Post by eaststand on Aug 28, 2011 19:47:06 GMT 1
In case anybody didn't catch the interview;
______________________________________________________________________________
Manchester City's new captain, Vincent Kompany, could not resist having a quiet chuckle to himself as he surveyed the scene at the club's training ground at Carrington this week.
'We had a little practice match and the strikers on my team were Sergio Aguero, Mario Balotelli and Samir Nasri. That was the good news but we also had Edin Dzeko, Carlos Tevez, David Silva and Yaya Toure on the other team,' he said, smiling.
Head for responsibility: Vincent ensures City's stars toe the Kompany line
Head for responsibility: Vincent ensures City's stars toe the Kompany line
'When people ask if we have the squad to cope with both the Premier League and the Champions League, that's the best answer I can give!'
No wonder Kompany has to pinch himself at times.
A relatively modest acquisition at £6million from Hamburg, he has been entrusted by manager Roberto Mancini this season to lead the most expensively assembled squad in English football history.
Mancini will have to choose from £400m of talent at Spurs on Sunday.
No fewer than nine of Kompany's team-mates at White Hart Lane will have cost £20m or more.
To lead them would be daunting enough for anyone, let alone a 25- year-old in a foreign country.
But Kompany seems unfazed by the responsibility thrust on him following Carlos Tevez's problems with the club and says he is not the type to be cowed by reputation or price tag if something needs saying.
'I'd never hold back against a team-mate because of their name,' he said.
'No chance. I've always been a straight-up kind of guy. If I think something, I will say it.
'Most people respect it but I probably got in trouble with managers when I was younger because of saying what I thought. I didn't realise you don't do that with managers!
'I'm always someone who's going to take a leading role in the dressing room. That's my personality, not because I'm wearing the captain's armband. I'm the type to take responsibility because I'm better when I have that.'
Expectations at City, lifted by the FA Cup win and Champions League qualification last season, have risen further still following the exciting acquisitions of Aguero, Nasri, Gael Clichy and Stefan Savic over the summer.
Wins against Swansea and Bolton in their opening two League games, scoring seven goals in the process, have left even the most cynical City fan dreaming of the title.
Kompany realises a difficult trip to White Hart Lane is the first acid test for Mancini's new-look team and the vultures will be out at the first sign of weakness, particularly as the strong personalities at City have sometimes clashed, Mancini himself falling out with players at different times.
Kompany added: 'People have battered us and always because of the money. It can't be for any other reason because what this club does for the fans and community is incredible.
'We're being called Galacticos now. It's a bit pretentious but an improvement on some of the things we've been called!'
Kompany does not want to big himself up as more important than any other player but he clearly has little sympathy for any player who shows disloyalty to Mancini, whose fall-outs have already seen Emmanuel Adebayor, Robinho, Craig Bellamy and Wayne Bridge deemed surplus to requirements, while Tevez and Balotelli have acted petulantly towards their boss.
'I don't expect anyone in the team not to be committed. I don't care what the excuses are,' he said.
'Liking the manager is a bonus but even if you don't like him, there is no excuse not to give of your best.
'The senior players have a role to play in ensuring people stay within boundaries. But that is not just at City, I'm sure it is the same at Chelsea or Manchester United.'
Unlike last season's skipper, Tevez, Kompany has settled into life in Manchester and is set to marry a local girl.
'I come from Belgium, so I can't complain about the Manchester weather,' he said.
Kompany has three years left on a contract that was updated 12 months after his arrival in 2008.
His £65,000-a-week deal is still dwarfed by the £8m a year and more paid to the likes of Nasri, Yaya Toure and Aguero.
So is he jealous?
'I read somewhere that I wasn't happy with what some players are being paid here but that could not be further from the truth,' he said.
'If someone comes to City on the Queen's wages, I don't care if they help the team. If someone does well for himself I am happy.'
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2030847/Vincent-Kompany-happy-command-Manchester-Citys-400m-Galacticos.html#ixzz1WLoHrDPf
______________________________________________________________________________
Manchester City's new captain, Vincent Kompany, could not resist having a quiet chuckle to himself as he surveyed the scene at the club's training ground at Carrington this week.
'We had a little practice match and the strikers on my team were Sergio Aguero, Mario Balotelli and Samir Nasri. That was the good news but we also had Edin Dzeko, Carlos Tevez, David Silva and Yaya Toure on the other team,' he said, smiling.
Head for responsibility: Vincent ensures City's stars toe the Kompany line
Head for responsibility: Vincent ensures City's stars toe the Kompany line
'When people ask if we have the squad to cope with both the Premier League and the Champions League, that's the best answer I can give!'
No wonder Kompany has to pinch himself at times.
A relatively modest acquisition at £6million from Hamburg, he has been entrusted by manager Roberto Mancini this season to lead the most expensively assembled squad in English football history.
Mancini will have to choose from £400m of talent at Spurs on Sunday.
No fewer than nine of Kompany's team-mates at White Hart Lane will have cost £20m or more.
To lead them would be daunting enough for anyone, let alone a 25- year-old in a foreign country.
But Kompany seems unfazed by the responsibility thrust on him following Carlos Tevez's problems with the club and says he is not the type to be cowed by reputation or price tag if something needs saying.
'I'd never hold back against a team-mate because of their name,' he said.
'No chance. I've always been a straight-up kind of guy. If I think something, I will say it.
'Most people respect it but I probably got in trouble with managers when I was younger because of saying what I thought. I didn't realise you don't do that with managers!
'I'm always someone who's going to take a leading role in the dressing room. That's my personality, not because I'm wearing the captain's armband. I'm the type to take responsibility because I'm better when I have that.'
Expectations at City, lifted by the FA Cup win and Champions League qualification last season, have risen further still following the exciting acquisitions of Aguero, Nasri, Gael Clichy and Stefan Savic over the summer.
Wins against Swansea and Bolton in their opening two League games, scoring seven goals in the process, have left even the most cynical City fan dreaming of the title.
Kompany realises a difficult trip to White Hart Lane is the first acid test for Mancini's new-look team and the vultures will be out at the first sign of weakness, particularly as the strong personalities at City have sometimes clashed, Mancini himself falling out with players at different times.
Kompany added: 'People have battered us and always because of the money. It can't be for any other reason because what this club does for the fans and community is incredible.
'We're being called Galacticos now. It's a bit pretentious but an improvement on some of the things we've been called!'
Kompany does not want to big himself up as more important than any other player but he clearly has little sympathy for any player who shows disloyalty to Mancini, whose fall-outs have already seen Emmanuel Adebayor, Robinho, Craig Bellamy and Wayne Bridge deemed surplus to requirements, while Tevez and Balotelli have acted petulantly towards their boss.
'I don't expect anyone in the team not to be committed. I don't care what the excuses are,' he said.
'Liking the manager is a bonus but even if you don't like him, there is no excuse not to give of your best.
'The senior players have a role to play in ensuring people stay within boundaries. But that is not just at City, I'm sure it is the same at Chelsea or Manchester United.'
Unlike last season's skipper, Tevez, Kompany has settled into life in Manchester and is set to marry a local girl.
'I come from Belgium, so I can't complain about the Manchester weather,' he said.
Kompany has three years left on a contract that was updated 12 months after his arrival in 2008.
His £65,000-a-week deal is still dwarfed by the £8m a year and more paid to the likes of Nasri, Yaya Toure and Aguero.
So is he jealous?
'I read somewhere that I wasn't happy with what some players are being paid here but that could not be further from the truth,' he said.
'If someone comes to City on the Queen's wages, I don't care if they help the team. If someone does well for himself I am happy.'
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2030847/Vincent-Kompany-happy-command-Manchester-Citys-400m-Galacticos.html#ixzz1WLoHrDPf
