Brandon Thomas-Asante walking on thin ice at West Brom after Plymouth display, Carlos Corberan has decision to make v QPR
Carlos Corberan has a critical West Brom decision to make for Tuesday’s crucial Championship clash against QPR and that involves Brandon Thomas-Asante after his struggles continued in the win over Plymouth.
The Baggies and Plymouth Argyle played out a dismal goalless Championship draw at The Hawthorns on Saturday (21 October), a game Corberan’s men needed to win to keep in touch with the playoff places.
The result meant the Baggies ended the day in ninth in the Championship table and outside the play-offs by two points, but it was another game in which his attack floundered when he needed them to deliver.
And one man suffering from a lack of confidence and form right now, in the midst of the club’s injury troubles in attack, is indeed Thomas-Asante.
The Albion striker returned to the starting XI for the Baggies’ 0-0 draw with Plymouth Argyle on Saturday (21 October) but struggled to have a huge impact on the game and failed to register a single shot on target in his 90 minutes of action [SofaScore].
Corberan doesn’t currently have many forward options at his disposal at The Hawthorns, with Josh Maja and Daryl Dike sidelined through injury so is having to try and help the 24-year-old end his goal drought which is now spanning seven games.
The 24-year-old certainly hasn’t enjoyed the best of form, scoring just two goals from his seven Championship appearances so far this campaign (WhoScored) – his last goal coming in the 4-2 win over Middlesbrough at the end of August.
Thomas-Asante certainly has the ability to be a West Brom regular, possessing great pace and technical acumen to trouble defences and become the striker he knows he can become but he needs to find the back of the net with great regularity if he is to match it with some of the Championship’s best strikers.
However, his performance against Plymouth certainly didn’t do his chances of becoming a regular feature under Corberan, especially when Maja and Dike return from injury, any favours.
As per SofaScore, the former Salford City striker picked up the second-worst average score of any player to start the match from both teams at 6.4/10, barely touching the ball with 16 touches, successfully completing just five passes all 90 minutes as well as losing possession eight times, failing to register a single key pass or shot on target.
A trip to Loftus Road on Tuesday (24 October) to face the struggling QPR may be the best opportunity the striker has to rediscover that goalscoring touch.
After this latest performance, there is every chance that Corberan opts to deploy somebody else in the number nine role if he doesn’t trust Thomas-Asante to occupy the right positions.
In other West Brom news, Grant McCann has heaped praise on Baggies loanee Mo Faal after his start with Doncaster Rovers