KOMPANY ON RESETTING AND GOING AGAIN

Manger discusses Saturday’s Sheffield United test

Clarets manager Vincent Kompany faced the press on Thursday afternoon, to look ahead to Saturday’s home fixture against Sheffield United.

When questioned on last weekend’s late defeat to West Ham United, the manager admitted the result was a tough one to take but that the squad would show resilience and go again against the Blades in two days time.

“I think there’s no other way to put it. It was pretty cruel to finish the game this way and obviously you carry that with you for a couple of days, but I think as well one of the things we’ve always been good at is to press the reset and go again.

“There’s no other way to put it, it was a tough one on Saturday.

When asked if the late defeat had affected the players mood, the former defender replied: “No that would never happen [heads would drop]. It would never happen.

“Because you’ve got to be, maybe you can’t be as fast as the opposition all of the time, maybe you can’t be as technically gifted as the opposition all the time. But you’ve got to have all the things that make you, you, that make you stand out and I think one of the things that’s always been a part of this club, my journey here anyway, is that we’ve got a resilience about the place and that remains.”

Paul Heckingbottom’s side find themselves in a difficult position too, with just one point separating the two teams in the table.

“It’s that kind of fixture. I think there’s no need to say it any different than it is. It’s a massive game for both teams and it’s part of what you have to face in a career for the players who are going to be taking to the field that day. They’re not the easiest ones in terms of leading into but they’re the ones that make you as well. They’re the ones that you have to look forward to sometimes.”

Kompany made thirteen signings in the 2023 summer transfer window and despite taking time to gel, the manager stated it was something that needed to be done.

“It was a necessity. I don’t like gambling, it’s not in my nature so I tried to explain it a few times, but we had six players on loan. You take the combined value of just those six players that we would have to replace, from last season, I think all of them went from anything between £15-£25 million. I’m not naming specifics but that’s roughly what their market value was after being with us.

“So just to get back up to that replenishment, we had to make some investments. And then as well for us, we were always going to be in a position where you’re a little bit in that, like every team that’s come up, you’re a little bit in that in between zone where you’re pushing to become a Premier League team but as well there’s still the threat of relegation.

“One thing you can’t do is go and spend all of your money on players that you can’t resell if the worst-case scenario happened. Then as well historically for us we’ve always had a very old squad, so it was just to find a little bit of balance. I think everything we did is to try and protect some of the core of the squad that was still there from last season. Like Jay Rodriguez was playing, Charlie Taylor and at the same time try and bring in players that were between maybe 23-26-year-old range. Buying proven Premier League players was never a possibility.

“You find a way that makes sense and still that’s something that I believe makes us capable of dealing with any scenario – which is important in our case.”

The Clarets have found points hard to come by in the Premier League, however Kompany sees plenty of potential in his players and continues to look forward to watching them take to the stage week in, week out.

“There’s no hiding away from the results, there’s no point of doing it. I just have to say that the team’s been playing really well and that’s the truth. Like I say I always look forward to seeing the team play, I always look forward to seeing the team perform, they put in real fight. The players who are not playing now, there’s a lot of them that still have a very important role towards the later stages of the season.

“What I’ve seen from the team so far, it’s really falling down to results at the moment – which is a key component. But I can’t make it about much more than that at the moment.”