West Brom: 0% Jed Wallace must step up after ‘massive’ injury blow at The Hawthorns
Jed Wallace must ensure he steps up his performances at West Brom in the absence of Josh Maja and now Brandon Thomas-Asante, with both strikers suffering from injuries.
Thomas-Asante could be set to miss five weeks with the injury, leaving Albion short on options up front, with Wallace the man selected to start in the 1-1 draw with Hull.
Carlos Corberan has insisted the makeshift striker can be effective in that role, having proved it previously this season, in a hint that he will be the man to step up.
Speaking to the Express & Star [27 February], Corberan shared: “I understand he can help the team in that position. He has shown this year that he is comfortable in that position. With Wallace up there, if you give him options, he will run and he can make the difference.”
Tony Brown shared his view on Thomas-Asante ahead of the clash against Hull on 24 February, stating: “It’s a massive blow, isn’t it? We’ve spoken about the injuries before, but they’ve had a skinful of injuries. But they all seem to be to strikers, that’s the problem.
“It’s come one after the other, we’ve just got strikers fit and back playing again, and all of a sudden they’ve got injuries.”
Jed Wallace must step up at West Brom after Brandon Thomas-Asante injury
Despite the boss’ insistence that Wallace will be the one to replace Thomas-Asante and Maja, performances like his display against Hull have shown a clear need for improvement.
Having started the game as the main striker before he was dragged off after 69 minutes, Wallace was limited in his performance and ultimately ineffective at providing a threat going forward – despite picking up an assist.
In his 69 minutes of football, the forward completed just seven passes, having touched the ball 28 times, and was largely wasteful in his play as he failed to find the target with a single one of his attempted long passes. [Sofascore]
His dribbling was poor, too. Of three attempted dribbles, he recorded a 0 per cent success rate, contributing to the attacker losing possession 14 times – double the number of passes he completed.
Wallace was also weak in his duels, winning just three of nine attempted ground duels, and failing to win any in their air with another 0 per cent success rate.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly if he is to play more of a long-term role as the central striker, he was wasteful with his chances. One big chance missed, hitting the post when he should have found the net, and failing to hit the target with any of his three strikes will not be enough.
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