It was a fine start to competitive life as Burnley boss for Vincent Kompany on Friday as his side took all three points in their Championship opener.

The Clarets were by far the better side as they faced Huddersfield Town away from home, securing a 1-0 victory on the road and taking all three points back to Lancashire.

Loanee Ian Maatsen scored the only goal of the tie, but in all honesty, it could have easily been 2-0 or even possibly 3-0, even despite a much improved Huddersfield display in the second half.

With that being said, here are three things we learnt about the Clarets following their victory.

They will play out from the back

Watching the game, one of the things that was really clear was that Vincent Kompany wants his men to play out from the back - at nearly all times.

Goalkeeper Arijanet Muric would often take up positions we aren't used to seeing goalkeepers in, so as to receive the ball from the centre-halves and pass out from the back once again.

The 23-year-old's ability with his feet was on display for all to see, and is perhaps an indication as to why he was brought in from Manchester City recently.

 

 

Whilst Huddersfield's press was disorientated at times, which easily allowed the Clarets to play through, they did look impressive playing out from the back, and were able to find Josh Cullen in the centre of the park time after time, who then really made things happen going forward.

Full-back's will play high

Another very noticeable aspect of how Burnley won the match was how they used their full-back's.

From the start this was Ian Maatsen and Connor Roberts, with the former having scored the winning goal when a loose ball fell to him just inside the box.

It was a brilliant finish by the young full-back, but, had he not been given the freedom by his boss to fly forward, he would not have been there to produce such a finish.

The same could be seen on the right hand side, too, with Connor Roberts himself having a great opportunity to get on the scoresheet after a smart 1-2 with his teammate.

They didn't take their chances

On what was a wildly positive night for Vincent Kompany's men, there was perhaps one negative.

This being the lack of ruthlessness and cutting edge shown in the final third.

The Clarets could have easily been 3-0 up at half time were their players able to put away simple chances, which would have killed the game after just 45 minutes.

Instead, those chances were missed, and Huddersfield, with the introduction of Tino Anjorin in particular, began to produce a much improved display and threaten a goal themselves.

Fortunately for Burnley, they saw off the challenge and kept their opponents out, however, had the Terriers broken through and got an equaliser, it would have been two points dropped for Burnley.

After how impressively they played, that would have been a travesty.