The mastermind of Burnley’s coveted first return to the Premier League is Manchester Metropolis’s biggest defender ever.
Vincent Kompany was a four-time title winner in 11 seasons as a Blues however now, having switched to administration, he’s merely in search of to hitch them. And again to the Kompany plan is a present citizen with a great status; Taylor Harwood-Bellis, at simply 20 years previous, was a focus in protection among the many event’s most economical groups.
With 18 video games completed, Burnley proudly prime the division, the last-minute winner towards Studying on Saturday inflicting Turf Moore to delirium. They’ve solely been defeated as soon as within the league – an unlucky outcome 1-0 at Watford in August – unbeaten at 16 in all competitions.
And Harwood-Bellis was a just about at all times current, lacking simply two minutes of a possible 1,620 minutes of league motion. Solely a pair of goalkeepers can beat this. Burnley leads – by some margin – in blocking photographs, interceptions and photographs. Amongst his teammates, solely linebacker Conor Roberts has fired extra attackers in dribbling.
He has the third highest variety of blocked photographs within the league, whereas additionally rating excessive in interceptions. The Rolls-Royce defender, who would relatively anticipate than react, keep up straight relatively than go to the bottom.
Paul Harsley oversaw Metropolis’s elite growth workforce between 2018 and 2020: “Taylor was a first-year trainee and we took the Beneath-18 and Beneath-23 groups to Croatia in pre-season,” he remembers. “He was 16 however he caught our eye, slowly moving into the elite growth squad increasingly. In Metropolis, all the things is rushing up, in order that they play under-23s at 16 or 17 after which come out on mortgage round 19.
On what foundation did Harsley make this ruling? “His understanding of the sport, his capacity to deal with the ball and his willingness to defend actually stood out,” explains Harsley. “It is extremely widespread for gamers at larger golf equipment to have the defensive half secondary, however Taylor was actually prepared to defend. He’s glorious within the air and on the bottom.”
And as Harsley factors out, the Harwood-Bellis are extra snug taking part in from behind.
Not a characteristic synonymous with previous Burnley, however it is a new iteration. Gone are the times of chips and rush. Beneath Kompany, common ball possession is 63.6 p.c, up from 40 p.c on the best way to relegation.
