After his weak last season, not only BVB sports director Michael Zorc expected an increase in performance from Julian Brandt. The Borussia Dortmund midfielder is delivering and is currently in top form – it would be hoped that the injury from the Bayern game would only stop him for a short time.
“I expect an increase in performance from him. And that he continuously uses this potential,” said BVB sports director Michael Zorc at the beginning of July. If you were to leave out the addressee for the time being – anyone who watches Borussia Dortmund games reasonably regularly can only come to the conclusion: Zorc must have meant Julian Brandt.
After a pretty messed up preseason, the midfielder was already one of the possible sales candidates at Borussia, Brandt was regularly on ominous strike lists. But not only the author of these lines spoke out in favor of keeping Brandt in Dortmund. At the club, too, they were sure that Brandt would be good for football under Marco Rose.
And that’s exactly how it is: Brandt has been the best Dortmund for weeks – because he finally delivers consistently. This is the simple difference to his first two seasons in Westphalia, because Brandt always pointed out what he was capable of. You already knew from his time at Bayer Leverkusen. But at BVB, light and shadow alternated with constant regularity, sometimes even within a few seconds on the field.
“Certainly the last two years have been very turbulent with good phases and also with a bad season last year,” Brandt recently looked back. He’s smart enough to know what he’s lacking in the first place. He can do everything on the ball, but can only do little against the ball – this is how you could describe the profile of the now 25-year-old.
BVB: Julian Brandt is the rose football
It is precisely the pressing approach in Roses football that Brandt really likes. He got to know him in a more extreme form at Bayer under Roger Schmidt and Peter Bosz. Rose also gives Brandt the freedom to act less rigidly in a fixed position. Instead, he can rotate a lot, act out his game intelligence and decide for himself which rooms to occupy depending on the situation.
“In the game it is not so position-related. There is no real position that you stick to. I just want to play football,” said Brandt, who has also visibly helped from the first day of Rose’s term in office to have been there. In the summer, the coach certified that he was “very, very good” preparation.
Physically, Brandt is therefore in good condition despite a corona infection and muscular complaints. This is the only way he is able to eradicate the weak point in his game at all – the movements without the ball. It is unequivocally Rose’s merit that Brandt has made a leap in this regard over the course of the current season.
Brandt is one of the best technicians in the Bundesliga
While Brandt almost seemed to avoid duels before, he now plays with a much higher intensity against the ball and, above all, displays a completely different, more consistent body language. The lethargic has disappeared, Brandt has clearly gained ground when it comes to fighting and biting.
As a result, he participates more actively in the game, has become more self-confident again and can thus better demonstrate his ability with the play equipment on his foot. Brandt is one of the best technicians in the Bundesliga, in several games this season he acted with extreme ease and almost always found solutions in tight spaces and under pressure.
It is also thanks to the tense personnel situation for months, but Rose let Brandt appear from the start in 14 of 17 competitive games. He thanked him with seven goals (three hits, four assists). Brandt is now taking on more responsibility and is moving forward, as Rose says: “Jule develops a good feeling for herself through the games and picks up rhythm. I think he can get even better, but we’re on the right track. “
Julian Brandt now has to extend the route
The distance so far is long enough to currently issue such a certificate to Brandt. However, it has to be extended a lot in order to develop a real sustainability and ultimately to satisfy himself, but also Zorc and BVB.
In the top game against Bayern, where Brandt scored the early 1-0 after a good run, he had to be replaced early and taken to hospital after a serious collision with injuries to the head. Sebastian Kehl gave the all-clear on Sunday: “He’s suffered a concussion, but otherwise everything is fine and after a night in the hospital he’s feeling much better again,” said the head of BVB’s licensed players department kicker. “We are all very relieved, we were lucky.”
It is currently unclear whether Brandt will be slowed down for the time being. The best evidence of the increased esteem he currently enjoys at BVB was Rose’s reaction immediately after the game. For the coach, who was previously expelled from the field, a ‘thumbs up’ from his protégé was “the most important thing of the evening”.
