Arteta: I expected Kompany being a great coach

For three years, Mikel Arteta coached Vincent Kompany at Manchester City, and during that time, the Belgian won two Premier League titles.

Now that Kompany is managing Burnley, the two will square off at Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

With 101 points in the previous season, the Clarets easily won the Championship, but they are now facing much greater challenges in the Premier League. With just one victory thus far, they enter this weekend’s match in 19th place, although Arteta feels they could have won more.

“After reviewing their past performances and outcomes, I can see that in certain cases, they deserved much more,” the manager remarked.

“I don’t think it truly represents what they should have received in the games. However, that is the challenge this competition presents. Sometimes the caliber of the opposition is so great that you don’t receive what you deserve. However, I find it amazing how they have changed the club and how they play, and how they play with the conviction that they do.

And he gives Kompany a lot of credit for that change. The former Belgium international defender took over at Burnley at the beginning of the previous season after leaving Manchester City in 2019 to take a player-manager position at Anderlecht. He won the Championship with a ten-point cushion in his debut season at Turf Moor, losing just three of their 46 league games.

Regarding Kompany’s performance, Arteta remarked, “I’m not surprised at all.” “I believe that even as a player, he was already a coach. He was a leader, very bright, and adept at navigating a wide range of situations.

He was quite knowledgeable about the game in the locker room and beyond. He was a multilingual man who immediately gave off the impression that he would be an excellent coach. He has obviously already had a very successful career. It was amazing what they accomplished last year, especially how they went about it. Everybody in this Premier League faces challenges. Everyone has their moments of happiness, and I’m glad to see him doing what he’s doing.”

Mikel, who faced Kompany at Everton and Arsenal, continued, saying that during their time together at City, they had talked about management. Indeed, we did. He was getting his badges, I was there already, and we talked a lot about football. He had a strong connection to the team and the coaching staff. He was going to be a coach pretty soon; you could tell that right away.

“I believe there are many commonalities between our goals for video games. I truly respect what he’s done, but I believe our methods and approaches are definitely different—hopefully.”