Josh Brownhill was the only Claters player to start against Arsenal last week who was part of the club’s title-winning squad.
Meanwhile, Arijanet Muric, Hjalmar Ekdal, Ameen Al-Dakhil, Jack Cork, Josh Cullen, Manuel Benson, Anass Zaroury, and Jay Rodriguez all failed to find playing time despite their strong performances last season.
During the summer, Turf Moor signed 15 new players, including James Trafford, Dara O’Shea, Sander Berge, Luca Koleosho, and Zeki Amdouni.
However, Kompany’s team has struggled in the top division, winning only three of their 25 games and finishing 19th in the table, seven points behind safety.
It has prompted supporters to question whether revamping the squad after such a successful campaign was the appropriate tactic, and whether the nucleus of last season’s team might have done better.
In answer to those questions, Kompany stated: “The question you ask is part of a much larger question about the gap between the Championship and the Premier League and the various strategies you can use to close that gap.”
“I don’t think the question is as simple as that; each squad is unique in how it is composed when it comes up and when it goes down.
“As an example, consider some of the teams that dropped down to the Championship, where several Premier League players competed. You may be reasonably confident that they will return.
“But in our case, because it is a greater matter, we developed a Championship team that was designed to win the Championship. But when you get up, you’re on a completely new level.
“It’s probably not the best time to reflect on it, but it’s important to set the context because these are topics we openly discuss all the time.”
“But you have to understand that we went down with a very tiny team. I had nine or ten players in training when I signed. It wasn’t 30 players, so I had to cut it down; I didn’t have any players, and those few we had to sell in order to rebuild a complete Championship squad from scratch.
“That was a successful Championship season, and people will finally comprehend the magnitude of the task we faced that year.
“But to suggest that team was ready to jump from the Championship to the Premier League right away [while clicking his fingers], there was just as little experience in the Premier League as there was in the Championship club we had last season.
“It is what it is: a reality. But, in the meanwhile, we’ve played 25 Premier League games and have incorporated some of our own expertise into the group.”
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