"Football as it should be in a dream": Why Vincent Kompany thinks SV Elversberg absolutely must stay in the Bundesliga
SV Elversberg may have had to accept their first defeat in the Bundesliga against Bayern Munich, but Vincent Wagner's side gained a new fan in Vincent Kompany.
It turned out well for Bayern Munich in the end. On Bundesliga Matchday 3, they handed promoted side SV Elversberg their first dropped points and, after improving from the 65th minute when coach Vincent Kompany sent on four stars at once in Joshua Kimmich, Alphonso Davies, Luis Diaz and Jamal Musiala, still won 2-1.
Because SV Elversberg once again produced a display against Bayern Munich that deserved nothing but respect, and because praise naturally comes more easily after a win, Bayern coach Vincent Kompany said: "Today we played against a brave, intelligent opponent."
Elversberg had shown "a lot of passion, were nasty, but I mean that as a compliment". In short, the opposition had played exactly "how we would not have wanted". There was nothing patronising in Kompany's remarks. He seemed genuinely impressed and delighted by this coach, this team, this club and the whole region.
What impresses Vincent Kompany about SV Elversberg?
Kompany himself once tried to preserve the identity and style of play from the promotion season after going up to the top flight with an underdog. But Burnley went straight back down from the Premier League. Kompany still got his move to Bayern, helped in part by his team's brave, though ultimately unsuccessful, style of play.
No promoted team stays up after only three matchdays, of course, but right now there is nothing to suggest SV Elversberg will go straight back down just a year after their sensational promotion. On the contrary, the team play like a side chasing Europe. Although the upheaval in the summer was certainly significant, Elversberg's football looks completely coherent.
Against Bayern, the Saarlanders had less possession than usual. Their notorious pressing was not always as aggressive and brave as normal either. And of course Elversberg coach Vincent Wagner was right in his analysis that Bayern still had another gear they could have gone up. Even so, his team more than held their own and, with a little more luck in the game, could certainly have come away with a draw.
"I've really never experienced that before": What Kompany likes about Elversberg
That is why this match was hard to compare with Bayern's 0-0 at Schalke 04 the previous week. Schalke, promoted like Elversberg, had mainly defended stubbornly for the point, while Bayern had also been left ruing their finishing. With all due respect for Schalke's compact display, built around the outstanding goalkeeper Loris Karius, it was a match that perhaps ends 0-0 in one out of 100 cases.
Bayern's 2-1 win in Elversberg could certainly also have finished 4-1, but just as easily 2-2, and nobody could really have complained afterwards. Above all, despite numerous shortcomings in the record champions' play before the quadruple substitution, the game had a certain quality. In the end, it took Bayern Munich to beat SV Elversberg in the Bundesliga. "I think they'll still win a lot of points, including against big teams, this season," Kompany added.
Wagner would probably already be happy if his team simply picked up enough points, regardless of the opposition. More than anything, though, he hopes his players will not lose their courage for, and belief in, their football even if a bad run does come. He described the defeat against Bayern as follows: "I will never be happy about a defeat, but I've never been this happy that we lost in the way that we did."
SVE have won plenty of admirers in recent years with their brave style of play, and since Sunday at the latest Kompany has been one of them. One other thing on the trip to Saarland also impressed the Bayern coach.
"We were given a very warm welcome here. On the pitch it was a battle, but away from it everything was as football should be in a dream," said Kompany, before explaining: "We drove to the hotel and I thought there was a festival here. But it was simply fans who were waiting for us." He said he had "really never experienced that before". And that is saying something, because Bayern fans are everywhere after all.
One thing is clear for Kompany, at any rate: Elversberg must stay in the Bundesliga. "I wish Elversberg all the very best," said Kompany, also "so that we can come back here again next year".
