You can feel the cogs going around now. Yesterday and all this week we have had some mind games from certain people at Bayern, there is all this stuff around Nicolas Jackson coming out and how he will give Bayern inside knowledge on how Chelsea will play.
And now Kompany is going full on Pep Guardiola with his praise of Chelsea and Enzo Maresca but actually, I think he’s being fully sincere with his comments here and these are no mind games.
We know that Chelsea seriously looked at bringing Kompany in as manager before he went to Bayern Munich. There is a real mutual respect between the two. So you know he’s being very genuine with his comments ahead of the two sides meeting tonight (obviously this article was written before the Bayern v Chelsea game).
Vincent Kompany thinks Chelsea’s youthful squad can be their “hidden strength” as they attempt to build on the success they’ve already enjoyed under Enzo Maresca.
“I think Enzo’s done a terrific job,” Kompany told TNT Sports.
“You always have to look back at what a team was like when the manager started and the question marks around the squad and the playing group.
“Of course, you invest because you expect results but at the end, it is what it is, it’s a young team. It’s a lot of talented players that had to come together and for them to be able to do it, it’s been a remarkable job.
“When you look at Chelsea now, especially after the Club World Cup, I don’t think you make too much distinction between Chelsea and the absolute top teams in England, so they’re back there.
“The advantage you have with young players is that where they are today, tomorrow they’ll always be better. If they’ve got good habits, if they’ve got a good environment, that’s what happens with a top mindset.
“I think that’s the hidden strength of Chelsea, they’ve got a team that’s on a pathway that will keep going up. We’ve got the advantage, of course, of being at home and having a team with experience,” he said.
I do like Kompany, I must admit. I think he has all the tools to become a very good manager and will grow and develop even more.
Let’s hope that tonight though, he has a major setback and makes some huge mistakes!
