Burnley boss Vincent Kompany on the challenge of facing Brighton and Hove Albion and the battle to avoid relegation from the Premier League
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00:00 Vincent, good afternoon, good to see you.
00:02 Good to see you.
00:02 You well?
00:03 Yeah, good, good.
00:04 Not good news to start the weekend with a touchline ban and a fine that we heard about a couple of hours ago.
00:11 What's your reaction to that double punishment?
00:14 Fair enough, fair enough.
00:18 I said it before, I totally acknowledge that what I said in the moment did absolutely not reflect what I thought about the official in terms of questioning the integrity of someone.
00:29 I think that's too harsh and it's not what I meant.
00:32 So, fair enough.
00:34 The two are separate issues.
00:36 I can have a complaint about the level of refereeing.
00:38 I think that's a fair complaint.
00:40 But in the moment the emotions got the best of me.
00:44 So, it's fair.
00:45 It's unfortunate as well because I want to be there for the team.
00:51 In that sense, it's probably something that on the day will annoy me probably.
00:59 How hard is it to keep the lid on the emotions?
01:02 No, I mean, look, it's a game of emotions.
01:07 You have the passion and the touchline.
01:09 You build up to the game to have so much belief when you start the game.
01:13 But you know as well, especially in this league, that you can't give an inch to anyone.
01:19 The season's been a long season.
01:21 So, you do carry as well events of the season into your appreciation of the game.
01:27 So, yeah, it's a game of emotions.
01:30 But at the same time, I think the most important part is to just be able to recognise if you've made a mistake and then move on.
01:39 I think we're all trying to do what's best for the game as well.
01:42 And how difficult does it now make your job on Saturday?
01:48 It's unpleasant, but I have full trust in the staff that I have with me.
01:53 I have full trust in the players and their ability to rise up to the challenge.
01:59 Ultimately, on matchday, the most important people are the players.
02:03 And that's what I need to reflect on today.
02:08 On a happier note, 38th birthday this week.
02:11 Many happy returns.
02:13 Thank you.
02:14 Did you have a good day?
02:15 Did you get many presents?
02:17 It was a fairly normal day, yes.
02:19 Presents? You still get presents at 38?
02:22 Don't tell me you didn't get any presents.
02:25 I didn't know you were supposed to get presents at that age.
02:28 Well, it's just a good year.
02:30 It's not Christmas, is it?
02:31 So, you still get presents at your age?
02:35 Of course I do, yes.
02:36 A little list. Don't you put a little list together?
02:39 Yeah, well, it's something I'm going to bring back at home.
02:42 I'm going to at least ask the question.
02:45 Because, I don't know, it's not been that type of presents.
02:50 It's been a shared time with the family.
02:53 Important that you have that, though, isn't it?
02:55 Especially with the challenging season that you're having.
02:57 Yeah, but I think, having been in football for so long,
03:02 I think it's something you develop over time.
03:04 I hope anyway that anybody, any manager especially,
03:07 is able to do that for himself.
03:09 Because you have to have that balance.
03:11 In my case, I can really work the hours that I do,
03:16 only because I have also a safe place, if that makes sense.
03:20 So, it always gives that extra little bit of energy that you need
03:25 to stay as well on track during the season.
03:27 How difficult, how draining have you found this season?
03:30 Because it looks like it's been hard work.
03:32 No, it was tougher last year in the Championship.
03:37 Just more games. More games, more games.
03:40 I mean, how many midweek games did we have this season?
03:43 Six? I think we had 16 or something last season.
03:46 And they were all condensed because of that World Cup
03:48 they put in the middle.
03:50 So, it was maybe an exceptional year in terms of the calendar.
03:54 Maybe that was bound to happen anyway.
03:57 But the draining, I think it's...
04:00 If you feel that you're going in a direction
04:03 and maybe people that you're working with don't want to go with you,
04:05 I can see how that can be draining.
04:07 But that's not been the case one single day of my season here.
04:11 So, no, it's been...
04:13 There's been frustration at times because too often have we come...
04:19 I look back at the last six games and I'm like...
04:22 The six games where we could have had in each game
04:26 a serious claim to have the three points,
04:28 let alone a draw, like three points.
04:30 And you don't reward yourself and that's frustrating.
04:34 But in the end, the job in itself,
04:37 I'm in an unbelievable environment and it's credit to the club.
04:41 Is there a feeling that when you look back at those six games
04:44 that's ultimately going to cost you come mid-May?
04:47 I think the whole season, when you're down to where we are,
04:51 the whole season kind of has an impact.
04:55 Anything that's happening in the season.
04:57 And it's been fine margins so many times.
04:59 And I don't think we're the only club.
05:01 When I look at the other teams around us,
05:04 whether it's Sheffield or whether it's Luton,
05:07 and obviously the amount of times that they're in games
05:10 and the game is so close.
05:11 And then the difference is a couple of times
05:13 it's landed inside the post
05:15 and sometimes a little bit more outside the post.
05:18 But it's been this type of season where at the beginning,
05:22 I think we found it...
05:24 And I'm talking very early doors in the season.
05:26 We found it difficult to adapt quickly.
05:28 But since for a while now we've been in every game,
05:31 it's just the frustration you ask about what's been the season
05:34 is after a game to feel like we could have done more.
05:38 And what I wanted to add to this to finish is that at times,
05:42 and that was my frustration probably with my overreaction at times
05:46 with the officials as well,
05:48 is there's been times where it's been our own fault,
05:51 our own mistakes, and sometimes it's not been our fault.
05:54 And that's unfortunate.
05:56 I guess a lot of people looking at a situation now,
05:58 six games to go, six points from safety,
06:00 will think it needs something close to a miracle to get out of that.
06:04 From your time in the game, has it got to that stage now?
06:07 Or do you realistically still think six games to go,
06:11 still a lot to play for?
06:12 I wouldn't call it a miracle, but it needs wins.
06:18 It needs points.
06:19 I mean, we're not necessarily able to look forward to any game
06:27 and say this game we pick and choose, this game is the one.
06:30 Every game is tough for us, but every game offers the opportunity.
06:33 We don't also look at any game as a game where we can't win
06:38 because of the type of games we've played.
06:40 So what we need is that difference between earlier in what we've had
06:47 this season and the next six games is, well,
06:49 if you have a good performance, you have to have three points.
06:52 That's the difference.
06:53 A lot of people are looking ahead to potential ends of season
06:56 after the latest points deduction for Everton.
06:59 And I know you've talked about that in the past,
07:01 but in Everton's latest case now, the appeal process may go
07:05 beyond the end of the season.
07:07 So whatever final position you're in might still be subject
07:11 to appeal by somebody else.
07:13 What do you make of that situation?
07:15 No, I'm probably not.
07:18 It's just the way I'm wired.
07:21 I do very little to try and spend energy or time, you know,
07:27 consumed on things I can't control and I really can't control that,
07:30 nor should I have a say in it, really.
07:33 It happens between whoever are the relevant authorities for us
07:38 and the clubs that you mentioned.
07:40 And I have absolutely nothing to comment on this other than
07:44 I want to see what we can do on the pitch in the next six games.
07:47 But surely you'd want your destiny sorting out one way or the other
07:50 by May 19th, wouldn't you?
07:52 But I think of it this way, like the discipline you have to impose on it.
07:59 I've known nothing different.
08:00 So when I signed for Burnley, there was still, I think it was like
08:06 on the last day, it could be both scenarios, right?
08:09 I've never been in a mindset where you don't have to plan for two leagues,
08:12 which is crazy to think about.
08:14 But when I joined, I had to still plan for Premier League survival
08:18 or championship.
08:20 When we were in the championship, we still had to plan for championship
08:23 or promotion.
08:24 And now when we went to the Premier League, we had to do it in reverse,
08:26 Premier League or championship.
08:28 So it's not as difficult an exercise as you would think
08:31 because we live in that reality.
08:33 But you've talked about emotion.
08:35 I mean, the emotion of getting relegated and then having that decision
08:38 changed a few days later, that almost sounds inconceivable.
08:43 So I can tell you now that if it comes to that point and we're out
08:49 of the building here on the Monday following the last game of the season,
08:52 I can tell you that I won't switch my TV on and someone will just have
08:55 to call me when the decision has been made.
08:58 And I'll be probably on the beach somewhere waiting until someone
09:01 makes a decision, but not caring in the meantime one bit.
09:04 It'll be a little bit of holiday and then at some point I presume
09:09 I'll have clarity.
09:11 But in the meantime, because we plan for both scenarios,
09:14 it's actually not that difficult for us.
09:17 And just a word on Brighton.
09:18 I mean, they've still got plenty to play for.
09:20 How difficult an opposition are they for you?
09:24 They're a unique opposition in the sense that without necessarily
09:29 being classed as one of the big six teams in this league,
09:34 they've managed to establish themselves with all the habits of the top teams
09:40 in terms of they force opposition teams to adapt.
09:45 And for a team like Brighton to be able to demand that from even
09:48 the bigger teams, that's pretty exceptional.
09:51 So that means that it doesn't matter whether the top six teams
09:55 play against them or whether they have to adapt their game
09:58 to be able to play against Brighton.
10:00 And that's a pretty special situation to be in.
10:05 I'll give an example for us.
10:07 When we were the best team in the championship last year,
10:10 everybody would have to adapt to play us.
10:13 So in the Premier League, none of the teams have wanted to do that
10:16 because they won't accept it because they expect to have the better players.
10:20 And it took them a while to do that.
10:22 I'm not saying it happened overnight, but within a space of, what,
10:25 five or six years, they've managed to demand this.
10:27 And that's pretty impressive.
10:30 Thanks for your time. Good luck.
10:31 Thank you.
10:32 Thanks, Pete. Let's go to Gary now from Lancashire.
10:35 Vincent, you've got a little six-game season to go now.
10:39 Are you in must-win territory as a team now?
10:42 Yeah, I think we've been in must-win territory for much longer than that.
10:48 And I think as well it transpired.
10:50 I think the energy we've had in games,
10:53 the drama in the games,
10:55 because it comes associated with some drama as well
10:57 because you're just constantly on a knife edge.
11:01 So we've been living that, just not been having the rewards for it.
11:06 But I expect no different in the next six games.
11:10 Are you the sort of manager that sets targets for your teams
11:14 in terms of, "We've got this group of games.
11:16 We need this many points from it"?
11:18 It's a very simple target, win the next game all the time.
11:22 It's the cliché saying that's actually the most real.
11:28 I mean, it's as valuable now when you're fighting for survival
11:34 as last year when you're fighting to be the best team.
11:37 It's a really good habit to have.
11:40 It's difficult to maintain in terms of mentality,
11:43 but it's how I'm wired anyway.
11:45 So that's something that comes fairly natural for me.
11:49 You've alluded there to Brighton.
11:51 They've established themselves as a top eight, top ten,
11:54 top half Premier League team now.
11:57 In terms of the style of play,
11:59 what sort of challenge are they going to bring you on Saturday?
12:02 I think the challenge has been dissected by so many football pundits
12:07 and experts over the years.
12:09 They're a team who have absolute...
12:16 I think it's been said by others before anyway,
12:20 but they're able to find...
12:22 Usually you can decide to line up a zonal press
12:25 and then if you line up a zonal press,
12:27 they will find the positions in between the lines
12:29 and they will then create overloads
12:32 or find a free man between the lines.
12:34 If you line up with a man-oriented press,
12:38 they have movement patterns to create space,
12:40 to go in behind, but also really good control of the tempo of the ball
12:45 and the angles they need to make to even under man-oriented press
12:50 be able to retain possession.
12:52 They have a goalkeeper who's essentially an outfield player.
12:56 When they lose the ball, they recover the ball really quickly
13:01 and when they have to defend,
13:04 I think they're able to try and do so
13:08 that they recover the ball as quickly as possible.
13:10 But to be able to do it when...
13:14 Like I said, it's not happened overnight.
13:16 It's taken them years to do that,
13:18 but they are where they are now
13:20 because they've had this idea probably for a long time already.
13:23 There's been a lot of talk about Brighton,
13:26 about them being a really well-run club.
13:28 They've announced healthy profits this week
13:30 and there's a lot of talk around them
13:33 held up as an example of how to run a football club
13:37 and their recruitment has been widely applauded as well.
13:40 Managers and players that they brought through.
13:43 How important is it, especially for a club like Burnley,
13:46 how important is that recruitment to get that right
13:49 to ensure or help ensure some success?
13:53 Yeah, recruitment is a component, right?
13:58 So I think because I was lucky,
14:01 I played against Brighton when they were still playing
14:05 at the University Stadium at the time
14:08 and there was talk of them building a stadium already then,
14:12 but I think they already started the building of the Amex Arena.
14:16 But you couldn't have said in that moment in time
14:21 that they were going to become this Brighton,
14:23 but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened there already
14:26 because someone at that time decided to invest already
14:29 in building the arena,
14:31 invest in the strategy that you described.
14:34 So at the very end, at the very centre is always,
14:37 I think, recruitment and the quality of your players.
14:40 But I think at the very beginning there is commitment,
14:43 investment over years before any returns.
14:48 And then eventually when you have good players,
14:52 the age bracket of the players that they select them at
14:55 always gives them also big resale value,
14:58 which allows them to grow the natural size of the club.
15:01 So many things I could go into detail,
15:03 but the point is there's a coherence that allows them
15:07 to be where they're at today.
15:09 Now you talk about Burnley,
15:12 we definitely have coherence in what we want to do,
15:15 but we're at a completely different level
15:18 and phase of that journey for us.
15:23 Because obviously the stated aim of your chairman and yourself,
15:27 you clearly want to try to bring younger players in
15:29 and develop them in a similar manner to what Brighton have done.
15:32 You say they're further down that track.
15:34 But with younger players, bringing them in and developing them,
15:37 is there an issue there then where you get a little bit
15:40 more inconsistency from younger players?
15:43 Yeah, but the strategy is not play younger players.
15:49 That's not the strategy.
15:51 The strategy is a decision that is made by the club,
15:54 by the way, about whether with the finances available
16:00 that we have, which is still not...
16:03 Our finances don't allow us to be out of the top three, right?
16:06 So if you made a league of what the clubs could spend,
16:09 you'd probably give massive credit to how Luton
16:12 have approached this season.
16:14 But otherwise, Luton, Sheffield, Burnley,
16:17 that's about who you would find in the bottom three
16:20 of the financial league, right?
16:22 So then you have to find a way to get out of it.
16:24 So you can either go the experience route,
16:27 but the way the league has gone nowadays,
16:29 you know, is you have to have athleticism
16:31 and the wages you have to pay and stuff.
16:33 And if these guys don't succeed, you have no resale value
16:36 because they're already on high wages.
16:38 If you get relegated, I'm sorry, I'm going into detail.
16:41 I might as well answer the question fully.
16:43 So if you get relegated, these guys,
16:45 they won't accept, for example, like a reduction in pay
16:50 if you go to the championship.
16:52 They won't. They'll say like, "Well, no, I'm a Premier League player.
16:55 If we go down, like you saw it out," you know?
16:57 And all these kind of exposures, that's a strategy you can take,
17:00 but it could also tank you.
17:02 But it's definitely not going to grow you anyway.
17:05 The other one is when you have a balance between--
17:08 because about the balance, experienced players
17:10 and some young players, the profits that you mentioned
17:14 from Brighton, they're not generated by, you know,
17:17 having, you know, what is it, 500 weddings at the Amex Arena.
17:21 It's because they sell players for a very high value.
17:24 And that fine balance between performance
17:27 and being in that development phase,
17:31 it's a difficult puzzle to solve,
17:34 but we didn't really have any intermediary options, you know?
17:40 But you look at the progress of our team at this moment in time,
17:43 how it's performing, it's really for us still an urgent goal
17:50 to try and get this team to roll into a next season
17:52 in the Premier League because we can see how well they've performed.
17:56 Yeah, going on from that, it must be--
17:59 or how good is it for you to be able to call on
18:01 slightly more experienced players like Charlie Taylor,
18:04 like Josh Cullen, like Aron Mureic to come into the side
18:08 because they must surely add to that younger group
18:11 with their extra experience.
18:12 Yeah, but the key thing is these guys,
18:14 they've still got the athleticism.
18:16 So Charlie is still a very good athlete.
18:19 And what I'm trying to say is the way the league
18:21 is developed now, even to my time,
18:24 you could have all the experience you want,
18:26 you go and stand on that pitch with all your experience,
18:28 but you can't run.
18:29 Good luck.
18:31 It's just impossible.
18:33 It's like the entry fee you have to pay for this league nowadays.
18:39 It's like just the entry fee is that.
18:42 And everything else won't matter if you're not able to do that.
18:45 And so that's why I'm saying that level of experience
18:48 mixed with the reality of the Premier League,
18:52 you can either grow it in your club or you can go and buy it.
18:55 But it's really expensive.
18:57 It's really difficult to do that.
18:59 Just going back to the last couple of games
19:01 and looking forward to this one then,
19:02 Lyle Foster has played a slightly different role in recent weeks.
19:07 Can you just give us an idea of what your thought process is in that?
19:10 Because a wider role, you've got other players that appear
19:14 to be a bit more of a natural fit.
19:15 What's your thought process?
19:17 I really didn't even think about the fact that he was doing that.
19:21 Our players have always been flexible.
19:23 Always.
19:25 It's a perception from the outside,
19:27 but if you look at his position in possession,
19:30 he played exactly the same position he's always played.
19:33 But it's a perception thing.
19:39 It's 100% part of something we've always done with our players.
19:45 To be flexible, to be able to be in different roles.
19:47 He's done it already 15, 20 times since he's been with us.
19:51 Every player has done it.
19:53 But I don't control the perception.
19:55 It's an error to watch, to see it that way.
19:59 But I don't control that.
20:01 Just finally from me, you did talk a little bit about the number of plans
20:06 that you've got to have when you come into a league like the Premier League.
20:08 You've got to plan for the worst-case scenario,
20:10 plan for the best-case scenario.
20:12 Has the worst-case scenario, Burnley ending back up in the Championship again,
20:17 has that plan had to be a bit more detailed
20:20 and a bit more in focus in this last few weeks?
20:23 Not by me anyway.
20:25 My role is the next six games.
20:28 Your plan, I've always said the same thing,
20:32 you make it at the beginning of the season, you review it,
20:35 maybe in the international break or maybe in January,
20:37 but in the meantime, because you've planned it,
20:41 the next best plan is to focus on the next game.
20:44 You beat Dario Sche this weekend.
20:49 How big a miss will he be?
20:51 Did the club ever consider peeling that red card against Everton?
20:54 I can't say that we would have done...
21:00 I can't say that we thought we would have had a big chance to do anything with that.
21:03 I think the main thing for us is he's going to miss one game,
21:07 someone else has to step up.
21:09 Obviously he was on a positive trend, so that's unfortunate for us.
21:13 How's the squad looking?
21:15 Any players likely to come back this weekend?
21:17 I don't think there's anybody else that's going to miss.
21:23 We should have a pretty good squad, other than Dario missing.
21:30 You've been without James Trafford for the last two games.
21:32 How's he doing? What's his situation?
21:34 He was just ill, so he's come back now.
21:38 By the looks of it, he looks in good spirits.
21:41 JJ Watt has been talking this week, saying he's quite happy to take the flak on referees.
21:48 He's quite happy to be the voice for the club on referees,
21:50 so you and Alan Pace don't get in trouble.
21:52 Are you happy with that arrangement?
21:54 Honestly, you can't keep hitting me with quotes from America.
21:59 I didn't even get to meet Krabbe.
22:03 That's one in England, actually.
22:04 He might have been on the overlap today.
22:07 What's that in England?
22:08 I don't know. I can imagine there's a little bit of tongue-in-cheek in there.
22:13 My job is fairly simple. It's focus on the team that we've got.
22:19 If anybody else has anything else to do, it's always a good thing to have a team work,
22:25 but I'm not a part of that discussion.
22:27 You've been linked with a player from PSV called Shrandi Sambo.
22:32 Anything you could tell the fans about that one?
22:34 No, not yet. I think there's a time and a place.
22:38 The moment the season's over, then we can start talking about recruits for next season.
22:42 I think that's fair.
22:43 I just had one on the goalkeepers in terms of Muric after what happened,
22:55 his mistake in the Everton game.
22:57 How has he been since then and the attitude going into this game?
23:03 Fine, solid.
23:04 It's not just for goalkeepers, it's for every position on the pitch.
23:11 It's part of the game. I remember it happening to me.
23:16 You've got to pick yourself up and then just focus on the next game.