Vincent Kompany reflects on Brentford defeat, Burnley’s morale & relegation concerns ahead of Bournemouth clash

The Clarets head to the South Coast on the back of a one-sided 3-0 defeat to the Bees last weekend, which was their seventh defeat of the campaign already.

It leaves them languishing in the bottom three on just four points, one point and one position above this weekend’s opponents Bournemouth who have yet to pick up their first win of the campaign.

When asked about the mood in the camp following last weekend’s dire defeat, Kompany said: “Morale is good. I think we did everything we could to make sure we factored in these moments we’re going to try and utilise to make steps forward.

“Of course you take one on the chin, because our performance was not good enough. It has to be said, it has to be shown and confronted.

“That’s always a tough thing, but once you’ve done it you do feel like you can grow from it.

“At that point you stop talking and you look forward to the game to do your talking on the pitch now.

“It’s not a concern in terms of thinking it’s something that will stay in our team, but the realisation the things that made us good last year, in the moment you lose it you get exposed. I’m talking reactions, second balls, being alive, the duels and that’s before we even get to tactical, technical qualities.

“Without the basics, you can’t compete in this league. We normally pride ourselves on those but it wasn’t good enough against Brentford.

“It’s nothing I see staying in our team though, there’s too much emphasis on being the opposite of that.”

Kompany is also well aware he can continue to say the right things before and after games, but ultimately it’s down to his players to issue the right response on the pitch.

“Even if it was just me on my own, I’d do everything I can to convince as many people around me that we’ve got a great team,” he added.

“You show it on the pitch, so when you take one on the chin like we did last weekend, there’s not much to say. I can say we’re a good team, but we’ve got to show it.

“I’m not naive enough to not put a Brentford performance into context, it’s a tough place to go to. But in the end we haven’t given ourselves a chance to be in the game and that can’t happen.”

While Kompany continues to show a calm demeanour, he admits to having concerns - although not about his side’s current direction.

He said: “As a manager you’re always concerned. I’m not concerned about where we’re going, to the contrary in fact, but as a manager your role is to look at the threat of the wingers, the threat they have from set-pieces, the threat they have when they press, we’re always looking at what it is that makes the opposition strong.

“But I also look at what makes us strong and from that side I’ve just got every desire to get the best out of this team.“They deserve this attention from us and this support. Luckily my journey with Burnley has not been written a couple of weekends ago. We’ve been through a lot and we have to use this in the way we’ve used it in the past.”

When asked if he has any worries about Burnley’s current plight, Kompany concluded: “I don’t know why this word has to even be mentioned. We just go about our business, we work hard, we make sure we don’t ignore the reality of what has happened and we go to the next game.

“That’s the beautiful thing about football, you always have another game no matter what, until you don’t.

“The next game could be your best game, so how do you prepare mentally to have your best game? That’s more important.”