Graham Alexander points to PSG example for Preston to follow as he praises 'vital' Delano Burgzorg
Delano Burgzorg was praised for his performance vs WBA by the PNE manager.
The similarities between Preston North End and Paris Saint-Germain end with the letter P.
Yet, if the reigning European champions can intensely press their opponents, then Graham Alexander believes his side can be 'humble' enough to do it, too.
That's exactly what the Preston manager and The Gentry saw in Saturday's uplifting draw with West Brom, and Alexander was delighted with the impressive physical data that confirmed it.
North End were aggressive as they imposed themselves on a promotion-chasing side, the 'vital' Delano Burgzorg leading the charge, and Alexander revealed that the team actually ran harder in the second half than they did in the first.
"The sprint data, in particular in the second half, was the highest it's been in any half this season," the boss told BBC Radio Lancashire.
"We'd shown players their max speed in the 89th minute compared to the 7th minute. It wasn't a physical thing. It's a mindset thing, how they will get faster as the game goes.
"I think it came from confidence. It came from an aggressive nature to go and win the game. I think that the physical will follow from the mindset.
"We've got a brilliant clip in the 89th minute, where I think they break from a throw in, in their defensive third and they’re four vs two on the halfway line. But by the time the ball gets in the box, it's a five vs five, and you see our whole team sprinting back.
"That's in the 89th minute, getting up to their max speeds."
Alexander believes the energy levels come from the players' mindset
Alexander insists it isn't his doing that the players are able to still exert themselves so much, even at the very end of a lung-busting performance.
"We haven't just waved a magic wand and all of a sudden they're twice as fit as they were before," he said, explaining, instead, it all comes down to attitude.
"But you can be fit mentally and positive mentally," he said. "I believe it's a mindset. I really do."
"It's in the mind. That's a desire to get a result. That's a desire to help your teammates.
"But you have to have that desire, commitment every single day to prepare your body for that sort of output on a Saturday or any match day. The way we train is competitive, it's intense. But we do load up the start of the week to be able to perform at the weekend."
Then Alexander made it clear that if the current best club team in the game, PSG, can put in the hard work, then so can anyone.
He continued: "Football's a running sport.
"We want technique, we want tactical intelligence. We want it together, but you have to run if you want to be a successful team.
"There's not one successful team... You look at PSG, who have been dominating European football for the last two years in the Champions League.
"They're machines. They press everything. They run all day long. So if they can do it, we have to be humble enough to do it."
Delano Burgzorg's hard work is praised by the manager
Every single player, substitutes included, ran themselves into the ground on Saturday and were well-deserving of the rousing reception they earned from the Deepdale faithful during the game and at the final whistle.
But it was Burgzorg's relentless energy and pressing for the full 90 minutes that really stood out.
The on-loan forward had not started any of the previous games under Alexander, but impressed the boss by playing 65 minutes in a training game in mid-week and insisting he train again the following day rather than take a day of recovery.
"You see the output of him on Saturday, all the way through the game, pressing goalkeepers and centre halves in the 90th minute," Alexander said.
"It comes from your training, comes from your mindset, and that was a great example of what we're trying to create here as a whole club."
When asked by The Post how important Burgzorg was to the press, Alexander added: "I think it was vital for us.
"The front guys have always got that influence on the rest of the team by how they trigger off the press, how they want to run forward. This is what we talk about with the trust and connection. If we don't go with them, then they're not going to trust what's behind them and then they're going to go half-hearted. If they believe they're going on their own, they're getting picked off.
"So the biggest thing for us to understand as a team that we have to support our teammates in front of us. The harder we can get those guys in the front to go, the better our team will be and more advanced it will be when we turn the ball over.
"The pressing data from last week was superb, so far ahead of the season average for the team.
"If the front line want to play on the opposition's half as often as possible, then there's a work ethic that they need to be able to help the team stay up there as long as they can.
"It wasn't just him, Johnny Kenny did it as well. The wing-backs were jumping up, the midfielders, when Jusef [Erabi] and [Callum Lang] Langy came on, they all continued that performance.
"I think that was the biggest thing I took from last week, that there was a genuine mental connection there between the team. We have to enhance that, grow it, and keep it going."
Preston will have to replicate that effort when they take on Stoke City on Saturday.