If you believe in the dreaded Curse Of The International Break (not, as it turns out, the original working title for the film that charted Johnny Depp’s first foray into piracy as Captain Jack Sparrow), you probably winced as you watched Sunderland’s Brian Brobbey crash to the turf during the Netherlands’ clash with Germany on Thursday night.
OK, with so many Lads players being called up by their countries during what I’m sure is a valuable and highly worthwhile swing of international games (thanks,
UEFA. Keep those fluffy PR lines coming), there was always a chance that someone would be struck by a muscle pull, a twinge or a knock, but Brobbey? Not our Dutch powerhouse, surely.
Of course, the timing could scarcely have been any worse.
Bagging a hat trick against Manchester City on Sunday before pulling up with an injury on Thursday is very Sunderland and very “on brand” — two or three years ago, at least — but it was hard not to take the “Absolutely typical” perspective as the former Ajax striker limped out of action.
At the time of writing, the severity of Brobbey’s injury plus any potential timescale for his return is unknown but it didn’t look great in real time and back in Sunderland, hearts might’ve skipped beats as the prospect of being without him for any prolonged period of time potentially edged one step nearer to becoming reality.
We all know that Régis Le Bris relishes a challenge and will embrace any selection dilemma with gusto, but being robbed of a striker that chews up opposing defenders and spits them out like grain from a threshing machine? Not so encouraging, and let’s hope that any absence is as short as possible and doesn’t set Brobbey back too far after his heroics against City.
Naturally, were he to face a prolonged spell on the sidelines, the door would be opened for Wilson Isidor to enjoy an extended run in the team.
With young Juan Riquelme Angulo Caicedo the only other senior striker in the first team picture, our options aren’t exactly plentiful but Isidor is by no means a downgrade on Brobbey. He just brings a different skillset and there’s a decent chance that we would have to modify our style of play to suit him.
First and foremost, this shines a light on the importance of retaining Isidor’s services and not allowing him to depart for what would’ve almost certainly been a comically low price during the summer. Additionally, I always felt that game time would come his way in European competition and although there are tougher tests to come, I liked what I saw first time out.
When watching Sunderland’s Europa League victory over AZ Alkmaar in the (a game during which Isidor started and looked sharp), I was struck by what appeared to be some promising signs of a blossoming on-field partnership between himself and Enzo Le Fée, with the Haitian striker looking lively and Le Fée attempting to supply him with the kind of service that his darting runs and movement demand.
A matter of days later, the Frenchman was key as Brobbey netted three goals at the Etihad, but that’s Le Fée’s brilliance for you — no matter the identity of his centre forward, he seems to be able to adapt accordingly and if we’re forced to change tack and try to speed things up somewhat (surely the only way to go if Brobbey is set for a spell on the sidelines), the former Roma maestro will doubtless be at the heart of it.
Naturally, if Isidor does become Sunderland’s go-to striker when we resume our league campaign, we’d be naive to think that he could lay waste to defences in the same manner as Brobbey. That’s just not his game and we shouldn’t expect him to hold the ball up, win fouls and engage in physical duels to the same degree.
Instead, he’ll be far more effective when the passing is slicker and he can make darting runs in between central defenders — hopefully to latch onto accurate passes from Le Fée and others.
Do we have that capability? Would Le Bris continue to tinker in an attempt to cushion the blow of Brobbey’s potential absence? It would be a pain to be without him for a sustained run of games but we may not have any alternative but to move ahead, make the best use of the resources at our disposal, and hopefully continue to find the goals needed.
International breaks, eh? Who bloody well needs them?
