- 3 years ago
Burnley boss Vincent Kompany on Fulham challenge, tough festive fixtures, possible January transfers and turning form around
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00:00 Vincent, good afternoon. Are you well?
00:02 Yeah.
00:03 How was training? It looked a bit wet and windy out there.
00:05 Just a bit.
00:06 Yeah, it was.
00:09 Even to our norms, it was really windy today.
00:12 But snoods, gloves and bobcats are all OK by you by the sounds of it.
00:15 Yeah, but it's being, you know, staying grounded.
00:19 That's the difficulty in a weather like this.
00:21 But it's good.
00:23 Fulham to come, then Liverpool, then Villa.
00:26 Yeah.
00:27 You probably couldn't have picked a tougher three games, I wouldn't have thought, over Christmas.
00:29 What are your thoughts going into this busy festive period?
00:32 It's a tough fixture list.
00:34 But, I mean, the sense is that we've been facing this week in, week out for us in the Premier League.
00:43 So I don't think we can make so much more about it than it is.
00:47 But, yeah, the fixtures will, the fixtures remain solid and difficult, of course.
00:54 What have you learned from last week? Because a lot of people made a great deal of play about your defending from set pieces.
01:01 Has that been a priority for you this week?
01:03 Yeah, but these type of things, they go a little bit in.
01:09 It's like every game creates its own story a little bit.
01:14 So this is a story of the last game.
01:17 But I think for us it's more in general to, you know, you can be in games as much as you want.
01:25 But those phases are key moments in a game.
01:28 And whether it's a transition for you or a transition against you, whether it's a set play,
01:33 they're all part of the things you have to be good at to be in the Premier League.
01:36 So it's come under different forms for us this season.
01:40 But the main thing for us, again, is to have the belief that we have enough chances ourselves.
01:47 So those key moments go both ways, of course.
01:51 I guess you might hope if there are chances, they'll fall to Lyle Foster, who everybody, I think, was delighted to see him back in action last week.
01:58 What's his situation at the moment?
02:01 Yeah, I'm still very cautious in the sense that, you know, as part of his rehabilitation, if you like, this is just a step.
02:09 You know, his natural environment includes football and the goal is to put him back in his natural environment.
02:16 And so I'm a little bit careful with that.
02:18 But, you know, playing makes him happy.
02:21 And when he's happy, he's able to do really good things for us.
02:25 Obviously, we don't just rely on Lyle, but it's good for us to have a key player back, of course.
02:32 Are you any wiser about what his intentions are with regard to the tournament in Africa?
02:38 Yeah, I've answered this pretty, I think we've been pretty conclusive on this.
02:44 So he can't go to the African Cup of Nations.
02:48 And I've made it very clear that he loves his country, loves playing for his country.
02:53 And I consider the tournament an important tournament because myself, I'm an African coach.
02:58 I want this tournament to be really on an equal level with the Euros.
03:01 That's the importance he has to me.
03:03 But for his own benefit, for the human Lyle Foster, he needs to stay in a smaller environment,
03:11 an environment where he still has support of the experts that got him through the first phase and ourselves as well.
03:17 And it's nothing more than looking after the human being.
03:20 But if he wants to go, he can't persuade you otherwise?
03:23 It's really not my decision.
03:26 In the end, you have to even dissociate me from this whole thing.
03:30 It's a discussion between the experts and the player himself.
03:35 And I think he's not concerned too much about anything other than his own health at the moment.
03:41 That's it.
03:42 And like I said, don't be surprised to see him play for us because that's actually part of his process of getting back to a normal life.
03:52 What's the mood like generally in the camp?
03:54 I'm led to believe you had a players' Christmas get-together yesterday.
03:58 Does that help with morale?
03:59 Is that crucial?
04:00 Yeah.
04:01 Did Krabbe leak that information?
04:03 No.
04:04 No.
04:05 No.
04:06 No.
04:07 Yeah.
04:08 Look, it's a tradition.
04:10 Always done it.
04:11 You've always done it?
04:13 Yeah.
04:14 I don't know if it was done before.
04:16 We've done it last season and I've done it, I think, every year for the last 10, 15 years.
04:21 And it just gives the time to... Also for the families, this training ground is not the easiest of access for everyone.
04:31 So every now and then for players and families to come together in the place where they work and have a little bit of a different angle to it, I think it's healthy.
04:40 It's good.
04:41 And you've got a busy period.
04:42 Does that include Christmas Day?
04:43 Are you working Christmas Day?
04:45 Yeah.
04:46 I'm fairly used to that as well, though, because I've been in this league for so long.
04:51 And, yeah, it'll be probably still a glass of champagne as well, allowed on the day, but watching videos and preparing meetings.
05:01 And in terms of what comes after Christmas, we're obviously getting to the halfway stage now.
05:05 We've got the window coming up.
05:07 Are you in a bit of a dilemma with regard to January?
05:10 Do you stick with the squad that you've got and hope that they'll improve sufficiently?
05:15 Or do you twist and think, "I'm going to have to buy"?
05:19 I think it's fair to say it's a little bit of a dilemma.
05:24 The truth is that our squad will still improve, just because a lot of these players are having their first year in the Premier League and they are improving.
05:34 But whether you can go out there in January and get the right type of players to turn it around and then at the same time not expose yourself to something completely criminal if you go down, it's a fine balancing act.
05:50 But I think in the end, it's the market will dictate if the right opportunity is there, I'm sure we'll be able to do something.
05:58 But we can't go chasing something if it's really...
06:04 I mean, we've been in this position before.
06:06 We know how to handle it.
06:07 We know how to turn things around if we need to.
06:12 So the main thing for us is to stay competitive.
06:16 That's the main thing.
06:17 I guess at the end of the day, you wouldn't want to go down without buying any fresh players in January and then think to yourself, there will always be that regret in the back of your mind.
06:26 Should I abort in January?
06:27 Should I try to give us a better chance?
06:29 I don't think in hypotheticals like this.
06:34 First of all, my goal and my only ambition and thinking is obviously that we're staying up.
06:39 It's to win the next game.
06:40 And if it's not the next game and not the game after that, to win the games when they come.
06:45 So that's my goal.
06:47 That's my job even more.
06:49 All the rest, it's more about...
06:54 I don't think you put yourself in a position where you regret any of these things.
06:58 Because in the end, if you make a decision, there's also a valid reason.
07:01 The regret we could have is if we put the club into a position where it's beyond repair.
07:08 The fact that last year the club went down and back up was in itself already a small miracle.
07:14 I think you have to count your blessings sometimes and just make sure that we're continuously improving.
07:21 My goal, I'll tell you now, my goal is that within three or four years' time, this club is not just a team that is surviving,
07:30 but a team that can thrive in the Premier League.
07:32 Whether as part of the journey there's difficult times or not, that's irrelevant.
07:38 That's what we're building for.
07:39 That's hopefully the sense that people can get as well.
07:42 Thank you.
07:44 Rebecca Welsh becomes the first female to referee a Premier League game this weekend.
07:52 Your game, obviously. I wonder what you make of that achievement?
07:55 I think it's certainly a benchmark. It's a milestone.
08:02 I think she'll take great pride, I suppose, as well in having done it herself.
08:08 But as well, I think that a lot of women in general, but in the game as well specifically,
08:14 will see this as a way to achieve at the highest level.
08:20 I'm always pro any kind of extension anyway, because what it does is it just widens the pool of talent.
08:27 I do think we need access to all the available talent to have the best referees in the best league in the world.
08:34 Sam Allison as well on Boxing Day, the first black referee since I think you, Raya Rennie, in the top flight in 2008.
08:42 Again, a ridiculous amount of time, really.
08:44 But again, is that a sign of things changing, improving?
08:48 Yeah, I think so.
08:51 But they're like little milestones.
08:53 I mean, what you have to look at is not necessarily always what it means for the person itself.
08:59 It's just behind it.
09:00 There's a lot of people who don't think it's possible, don't think they can achieve it.
09:05 And by seeing those examples, we'll say, you know, I could be the next one.
09:08 Or maybe I could do something positive.
09:11 And to give access to opportunities but dreams, that's important, I think, at every level of society.
09:22 Are we on the way to where this becomes not newsworthy?
09:25 It's not a story.
09:26 It's just what happens.
09:29 Yeah, hopefully it'll get there one day.
09:32 But I do think we're still a little bit away from that, you know.
09:37 And what I would love to see in the news is, you know what I'm thinking, you know.
09:43 I would love to see boardrooms announcements where, you know, you see, you know, multi-colored, multi-ethnical boardrooms
09:55 where people make decisions about what we're going to discuss during the week.
10:00 At this moment in time, what do we hear is always, this paper will write left, this paper will write right.
10:07 And then this one is pro, this one is against.
10:11 I'd like to see those pro and against in the same boardrooms and actually come up with a balanced report of things.
10:18 That's what I believe in.
10:20 Just a word on the game as well, Fulham, obviously, who've had a couple of big home wins and they've got past Everton.
10:26 I wonder what you make of what Marco Silva's doing and the challenge that they'll face at the weekend?
10:31 Yeah, I mean, I think a lot is made about, you know, because we always mention the Brightons and Brentfords
10:39 who have really consistently built over a period of time to a very successful model.
10:46 But I think Fulham in their own way are one of those clubs as well.
10:51 I think, you know, the profile of the players have been very carefully selected.
10:57 You can see that there's a lot of cohesion as well in the squad now.
11:01 I think they've actually went down and up and they came up stronger, it looks like to me.
11:06 And a lot of the players now are between the age of 26 and 30 and really ready for this league.
11:13 And I've had their experiences throughout their careers.
11:17 So, yeah, it's a healthy squad. It's a good-looking squad.
11:23 And definitely one of the clubs who deserves a very positive mention for the work they've done over the years.
11:30 Thanks, Jade. Scotland.
11:32 Just going back to the referee on Saturday, would you expect or do you think player behaviour might be different
11:40 towards a female referee than a male referee?
11:43 I don't think so. I wouldn't allow it to anyway, but in general it shouldn't.
11:50 Whether that's a good thing or not, I don't know.
11:53 But in the end, it's going to be, you know, we want to win our games.
11:57 The opposition team wants to win their games and it's about the players on the pitch.
12:02 It shouldn't really be about the official or the manager.
12:05 It should be about the players and in that sense, I can't see why we wouldn't have that sense of normality.
12:12 Of course, the story is big and deserves to be bigger.
12:16 But once the whistle blows, I think every actor on the day will want the players to be highlighted.
12:25 You've said to us, and I think watching your team play over the last few weeks,
12:29 certainly away from home and to a large degree at home, you feel like you're a much more solid side at the minute.
12:35 Do you feel more confident at the minute with going into performances, going into games?
12:41 You're giving yourselves the best possible chance to try and get a result?
12:45 Yeah, but the game has to be won in both boxes and there's absolutely no...
12:52 But I think sometimes the reason why I made such a big point about being in games,
12:57 having the flow of a game being consistent, whether you're on the ball or off the ball,
13:02 and it looks like a team performance, and that's been the case for a while now for us.
13:07 But at the end, when you've done that, then you give yourself a right to start talking about those key moments,
13:14 whether it's set plays, whatever it is, moments in the game that decide games,
13:19 moments in both boxes that decide games.
13:22 I think that's where at the moment we've got to find our mojo and go and get, I think,
13:30 what you deserve based on the effort you've put into this sport.
13:33 It's not an easy league.
13:34 These other players are in the Premier League as well because they know how to do that.
13:40 But there's no reason why we can't make those steps as well.
13:43 It is a pretty tough three games coming up for you, isn't it?
13:46 Would you take three points now from the three games?
13:50 Let me start with Fulham first.
13:52 We'll see.
13:54 I don't even think that far.
13:56 I get it. It's a tough schedule.
13:57 I can predict the best-case scenario and the worst-case scenario, just like you can.
14:04 But at the end, I can tell you that whether it's the best case or the worst case,
14:08 my goal will still be to think that our team can win a lot of games after that.
14:14 I stay quite calm with this.
14:16 But I'll have the whole of Christmas to worry about what comes after.
14:23 We often see Christmas, and obviously you know the Premier League better than I do,
14:29 Christmas and the New Year being a really important part of the season.
14:32 Did you view that as a player, or were you always of the opinion that even if you had a shaky
14:36 Christmas/New Year period, you could still be fine with games in February and March?
14:41 It depends where you are in the table.
14:44 Whether you're top of the table, mid-table or survival.
14:47 Survival and top of the table are much more similar in the fact that you want to make use
14:55 of these periods to do something, to maybe use a little bit of the chaos of the festive period
15:05 to get results where you're not expecting to get results.
15:08 That's what top teams do, and that's the mentality I feel being in a survival team.
15:13 I think when you're mid-table, what happens, and I've been in...
15:16 My first year was mid-table, for those who remember.
15:19 You prioritise a little bit more your Christmas dinner.
15:24 You're allowing yourself to go to bed a little bit later, and you might even sneak in a glass of champagne.
15:31 Just a toast.
15:32 But you've done all of that, and then you arrive and play against a team that plays for survival
15:38 or plays for the top of the league, and it almost always goes wrong.
15:41 That was my experience year one in England.
15:44 I know the difference, but we don't have to concern ourselves with that because we're on the survival side.
15:50 I'm not too worried about my players taking it very seriously.
15:53 It's the second time you've mentioned champagne on Christmas Day.
15:56 I'm pretty sure last year you said to me you were going to have a Bennion hot on Christmas Day.
16:00 A Bennion hot, yeah.
16:01 Because you knew it was a local...
16:03 I was ill for two days after that!
16:07 You said before about wanting that, you're pretty confident in three or four years' time
16:12 you can see the football club being established in the Premier League.
16:15 That's the goal, for sure.
16:18 You're still quite confident and optimistic that you're going to be front and centre of all that?
16:24 You still have that belief? Can you envisage yourself being in that position?
16:28 I think I'm literally paid to envisage myself being in that position.
16:34 It's literally my job.
16:37 Everything that's happening now and what happened last year as well,
16:43 I think it's part of how we get to this idea.
16:49 I've just mentioned that my job involves as well, right now in the short term,
16:54 to only think about one single thing and it's to keep this team up.
16:58 Give this team a chance to be up and with the players as well,
17:01 to give them a chance to help them to improve.
17:06 And then we just mentioned as well the team at Fulham who came back really strong.
17:11 So my scenario is the one where we find a way to find results,
17:19 because this team, like I said, has still got a lot of improvement left.
17:24 But every scenario is part of the things that...
17:30 Getting into the Premier League and with the gap in finance between us and everybody else when we come in,
17:36 I'd be an absolute fool to sign a new long-term deal,
17:40 not thinking that this could be a scenario.
17:43 And you remember four months ago, you were all pestering me with questions,
17:47 whether I was staying or going, staying or going.
17:50 I didn't answer any of them, didn't want to get involved into it.
17:54 So even now I'm not going to get involved.
17:56 I'm still focused on the same thing.
17:58 Good luck.
17:59 Thank you.
18:00 Hi Vinny, what's your opinion on the festive schedule here in England?
18:04 Are you a fan of it?
18:05 I love it.
18:06 Are you the same as the players as well?
18:08 Yeah, I love it.
18:09 Yeah, I've always loved it because it doesn't make sense.
18:14 And sometimes I do have this...
18:16 And it's a romantic feeling of England sometimes.
18:19 It's the country of common sense where sometimes things that don't make sense get appreciated by everyone.
18:25 And it doesn't make sense.
18:27 Obviously, you've got Christmas period, your families are travelling in,
18:30 and you've got so much pressure of people in your house.
18:33 And if you see even half a smile, you're worried that that's going to have an effect on your game the next day
18:38 because you're in a different mindset, right?
18:41 And yet it's the most special period of the year for me.
18:45 I think you get tested physically, you get tested mentally.
18:51 You never see as many happy faces in a stadium as during that period of time
18:55 because people are generally in a positive mood as well.
18:59 I remember doing... For some reason, I always had Swansea away on New Year's Day.
19:05 Yeah, exactly.
19:07 In the one hotel of the town where obviously they were holding all the festivities
19:12 and with an early kick-off most of the time as well.
19:15 So why, I don't know.
19:17 But I got used to it and I've come to enjoy it.
19:20 On that subject, does it bother you that you're travelling down to London two days before Christmas?
19:24 Yeah. No, I'm fine with it, really.
19:27 And I hope that... I wouldn't allow the team to complain about it either.
19:32 It's part of the culture.
19:34 The thing you have to always keep in mind is a little bit the balance of the schedule.
19:37 It's like, are you playing against a team who's at the same tough schedule?
19:43 And that's where if there's a disparity in that, that's where it could be a little bit like, come on.
19:48 But if we're all going through the same, then it's fine.
19:50 Just bring it on.
19:52 Did it take some getting used to when you first came over to England as a player to get used to that schedule?
19:56 Yeah, like I said, in the beginning...
19:59 And especially if you come from abroad, you're still calling your mates and whatever
20:02 and they're all on holiday somewhere.
20:04 And where did they go this time of year? Jamaica or these kind of places.
20:08 And that's where they are.
20:10 And you're literally training like today with however many layers on.
20:16 And preparing for probably the busiest schedule of the season.
20:23 But yeah, I have to say though, when you've paid your dues in the championship,
20:29 everything after that's easy though.
20:31 It feels like Christmas on many weekends.
20:35 You've given us your views before about managers losing their jobs.
20:38 What do you make of Steve Cooper leaving Nottingham Forest and Nuno coming in?
20:43 Yeah, look, I guess no one can hold on to a job for life.
20:52 That's not the point.
20:53 But I'm always manager's union.
20:57 I'm not going to make any distinction in this one.
21:00 I believe in consistency.
21:03 I believe in setting out a vision and shared responsibility.
21:09 But I have no doubt that with the quality of the manager that he'll be in a job very soon
21:16 because someone else will not have the consistency.
21:19 And it is like it is.
21:20 But in the end, yeah, I've seen the work he's done in the championship.
21:24 I had the chance to speak to him as well.
21:27 Before we got promoted, you asked me who are the people that I phoned.
21:30 Was it Pep?
21:31 And I told you I called the people who were in that position before.
21:35 And he's one of the managers that I spoke to before I started the championship.
21:39 And his advice was very valuable.
21:41 So I wish him well and all the best for the future.
21:44 And I have no doubt he'll find the right job again.
21:48 Finally, Cork, Ramsey, Goodmanson were missing last weekend.
21:52 Are any of those likely to be available for them?
21:55 We're hopeful.
21:56 Maybe out of those three names, one of them less so, but we're hopeful.
22:01 hopeful.