Burnley boss Vincent Kompany has revealed his no.2 Craig Bellamy told the squad ‘every game is a derby’ before their comfortable victory over Blackburn Rovers.
Burnley put in a brilliant display to overcome Lancashire rivals Blackburn Rovers 3-0 on Sunday afternoon.
Veteran striker Ashley Barnes netted his first two goals of the season while Anass Zaroury got on the scoresheet to continue his fine form in English football. All the while, Rovers’ key men were kept quiet as the Clarets maintained their spot at the top of the table.
Following the game, Kompany shed light on some rousing words from assistant manager Bellamy that helped the Burnley players stay level-headed and keep their standards high.
As quoted by Lancs Live, he revealed Bellamy told players ‘every game is a derby’, insisting that a derby game should be no reason to raise their standards because they need to be high at all times. He said:
“We just prepared like it was any other game. It’s a special game, but it’s for the fans.
“Craig Bellamy said to the players before the game, ‘every game is a derby for us’. We don’t overthink it or raise our standards because we have derbies, we play every game that way, and that’s got to stay.
“That lived on the pitch today so I’m happy with that.”
Promotion mentality?
Although it’s only a small message, it says a lot about the ethos Kompany and his coaching team are implementing at Burnley.
He’s expecting standards to be high at all times – the fact Sunday’s game was a derby game shouldn’t mean anything extra for the players, it’s just another game against another top Championship side in this highly competitive division.
This mentality has been evident in Kompany’s managerial career so far and if he can keep it up with Burnley, it might not be long before Premier League football is back at Turf Moor.
The Clarets have a long time before their next game now that the World Cup break has begun, so Kompany and his side should take this as a good chance to rest up and prepare for the remainder of the campaign.
