Vincent Kompany has claimed he is happy to complete the season without an out-and-out goalscorer after Burnley won 1-0 in his first game in charge at Huddersfield.
Despite dominating for long periods during, on-loan Chelsea winger Ian Maatsen grabbed the only goal of the evening at last season’s beaten play-off finalists in the opening match of the Championship campaign.
It was the 20-year-old’s fifth goal in 84 senior outings and, with last term’s top-scorer Maxwell Cornet, who netted nine times in the Premier League, not included in the squad and expected to move on, Kompany confessed his team are short on natural marksmen.
The ex-Anderlecht manager said: “If you count the goals in our team, there’s not one player who is an out-and-out goalscorer, but every player can get in the box, nick a goal and work hard for the team.
“Ashley Barnes made life horrible for their defenders and the most important thing is we created chances because I feel we will have to share the goals around this season.
“But I’m used to that. I’ve never had an out-and-out goalscorer during three years as a manager, but my team scored 107 goals last season and there was nobody with 30 goals.
“I’m not expecting that this season either, although I will be happy if somebody can go and get 20.”
The visitors played an expansive brand of football on their return to the second tier, but Kompany was also happy with the battling qualities shown by his players that he felt embodied the club’s character during six seasons in the Premier League.
He added: “A lot is being made of the style we will be playing this season but we are still Burnley and Burnley will always be about hard work and I saw that in this game. We need that, then the rest of it can be enjoyed.
“We never got any momentum against us. There were not many shots against us and we did well to get out and block their crosses because that’s where it all starts.
“That will be crucial in the Championship, because it’s not enough to do what we did in the first half – it will be about what we did in the second half as well.”
Huddersfield’s new boss Danny Schofield admitted his team’s efforts were not good enough in the first half, but he took encouragement from an improved display after the break.
“The first half was quite disappointing and, tactically, maybe we didn’t get it quite right,” Schofield said. “We lost the middle of the pitch and that was the biggest difference.
“They had wide players coming inside and caused us problems attacking our back-line. In the second half, we changed things tactically and competed more in the central areas and it became a much more even game.
“(Substitutes) Tino Anjorin and Jack Rudoni also had an impact on the game. Tino is a special talent who we are pleased to have and the fitter we get him, the better he will perform.”
Schofield also provided an injury update, saying: “Matty Pearson has a foot injury and he will be out for a significant period, probably a good few months. It’s a big blow to lose him – both as a character and as a player.”
