Manchester City news: "It's not exactly about tactics" – Kompany reveals biggest lesson from Guardiola

Vincent Kompany's successful spell at Manchester City under Pep Guardiola continues to directly influence his development as a manager.

Now in charge of Bayern Munich, the Belgian frequently revisits lessons from that period to explain the principles he tries to implement with his team – and on Wednesday, he once again highlighted that the greatest legacy he received from the Spanish coach goes beyond formations or movements on the pitch.

When discussing what he absorbed during the years he captained Guardiola's City, Kompany emphasised the building of a constant competitive mentality, based on the absolute value of every match.

For him, the central teaching was not in specific tactical details, but in the demand to approach every fixture with the same level of focus and ambition, regardless of the opponent or the context of the calendar.

"It's about mentality"

"It's not exactly about tactics. It's about mentality, about always wanting to win everything, about treating every game as an important game, without distinction between a game against your main rival and a game against a second division team. Having that mentality of always being present," he said during a Bayern youth club members' event.

The admiration for his former boss, however, does not translate into an attempt to literally reproduce methods or ideas. Kompany is keen to point out that his journey on the touchline is built from diverse references, combining influences accumulated throughout his career with his own choices of leadership and playing style.

When directly addressing how he views his own managerial model, the former centre-back once again placed Guardiola as his main inspiration, but within a broader repertoire of learnings.

"The best manager I ever had was, without a doubt, Pep Guardiola. He expanded my understanding of football. I am not trying to do things the same way as Pep. Pep is different, he was the best. I absorbed certain things from every manager I worked with. Mancini and Huub Stevens were also good examples. You absorb something from each manager to write your own story," he concluded.

Kompany's managerial journey

Vincent Kompany's transition to a managerial career began almost organically at Anderlecht, the club where he ended his playing days. In 2019, he initially took on a hybrid role as player-manager, in a project that sought sporting rebuilding and a playing identity.

The experience, however, quickly revealed the difficulties of combining roles, and Kompany began to dedicate himself exclusively to coaching, prioritising the implementation of a model based on possession, short build-up and dominance with the ball.

There were no title wins, yet the period in charge of the Belgian side consolidated the former centre-back's image as a manager with clear ideas and strong convictions, even in adverse contexts.

The breakthrough came in England, when he took charge of Burnley in 2022, shortly after their relegation to the Championship. In a scenario of deep squad overhaul, the Belgian promoted a radical change of style compared to the club's traditional direct football, adopting principles associated with positional play.

The impact was immediate: Burnley dominated the second tier, won the title by a large margin and secured an early return to the Premier League, with widespread recognition for their offensive and organised football.

The experience in the English top flight, however, exposed the limits of the project in the short term. With a squad still maturing and adapting to the higher level, Burnley struggled competitively and were relegated again in 2023-24.

Despite the outcome, the work maintained prestige in the European market for its coherence of ideas and capacity for collective development – credentials that led Kompany to take charge of Bayern Munich, where he began to face the greatest challenge and biggest stage of his still young managerial career. He has already won two titles in charge of the Bavarian giants: the 2024-25 Bundesliga and the 2025 German Super Cup.