The changes Vincent Kompany has made to Bayern Munich

There may come a time when the Bayern Munich players get something of the Johann Berg Gudmundsson treatment from Vincent Kompany. One of the more colourful moments in the Mission to Burnley documentary, which charted the Lancashire club’s resurgence under the Belgian, was the irate former Manchester City captain tearing into Gudmundsson on the training pitch.

“Johann, don’t f------ test me, don’t f------ test me, enough of the f------ moaning,” screamed an incandescent Kompany at the Iceland winger, a spat the manager just would not let lie. “You want to communicate something to the team? You a big boy? Your body language is f------ s---. How many times do I have to tell you: stop f------ moaning.”

For now, though, it is all happy families at Bayern under their new head coach. The players like Kompany, his positivity and his relentlessly proactive football and, so far at least, results and performances have reflected that. The Belgian had won his first six matches in charge, scoring 29 goals and conceding just five, before a dominant Bayern were held to a 1-1 draw by Xabi Alonso’s champions Bayer Leverkusen at the weekend. It has been a strong start.

Next up is Aston Villa in the Champions League on Wednesday night and a first return to England for Kompany since he swapped Burnley for Bavaria to widespread surprise in late May, just 18 days after gearing up for life back in the Championship after his team’s relegation from the Premier League.

Bayern have always pushed back against this idea Kompany was seventh in line to replace Thomas Tuchel but Alonso, Ralf Rangnick, Julian Nagelsmann and Oliver Glasner were all approached first, with Tuchel – despite his confrontational approach – even subsequently given the chance to stay on before the German giants eventually settled on the man from Brussels.

What is less contested is Bayern’s underlying desire to change the dynamic in a demanding dressing room and, in that regard, Kompany appears a good fit. A succession of Kompany’s predecessors had, to varying degrees, all been at war with the dressing room. Niko Kovac, Nagelsmann and Tuchel had problems clicking with the players but Bayern hope Kompany can redress the balance and prove something of a matchmaker, which is why the club were initially so keen to bring in Alonso or Rangnick. That bond between manager and squad is considered critical.

The Gudmundsson episode showed Kompany is prepared to get tough when he needs to – he was the same as a player with team-mates, unafraid to speak his mind if he felt the need – but as a captain he also understood the importance of togetherness.

In that regard, Bayern’s hierarchy have made one notable alteration in their bid to support Kompany and ensure the messaging is right. Tuchel would conduct all press conferences by himself and was seldom afraid to discuss Bayern’s transfer politics and what he did – and moreover did not – like about the squad. Rarely did the former Chelsea manager pull his punches. It was a source of tension with the club’s powerbrokers, not least Uli Hoeness who in April accused Tuchel of having little interest in developing young players, including 20-year-old midfielder Aleksander Pavlovic, and would prefer just to buy replacements.

Since Kompany came in, a decision has been taken to have sporting director Max Eberl and general manager Christoph Freund flanking the coach at press briefings so all questions about transfers and squad-building can be sent their way. It has reduced the risk of Kompany getting his fingers burned and has heightened this sense of a unified group all pulling in the same direction.

Kompany, 38, has laid out his stall early on. Matthijs de Ligt was sold to Manchester United in part because they did not feel the Dutchman had the pace and mobility to play a high line in Kompany’s high-intensity, possession-based approach. Joshua Kimmich has been restored to central midfield and excelled there alongside rising young star Pavlovic, who has been given a starring role and appears an obvious early beneficiary of Kompany’s arrival. Joao Palhinha, signed from Fulham this summer 12 months after a deal collapsed to Tuchel’s great frustration, adds to the fierce competition in central midfield and offers another string to Bayern’s bow, particularly when out of possession. Germany international Leon Goretzka has been cast out and will surely be looking for a new club.

Elsewhere, though, Kompany has been managing his squad carefully. It is clear he favours new signing Michael Olise, who has made an outstanding start following his transfer from Crystal Palace, Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry out wide to Leroy Sane but he has been treading carefully with the latter. Kompany knows Sane, a former team-mate at City, can be a difficult character if not handled properly and has made it his business to keep him sweet.

There will, of course, always be a huge onus on prolific striker Harry Kane but Kompany is bidding to ensure Bayern are the sum of their whole parts. It probably helps that he has some past experience of the Bundesliga as well. Kompany spent two seasons with Hamburg before joining City in 2008.

Bayern’s players take the view that they are one of the most accomplished three or four squads in world football and have a team capable of dominating if set up correctly. Kompany’s desire to monopolise the ball and play with a high tempo with aggressive counter-pressing and quick transitions has been warmly received by players who were not always comfortable with Tuchel’s more reactive, counterattacking style.

It is not lost on anyone that Kompany spent three years under the former Bayern coach Pep Guardiola at City and there were many of the Catalan’s fingerprints on his Burnley side. The difference now is he has much better players with which to try to implement his methods. Kompany has made it clear that, for all the team’s talents, he expects them to run for each other – and run hard – and for the older members of the group (Kimmich, Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer) it is a mantra they know well from Guardiola’s days in Bavaria. That and the refusal to ease up, to keep pushing for more goals, an edict long espoused by the Bayern and Germany great Gerd Muller.

These are early days for Kompany and there are big challenges ahead but the beginnings have been encouraging.