West Brom: Carlos Corberan shares ‘difficult’ Matt Phillips fitness update at Hawthorns
Carlos Corberan has revealed that West Brom ace Matt Phillips is taking longer to get back up to full fitness after it wasn’t possible to give him some minutes in the Under-21s side.
Speaking to the Express & Star on Wednesday (17 April), the Baggies manager admitted that the 33-year-old’s performance against Millwall was low in quality compared to his display in the victory over Rotherham United.
The Spaniard said the “difficult situation” with the versatile player is that he needs to spend more time on the field as he compared his case to that of Josh Maja, who managed to play some minutes for the U-21s team recently as he ramps up his return from injury at The Hawthorns.
“What I am watching in Phillips is him giving steps after every game,” said Corberan. “The minutes he played against Millwall – the quality was in a low level, compared to the quality of the other day against Rotherham.
“I don’t relate that to the opponent, more to the conditions, and with the game exposure he is going to be more ready. What is the difficult situation with Phillips? With Phillips I couldn’t do what I am doing with Josh Maja, you need to spend more minutes in the game.
“Sixty minutes, even 60 with the U-21s, moves you to another level than the small part of minutes in the first team because it affects your body and conditions positively than only covering other (smaller) minutes.
“Why is it taking Phillips more time to achieve his level? Because we didn’t do the game exposure, we couldn’t do it.”
Could Matt Phillips play role in West Brom promotion push?
It was a huge blow for West Brom and Phillips when he was struck down through injury four months ago after a strong start to the season.
That handed Conor Townsend a chance to earn his place back in the side and the experienced left-back has done a solid job during that time.
While Phillips could find it difficult to force his way back into the reckoning for a starting spot, his return has handed the Baggies a boost heading into the final few weeks of the campaign.
Corberan is clearly a fan of the Englishman after he featured heavily during the Spaniard’s opening 12 months or so at The Hawthorns before suffering his injury.
The Albion boss will be delighted to have such a versatile player available again as he looks to help his side secure promotion to the Premier League this season.
In other West Brom news, Brendan Rodgers has sent a Mikey Johnston return message at Celtic.
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