Something strange happened to Leroy Sane this week.
"His development has been good in both the national team and Manchester City," Joachim Low said.
"He has put in some great performances, but what is more important to me is that he has taken a big step forward. He has really mastered his jobs on the pitch. He has incredible skills and has brought them to the pitch in the last six months."
The 22-year-old is not at all used to hearing kind words from coaches after nearly three seasons with Pep Guardiola at the Etihad. City's manager clearly think the stick works better than the carrot for Sane, and while he is usually at pains to point out improvements that any player can make it feels like he is harder in public on Sane than with any other player.
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When asked how good the German could be by local media the day before he returned to face boyhood club Schalke in the Champions League last month, Guardiola dismissively offered little more than reiterating that "it depends on him".
A fortnight later, after Sane had been benched for the league cup final despite rescuing the team in Gelsenkirchen and then hooked early in the second half against West Ham, the answer for what is needed from Sane and Riyad Mahrez to compete with Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva was blunt.
“They know what they have to do - train harder, compete harder. They are going to play some minutes," added City's boss
Even after scoring once and providing three assists in the return fixture against Schalke, Guardiola had said no before a reporter had finished asking if it was the winger's best performance for a while.
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City's coach is an excellent man-manager, and his strategy has worked well with Sane previously; last year's PFA Young Player of the Year award is recognition of that.
But as Guardiola has recently acknowledged, it is natural for Sane's confidence to be lower when he is not guaranteed a start. There may have been three goals and four assists in his last nine appearances but they have come in just three games; if the hot streaks can still be devastating, there is far too much cold in there for either player or manager to count as consistent.
City need everybody to be at full tilt if they are to challenge on their three remaining fronts, and Sane's version of it is more effective than most. If Low can coax the confidence back into the star with his encouragement, Guardiola may have to soften his approach for a few months at least.
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