[url=http://www.footballfancast.com/2010/10/football-blogs/manchester-city-starlet-in-very-good-kompany:12c38pzl]Football Fancast[/url] said:
If you had said to a Manchester City fan ten years ago that they would beat the team that would go on to be champions of England and then, subsequently, reigning champions of England three times in three league games, scoring seven in the process, you would probably have been laughed out of the room. If you’d have gone on to say that there would be two Belgians in the back four of the team for the third match and that it would be a clean sheet without any real threat on goal from the reigning champions, you’d probably be told that there was more chance of Hitler rising up from the dead and continuing his plan of world domination from where he left off.
Have I just broken Godwin’s Law? Very possibly, which completely nullifies any points made in this article. You’d probably best ignore the Hitler bit, in that case.
Back in February this year, I went to Carrington, where City train, to interview for this here podcast that I’m on (did someone say shameless plug?) one of these Belgians, off the back of them both appearing at an Official Supporters’ Club meeting. It was the day after the Carling Cup defeat to Manchester United and, for obvious reasons, the mood was quite downbeat. And after I had recorded the interview and triple checked my machine had saved it, I chatted to the then number 33, now number 4, Vincent Kompany – just small talk.
One thing he said to me struck a chord. He says he’s a midfielder. And that he prefers to play in the centre of midfield rather than the centre of defence. At that time, that didn’t really surprise me – he had played the majority of the season before in midfield, under Mark Hughes, and, with new signings Lescott and Touré taking the centre-back roles for the start of the 2009/10 season, combined with his injury, Kompany found himself out of the team. Especially with how well Nigel de Jong had started the season in his place.
When he moved to centre-back and began to get a run of games under his belt covering for injuries, it became clear that he was actually the best centre-back at the club. Which is odd, given he sees himself as a midfielder and that’s the position he prefers. In fact, I’d go as far to say he’s probably the best centre-back in the Premiership.
How many others have had room to fit both Anelka and Drogba in their back pocket at the same time? He had had Torres in there earlier in the season, also, but the Spaniard was still recovering from injury, so I had given him the benefit of the doubt. Nevertheless, it takes a lot to make all three of those players look ordinary.
Perhaps it’s Roberto Mancini’s influence on the City style of play, but this season more than any the team look comfortable keeping possession. That’s one of the biggest changes between this current City side and City sides of years gone by. That and that they’re not currently flirting with relegation or promotion, given that those two scenarios made up a large part of our existence for a period of about seven years in the late 90s and early 00s.
Part of this possession-keeping City comes from having two centre-backs who are perfectly willing and perfectly able to stroke the ball around quickly. Neither one of them is too fussed about stretching their legs and opening the taps going forward, either, as Touré has proved in the past with both City and Arsenal, and as Kompany has proved when nipping in to make one of his beautifully timed interceptions, before carrying the ball into the midfield and finding a forward player. Last night’s example of that was probably he best, given that, after stealing the ball, he skipped four challenges before passing to a blue shirt.
City’s first team have conceded just three goals in their nine games this season (discounting the League Cup visit to West Brom, when the only first teamer on show was Adam Johnson). One of them was a sloppy penalty, another was a silly mix-up and the third was a cracking shot from range yesterday, from Ianquinta. Good teams start with a solid foundation and protecting perhaps the best goalkeeper in the league is perhaps the best central defensive partnership in the league. They don’t come much more solid than that.
Touré, since he has not been captain, has been playing like a new signing and Kompany is putting in displays that make you wonder if he is indeed actually human or some human-esque machine, built with the sole purpose of tackling forwards, blocking shots and winning headers. He’s so reliable and makes his challenges look so routine it’s like watching my flatmate from university defending on football games (if you’re reading this, Chris, I am getting better, honest).
When he walked into the small press room where we did the interview, he carried the air of someone wise beyond his years. He is only actually 18 months older than I am, but you wouldn’t know it to look at the way he plays and the way he conducts himself off the pitch. His reading of the game is that of someone you expect to be towards the end of their career; and the scary thing is, that at 24, he’s still only going to get better.
I recently said that Adam Johnson would be the best value for money transfer in the Premier League in the last ten years. But, given that Kompany set City back a mere £6m, I might have been wrong.
He will, I’m sure, be a future City captain. He’s got leadership qualities, something that has, no doubt, helped his fellow countryman Dedryck Boyata graduate from City’s academy and play a part in the first team. It was clear, from Boyata’s debut and subsequent appearances in January 2010, that Kompany had taken him under his wing.
After all, it can’t be easy to be thrown in at the deep end as he was and play as well as he did. Being a goalkeeper with hands as safe as a Northern Rock investment has restricted my football career somewhat, admittedly, but I’ve never had the chance to play in front of 48,000 people and I never will. Though I don’t imagine it’s easy.
Bearing in mind that he played out of position at right back for the league fixture with Chelsea, that it was only his second Premier League start, and that he was facing the free-scoring, chance-creating Malouda and the always-dangerous-going-forward Ashley Cole, he was unbelievably assured and confident. Malouda didn’t get a chance to have a shot on goal, while Cole’s role in the game was about as significant as Jar-Jar Binks’s role in the entire Star Wars saga (ok, so maybe Jar-Jar got Palpatine elected to the Chancellor position, but he wasn’t the gunner on the Imperial ship that could have shot down the escape pod with C-3P0 and R2-D2 in before that got to Tatooine, stopping them finding Luke and subsequently Obi-Wan and therefore stopping any of them helping the Rebel Alliance overthrow the Empire… *ahem* Where was I? I may have gone a bit geek there…).
The Dedryck Boyata that expertly stepped across Anelka and let the ball run out of play for a goal kick; the Dedryck Boyata that slid in to dispossess Malouda, before getting up to block from Drogba; and the Dedryck Boyata that scored a towering header against FC Timisoara wasn’t the same Dedryck Boyata that walked into the Official Supporters’ Club meeting with Kompany.
In February, he was the shy guy who looked like he didn’t really know what he was doing and like he was going to be found out as a fraud and an impostor any moment. It’s clear, though, that the two have a good relationship – when asked who their heroes were at that meeting, Kompany responded with a series of players who were at their peak as he was growing up. While, just behind him, Boyata was amusing the kids by using his eyes to point out his hero as his team-mate.
If Boyata continues to work with Kompany and take advice from him, then he’s got the potential to be another great City academy product. He already reads the game well and knows when a good tackle is needed, so there’s no reason why he can’t become a first team regular of the future.
He’s certainly learning from the right man.
