A little help from my friend Vinny
CITY put in a superb Champions League display on Tuesday night as they saw off Club Brugge 5-1 to move into second place in Group A.
It was a typically dominant performance from Pep Guardiola’s side, although as the City boss admitted after the full-time whistle, he wasn’t the sole mastermind behind the win.
“I’m sorry, I have a secret. I spoke with Vinny Kompany, he gave me some good tricks”, Guardiola told a post-match news conference.
“I got info from him because he knows Brugge better than me and how they are. He said be careful with this, they have good association in the final third, they have a fast central defender - but normally that happens.
“I think we made a really good performance in many aspects. I know perfectly how they are.”
City’s former skipper was able to offer Guardiola such advice as he is the head coach of Belgian giants Anderlecht. He took charge of the club in the wake of leaving City in 2019 and, after a tricky start to life on the other side of the white line, he looks to be doing well.
Now that Pep has revealed the identity of his secret agent, the inevitable question needs to be asked: should Kompany be considered as a future City manager?
On the face of it, hiring Kompany to succeed Guardiola in a few years time makes sense.
He and City share a bond forged over 11 years in Manchester, an emotional connection between club and player rarely seen in modern football. He’s well-liked by all at the Etihad Stadium - credit in the bank
some coaches in the game would kill for - and he knows the club inside out.
From a coaching perspective, he would offer an element of continuity as City transition into a postGuardiola era.
“He’s very highly rated as a coach, very, very highly rated”, Belgian football expert Scott Coyne told City Is Ours. “Across Belgian football he is incredibly well respected and liked, both as a coach and as a man.”
His growing credentials in working with young players, as well as dealing with pressure, would also make him suited to the City dugout.
“Financially [Anderlecht] don’t have the means to go out and buy the talent they would like. They’re having to rely on their academy, which is one of the best in Europe”, says Scott.
“The Belgian league is one of the most competitive in Europe, so it’s a difficult one for him. But I would say that small steps forward are definitely being made.”
So, Vinny and City would be the perfect match, right?
Well, let’s not get carried away. We only need to look at what’s happening on the other side of Manchester to see how hiring a club legend, so early on in their coaching career, can backfire.