Okay, the title is a little hyperbolic, but I do truly believe Vincent Kompany is the right man for the job.
Bayern Munich is one of the greatest institutions in the history of football. Six Champions League titles, and a record-breaking number of domestic titles in Germany. Bayern is the benchmark for the top teams in Europe, whether opposition fans like it or not — why else does every top team in recent memory love comparing themselves to their contemporary version of Bayern?
Kompany is a man who coached a floundering mid-table RSC Anderlecht into the Belgian Pro League playoffs and bounced a relegated Burnley right back into the Premier League with a century of points before suffering relegation in his second season at the club. In what world does this seem like the right person to take over at Bayern?
Stay with me on this one. We’re going to go on a journey together.
The journey to and from Iolcus: Kompany’s origins as a manager
Feathers burn ‘cause I get too high, Icarus falls out of the sky.
In Greek myth, there existed the land of Iolcus, ruled by Cretheus. Cretheus’ heir-to-be was his son Aeson, but Aeson’s throne was usurped by his half-brother, Pelias. Pelias plotted to wipe out Aeson’s bloodline and almost succeeded, only failing to vanquish one individual: Aeson’s wife had secretly bore a child, a child who had been kept secret and sent away. A child named Jason. He eventually grew up and challenged Pelias to the throne, with Pelias promising to give it up if Jason was to present him with the fleece of the mythical golden ram known as Chrysomallos, known simply as the golden fleece; a task thought to be impossible.
Against all the odds, Jason and his Argonauts managed to arrive at the faraway land of Colchis where the fleece would be attainable, managed to complete the tasks required of them and managed to return with it, eventually reclaiming his throne after some — typical of Greek myth — more shenanigans involving Pelias.
Good story, but what does any of this have to do with men in shorts kicking balls at each other until the net goes ‘wooosh’?
The parallels are uncanny. The two half-brothers Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta born of the same mother: the FC Barcelona style of play, but still so different from each other. The son (player) of one being bred in another place (Anderlecht) and then returning to challenge the other as an equal (both as coaches).
To put it simply: Kompany is Jason. Kompany began his career outside of England where his legacy primarily lies, and then returned to England, making a name for himself and making it to the top flight with Burnley. Kompany challenged the league but unfortunately, flew too high and came crashing down as Burnley’s squad just was not built to play the kind of football he wanted them to play against teams of Premier League calibre. Kompany must now embark on his journey out of Cretheu-err, I mean England. The bulk of Jason’s myth consists of that journey away from where his original legacy lies, maybe Kompany can do that too, and then return to England to cap everything off?
Kings of the underworld, powerless above: Why Burnley struggled this season
It is frequently a misfortune to have very brilliant men in charge of affairs. They expect too much of ordinary men.
This section will not delve much into the actual kind of football that Kompany wants to play, but rather what happened this season. In short, Kompany sets his teams up to play a positive possession-based style most similar to that of Guardiola’s Manchester City. Kompany achieved this radical change at Burnley in a very short period of time, aided by a transfer window which saw a squad overhaul overseen by Kompany himself. Burnley got all the right profiles in place for Kompany’s style of football, and the results were immaculate as Burnley charged to a hundred point season, winning the Championship in dominant fashion. However, this would not translate to the Premier League.
While Burnley had the right profiles in terms of the players’ decision-making and strengths relative to their other attributes, the simple fact of the matter is that the players at Burnley are not of the quality required to play Guardiola-esque football in the Premier League. In the Championship, Burnley were a team that on paper were already one of the top teams in the league, and Kompany’s style of football only accentuated those strengths to make them a force. However, in the Premier League, Burnley’s uphill battle in terms of player qualities led to a failure of the original systems in place and Kompany’s attempts to adapt were unsuccessful (at least he attempted to adapt to his squad rather than insisting on a style of play that was clearly not working… looking at no one in particular). At Bayern, Kompany will find himself in a similar situation to his first season at Burnley in terms of the quality of his team relative to the other teams around him, but without the stylistic clash that the Burnley squad brought upon him. Burnley’s squad was amongst the best in the Championship, but wasn’t built to Kompany’s style. Bayern’s squad is on paper the best in the Bundesliga, and is well-suited to Kompany. Another bonus? Unlike at Burnley, there is no upper division to crack into where Bayern are suddenly minnows, they are one of the biggest fish in whatever pond they step into. Kompany does not need to fear a lack of quality as Bayern are already at the top in terms of playing personnel.
Cautioned by Orpheus: How Kompany set up Burnley
Have you ever walked your enemy down like with a poker face?
The Athletic’s Michael Bailey said it best when he called Burnley the ‘Manchester City of the Championship’ — and later referred to Manchester City as the ‘Burnley of the Premier League’ during the 2022/23 season, Kompany’s first in charge.
Burnley in the Championship were defined by their possessive structure. Extremely patient and well-structured and rehearsed, Burnley were effective at breaking down teams with an asymmetrical system that Kompany tweaked with to adapt to areas where opponents saw spaces to exploit. Burnley’s 4-3-3 adapted into multiple different shapes like a 3-2-5 and 2-3-5 or even a 4-2-3-1, with players changing roles and the spaces they occupy in response to opponent’s defensive structures. It’s hard to pinpoint a singular style due to Kompany’s tendency to change things against different opponents, but the general style followed the back-four morphing into a back-three, with the right-back tucking in and the left-back moving upwards. The back-three and double-pivot form a five-player block that move up and down the pitch together while the other players form the offensive lines, occupying all five vertical sections of the pitch. Of course, there are a lot more nuances to the tactics that change when Kompany changes the lineup or faces an opponent with a different formation but this how the team generally sets up. There will be a separate article on how a Kompany Bayern could look coming soon, as I think an in-depth look at the setup warrants far more words than could be tacked on to the end of this piece.
What do you guys think of the potential hiring of Kompany? Have I finally gone mad or is this yet another in the series of ‘Cyler says something outrageous and then it turns out to be bang on’? Let’s hope I haven’t gone from a flawless record to missing twice in a row (those Davies comments still haunt me).