West Brom: Carlos Corberan must sub off Alex Mowatt at half-time v Ipswich Town
Carlos Corberan must drag off Alex Mowatt at half-time v Ipswich Town in a surprise lacklustre display from the senior West Brom midfielder.
The Baggies are looking to further cement their position in the playoff places when they took on Kieran McKenna’s side at Portman Road.
West Brom made just one change for the match with Andreas Weimann making his first start for the club since his summer move, replacing John Swift who was dropped to the bench.
Corberan’s men made a terrific start to the game when Tom Fellows was brilliantly played through on goal by Okay Yokuslu before cutting inside and launching a shot which went aimlessly over the bar.
Fellows grabbed the opening goal after some excellent wing play, controlling a lovely ball forward from Weimann before bulldozing past Ipswich defender Luke Woolfenden and tucking away his shot into the bottom corner.
The home side tried to find some attacking inspiration but were left wanting by a dogged West Brom defence with Mowatt’s teammate Okay Yokuslu also hugely influential.
Mowatt deserves to be subbed off by Corberan at half-time
However, it wasn’t the first-half display we’ve come to expect from Mowatt who’s been largely brilliant in recent weeks.
That certainly wasn’t the case not too long ago, with Mowatt having been shipped out to Middlesbrough on loan for the 2022/23 season.
At the Riverside, the midfielder made 31 appearances in all competitions, but he is now back at The Hawthorns, and it looks like he is really enjoying his football.
In one of his best performances, in the defeat to Leicester City,
Mowatt impressed on the ball with a 90% passing accuracy, with one of his passes being key [Sofascore].
Moreover, the Albion ace won five of his seven ground duels, completed his only dribble attempt, and made one interception and one tackle.
However, that wasn’t the case against Ipswich. While Yokuslu was bossing the midfield alongside him at Portman Road, Mowatt was nowhere to be seen and his individual stats suggest as much.
As per SofaScore, Mowatt won just one of his ground duel attempts, completed just 79 per cent of his passes, lost possession eight times and was handed the worst average score of any West Brom player. Corberan already holds a solution on the bench with Nathaniel Chalobah.
In other West Brom news, Corberan was wowed by one loanee who holds a big future in the first team at The Hawthorns.
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