Vincent Kompany is into his third season at Anderlecht as he grows into being a football manager.
The Manchester City legend made the shock decision after helping the Blues to a clean sweep of domestic trophies in 2019, his stunning goal against Leicester that had dragged Pep Guardiola's side over the line in their epic Premier League title tussle with Liverpool a parting gift in more than a decade of historic memories.
Kompany is looking to create a new chapter for himself at Anderlecht, and a fly-on-the-wall documentary is covering the efforts of the coach and his team as they look to challenge for the Belgian title after 8th- and 4th-placed finishes in the last two years.
As it stands, Anderlecht are in fourth place in the league after two-thirds of the campaign - just two points off second but 11 points off the leaders - and into the semi-finals of the cup.
The episodes, which can be viewed here with English subtitles, shine a light on what Kompany is like as a coach and will be viewed with interest at the Etihad where many dream of him returning to manage the club one day. Here are some of the bits that stuck out.
Dressing room dressing downs
As a player he took no prisoners and it appears the same is true as a coach.
Kompany bounds into the dressing room after a 2-2 draw with STVV in October and absolutely tears into his players.
"Listen. No misunderstanding. There's one f******* side of me that you haven't f****** seen boys," he begins.
"Wes [Hoedt, defender]: whether we play with three, four, five, six it's my f******* decision and I take THE RESPONSIBILITY IF WE LOSE AND IF WE DON'T PERFORM WELL.
"THE SECOND THING: [Josh] ZIRK[zee, striker]: LAST TIME I TALK ABOUT YOUR ATTITUDE. YOU COME OFF, I DON'T NEED A F****** SMILE BUT I NEED AN ATTITUDE THAT IS PERFECT. YOU WERE NOT GOOD JUST LIKE ALL THE OTHER ONES. I COULD HAVE TAKEN OFF FROM HENDRIK [Van Crombrugge, goalkeeper] TO THE LAST ONE WITHOUT ANYONE COMPLAINING.
"Today we deserved to lose. We can be happy with one point. For 95 minutes we just wasted time. You wasted your time, I wasted my time. It was better not to come, it was better to send the Under-21s."
If the players didn't know Kompany was disappointed at the full-time whistle, they certainly knew before they got home.
Taking a stand
Kompany had just taken part in one of Anderlecht's biggest games of the season away at Club Brugge, and after a poor first half that saw them 1-0 he had made bold tactical changes that had seen them flip the scoreline before having to settle for a 2-2 draw.
There was much to be proud about but after the game the manager did not want to talk about the game, instead highlighting his 'disgust and disappointment' at the racist abuse him and his players had received through the match. He followed that up with a passionate speech to his players inside the dressing room.
Guardiola and City influence
Guardiola thanked Kompany for helping City prepare to face Club Brugge in the Champions League in October, and ahead of Anderlecht's game at the Jan Breydel Stadium footage of City's win was used by the former centre-back in a team meeting to show that their defence could be breached.
The Under-21s were also shown footage of Guardiola speaking about Cole Palmer after his goal against Club Brugge urging them to stay humble and keep working hard however well they did with the first team.
Kompany does not like to play up to his City links too much but that won't stop him using what he can.
Taking on the strongest
Another disappointing performance saw Anderlecht 2-0 down to OH Leuven after just 15 minutes. They eventually scrambled a 2-2 draw, and could have won it if former Southampton defender Wesley Hoedt had not seen a brilliant individual effort ruled out for a foul.
Afterwards, Kompany called out Hoedt in the dressing room in front of the squad for trying to take on all of the responsibility when he just needed players to do what they were supposed to do. By using one of the most important players in the group to show his frustration, the coach made the point that it was about the whole team improving rather than singling out individuals for poor performances.
Delegating to his players and taking their views
Kompany also allowed Hoedt to stand his ground in that debate, encouraging him to speak his mind.
As he added afterwards: "I try to understand you, you guys try to understand me. I will take a bullet for you, no problem. But I have to be able to say what I think in here. And I will always do so."
While the manager usually took the lead, there were also moments before big games where he was happy to leave the motivational team-talks to key players. Ahead of Club Brugge away, supporters were also allowed into their final training session as they could not travel to the game and one fan had a megaphone to communicate with the players.
