Vincent Kompany is confident that his Burnley side will start to pick up more points if they stick to their principles.
Wolverhampton Wanderers edged a tight encounter at Molineux thanks to a Hwang Hee-chan goal on a night that will not live long in the memory books.
Burnley are committed to their style and Kompany, the manager, has been impressed with how they have been performing recently but, with such a high-risk strategy, the stakes are always higher. Still, after a solid performance against West Ham United and a 5-0 hammering of Sheffield United, Kompany was pleased with what he saw in the West Midlands.
“I’m never going to be here after a defeat and not feel the way I feel now but I can be objective,” Kompany said. “I can be honest about what I’m seeing. I’m seeing a team that’s alive and that’s in games and fighting and we have to believe that . . . will give us a result.”
What he saw was a well-organised Burnley side who made it difficult for Wolves to play the expansive, fast-paced football that brought wins against Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. The visiting team did not give Wolves that same space to exploit and it took nearly half an hour for the game to spark into life.
Nélson Semedo went charging down the right and delivered a great cross for Pablo Sarabia, who struck it first time with the outside of his boot, but the ball went wide. James Trafford’s fingertip save then denied Sarabia again moments later.
But Burnley had the message “Believe” pinned up on a wall in their dressing room and they pushed for an opener. Johann Gudmundsson, on for the injured Luca Koleosho, won possession on the edge of the penalty area and played in Jay Rodriguez, who had his shot blocked by Daniel Bentley in the Wolves goal before Josh Brownhill’s follow-up was tipped round a post.
There is much to admire about the attractive, front-foot football Kompany tries to play and the manager is not going to shy away from his principles, but here they were caught short as they tried to play out from the back.
Gary O’Neil, the Wolves head coach, has had fair enough reason to curse his misfortune after some dubious VAR decisions this season, but his side certainly got the rub of the green here.
Sander Berge was caught in possession by the lively Sarabia, who laid the ball off for Matheus Cunha to set up Hwang for his eighth league goal of the season.
The hosts were on top after the break but were just lacking that final killer pass. From a corner, Craig Dawson flashed a ball across the six-yard area but there was no one to tap in, and Trafford saved from a Sarabia free kick after the Wolves midfielder had been pulled back on the edge of the area by Berge.
But still Burnley persisted and they came close through a couple of set pieces in the second half. But Kompany conceded that, to get out of the relegation zone, they are going to have to make the most of chances when they present themselves.
For Wolves, O’Neil played down any suggestion that the match could be filed in the “happy it is over” category, instead heaping praise on Kompany for the job he has done with Burnley.
“I think it was a massive win for us,” O’Neil said. “I’ve watched a lot of Burnley. They’re very well organised, every team has struggled to progress going forward against them.
“There were fine margins that go into tonight. We made a ridiculous error from a throw-in and they missed, they made a mistake and we scored. The margins are really small.
“The league is tough and if I go back to when I was appointed, the message was that we needed to make a huge profit in the summer to balance the books, so the question was: can you keep this group up?
“So far we’re on a decent trajectory but we’re keen not to get carried away.”
Wolves (3-5-2): D Bentley 7 — M Kilman 8, C Dawson 7, Toti 6 — N Semedo 7, P Sarabia 7 (J-R Bellegarde 78min), M Lemina 6, J Gomes 6, H Bueno 6 (M Doherty 90+1) — Hwang Hee-chan 7, M Cunha 7 (B Traore 87). Booked Lemina, Kilman.
Burnley (4-4-2): J Trafford 6 — Vitinho 6 (W Odober 92), D O’Shea 5, H Ekdal 5 (N Redmond 92), C Taylor 5 — J Bruun Larsen 5 (M Tresor Ndayishimiye 70), S Berge 5, J Brownhill 6, L Koleosho 6 (J Gudmundsson 35, 6) — J Rodriguez 6, Z Amdouni 6. Booked Berge, Ekdal, Brownhill, Taylor.
Attendance 30,439.
Referee J Gillet.