Brown reaps benefits of work with top coach
JACOB BROWN has expressed hope that working with the same coach who helped Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho force their way into the England side can increase his chances of featuring for Scotland in future.
Brown, the Stoke City forward who qualifies to play for Scotland through his Glaswegian mother, made his second appearance for his adopted homeland on Thursday night when he came on in the second half of the friendly international against Poland.
The 23-year-old has been on target 11 times for Stoke in the 2021/22 campaign – but he knows he has his work cut out getting game time under Steve Clarke with Che Adams and Lyndon Dykes also in the squad. But Brown believes he has benefitted enormously from one-to-one sessions with Mark Burton, the exManchester City youth coach who set Foden and Sancho on the road to stardom, at the bet365 Stadium and is confident he can improve even further as a player in future.
“Mark still works with players like that [Foden and Sancho] which just shows how good he is and the influence he can have on players,” he said. “For me, I can see such a big difference since I started working with him.
“If you’re willing to put the time in with him, he’ll spend hours and hours with you, whether that’s on the pitch or going through video analysis. My form this season shows how big an impact he’s had on me.
“Sometimes I will do extras after training with him, whether it be working on finishing or my touch. Sometimes when we are away from the club he will send me clips with little bits of analysis, just like how this player has got into the position and so on. They are for me to watch so when I am in that position it might trigger something in my mind.
“He has had a massive influence on me. One of the main things we have been working on is my movement in the box. So from the start of the season I have been getting a lot more chances compared to last year and that is from the positions I have been getting into thanks to the little bits of movement we have been working on.”
Brown added: “This is my fourth season, but I feel like I have so much more to give. I feel I can improve a lot more. The way I have been playing this season has given me that extra confidence to kick on.
“I have played in League Two, League One and the Championship and if you had said to me back when I was in League Two that I would be getting double figures in the Champ I probably wouldn’t have believed you.
“But now that I have done that I have the confidence to think there is no limit really. If I keep working hard then I hopefully get to even higher levels. The Premier League is probably the goal for everyone.
“With Scotland you play with players like Che Adams up front and you can see the level of quality that they have. I know there is still a long way for me to go get there, but with the work I am willing to put in hopefully I will get there if I keep improving.”
Brown, who is hoping to be involved in the friendly against Austria in Vienna on Tuesday evening, feels that working with Southampton striker Adams and Queens Park Rangers forward Dykes in the Scotland set-up will improve him as a footballer as well.
“We’re all different types of strikers who bring our own thing,” he said. “That’s why we’ve been chosen to represent Scotland.
“But they’re both really good players and it’s good for me to play alongside them. Playing with guys of that high standard will bring out the best in me. All of the players here are of a very high standard.
“In my first game when I came on [against Moldova in Chisinau in November], I was trying to do too much because I wanted to impress. The manager reminded me that I’ve been brought here to play the way I play. That’s what I need to do now if I’m given the opportunity.”
Brown continued: “It doesn’t really seem real. When I was on the bench against Denmark, honestly the atmosphere was like nothing I had ever experienced before. That gave me a taste of it and now I just want more. It was a great experience.
“We need to focus on the games coming up before that. I am not sure what is happening with the Ukraine game. We have got another friendly this week and that is a good chance for the team to keep everything going.”
Sometimes I will do extras after training with him, whether it be working on finishing or my touch