Vincent Kompany is satisfied that Burnley got what they needed out of their pre-season outing against Genk despite falling to their first defeat.
The Clarets had won all four of their behind-closed-doors games prior to last night’s first public outing of the summer, which they lost 2-0 at the Cegeka Arena.
Kompany’s men were the better side during the first-half and were unfortunate to be trailing at the break, but in the second-half they were stretched by a Genk side that are in Champions League qualifying action on Tuesday.
Delivering his verdict after the game, Kompany told Clarets+: “It was a good one for fitness and in the end we didn’t play too bad, especially in the start.
“If you look at the last 15 minutes, it paints a little bit of a different picture. But if you look at the start of the game and everything before it was an okay performance.
“You have to look at bringing the new players in and they’re about to start the season on Tuesday, whereas for us it’s still about integrating the new players and a lot of work on the training ground.
“These games are really important for us. A lot of the lads got 90 minutes, which was the first for most of them and that’s what we wanted.”
Saturday’s friendly ended what has been a busy week for the Premier League newboys, bringing in three new players in three days in Zeki Amdouni, Nathan Redmond and James Trafford.
Two of those featured against Genk in Amdouni and Trafford, the latter playing the full 90 minutes while Amdouni was brought off the bench late on.
“James is a sound lad, he’s got a bright future and I think he’s going to help us with his performances soon and hopefully now,” Kompany added.
“In the end there’s no doubt he’s talented and what he can become as a goalkeeper and I think a lot of the lad.
“As for Zeki, he’s been here for two days, so it’s just about getting minutes on the pitch.
“We’ve got a game against Benfica (on Tuesday) as well, plus a game (against Real Betis) on Friday, so that’s the priority now.”
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