10 Things Manchester City's Vincent Kompany Must Do to Return to His Peak
If it is true the fish stinks from the head, Manchester City's recent struggles can fairly be attributed to City captain Vincent Kompany's failing form.
"Kompany is supposed to be the rock at the heart of City's defence," wrote Nick Miller for ESPN FC recently, "but his reputation is such that he gets away with far too many basic errors."
So much is wrong with City right now—the strikers are not scoring goals, the midfielders are not controlling the centre of the pitch, etc.—that Kompany's troubles are just another line item on manager Manuel Pellegrini's fix-it list.
With a potentially season-defining match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge (and the Champions League knockout tie with Barcelona) coming up, though, City have little time to wait for Kompany to figure out what he is doing wrong.
So maybe we can offer the skipper some constructive criticism right here.
Pick a Partner
1 of 10
A great deal of Kompany's trouble may stem from the fact he never quite knows who his centre-back partner will be.
"(T)he sometimes erratic Martin Demichelis and the often erratic Eliaquim Mangala," per Nick Miller of ESPN FC, are the players Kompany generally plays alongside. In City's recent hamstringing by Championship club Middlesbrough in the FA Cup, though, Kompany was playing with Dedryck Boyata.
It must be hard for Kompany to know what to do and where to be from match to match when he seems to find out who he is running with on match day.
Kompany should go to Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini and advise the boss that everything will go more smoothly if Kompany knows which of the imperfect lot will be the one he is playing with on a consistent basis. At least then Kompany can adjust to that particular player's weaknesses, er, tendencies.
Stay Healthy
2 of 10
We can agree up front Kompany never wants to miss time. But there is no ignoring his injury record.
"Captain Kompany suffered a setback in his bid to recover from calf and hamstring problems as he missed a third consecutive game," wrote Richard Jolly for ESPN FC last month.
It would not take a search engine wizard to find dozens of other headlines dealing with Kompany's nagging injuries over the past few seasons. For that matter, a peek at his player profile would suffice to prove Kompany misses more games than anyone at City can be comfortable with.
Kompany has not started at least 30 Premier League matches since the 2011/12 season, and he would need to start all 16 of City's remaining league games to get to 30 this season.
Part of being a team captain is being on the pitch. If Kompany cannot stay healthy, maybe he should cede the armband.
Quit Crying
3 of 10
As Manchester City's captain, Kompany is entrusted with discussing the play of his teammates with the match officials and conveying the team's message to them when necessary.
Unfortunately, instead of interceding for his teammates, these days Kompany spends way too much time complaining or arguing officials' calls against him.
Kompany's recent penalty against Arsenal was soft, but his reaction to the referee was too typically aggressive and whiny.
Great leaders never appear surprised or flustered by anything that happens in the course of a match. Too often, Kompany's reactions to the unexpected or difficult turns in matches suggest a loss of composure a captain just cannot afford.
Contribute Offensively
4 of 10
Nobody is asking Kompany to abandon his defensive responsibilities in pursuit of double-digit goals.
But Kompany has played 20 matches in all competitions for Manchester City this season. In those 20 starts, he has zero goals and zero assists.
To put that into perspective, Martin Demichelis, Gael Clichy and Pablo Zabaleta have all scored for City this season. Clichy and Zabaleta have three assists apiece.
Kompany might consider trying to spark his defense through improving his offensive play.
Hang 'Em High
5 of 10
Kompany earned his reputation in football and his captaincy at Manchester City at least in part through his willingness to do more than what is expected of him.
Until further notice, though, Kompany should try to do his job—and only his job—to the best of his ability and let his teammates rise and fall on their own merit.
Is Demichelis too slow to track down an opposing striker? Too bad for Demichelis. Is Mangala too clumsy to keep an attacking midfielder from getting the ball to the end line? That's Mangala's problem.
Right now, to the extent Kompany is trying to cover for his lesser teammates, it is not working twice. He is not saving them and his own play is suffering.
So Kompany should stay in his lane until such time as he is in complete control of his own game again.
Get Defensive Set Pieces Fixed
6 of 10
In Manchester City's 2-0 loss to Arsenal earlier this month, Arsenal scored the backbreaking second goal from a relatively harmless-looking set piece.
Harmless-looking, that was, until Santi Cazorla approached the ball, several Gunners surged at City keeper Joe Hart's goal and it was immediately apparent nobody in sky blue had any idea who his man was.
Olivier Giroud's header was something off the training ground, i.e., the sort of header he might practice with nobody around.
When a team's captain is its primary centre-back as Kompany is, that simply cannot happen. Nobody hates praising John Terry more than your humble correspondent, but Chelsea rarely look so disorganized against set pieces when Terry is running things.
Get Offensive Corner Kicks Fixed
7 of 10
Manchester City excel in retaining possession and pressuring opposing defenses into conceding corner kicks. That is supposed to be a good thing.
It is, for City's opponents.
"(T)he champions have netted once from a corner in the Premier League in 2014-15, when Martin Demichelis equalised in the 2-2 draw at Arsenal in September," wrote David Mooney for ESPN FC recently.
Then Mooney dropped a statistical bomb: "Since then, it's been 19-plus games (roughly 28 hours, 37 minutes) and 139 attempts at creating a chance from such a set piece, but it's a big fat zero in goals scored."
You can blame City manager Manuel Pellegrini for City's impotence off corner kicks all you like, but Pellegrini is not on the pitch telling everyone where to go. Kompany is.
"Frankly, it's criminal that a club with the aerial ability of Vincent Kompany, Demichelis, Fernando and Edin Dzeko has one goal from a corner all season," Mooney noted. Right he is.
Know Your Opponent
8 of 10
In the photograph above, Kompany is throwing a shoulder into Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez. Maybe it was a foul, maybe not—but either way that is a good play.
Alexis is one of the Premier League's standout scorers. Once he gets that close to City's goal with the ball, Kompany has little choice but to put a body on him and try to slow him down.
Contrast that with the penalty Kompany took earlier in the match, when he impeded Arsenal defender Nacho Monreal. That was a terrible play.
Monreal is not a difference-making offensive player. Maybe Monreal would have made an incisive pass to a cutting Gunner, maybe he would not have. But fouling Monreal in the box and conceding a spot kick was just soft-headed.
Kompany needs to make a player of Monreal's skill beat him, not let Santi Cazorla hit a penalty kick moments later.
Shut the Quote Machine off
9 of 10
Manchester City are reeling right now, and so it is no surprise Kompany is out there in the media trying to reassure the club's supporters that everything is going to be all right again soon.
Except he is doing a pretty poor job of it.
“In theory it should be better for us now because we will be fired up for that more, definitely. We have always been great in games like this, so I’m actually looking forward to it,” Kompany said per The Guardian's Jamie Jackson after City's loss to Arsenal. He was talking about City's then-to-come FA Cup match with Middlesbrough.
And, um, City lost 2-0. At home. Again.
Maybe Kompany should stop talking for a while.
Tap into the Inner Bad Guy
10 of 10
People say many things about the demeanor of Chelsea captain and centre-back John Terry. "Nice" is not generally one of them.
Kompany, by contrast, is an affable man with a thoughtful quote queued up and a hand to help up a fallen opponent at the ready.
That persona worked fine when City won two Premier League titles in three seasons. At the moment, though, Kompany's lack of snarl and refusal to call out his underperforming teammates is hurting his club.
If Kompany is going to concede a penalty against a player like Monreal, for example, he ought to get his money's worth. That is not calling for an intent to injure; just an appropriately physical level of play commensurate to the risk of a penalty being called.
The touch fouls have to go.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
