Vincent Kompany played 62 times for Pep Guardiola at Manchester City at the tail end of his time at the club. They had great success together, winning League titles, EFL Cups, and the FA Cup. Kompany notably scored a long-range goal against Leicester City, which helped City win the title.
Playing under the great manager must have affected Kompany, as he soon went into coaching after a brief spell playing for Anderlecht. He initially was the Belgian side's player manager before he became their full-time boss.
Kompany was then Burnley's manager and won the Championship with them in the 2022/23 season. The Clarets were relegated from the Premier League the following season, with Kompany being stubborn in continuing to play his possession-based soccer despite poor results. However, he ended up getting the Bayern Munich job.
This was at a time of great uncertainty at Bayern after they could not get Thomas Tuchel to continue as their boss and missed out on targets such as Xabi Alonso, Julian Nagelsmann, and Oliver Glasner.
Vincent Kompany has done a great job at Bayern Munich
Kompany won the Bundesliga in his first season in charge of Bayern and has just defeated Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie. He has clearly adapted from his stubborn ways at Burnley as he played a low-block to help defeat Los Blancos 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu. They are now in a great position with the lead going into the home fixture of the tie.
Guardiola never set up his Manchester City team in a low-block to try to defeat Real Madrid. This would have gone against his principles as his Barcelona team were used to dominating posession ever against their El Clasico rivals, Los Blancos.
Real Madrid knocked Guardiola's City out of the Champions League on four occasions. There is definitely a change in soccer philosophies now. There was a time when the trend was to play like Guardiola's teams by dominating possession. However, that has changed.
Arsenal are leading the Premier League with a team that is built on a solid back four and a reliance on set-pieces. Teams trying to play out from the back lead to many mistakes and give away goals. Managers who continue to play this way often get the sack or teams relegated.
Kompany has learnt from his mistakes at Burnley and is now a manager who can mix up his style of play. He was fortunate to get the Bayern Munich job, but he has grasped it with both hands.