Brian Brobbey has started playing far more efficiently at Sunderland. That is the view of performance coach Patrick Woerst, who has been working closely with the striker for some time after he scored a hat-trick against Manchester City.
After every two games, Woerst and Brobbey go through the match footage in detail. With the Premier League schedule as it is, they are sometimes in contact four times a month, while the forward reports to Rotterdam for an individual training session when he is in the Netherlands.
"Brian has not necessarily become fitter or stronger," Woerst emphasised in conversation with ESPN. "People see it as extra fitness, or that he is stronger or more mature, but he has also started playing much more efficiently. For example, he gets into far fewer duels."
As well as Denzel Dumfries and Ryan Gravenberch, Woerst works with Brobbey on his scanning. "When he took the ball under control, that was very often from a standing start during his Ajax period. Then he would stop the ball and lean in. Then you get into a battle, because those defenders grab hold of you and you lean in and wrestle. That costs a huge amount of strength every time."
Now, Woerst says, Brobbey thinks much more and tries to stay out of duels whenever possible. "For example, his first touch is now in motion, which allows him to dribble away from the opponent and get free. Then he lays the ball off and goes to take up his position again. Or he lets it drop first time and runs on. As a result, he gets into those ground battles less often and that therefore costs less energy. That makes it seem as though he is fitter. Of course he can keep it up for longer: it simply costs him less energy."
Woerst also knows the intensity in the Premier League is far higher than in the Netherlands. "If you move from the Dutch league to any foreign league, the intensity is higher. You have to adapt to that."
For Woerst, Brobbey's development has nothing to do with better stamina or greater physical strength. "At Ajax he had I-don't-know-how-many ground duels. So at a certain point he was spent after an hour. He does not have that now, because he has fewer duels. Above all, he has started playing more intelligently. That has an effect on his energy."