VK: 'I like responsibilities and pressure'

There was a fascinating interview with Vincent Kompany in the Sunday Times yesterday. He spoke to Jonathan Northcroft with as much insight and honesty as he always does.

On Mancini and his own role in the side:

“I’ve said I’m happiest in midfield but I’m just as good in both positions and wherever I play my objectives don’t change, I’ll try and be the best,” Kompany says. “England was always where I’d make my career. I love everything about the game here. I’m happy I can get into my challenges without always being carded.

“Tactically, Mancini is a mastermind and makes it very clear he likes his team to be disciplined and build from the back. That suits me. The thing about my positions, midfield or defence, is if the team concedes you’re accountable and that’s perfect. I like responsibilities and pressure.”

And on team spirit after a tumultuous season:

“We’ve gone through managerial changes, a lot of negative press, faced teams who don’t normally pay attention to City and now want to beat us. We’ve had stories, like Ade in Angola [Emmanuel Adebayor caught in an ambush of the Togo team], Robbie [Robinho], who was a good player and left us, the situation of Wayne [Bridge] . . .

"For us, if it was a problem for a particular player, we did like we’d do for anyone in the group, supported him, got him back in the team and made it easy for him to perform. Wayne did that brilliantly. There’s a good spirit because it’s kind of been us against the world and there’s a connection with our fans because of that."

It's all worth reading. It's very clear that Kompany is a man of real intelligence and depth, as well as being an excellent player. I've written before on how much I want to see Nigel de Jong made captain, but I'd be just as happy with this other former Hamburg player. I particularly liked this from Northcroft:

Not all City transfers are huge. Kompany arrived from Hamburg for only £6m when Mansour’s takeover was a few days from completion in 2008. That is less than Liverpool paid for Andrea Dossena, Villa for Curtis Davies and Tottenham for Alan Hutton.

The irony is that England’s most lavish buyers may have bought the bargain of recent years. Kompany looked good — sensible, mobile, competitive, technical — when used by Mark Hughes in central midfield. He looks world-beating, potentially, now Roberto Mancini has moved him to centre-half.