Vincent Kompany Must Adapt Burnley FC To Avoid A Norwich City Situation

Unlike almost half of the teams currently in the Premier League, Burnley FC manager Vincent Kompany’s planning for life in the top flight has begun.

While Nottingham Forest and Leicester City, to name just two, sweat on whether it will be Luton Town or Liverpool they are lining up against next season, Burnley has the luxury of knowing it is Anfield rather than Kenilworth Road it will be visiting.

A 1-2 away victory against Middlesborough secured an immediate return to the top league with an incredible seven games remaining.

Should the side accumulate a further 11 points, the grand old Championship trophy will be installed in the Turf Moor cabinet.

“We still don’t have the silverware, but we have made memories,” said Kompany after the game.

“There is already one milestone that has been achieved, and one achievement that cannot be taken away from us.

“I am really happy for the club and for everybody involved. This is special. I still have to say that the best moment will be if we get the trophy, and that is not the case yet.”

Earning the Championship title is not the end of Kompany’s ambitions for the Clarets, next season as a Premier League team he fancies throwing down the gauntlet to the division.

“We want to compete. I don’t think we have to fear that. We’ll embrace it,” the former Premier League-winning captain added.

Given how Kompany’s Burnley has taken the second division by storm it is tempting to think a place in the middle section of the Premier League awaits. But history shows it can be foolish to believe simply because a team is too good for the Championship it can immediately adapt to the division above.

‘Naive’ Norwich City

Back in the 2018/19 season, England’s second tier was set alight in a similar manner to Burnley by a team from East Anglia.

After a couple of middling seasons in the division, Norwich City made the bold decision to hire a coach from outside the typical pools of talent.

Many doubted Daniel Farke, previously the manager of Borussia Dortmund’s reserve team, could adapt to a league where local knowledge was believed to be essential.

But, once he got his feet under the table, Farke’s Norwich City blew everyone away.

Playing expansive possession-based soccer, the club was promoted to the Premier League with 94 points and close to a century of goals.

The question was always whether the attacking approach which had proved so successful in the Championship would work in the Premier League.

Norwich City, it was frequently pointed out, would be entering a division where standards were higher and mistakes punished more ruthlessly.

Farke, however, refused to go against his principles and adapt his team to something else.

The results were disastrous, Norwich City suffered a litany of heavy defeats and rarely looked like staying in the Premier League.

When relegation was predictably confirmed, Farke denied it was a result of poor judgment.

“We didn’t start naive,” he told the club’s supporters, “we analyzed what you need to do in order to be successful as a promoted team.

“We analyzed the past twenty years and even looked abroad at which teams are successful after promotion.”

Farke argued that, whilst the initial adaptation might have been harder, sticking to his principles would reap dividends in the long run.

“Teams who are promoted with a brilliant offensive plan and a possession-based side find it difficult to be successful in the first season because on a higher level, they’re not that outstanding anymore.

“They have to do what’s not that much in the DNA of the players. It’s more about defending to be solid. The offensive players who were praised that much in the season before then need good defending behavior.

“These types of teams struggle a lot in the first season. Once you’re then capable of staying in the league, then the second and third years are much easier. It was the same 30 years ago and will be in 30 years in all other countries.”

The German added that trying to change the style too much was a greater, costlier risk.

“We knew that we were a possession-based side praised for our offensive style. We knew that there were two solutions,” he continued, “one was to forget about our style and principles and change everything, trying to park the bus and defend everything to get clean sheets and hope for God’s help up front.

“If we wanted to do that we’d have to change our squad because we planned it with possession-based players, not great, tall, physical defenders, but more technical players. To completely change your style, you need to invest a lot of money. That was no option for us,” he explained.

Fool Me Twice, Shame On You

Farke’s well-crafted and compelling argument was accepted by both fans and club officials.

He had built up a great deal of goodwill from that first fantastic season and so, despite overseeing a relegation, Farke was kept in charge.

It was a faith that proved well-founded because, during its second season in the Championship, the club demonstrated the same level of brilliance as was present in the coach’s first full campaign.

Another 90-plus points were earned along with the Championship trophy.

The problem was, when Norwich City returned to the top flight the second time, the same troubles began plaguing the side again.

Farke’s possession style, which focused on being the dominant offensive side, was just not possible and heavy defeats left the club rooted to the bottom.

With the side in danger of being cut adrift, the German was not allowed to see out a full season and was replaced by the far more pragmatic Dean Smith.

Although the Canaries rallied under the former Aston Villa manager, it was ultimately not enough and they returned to the Championship.

The key to Kompany’s success has been an overhaul in playing style and a tactical approach not dissimilar to Farke’s.

With promotion secured he faces a similar dilemma to the ex-Norwich boss; does he stick or twist?

An early warning of the risk which lies in trying to play the same way as a division up came for Kompany a couple of weeks ago against his old club Manchester City in the FA Cup.

The bravery of Burnley in its attacking intent was admirable but led to a humiliating 6-0 defeat. It had the hallmarks of one of the so-called ‘naive’ Norwich City performances with led to the club’s successive demotions.

The good news for Burnley is Kompany has plenty of time to think about what he is going to do.

As the former Premier League winning captain pointed out post-game: “We don’t have to be ready now. We’re still in April, so we have another three months to make sure that everything is,” he said.

Burnley fans will hope he uses that to make the right choice.