Vincent Kompany hails ‘complete performance’ from Burnley in win at Norwich

Posted Sunday, February 05, 2023 by PA

Manager Vincent Kompany was thrilled to see his side overcome a potentially tricky hurdle as they won 3-0 at Norwich to go marching on at the top of the Championship.

Facing a side which had won their two previous games in scintillating style under new coach David Wagner, the Clarets were at their imperious best from minute one as they reeled off a ninth straight league win.

Anass Zaroury took advantage of a howler from goalkeeper Tim Krul to fire his side into an eighth-minute lead and two early goals in the second half from Vitinho, with his first touch, and debutant Hjalmar Ekdal completed an excellent day’s work.

Burnley are now just one victory away from equalling the Championship’s record for successive wins and Kompany was pleased with the way his side approached a big challenge.

He said: “Norwich are a team I rate and after their two away wins it doesn’t get much tougher in this division than playing them away.

“We knew what to expect but I thought it was a complete performance from the lads.

“It was a clean sheet, which was very pleasing, the players were brave on the ball and strong in the tackle and we scored a couple of set-piece goals which is always good.

“Obviously the first goal came from a mistake but I think it reflected the way we started the game.

“I thought for the first 20 minutes or so we got on top and created a lot of chances and then Norwich got back in it a bit, which we had to deal with.

“But in the second half we played exactly how I would have wanted us to play and obviously I am delighted with the result.

“We are in a good position but we must remember we are not top – there is another division above us and there are teams there we want to catch.

“The players have set the benchmark for what I want from them – and we need to keep working hard in every game to get where we want to be.”

Burnley went ahead on eight minutes when the experienced Krul inexplicably directed a goal kick straight at Zaroury, who put his surprise to one side to ruthlessly bury a straightforward opportunity.

The Clarets almost lost their lead completely against the run of play on 16 minutes, with Bailey Peacock-Farrell needing to produce a smart reaction stop to thwart Kieran Dowell after a swift break.

But they were rarely threatened after that and wrapped the game up early in the second half with two goals from Johann Berg Gudmundsson corners.

Substitute Vitinho came off the bench to nod home at the near post on 54 minutes and Ekdal prodded home a cutback from the excellent Ian Maatsen just before the hour mark to make it 3-0.

City boss Wagner was angered by the goals his side gave away after making an excellent start to his reign with big wins at Preston and Coventry.

He said: “We can’t expect to win games if we make it as easy as we did for Burnley.

“They deserved to win the game but we gave away three goals, one with a mistake from the goalkeeper and two from poor defending at set-pieces.

“No-one likes to lose games but when the reasons behind a defeat are easy to analyse, like they were today, it makes it slightly easier to take.

“After the early goal we had an excellent chance and then there was an obvious handball in the second half which the referee didn’t give but overall it was a difficult day for us.

“We just need to leave this behind us and move on because we have an important three weeks coming up with five games ahead of us.”