VINNY’S SPLIT PERSONALITIES
Real game of two halves for boss Kompany
VINCENT KOMPANY admitted he wanted to substitute his entire team before they blasted back with four second-half goals.
Burnley conjured three goals in 19 second-half minutes to overturn a two-goal half-time deficit.
Nathan Tella, sub Manuel Benson, Anass Zaroury and Josh Brownhill blew Sunderland away after Kompany admitted he “hated” the first half.
Having been in control, Tony Mowbray’s men were outgunned and are in desperate need of strikers Ross Stewart and Ellis Simms to come back from injury.
Kompany said: “Every lesson in football was in this game. I hated everything about the first half – the intensity, challenges, the running. You can have a bad day but the basics were not there. We were not at it. Drop standards and you are bang average.
“Second half was everything I love about the game. If you keep going, get that first challenge in. A game of two halves. It is pointless moving magnets on the tactics board if you are not doing the basics.
“Fair play to the lads, they had put high standards of energy and won it. I could have taken every player off.”
Sunderland were looking good when Amad Diallo finally lit up his loan move from Manchester United with a goal in his ninth appearance.
Dan Neil smashed home from 16 yards out three minutes later.
A warning the game could be stopped if missile throwing continued from the Burnley fans in the upper tier of the North Stand was made on the Stadium of Light Twitter account.
But Burnley were transformed in the second half. They got a goal back on 50 minutes, from Sunderland’s set-piece weakness that Mowbray highlighted was a
problem pre-match. Taylor Harwood-Bellis nodded a back post corner across goal for Tella to flick home.
Then Benson cut in from the right wing and hit a speculative left-foot shot which evaded a touch from anyone and beat Anthony Patterson at his far post.
That was on 61 minutes, and by the 69th Burnley were ahead thanks to a skilful 20yard strike from Zaroury cutting in from the left wing. Brownhill added a fourth on 87 minutes.
Mowbray said: “We decided not to give them possession and have a go and play on the front foot and got the reward.
“In the second half it was hard to maintain that intensity.”