Kompany matched style of play, but Burnley’s statistics do not look good

Simple statistics, like the ones that showed Burnley was one of the most exciting teams in England last season, are frequently what make football so fascinating.

In order to guarantee their Premier League return at the first attempt, Vincent Kompany’s team amassed 101 points, scored the most goals in the Championship, and gave up the fewest goals.

Sadly, Kompany’s position in the top league table after 11 games becomes much less favorable. They have four points, one win, eight goals, and 27 goals against, placing them in second place from the bottom. Things are starting to get concerning because of the trip to Arsenal on Saturday.

Burnley is the first Premier League team in England’s top division to have lost all six of their home games and to have not kept a clean sheet. Relegation-threatened clubs need to be playing well at home. The three relegated teams from the previous season won the fewest home games combined. Everton, who managed to remain up on the last day, won six, one more than Leeds and Leicester. Burnley needs to win nearly half of its remaining 13 games at Turf Moor in order to achieve six home victories.

For Kompany, who reinvented style following the Sean Dyche era, everything appeared to be going well in the previous season. Few teams in the Championship could match the thrilling, attacking football that was played. The acquisition of Nathan Tella, Ian Maatsen, and Taylor Harwood-Bellis on loan was a crucial component of the team’s success, but it remains to be addressed why none of them returned for the Premier League season.

Despite some growing pains, Kompany is committed to the passing out from the back that worked so well for him the previous season and is confident that Burnley will advance in the league with this approach. The only team with more goals given up is Sheffield United, the worst team, but switching to a more defensive strategy would be an admission of defeat.

With Kompany receiving backing once more, there were fifteen summer arrivals at a total cost of almost £90 million. In addition to local recruits, players from Belgium, France, Switzerland, and Spain arrived as part of the goal to locate value in Europe. It has turned out that signings from Genk, Troyes, Basel, and Espanyol are not prepared for the Premier League.

The only goalkeepers who weren’t under 25 were backup goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux and Nathan Redmond, a free agent from Besiktas. Purchasing young players with potential in the hopes of selling them for a profit is a part of the approach. Scouting has a method, but trying to beat the market by locating uncut diamonds is dangerous. It makes football black and white by eliminating the gray areas.

Experience counts in the brutal Premier League. Only Redmond, Michael Obafemi, Sander Berge, and Dara O’Shea were among the summer arrivals who had experience in the Premier League. The pace and pressure of playing against Chelsea and Manchester City have been too much for the younger players to handle. Lucas Koleosho, a 19-year-old, is a valuable asset who has made an impression since coming for £3 million, but promise can only go so far in what is perhaps the world’s hardest league.

“There is nothing you can do because it is November; your mindset and focus right now have to be that the players you have are the ones who will do the job for you,” adds Kompany. “We have a fantastic hiring team that closely monitors everything we do and has constant conversations with us regarding what needs to be done to advance, but it’s a never-ending process.”

After making an impression in League One at Bolton and winning the Under-21 European Championship with England, James Trafford left Manchester City with great expectations, but he has struggled to adjust to life at the higher level. Despite Aro Muric being one of the team’s best players last season, Kompany felt it was worthwhile to spend £19 million on a goalkeeper who turned 21 last month. Many believe that Muric ought to play the lead.

It’s debatable if Burnley needed to spend so much money on a goalkeeper given the amount of summer targets they passed on. Their deficiencies were evident at left-back, where Maatsen turned down a return and no substitute was found. In the first three league games, Kompany started Vitinho, Hannes Delcroix, and Connor Roberts in the position, but none of them is a specialized left-back. Charlie Taylor, the sole senior left-back for the team, was eventually called upon by Kompany to take on the position, despite the fact that Taylor hadn’t been included in matchday squads until September.

Kompany will suffer from the loss of star striker Lyle Foster, who is undergoing treatment for a mental health condition, but the team deserves praise for how it is handling the situation. “You have to put the human first in situations like these,” Kompany stated. Within the demanding realm of elite athletics, the Belgian recognizes the need of empathy and comprehension. Beyond strategies and acquisitions, management entails other aspects, and Kompany demonstrates all the qualities required to spur transformation.

Since Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta couldn’t relate to what lied ahead, Kompany’s buddies were left off the list of managers he approached for help, even though he knew a relegation struggle was likely. According to the criticism, Burnley needs “consistency” to survive—a quality they are now lacking. The season will not be defined by what occurs on Saturday; rather, it may be by the home games that follow against Sheffield United and West Ham.

Burnley’s current position in the standings is no coincidence; neither this season nor the previous one was. It will require more than just cash and astute management if they hope to change that. They will take time, which is a football statistic that’s frequently disregarded.