“[David] has been with us for a little while now. I would say a couple of years since he started training with us. He obviously had Paddy [McCarthy] as his coach with the Under-21s, and Paddy is always helping him along. Seeing him come into the first-team as a man, and not a young boy coming on any more, he’s done well.
“He played a massive part coming on against City, for example, getting back to 2-2. He’s been thrown in the deep end and he’s really held his own which is nice to see.”
Under Oliver Glasner, there has been a significant shift in the style of play, and an intense focus on fitness – but it hasn’t been all running drills and bleep tests. Footage of the mid-season break to Marbella showed team bonding drills with players racing to do keepy-uppies while wrapped in an enormous circle, or running while tied to one another, amidst a lot of laughter and smiling faces.
“It was definitely heavy on fitness,” Schlupp says. “It was hot, and it was tough, touch work. But it was all good work, and stuff that we needed to do. We worked on tactics. There was obviously some team bonding as well. Everyone got to know each other more with the new staff.
“We had everyone in a band, five people within a circle holding hands and trying to move as one unit. Even just keeping the ball up, running in a circle and being connected. It’s sort of game tactics, but also making it fun and a warm-up drill. Communicating and trying to move as one. It was a bit of fun, but it was trying to work together.”
Now, it’s time to show that team spirit and togetherness on the pitch. “We’ve been going through a tough spell, so something that is very important to him is everyone being together, working for each other and helping each other,” Schlupp says.
“We’ve taken it on board. Everyone has upped it to a whole other level, fitness-wise and work-rate-wise, and I think it will show in the games. It’s definitely stuff we needed to do.
“He has to get us used to playing in a different shape, and we have to get used to the manager wanting us to do different things. It’s going to take time. You can see where his thoughts are with it, and that helps everyone as we keep working at it.”