Vincent Kompany's honest appraisal on Burnley Football Club's difficult start to life in the Premier League

Speaking ahead of the internationa break, Kompany reflected on whether he was still enjoying life in the Turf Moor hotseat.

“I didn’t sign up in the job just for winning the league with 101 points,” he admitted.

“I said it in the very first interview I did, if you sign up as a manager there’s very few people that win. It’s usually the same guy and he’s bald like me.

“You have to put things into perspective, there are very few managers that win trophies so you have to do it because you love the job.

“Part of it is making your team better and getting results.

“You learn so much about people, in moments where it’s a little bit tough. It’s so valuable.

“The mistake people make is when it’s tough, they close their eyes because they don’t want to look anymore. But that’s the moment where you take your information and build your resilience and strength that takes you to the next level.

“I will never ever let myself be drawn into a situation where I don’t look at the context of this league and who we are and where we are.

“Our goal is to outpunch and be in this league, but there is no scenario where it’s not a tough road. So we stay calm and we put in the hours.”

Asked on whether he and chairman Alan Pace were still on the page, Kompany was equally honest.

“I say it every time, we communicate a lot within the club. The chairman to myself, myself to the coaches, the coaches to the players and so on and so on. We all communicate a lot,” he added.

“The questions that relate to the chairman’s thoughts, you have to ask the chairman, not me. We’ve never set unrealistic expectations, we’ve set out a vision of what we want.

“It’s a desire, but it’s not an unrealistic scenario that doesn’t involve us being fully aware, because we prepared for every scenario and that should give us some comfort in terms of keep going, working hard and improving what we need to improve.”