Neil Warnock heaps praise on West Brom squad depth and admits injured cohort could make playoffs alone
Neil Warnock believes that the players on the West Brom medical table alone could compete for a top-six spot in the Championship this season.
Carlos Corberan’s side has fallen foul to a string of injuries in recent weeks, with as many as ten senior players missing from their squad at times, including key players such as Alex Palmer, Grady Diangana and Brandon Thomas-Asante.
Speaking to Express and Star after his Huddersfield Town side was defeated 1-0 by the Baggies, Warnock waxed lyrical about the quality of the West Midlands outfit and admitted they should be a shoo-in for the playoffs this term, regardless of injuries.
He said: “I think the squad that’s missing, that’s injured, could get in the top six.
“It just shows you what we’re up against. It’s a great squad and they should be in the playoffs and it’s no good saying they shouldn’t.
“I thought they would be up and I was disappointed for Steve Bruce if I’m honest because I saw five or six of their games early on and they could have won every game.
“They’d either give something away and draw or lose games and I knew time was short for him, but dear me, the squad they’ve got. It will be interesting now because there are so many good teams and we play them all, so we can help them get into the playoffs and hopefully decide who goes up.”
High praise
West Brom fans potentially won’t realise the depth they possess in their first-team squad until all of their cohort of injured players are back on the training pitch.
For some reason or another, the Baggies have been hit by injury after injury this season, and Corberan has almost never been able to select a side from a fully-fit squad.
With the likes of Matt Philipps, Diangana and Kyle Bartley all most likely to be out for the rest of the season, the Spaniard will have to shuffle his troops accordingly in the race for promotion to the Premier League.
Despite these injury worries, the upcoming international break should allow Albion to nurse all those on the Hawthorns’ medical table back to full fitness ahead of what will likely be an extremely tense and hectic end to the season.
As for Warnock’s praise of ex-West Brom manager Steve Bruce, the less said, the better.
In other West Brom news, one pundit reacted live on air to a controversial moment in the win over Huddersfield.