Carlos Corberan defends Brandon Thomas-Asante after West Brom ace’s costly miss
Corberan’s side however were wasteful in front of goal and were unable to take their chances when they came, the biggest missed opportunity coming from Thomas-Asante as he crashed his header from inside the six-yard box against the crossbar. Despite this costly miss, the Albion boss was keen to protect his striker.
Speaking following the game, as quoted by Birmingham Live (23 September) he said: “He is doing unbelievable work. If you see the minutes he’s played, only in Bristol I changed him. He played 90 minutes on Wednesday night and 90 minutes here. It’s not easy to find a player who does what he does for us.
“Always for the striker, you expect that they use the chances he has – that’s what he wants. You mustn’t forget that one year, two months ago he was playing in League Two. He is still growing, but every time he is on the pitch he shows a lot of value for the team.
“Unfortunately he couldn’t score the goals in the last games, but the level of effort and self-demanding he has…you cannot ask for more.”
Every manager wants a forward who is willing to work as hard as Thomas-Asante and there are plenty of strikers in the Championship who possess much more natural talent than the English forward, but don’t put in anywhere near as much effort when they step on the field.
The unfortunate thing for Corberan and the Baggies fans is the fact they don’t also have a goalscorer to play alongside him to have the best of both worlds, Thomas-Asante to do the running and someone else to put the ball in the net.
That man was meant to be Daryl Dike before his struggle with injury took over his career at The Hawthorns and then it was meant to be Josh Maja, but now he is sidelined for at least a couple of months before he’s even got going with the Albion.
Having only made the step from League Two a year ago, West Brom are going to have to be patient with the 24-year-old and match Corberan’s appreciation for his hard work, rather than be critical of his lack of end product. Hopefully, in time he’ll become more effective in front of goal, or some of the Baggies’ other forwards may finally work their way back to fitness.