Brobbey: Henry’s Praise & Missed Chances

Brian Brobbey has managed to impress former top striker Thierry Henry in his first Premier League year with Sunderland. The former top scorer of Arsenal and FC Barcelona, among others, particularly admires the way in which the Dutchman uses his body.

“It’s very old-fashioned, I don’t know why strikers don’t do that anymore,” says Henry as an analyst at Sky Sports. In the studio, the Frenchman, who played for Arsenal and Barcelona, among others, shows together with former Liverpool player Jamie Carragher what he appreciates about Brobbey.

“You have to hold position and control the defender. Then the striker determines where the game goes, instead of the defender. And Brobbey does that very well.”

Carragher emphasizes that Brobbey’s game is difficult to deal with as a defender. “The moment he’s against you, you’re done. You can’t do anything anymore.”

Brobbey started this season as a substitute, but he has now become a permanent fixture in coach Régis Le Bris’ team. The French coach is very pleased with Brobbey’s impact on his team.

“It is very important to have a strong striker. We now see that his teammates trust him and look for him,” Le Bris told the BBC last weekend after the 2-1 win over Crystal Palace. The winning goal was scored by Brobbey.

“He can score goals, which is very important for a striker, but he is also a fighter. At the beginning of the match, their defenders still had a grip on his strength, but then he got the upper hand,” concluded Le Bris.

Brobbey has scored four times for Sunderland in the Premier League. They were all important goals, as he scored the winning goal against Bournemouth and Crystal Palace. Against Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, Brobbey gave his team a point with an equalizer.

In recent years, there has been a lot of criticism in the Netherlands about Brobbey’s physical play. Marco van Basten, among others, was very critical of the then Ajax striker.

”He argues with everything and everyone and is always in a duel. Always pushing and pulling, and that is not smart.” In addition, the former top striker of Ajax, AC Milan and the Dutch national team had some criticism of Brobbey’s “substandard technique”.

Brobbey also faced some criticism in the Netherlands because he missed quite a few opportunities. The statistics show that he also kills scoring opportunities in England. Of the five big chances Brobbey had so far, he converted only one into a goal.

Brobbey’s revival at Sunderland could be good news for national coach Ronald Koeman. With the World Cup in sight, the Dutch national team still does not have an undisputed first striker. Wout Weghorst is still injured, Emmanuel Emegha has already missed several games at Strasbourg and Joshua Zirkzee is struggling at Manchester United.

That is why Memphis Depay is currently the first choice again. But there are certainly still opportunities for Brobbey to come to the United States. However, for this he will have to continue to perform at Sunderland.