The secrets behind Vincent Kompany's brilliant start as Bayern Munich's head coach
Background
Time at Anderlecht
Before joining Bayern Munich, Vincent Kompany had spells at Anderlecht and Burnley as a player-coach and a manager respectively.
At Anderlecht, he managed to qualify for the Europa Conference League qualifiers in his first season and reached the semi-finals of the Belgian cup.
The following year, he finished third in the Belgian Pro League and went to the final of the Belgian Cup where he lost on penalties.
In the summer of 2022, he made the move to newly relegated Championship side Burnley on an undisclosed length of contract.
The trials and tribulations at Burnley
This season proved to be a breakout campaign for the Belgian in terms of managerial experience as he led this Burnley side to a convincing Championship first place finish and played some encouraging attacking football along the way.
In a stark contrast to previous Burnley coaches like Sean Dyche and caretaker Mike Jackson, Kompany utilised the width of the pitch and tiki-taka possession-based passages to gain an advantage over opposing teams.
In light of this, Vincent Kompany attempted to continue this style of play in the Premier League but was unsuccessful as he did not have the same quality advantage in this division.
Burnley, however, decided to stick with the young Belgian coach and did not sack him despite relegation in the 2023-24 campaign.
Naturally, they were rewarded by Kompany choosing to join German giants FC Bayern Munich in that same summer.
Bayern Munich – The Start of a Dynasty?
Okay, it might be early on into the season. However, what Bayern Munich’s Belgian manager has done so far this campaign still remains a brilliant feat.
With a perfect 100% record in all competitions for the 24-25 season, Bayern’s head coach has turned over a handful of previous and current European level sides including VfL Wolfsburg, SC Freiburg and Dinamo Zagreb.
He boasts the best ever start to a season in the Bundesliga, with the best goal difference and points achieved (12) after four games in the history of the competition.
Vincent Kompany is also on the younger side (38 years old) for Bayern Munich coaches, with only Julian Nagelsmann having been younger when taking charge of the “Stern des Südens".
Tactics
Vincent Kompany has used his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation in all but one game this season.
This formation has allowed him to overload the wide areas with the overlapping runs of fullbacks Alphonso Davies and Sacha Boey (when he is fit).
The use of pacey, sharp wingers has also been a key talking point when thinking about Kompany’s attacking style.
Player Choices
Vincent Kompany has axed a few players from the starting eleven this season with previous star players Leon Goretzka and Leroy Sané struggling to find any real minutes this season.
Instead, players like Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry who were both previously totally disregarded by Thomas Tuchel have found new life in the new revitalised Bayern squad with Gnabry having four goal involvements in the first four matches this campaign.
What’s next for Vincent Kompany?
Obviously, many people may point out that Bayern Munich have had a favourable run of fixtures so far and are yet to have faced a big test.
Although this may be somewhat true, it is not a fault of the club themselves that they have faced these teams.
Therefore, this weekend’s test against champions Bayer Leverkusen will prove to be the ultimate decider in the validity of Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich project.
