Vinny: I’m a grafter, I’ll get back from injury
VINCENT Kompany does not feel as though he is carrying an injury as he trains ahead of City’s trip to Leicester.
The centre-back has not played for his club since the 2-1 win over Bournemouth in August - the first of their 15 consecutive victories - after picking up an injury on international duty with Belgium.
His return to competitive games had been pencilled in for after the international break, and Kompany is confident he will be back again.
“I’m a grafter and I back myself,” he said.
“I’ll get there. At the moment, PEP Guardiola is the Premier League’s chief exponent of the beautiful game.
His City side have glided to the top of the table as the Premier League’s great entertainers this season. And their cultured Catalan leader, as dapper of the pitch as his team is dashing on it, is more likely to be seen picking out new match-day attire at Matalan than he is parking the bus, or ordering his centre-backs to go long to the big man.
In his time at Barcelona he set out an attacking vision by dominating possession, telling his players: “I don’t want you all trying to dribble like Leo Messi – pass it, pass it and pass it again. Pass precisely, move well, pass again, pass, pass and pass.
“I want every move to be smart, every pass accurate – that’s how we make the difference from the rest of the teams, that’s all I want to see,” he said in Graham Hunter’s book, Barça: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World. Simple, really. He has formed a similar blueprint at the Etihad that, in his second season, has seen City ease stylishly ahead of their rivals in the title race with barely a misstep.
And, while Guardiola puts unerring faith and passionate into his philosophy over cold statistical analysis of players’ efforts, the numbers back up the mindset. In data provided by EA SPORTS, the Blues come out best in class in almost all attacking and passing categories. City have set about passing their opponents to death, completing 7,068 passes – the most for any team in the league – and over 1,400 more than second-placed Arsenal, who have completed 5,667 passes. Their distribution is the most accurate too at 89 per cent. Liverpool, surprisingly, boast the most chances created in the league with 155 chances created, with City a close second on 145. But City’s attacking lineup have produced the highest number of shots on target in the league (84), followed by Liverpool (75) and Arsenal (72). And they are the most efficient, with the best shot conversion in the league, having scored 19pc of their shots. Local rivals United are a close second with 15pc shot conversion. Guardiola is more obsessed with the beauty of his team’s football and what it produces, than the cold hard numbers. But they add up to the fact that his vision is becoming reality this season with City eight points ahead United and Tottenham. And Guardiola will be grinning if the one stat that really counts – points total at the end of the season – proves him right. Manchester City 19% Manchester United 15% Chelsea 13% Leicester 13% Watford 13% Manchester City 84 Liverpool 75 Arsenal 72 Tottenham 61 Chelsea 57 Liverpool 155 Manchester City 145 Arsenal 142 Tottenham 137 Southampton 125 Manchester City 7068 Arsenal 5667 Tottenham 5192 Liverpool 5188 Southampton 4808 Manchester City 89% Arsenal 84% Tottenham 84% Manchester United 83% Chelsea 82%