Chelsea look unstoppable - and Sonia Bompastor's only just getting started! Winners and losers after Sandy Baltimore's stunning FA Cup final display secured the treble on a rare Wembley day to forget for Man Utd star Ella Toone

What a fantastic first season at Chelsea it has been for Sandy Baltimore. After arriving from Paris Saint-Germain last summer, the France international has had to adapt to a first move abroad - which includes a different style of play, a different culture and a different language - as well as to a slight positional change. Having largely excelled as a winger at home, Bompastor has regularly asked Baltimore to play at left-back in England, something that she has steadily grown impressive accustomed to.

In recent weeks, though, Baltimore has been given more freedom in attack, as was the case at Wembley. Starting on the left of a front three, and in a 3-4-3 shape that meant there was less emphasis on her defensive duties, the 25-year-old picked up pockets of space all over the park and was a devastating match-winner in a tight contest, scoring two and assisting the other of Chelsea's three goals.

What's exciting for the Blues is that Baltimore should only get better. She's spent this season doing all that adapting, she had a spell out injured and she's still so young. She could be a huge figure in this team's quest for European glory in the coming seasons.

Ella Toone has some incredible memories at Wembley. It was here that she broke the deadlock in the final of the 2022 European Championship, helping England's Lionesses to secure a first major tournament triumph, and it wasn't long after that moment that she made her mark in the Women's Finalissima at the same venue, also scoring in that success for her country. Indeed, just 12 months ago, she was a stand-out performer when United won a first major trophy on the women's side in a 4-0 FA Cup final win over Tottenham.

On Sunday, though, she wasn't called upon from the start by Skinner as the Red Devils came out to defend that title against Chelsea. The United boss explained that he was trying to find a "balance" whereby his side could match the Blues "physically" in midfield, but he would also have "the opportunity to change the game" by bringing on a player like Toone later.

It will have been disappointing for the England international, though, who has a fantastic record at this ground with four goals scored and three trophies lifted. That she was unable to impact the game when brought on at half-time, to prevent United from succumbing to defeat, will only add to that feeling.

Last season was Aggie Beever-Jones' breakout year, when she firmly asserted herself on the Chelsea first team after coming through the academy and developing through a couple of loan spells. This season, she has consolidated that, transforming into an even more important player for the Blues, to the degree that she was a starter in a major cup final for the first time on Sunday.

It was Beever-Jones' first appearance at Wembley, in fact, but she hardly looked daunted by the occasion. Throughout the first half, the England international was Chelsea's liveliest player, consistently proving to be the most dangerous outlet in attack with her smart footwork, anticipation of play and direct approach.

Sadly, none of that ended in a goal for her here, but her performance was a reminder of the progress she has made this season alone. That is exciting for the Blues next season, but also for England, for whom she could be a game-changer at this summer's Euros. She is certainly set to go into that tournament with real momentum.

This game felt like an opportunity for Maya Le Tissier. In her final game of her first season as United's captain, aged 23, the stage was set for her to make a serious impression at Wembley, to continue the remarkable form she has shown all season-long, and with England manager Sarina Wiegman watching. Despite Le Tissier's excellence at club level, she's not been afforded many opportunities with the Lionesses - at least not at centre-back. Lift the FA Cup as United's captain, and surely she couldn't be ignored.

Sadly, it didn't go that way for her. After struggling when these two sides met in the 2023 final, Le Tissier had some iffy moments against Mayra Ramirez's physicality and directness, and then she was beaten to the ball by Catarina Macario for Chelsea's second, killer goal. She's still had a fantastic season, but this was a reminder that there is room for growth before that translates to England level.

It's not been easy for Catarina Macario as of late. After being one of the best players in the world when she helped Bompastor's Lyon win the Champions League in the 2021-22 campaign, the United States international was then sidelined for almost two years after a complicated rehab from an ACL injury. As such, it's understandable that Bompastor has been patient when it comes to building Macario back up to those world-class levels at Chelsea.

Sunday was a reminder of that talent she possesses. The forward made a real impact off the bench at Wembley, with her header to make it 2-0 a fantastic example of her game-changing abilities. After a well-managed season when it comes to her loading and minutes, it should whet the appetite for next year, when Macario could be more ready to take on that game time and be the difference more often - as she was for Bompastor a few years ago.

"We are trying to get her in that place," the Chelsea boss said this weekend. "Today, she just showed how much quality she has and how much talent she has as a player. I think we know exactly how we need to work with her. She's on the same page. She knows exactly how we want to work with her. I think that's the most important - and I'm confident, because I think Cata is a player who really wants to work hard, she wants to go in the right direction and she's really ambitious. If you want to lift more trophies, you have to have quality and talent in your squad, and Cata is one of them."

When Hayes left Chelsea last summer, Skinner believed that there might be an opening for other teams in England to win the domestic honours on offer. "The days of winning five in a row, I think, will be gone," he said after Hayes' Blues battered United 6-0 at Old Trafford to seal that fifth WSL title in a row. "Congratulations to Emma, I wish her all the best in the U.S. That leaves a space and hopefully we can fill it."

However, the early signs are quite the opposite. Hayes only won the treble once in her 12-year stint as Chelsea boss - and Bompastor has come along and done it straight away. That's while avoiding even a single defeat in domestic competition all season. The Blues' only losses this term were against Barcelona and Manchester City in the Champions League, with the latter a 2-0 result in the first leg of their quarter-final that was overturned via a 3-0 win at Stamford Bridge.

Bompastor is always stressing how competitive the WSL is and a hunger from her and the club to conquer Europe could well sidetrack Chelsea from affairs at home. But the way this season has panned out suggests the chasing pack - of United, Arsenal and City - are not getting much closer. And, in the words of Skinner, "they're only going to invest [more]".

The United boss is determined to figure out how to close the gap, as will be the case at City and Arsenal too. But it's certainly not going to be easy, that much is clear.

When Bompastor deployed her team in a 3-5-2 system on the final day of the WSL season, it felt slightly significant, as something not seen with Chelsea all year, but more like an experimental one-off rather than something she was preparing to dramatically switch to for the FA Cup final. That wasn't the case, though, with the Frenchwoman tweaking to a slightly different 3-4-3 on Sunday which helped the Blues secure victory over United.

It could've backfired significantly. If Chelsea had fallen short, her press conference would've been full to bursting with questions about why she chose to change to something so unfamiliar so suddenly. Indeed, if her players didn't execute the plan to perfection - and that would've been understandable - it could've cost them the trophy.

"That's why being a manager is sometimes tough and why I mention, when it's working, all the credit to the players," Bompastor said on Sunday, when presented with that alternate reality. Of course, that didn't transpire, with it instead sealing an incredible treble and allowing the 44-year-old to become the first non-British manager to win the Women's FA Cup since 2016.

Then, she hinted at it being something that might be more common next season. "We knew, after the Liverpool game, this is the way we wanted to play today. That's for different reasons - and I'm not going to give you all the details, because I want to keep some secrets for next season," she added. "We started to work from Tuesday until Saturday on this system and all the details, defensively and offensively, where we could hurt Man United. It was not a lot of differences from Liverpool, but still some differences that were really important for us to cause more trouble to Man United."

Against the Reds, Chelsea used a front two of Baltimore and Beever-Jones. Here, those two were out wide, with Ramirez through the middle. Knowing there were wing-backs and three centre-backs behind them, the former pair were freed up in attack and able to cause plenty of problems, while the defence was relatively untroubled for most of the game.

It was a system that tapped into a lot of the Blues' strengths, be it depth at centre-back, the specific traits of their full-backs or the tenacity of the midfield. Perhaps it's something that might suit them more when they return to Champions League action next term as they look to bring that elusive trophy to Stamford Bridge.