Meet the new boss, very different to the old boss. Vincent Kompany’s reign at Burnley began with a win forged by new players and a new ethos. His Burnley promise to be the opposite of Sean Dyche’s side and, in some respects, Kompany has already brought the right kind of change. Burnley’s first league win last season came on 30 October. Victors in July now, albeit in a lower division, they could enjoy their first taste of the Championship since 2016.
There was an immediate endorsement of Kompany’s overhaul. The winner came from one of his nine signings, Ian Maatsen, the other outstanding display from another, in Josh Cullen, Dyche’s gameplan drew on neither a marauding left-back nor a midfield playmaker and Kompany benefited from both. But Dyche’s beloved 4-4-2 was jettisoned, 4-2-3-1 adopted and, unlike in previous years, when the Burnley supporters chorused “anti-football”, they were being ironic. Some of their passing was imaginative. Much of it was excellent.
