Alex Palmer the only solace for Carlos Corberan after ‘unreal’ moment as West Brom suffer 1-0 loss v Middlesbrough
West Brom had Alex Palmer to thank as he saved his teammates from an embarrassing scoreline in their 1-0 defeat to Middlesbrough on Saturday afternoon.
Middlesbrough moved to within three points of the Championship top six with victory over their promotion playoff rivals at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday (23 December).
Former Albion star Morgan Rogers grabbed the only goal of the game as West Brom failed to match Boro’s calibre of chances on the whole, and they are now just one win in five remaining in fifth place.
After a stunning run in November, the Baggies have now seen their form flounder in recent weeks with just one win in five and they are now two points from losing their spot in the playoffs.
Carlos Corberan picked the same team from the side that drew against Stoke City last weekend with the likes of Grady Diangana, Jeremy Sarmiento, Jed Wallace and Okay Yokuslu keeping their place, as John Swift also returned from injury to take his place on the bench.
Despite the plethora of stars the Spaniard possesses in his squad, it was Palmer who pretty much saved West Brom’s bacon on Saturday with some tremendous saves, including an “unreal” moment in the second half.
Birmingham Live journalist Joe Chapman took to his personal Twitter account (23 December) to heap praise on the senior goalkeeper after a tremendous point-blank save, one of many as Middlesbrough ran riot but only had one goal to show for it.
Chapman wrote: “Not sure how Boro haven’t doubled their lead there. Albion parted, unreal from Palmer to tip a point-blank effort onto the post and they survive and the deficit stays at one.”
Indeed, how West Brom only lost 1-0 will even be beyond Corberan but the Spaniard certainly possesses a goalkeeper who can save several points on his own but more crucially, spared the Baggies’ blushes on Saturday afternoon.
As per SofaScore, Palmer recorded three saves, three saves inside the box, registered a goals-prevented figure of 1.05, and completed 96% of his 27 passes, considerably more than the likes of Jed Wallace, who he also completed more passes with Wallace completing just 12 all game.
West Brom have so many issues to solve if they want to do the unthinkable and achieve promotion to the Premier League and one of those will be scoring goals which may or may not be addressed in the January window.
However, one position Corberan will be unbelievably confident in is in between the sticks and that’s because West Brom are very much in safe hands with the “unreal” Palmer. Another tremendous showing from the 27-year-old.
Undisputed number one.
In other West Brom news, a near £7billion development may shape the club’s January plans with Carlos Corberan to be demanding.