Burnley favourite Clarke Carlisle delivers glowing verdict on Vincent Kompany's first season at Turf Moor

The Belgian guided the club to the Championship title in his first season in charge, amassing 101 points along the way and losing just three league games.

But it’s not just Burnley’s runaway success that has impressed Carlisle, it’s also the manner in which they’ve done it with their swashbuckling style of play.

Kompany has managed to oversee a radical change in Burnley’s approach, which had been cemented under the 10 years of Sean Dyche’s stewardship.

“I was very short-sighted about what Vinny could achieve,” the 43-year-old former Claret told the Burnley Express.

“It's utterly amazed me how he's managed to transform that club, not just into a winning club over the course of the season, but he's transformed it from a Sean Dyche football club into a Vincent Kompany football club over the course of the season and made it effective.

“When you have a playing style that's ingrained in you, which is what Dychey does, and it's very much defensively minded, with solid bases, which is what he formulates his plans on, Vinny is the total opposite.

“The way they were playing football out from the back, the whole style was an anathema to me. It showed the change and progress that's happened within the game because that type of football was always limited to the upper echelons of the Premier League.

“The way that he has created that, and the quality of performance that he's consistently got out of them, I would back them to stay up in the Premier League.”

Due to Burnley’s unique style of play, Carlisle is confident the Clarets will avoid relegation in their first season back in the top flight.

According to the former centre-back, who made over 100 appearances for the club between 2007 and 2012, a consistent level of performance is “utterly essential” to survive in the Premier League.

"It really is phenomenal and that's why I'd back them to stay up,” Carlisle said of Burnley’s style of play.

“He's brought through young players and he's coached them so that instinctively and automatically it is their revert to type, it's the way they play, there's no doubt in them that it's the right thing to do whether it's 10 yards out or 50 yards out from their goal. There's no doubt in their mind.

“Whether things are flowing, or whether they're up against it, these players will continually play the way that Vinny wants them to play.

“One of the most fundamental needs for any successful side is intuition, they always know where the other person is going to be, because they train on it day in, day out. If you've got a side that instinctively plays that way throughout the thirds of the pitch, no matter who the opponent is, then there's a certain amount of reliability that comes in that performance.

“That is utterly essential to survive in the Premier League.”