There is no doubt that this has been a tough season for Burnley manager Vincent Kompany, with the team currently sitting 19th in the Premier League table. Their recent run of form has seen them pick up just one point from a possible 15 across their last five matches, but Kompany continues to take each game as it comes as Burnley seek a result against Bournemouth on Sunday.
The Clarets come into this weekend off the back of a disappointing 3-0 loss to Crystal Palace and Kompany, previewing this weekend’s fixture, said: ‘The first 24 hours is not a good 24 hours, and then after that, [we were] back to work and back to looking at this game and everything this game can offer us.’
Whilst it has been a testing period for the manager, he insisted: ‘It is also part of the job I like – not the challenging side of the result, but the necessity to problem solve, the necessity to either inject belief or you know give those players something to help them, that is something I am passionate about.’
This weekend, Burnley host Bournemouth who travel to Turf Moor having been knocked out of the FA Cup by Championship high-flyers Leicester City earlier this week. They too have experienced a testing run of games, not picking up a win in their six games in February.
When asked if this was a good time for the club to be taking on Bournemouth, Kompany said: ‘We’re respectful of the fact that they are very good opposition, a very good side, but you have to have this ambition in any of the games you play, for us anyway there is no other way, that is what you have to do. We’ve learnt that the Premier League has no easy games and it’s going to be no different on the weekend, of course.’
Embed from Getty ImagesLooking at his squad ahead of Sunday, he said: ‘I thought we were suffering more than other teams, but we’re not, we have the same problem, we have a lot of injured players.’
The 37-year-old was able to provide an update on Jordan Beyer, who hasn’t featured for the Clarets since 2023, stating: ‘The latest I heard he was progressing well, with those injuries though I can’t put a time on it.’
Attention then turned to the identity of his team this season in comparison to the dominance of Burnley last season, Kompany said: ‘Last year, we were able to impose to most teams what we wanted to do, better teams can impose things on you, but then it’s whether you accept it or not and for us every single game we try and have a variety of ways to be in the game to have the chance to have a result.’
Having been a player in the Premier League for Manchester City for many years, Kompany was asked how his experience as captain of his former club has impacted his managerial style, he said: ‘I think if you would have asked me a year ago, I would have simplified it to ‘I was a captain’ and therefore you have to lead by example. If you stop believing as captain, why would you expect your team to be any different, especially the younger ones? But I think now having lived it in that way, I think it goes much deeper than that.’
‘I was explaining to colleagues not so long ago, it goes to the core of who you are, as far back as the experiences of my Dad and the experiences of my Mum, the hardship they went through, the experiences of my brothers and sister…’
‘You have to believe and then it doesn’t come forced, it’s really genuine, I have that and I don’t need many more people to believe, I’m fine on my own, but I do.’
Kompany addressed the connection with the fans, after he went across to the away end at Selhurst Park last time out. He stated: ‘We respect the hearts and minds of the people involved with the club, whether it’s fans or everybody else and other than giving our best and this is what we always do, this is the most important thing.’
‘The question was asked after the game, ‘Did you go and apologise?’ No. No way. We work too hard. If you work hard and do your job, from morning to evening with everything you’ve got, you give it your all, you don’t go and apologise.’
‘But being respectful? 100 percent, and being together? Yes, and just believing in the good times coming again, I would love nothing more than going over to the fans and doing the fistbumps again. That is how I visualise Sunday by the way, hopefully. I’m being respectful of Bournemouth by the way […] but these are the things you have in your mind and how you have to approach it.’
Burnley will host Bournemouth this Sunday for a 1pm GMT kick off.
