Vincent Kompany admits Burnley will have learned plenty from superb comeback win

Burnley boss Vincent Kompany admits his side will have learned plenty at Sunderland after staging a stunning second-half comeback following a first half the Belgian “hated everything about”.

It looked like the Clarets’ 13-match unbeaten run was about to come to an end at the Stadium of Light after early strikes from Amad Diallo and Dan Neil saw Sunderland leading 2-0 at half-time.

But three goals in 19 second-half minutes through Nathan Tella, Manuel Benson and Anass Zaroury turned the game around before Burnley skipper Josh Brownhill wrapped up a 4-2 win before the end.

Former Manchester City and Belgium captain Kompany, who took over in June after a spell at Anderlecht, said: “Every lesson we need to have about football was in this game.

“I hated everything about the first half, how we turned up, the intensity, the challenges, and football starts with intensity, challenges and running. You can have a bad day, but the basics weren’t here.

“Second half is everything I love about the game. When your basics go I don’t think you need to mess about at half-time. I can move as many magnets on the tactics board as I like but it’s pointless if you’re not doing the basics right.

“We have not encountered this situation this season. They have set the standards high in terms of energy but this was the first time this season we showed this.

“Sunderland were really good first half but it has to be more of a fight, it has to be more contested. We learned about each other.

“The second half was too good a performance to say we got away with it. We weren’t at it first half. The lesson is you don’t give up, and if you drop your standards you are bang average.”

Diallo, on loan from Manchester United, had put Sunderland ahead in the 16th minute when he side-footed beyond Arijanet Muric after good work from Alex Pritchard and Jack Clarke.

Four minutes later Neil made it 2-0 when he fired low and inside Muric’s near post after Connor Roberts failed to deal with a cross.

Kompany introduced Benson for Ashley Barnes at the break and within four minutes of the restart, Taylor Harwood-Bellis headed into the six-yard area for Tella to head in.

Belgian Benson levelled when the ball he clipped into the area evaded everyone and bounced inside the far corner just after the hour.

And with 21 minutes remaining his compatriot Zaroury cut inside from the left before curling brilliantly inside the far corner. To wrap things up Brownhill finished cooly with three minutes remaining.

Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray said: “The first half was about intensity from us to stop a good team playing. We decided not to be the team to play a 5-4-1 against them and let them have 70 per cent possession.

“We played on the front foot and got the rewards first half. Second half it was hard to maintain that intensity level.

“They got a goal at 2-0 down and they got a huge drive, an injection of emotion.

“We were in protect mode rather than being aggressive and play a high level ourselves. Yet it happens in real time, in front of you, and it is hard to stop.

“You have to accept they have real quality. The game ran away from us.

“There are a lot of positives first half but we are disappointed second half. We have to regroup and go again next week.

“We should have tried to keep doing what we were doing first half. Burnley are probably going to be the best team we will play, and I thought we disrupted them but we didn’t keep that going.”