West Brom: Carlos Corberan makes Jeremy Sarmiento ‘problems’ admission
Carlos Corberan has admitted Jeremy Sarmiento still has “problems” in his game that he needs to improve on before he can earn his first start for West Brom.
The Ecuador international was one of three arrivals at the Hawthorns this summer, joining on a season-long loan from Brighton and, despite appearing in every game of the Championship season so far, he is yet to make Corberan’s starting XI in the league.
Having scored in the Baggies’ win over Middlesbrough before creating a dangerous opportunity against Huddersfield there have been calls for Sarmiento to start after the international break, but Corberan has said he still needs to add elements to his game.
In quotes reported by The Express and Star (11 September) he said: “If I was to evaluate him, the level of minutes that he played against Huddersfield, he showed that he still has problems to manage the minutes of the game. After making an important action, he needed a lot of time to make the second one. That’s why he was suffering in some points.
“Let’s see how he keeps progressing, but I think right now he is making the impact that we want. In football, you need top players in the first XI and top players from the bench.”
Time to start
Although Sarmiento has had to build his fitness to play the style of football that Corberan wants to see at The Hawthorns, his talent and ability are now at a point where it feels as though he almost has to be used from the start.
The Brighton loanee has completed the most dribbles per 90 minutes this season of any player in England’s top four leagues [NT Stats, 4 September]. When he has featured for the Baggies he offers something different from all their other options.
With two weeks without games over the international break, it may have been the perfect time for Sarmiento to prove to Corberan that he is now ready to start and he should be the freshest that he has been since arriving at the Hawthorns.
It also may be easier for the 21-year-old to manage his workload as a starter rather than a substitute as so often he is expected to come on and impact proceedings with a burst of energy that the players who play the whole match aren’t required to.
Hopefully, the trip to Bristol City on Saturday (16 September) will see Sarmiento make his first start.
In other West Brom news, Tony Pulis has opened up about his surprise at how well Serge Gnabry’s career has been since his Baggies stint