on the receiving end.

Bompastor: Yes, it's true. The advantage of the situation, like when there was that disillusion after what happened against Chelsea, is that we had the opportunity to play again three days later.

Jule: It's good that it happened right before the international break?

Bompastor: Yes, yes. Because for the players, quickly having to play again was a form of having to process what happened and move on. It also gave the opportunity for some of the players to regain some confidence. We made the choice to use some of the more fresh players. So some players who unfortunately hadn't gotten a lot of playing time in previous games were able to play, score some goals. I think for the group overall those are the types of wins they deserve as a team, with the individual talents of each player coming together for the team. But I think it's important to get your head back in the game, and we did it with that win and in that manner, because I think it proves both within the context of the game and the number of goals scored that we had mobilized, and we really want to go get those last trophies.

Jule: It could have been more. There were a lot of chances, there was the post, there were a lot of things. And six changes -

Journalist: Taking into consideration there were seven goals scored, you can excuse certain misses.

Jule: I want more. I was telling Sonia after the game, seven is nice, but I wanted eight, nine, ten. I wanted records to be broken.

Bompastor: It was possible in any case.

Jule: It could have been done. But there were changes. There were six changes to the starting lineup between the return leg of the Champions League and the game against Le Havre. We saw Janice Cayman score, Ines Benyahia as well. You are able to rotate because you have a large group. And you need a large group in order to win the D1 Arkema [French league] and the Coupe de France. The latter is something you haven't won.

Bompastor: Exactly. And it's something we talk about often with the Board of Directors. Today, when you're Olympique Lyonnais, you need first of all a talented roster. But also a stacked roster. That allows us to play across all competitions. When you start the season with the club, there are four titles to win: Trophee des Championnes, the Champions League, the league, and the Coupe de France. And then you have all the international games the players have to play. So at a certain point, when you're playing 5 games in 15 days, you need to have a large group of players you can count on.

Journalist: I'm going to go back to the two games against Chelsea and especially, because you just brought it up, the number of players, because you made some choices for the first leg, and then completely different choices for the return leg. And I find it interesting that we can get your analysis on it and understand why you chose the 4-4-2 diamond - we can see the starting 11 for the first leg. You chose to play in a 4-4-2 diamond with a team that I want to say is your standard starting 11 in 2023, because since the beginning of 2023, you have played nine games, there were eight wins and a qualification against Reims - well it was a draw but there was the qualification in the end - so you had a good dynamic. Why then did you choose to go for a 4-4-2 diamond for the first leg?

Bompastor: Well for starters the 4-4-2 diamond, you look at our midfield. It allows us to use four midfielders, all of whom are international players and are extremely talented. So for me it's also a way to play in different formations and create doubts for the opponents [it also creates suicidal tendencies for the Lyon fans but I guess that's a separate conversation]. We need to play well whether it's in a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3. That's a system we perfected last season so the players are already used to it. You were correct in saying it, there was a dynamic which had fallen into place since January. A winning dynamic but also a satisfying dynamic in terms of what we saw in the games. You look at a midfield player like Marozsan, over the course of January, February, March, it's our best player, at least in terms of efficiency. She's the one who is providing the assists, she's the one scoring goals. And it's difficult for a head coach to come up to a streak of games where for 2 1/2 months you had a team who was performing really well, who provided results, who had a good dynamic, and say to yourself, "well, I'm just going to shake things up." Because obviously with your team, when you make certain decisions, they ask questions. And as such if I had just shaken everything up when the dynamics were working, they would have asked why. So the idea was to trust this team which had performed well for 2 1/2 months, with certain players who had performed well as well.

Journalist: And was it natural for you or did you ask yourself if you should perhaps change formations and players with regarding to that starting 11?

Bompastor: I always question myself. My role is to know which team I am putting forward before each game. That means which players and which formation will allow us to perform at our best first of all for ourselves but second in terms of the system of play we want to put into place. We also have to take into account our opponent's weaknesses and how we want to exploit them. It seemed more natural for me to stay with the 4-4-2. I thought that in that formation we had the opportunities to punish Chelsea, or at least hurt them. I think we failed to do that in the first leg. And after, in the role of management for a coach, what is important is as of the moment the strategy put in place for the first leg isn't working, you're practically forced to change something. Because for your players, actually what they associate is that the result isn't there, and obviously there was a strategy put in place by the staff which didn't work. So what are they going to do for the return leg to turn the situation around? And the formation or the starting lineup can be one of the elements which can be modified. Not just, but part of the decision-making I had to take into account.

Journalist: And we're going to look at the return leg. You changed both the formation by switching to a 4-3-3 and the starting lineup, because there are four different players: Selma Bacha replaced Perle Morroni, Danielle van de Donk replaced Sara Dabritz, Amel Majri replaced Dzenifer Marozsan even if it wasn't exactly in the same position considering the switch in formation, and Signe Bruun replaced Eugenie Le Sommer. Was it also important to switch things up in terms of individuals almost for - actually, was it because they were more used to a 4-3-3 or because was it because you just have to make some changes because you can't put the same starting 11 when changing formations wasn't enough? Mentally, did you have to try something else?

Bompastor: Yeah, I can go into detail about the four players you brought up, why there was those changes between the first leg and the second leg. If I use Danielle van de Donk as an example, for us the idea in the midfield was to have more intensity, to be able when we have the ball to really take advantages of the quality she has, and defensively really go after Chelsea's block, with high intensity, be able to repeat sprints in terms of volume during the whole game. And Danielle is a player who played until the end of the first half of extra time. It must be known she covered almost 15km, which is an enormous amount for one player. She has the quality to do that, but not every player on the team is able to run for 15kms in 115 minutes.

Journalist: And sometimes, it's the 117th minute, a player loses the ball and you're like [imitates a fan] "what are you doing??", and they've just had to run 15 kms.

Bompastor: Yeah, for sure it comes down to individual choices but also in terms of the team, and it's elements we take into consideration during the week in training, what we want to put in place on the field. Danielle is just one example. There are explanations for each player.

Journalist: And today, for the last five games of the season, are you set on a formation or, as we know by now, there are two formations which can be used and ... Does it depend?

Bompastor: No, it's a bit of both. Both can work. In any case, as I was saying earlier for the 4-4-2, we were able for the course of nine games to perform well in it. Each formation has its advantages and disadvantages. You have to take into consideration what it will do for us, what we're able to put in place with each formation. You also have to take into consideration the dynamics between the players, how they complement each other in a 4-4-2 versus a 4-3-3, how in form the players are in that moment. They're back from international break, will we have all the players at our disposal? And then in terms of our opponents, if there are certain aspects of the game, certain elements or spaces that we can exploit, one formation might be better suited than the other.

Jule: She answered the question I was going to ask her. You see everything before the others do.

Bompastor: Not always.

Journalist: We're going to talk about the French National Team in a few minutes. We're also going to discuss next season, the team as well. Because we know, Sonia, there are a lot of players whose contracts are expiring - that's the schedule of the international play. I guess our producers really want us to talk about it now.

Jule: The French National Team is going to play against Canada, Vanessa Gilles' team, a clash between Lyon players. Selma Bacha, Delphine Cascarino, Eugenie Le Sommer, Amel Majri, Melvine Malard, Wendie Renard, those are the list of players for France. And then there is the last game for Dzsenifer Marozsan for the German National Team. Ada Hegerberg's Norwegian National Team will play against Sweden. We'll talk about it a little bit more, but she already scored against Spain. Danielle van de Donk along with Damaris Egurrola will play against Poland. Janice Cayman, who scored against Le Havre, will play against Slovenia. And Ellie Carpenter will play against England with Australia. So a lot of good games coming up.

Journalist: How do you watch the games? Are you on the apps being like "please get my player off the pitch as quickly as possible, please don't let her get injured"? How do you experience it? I'm sure you don't watch the games as a fan. You're obviously thinking of the club games. I'm sure you want some players to get playing time and others not too much. Do you have discussions with the various head coaches for the national teams?

Bompastor: Overall I want them to have a positive result so that increases their confidence both in terms of the team but also individually. When you look at the [France] game against Columbia, I was really happy that Eugenie [Le Sommer] scored a brace. Because that's beneficial for us, she'll come back refreshed, full of want and especially full of confidence. So yeah. Then afterwards obviously in the back of your mind you're crossing your fingers there aren't any knocks even if it's part of the sport.

Jule: You've had enough of those.

Bompastor: Yeah, that's it. There's obviously some trauma related to that. So you keep an eye on the players, make sure they've holding themselves well, but also that there aren't any injuries. Now there's also trying to work with the national teams as much as we can to not take any risks on the health of the players. I know that the coaches, Herve Renard in particular, will pay attention to that. He knows the players have big games coming up. It's also two friendlies, so he doesn't yet have his final list [for the World Cup] and needs to see the players in action. But the best way to not get injured is to stay focused on the sporting objective and not think too much about it [injuries].

Journalist: You brought up Herve Renard. We know there was a lot of talk surrounding his appointment. We saw you in the stands at Clermont, you were there for the French win - I was going to say the Lyon win since there are so many Lyon players, so it might as well be - against Colombia, 5-2. How did you feel about Herve Renard being appointed as head coach of the French National Team?

Bompastor: Well, I think it's good, a good thing at least to have a head coach who has experience, who is charismatic. He is obviously going to bring something new. So yeah. It's good. Now we have to let him do his job, there was a lot of attention. It's normal, he's new. I think that the French National Team has the quality when it comes to the players, and Herve [Renard] and his staff have the quality to manage this project. So yeah. It's good. It's a new dynamic, a new experience, you have to look forward.

Journalist: Have you been able to have talks with him? As we know, six Lyon players were called up. Amandine Henry is injured, she might be a seventh. We'll see. There are links between Lyon and the French National Team. Have you been able to have talks?

Bompastor: Yes, we've had talks. We also saw each other at Clermont. I was really happy the game was at Clermont actually, I was able to go see it in person. Often I have to watch them on television because they're too far away from Lyon. It's harder to travel to them. But yeah we've had talks. The idea is that the new coach launches a new dynamic, a new dynamic for certain players as well. We talked about Eugenie Le Sommer but there's also Amandine Henry. So it's good, it'll be really positive for us as well.

[Keep in mind the below question was asked before Henry refused to play for Lyon for the remainder of the season]

Journalist: Do you feel - well at the moment Amandine Henry is injured, but there is a real chance, and I feel comfortable saying this, that she might play for France again - for Eugenie Le Sommer, it's done. She was called up, she played, she was a starter, she scored two goals. For you, did you feel for your players, for some of them like Eugenie Le Sommer or Wendie [Renard], that something shifted, it changed something for them?

Bompastor: You can't really say that just yet, because they left really quickly after the game against Le Havre. We'll see how things went with them when they come back tomorrow. But for sure in each context where we start a story over from the beginning again, there is freshness, there is enthusiasm. A new dynamic is created. So the deck [of cards] are reshuffled. A page is turned. Every new story has a dynamic which benefits everybody.

Journalist: We said this morning on social media that you would be the guest on OL Night Systems. Out of all the questions we received, there was one - I can't remember who asked it exactly - but the question is relevant.

Jule: it was me, that was my burner account.

Journalist: Is being the head coach for the French National Team something you would be interested in one day? One day being the emphasis since Herve Renard just got the job. is that something you would be interested in in the future?

Bompastor: Yeah, obviously. Now as you said the timing isn't right for the moment. But it's true that to have the opportunity one day to coach the French National Team, why not? Now I did extend my contract with Olympique Lyonnais for two more seasons. I have often said it's a club I really feel good with. It's a club I love deeply [Club de Coeur]. I like to see things through and do my job well. So we'll see what the future holds. But I don't really have fixed career goals. An experience abroad could be really fulfilling both on a professional and personal level. So we'll see.

Journalist: Here at OLPlay we'd like to keep you. You win titles, you regularly come on the show, you're always available for postgame interviews.

Bompastor: We have to continue to win though. That's the most important part of the job.

Journalist: Amongst other questions, there was one about the future of the roster. That's because there are a lot of players whose contracts are expiring at the end of the season. How does that work, Sonia? Because there are simultaneous the very short term, because there are four games left to win the league and then there is the Coupe de France, and I can imagine you also have to look towards next season and start preparing for it?

Bompastor: Yes. Yeah, as you said, it's something that is ongoing. We've been working on it for a number of months. The idea is to take advantages of certain times in the season, such as international breaks, to regularly touch base and move things along. The very short term is indeed the two remaining titles that we need to win. And then over the international break we have meetings with the Board of Directors, and we talk about certain files [on potential recruits]. Some are progressing well, some are taking a bit more time, others have been closed. That's part of life at the club. It's part of the game, and having a team. What is important is that Olympique Lyonnais stays an ambitious club and will build a team that will accomplish the ambitions of the club.

Jule: Speaking of files and contract extensions, there was basically a new player, that's Ada Hegerberg who came back from injury, who scored against Guincamp. She scored while on international duty with Norway. Ada is someone we feel is as important for the players, because when you have Ada Hegerberg on the bench, it gives you a little something. It's intimidating for the opposing team. You feel that there's a shift, a different level with Ada Hegerberg.

Bompastor: No, all the players are important, that's obvious. However, when we're talking about Ada, we're talking about a world class player. These days, and you summed it up, she's a player who was out for numerous weeks [months!!!], and for her return, first touch on the ball, she scores. Now it could be a coincidence.

Journalist: It felt like a Hollywood scenario.

Bompastor: Yeah. But to be honest, concerning Ada, it's not a coincidence. And as such, as you said, she has this scoring ability, and she has such a competitive mentality. She's a real leader in the locker room, on the field, for the club. And as such she brings a lot of confidence to the locker room, and she's really intimidating for the opponents. So yeah. It's an advantage for us to have her, and I hope that she will help us through the rest of the season to win those two trophies.

Journalist: You said a player like Ada Hegerberg who was almost like a new recruit. There has already been another one for next season, Sonia. That's Melchie Dumornay. We saw the game, she made things difficult for us in the Coupe de France. Thankfully it wasn't to the point of eliminating us. But we really feel it's a player who can bring a lot to the team. She's really impressive, Melchie Dumornay. A huge recruit for Lyon.

Bompastor: Yeah. In any case it's the official recruit for the moment. And it's true it's good news.

Journalist: If there are others you can tell us. We'll take it.

Bompastor: It's not official yet. I have two names for you but I'm not going to say it live. Anyway, Melchie [Dumornay] is a player we have been following for several seasons now. She's performed really well in the Youth Competitions, the World Cup with Haiti, and she just qualified for the World Cup this summer with Haiti. So a young player with enormous potential. She's able to do everything, her vision of the game, her technical abilities, her shooting abilities, her goalscoring abilities. She's able to play in different positions. She's really an important recruit for us and confirms the club's ambitions.

Journalist: Would you say there will be a lot of turnover with this Lyon team, a bit of turnover, or is it too soon to say at the moment and we don't really know?

Bompastor: It's going to be shaken up a bit, maybe even quite a bit. There's a lot of players whose contracts are expiring at the end of the season.

Journalist: And it's important sometimes to have players who haven't won anything yet. They come in with a real desire to win titles. Or do you focus more on players who have also won in other clubs to bring that to the club?

Bompastor: In reality it's a question of balance. You need to find the right balance between experienced players who have this Lyon DNA and have won a lot, players who perhaps have won elsewhere but will bring a complementary mentality with what we already have, and players who haven't won anything yet but have this real desire to, and the academy players as well. We have the chance of having a good academy, they develop good players with a lot of potential. So there will be a few academy players who will integrate the pro group.

Journalist: That was my question, will there be any academy players. Because we've seen the results from the academy. I know that you as well as the head coach of the pro team but also as former director of the youth academy, you play close attention to the youth academy and the progress of the players. Do you think it's going in the right direction? Do you think one day we might see half of the Lyon team coming from the academy? Is that an objective you have?

Bompastor: An objective, well I guess it's part of an objective. But once again the priority is to have a team that performs well who allows you to accomplish your goals.

Journalist: Today it's too soon.

Bompastor: Yeah, you have to find the right balance. Because youth is good, it brings a desire to win and there is talent, but you also need, especially if you want to win the Champions League, experienced players who have already proven themselves at the highest level. So it's a question of balance. Now there are some talented academy players and we owe it to ourselves to integrate them into the pro team, and as they mature and get playing time will allow us to accomplish our objectives. But it's important. I'm satisfied with the results the academy is producing, and the manner in which they are working. And it's true that as soon as next season we could see some of the academy players proving themselves to the first team.

Jule: As such, isn't the best solution for the academy to send them out on loan like we did for Vicki Becho, Kysha Sylla? That allowed Vicki Becho to really get settled. Now she isn't a regular starter here but she has played. Isn't that the best solution then since the competition here is so tough?

Bompastor: There's two things. There will be an evolution as soon as next season where the reserve team will be able to compete in the third division. So in terms sporting interest, it will be more interesting for the players to play in the third division than as it is currently in the regional division. And then the solution of a loan, it's a useful solution. We had Vicki Becho, Kysha Sylla this season. Melvine Malard also was loaned to Fleury. And we feel that those loans allow them to gain in maturity [Malard is mature now?], to have playing time, to develop so that when they return to us they can progress a little faster in their careers. That's beneficial.

Journalist: Sonia, to finish this program we just have a simple and precise question. Will this season only have been successful if the league and the Coupe de France are both won, or would the league by itself be enough?

Bompastor: No, for me it has to be the league and the Coupe de France. As I said earlier, when you take into account the quality of the team, the ambitions of the club and the means we have at our disposal, we absolutely have to win the double [league and Coupe de France].

#all good love stories start in the rain #sonia bompastor

1 note · View note