OPINION
West Ham gem Marcus Browne is comfortably cruising to excellent performances for Oxford United in League One but is learning to deal with the physical side of the game.
The 20-year-old attacking midfielder joined Karl Robinson’s side on loan earlier in the summer and is set to spend his whole 2018/19 campaign, as confirmed by the Hammers’ official website, with them in order to gain valuable first-team experience.
However despite only playing seven games for Oxford so far, it’s clear that the midfielder is well above playing in England’s third-tier.
Browne has scored one, while assisting one, in his six league outings so far and looks able to easily outclass his opposition and give them a headache with his technical ability.
Yet while the quality of League One doesn’t appear to be pushing the midfielder to play to his max ability, he is certainly learning how to deal with the physical demands of football.
As Browne clearly is an amazing talent so far this season, opponents have taken to putting in ‘decisive’ tackles on him in order to slow down his momentum and cause him not to be a danger.
This was shown during Sunday’s clash with Coventry where it didn’t take them look to unfairly start to slide in on Browne whenever he had the ball.
Coventry players Jordan Shipley and Junior Brown were both booked within a minute of each other, in the 12th and 13th minute, for roughly sliding in on Browne to unfairly bring him down.
The West Ham youngster also had to deal with players treating him particularly roughly during Oxford’s 1-1 draw with Sunderland as he seemed forever being brought down.
Though why it’s not the most pleasant experience for Browne, he is learning how to cope with being a side’s star player as well as deal with being targeted by his opposition.
Despite tackles flying in on him, the midfielder is regularly keeping his cool and just going about his business.
This all means that while Browne could do with playing at a higher level than League One, he is at least learning one valuable lesson while out on loan.
