West Brom’s attack has what it takes to be one of the best in the Championship: Opinion | OneFootball

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West Bromwich Albion have kicked off the new Championship season with mixed results.

The Baggies got proceedings underway at Ewood Park and two quickfire, first-half goals from Dilan Markanday and Harry Leonard made the difference for Blackburn Rovers. Matty Phillips did pull one back for the visitors but they never did manage to snatch that elusive equalizer.

An EFL Cup exit at the hands of Stoke City followed before Carlos Corberan’s side then got their first taste of victory in 2023/24 when Swansea City visited The Hawthorns. Most recently, it was equally unconvincing at Elland Road on Friday night, Brandon Thomas-Asante's hand getting the better of Illan Meslier and the matchday officials for their only goal of the night.

Albion's attacking play has hardly been eye-catching in the opening weeks of the window but it is worth remembering that they do have some quality pieces in place and it is still very early in the new campaign.

The personnel in question

There has been a fair amount of turnover for Albion with two attacking players moving on and two attacking players coming in. Former Celtic man Tom Rogic has been released and is currently without a club plus Karlan Grant has gone on loan to fellow Championship side Cardiff City.

On the flipside, Brighton and Hove Albion’s Jeremy Sarmiento arrives for the season and the services of Josh Maja have been secured free of charge by Corberan.

Maja is best known for his spell with Sunderland, as depicted in their infamous Netflix documentary. He burst onto the scene at the Stadium in Light and with the issues over there reaching new heights, he chose to look for a new challenge. An equally tumultuous time in France with Bordeaux followed but now Maja is back in England and at just 24, he has a huge opportunity ahead of him.

A number of the players prompting this opinion were already at the club prior to the summer window. Daryl Dike is one of them, a really effective USMNT forward who has been hampered by injuries. When Dike returns to the fold, he can pick up where he left off and make a notable impact with the Baggies.

Also, there is Brandon Thomas-Asante, another player who is currently sidelined but at the same time, has shone at times for West Brom. Thomas-Asante, who first rose to prominence with Salford City, scored a couple of impressive goals in and around Christmas last year against Rotherham United and Bristol City, showing exactly what he is capable of.

When you add the likes of Sarmiento, John Swift, Grady Diangana, Jed Wallace, and Alex Mowatt into that mix, creative dynamos who themselves can add goals, there is a hugely enticing recipe for success in the West Midlands.

What role can Carlos Corberan play in this?

Having the players is all well and good but you need a capable manager to be able to get the best out of the available talent. The man currently in charge of that is Corberan, who played a part in Marcelo Bielsa’s success at Elland Road, as told by Bielsa himself.

Against the odds, Corberan then took Huddersfield Town to the play-off final only for things to take a turn that ended with the mastermind of their success resigning prior to the start of last term. Most recently, he landed at the Hawthorns and it took until the final day of 2022/23 for their playoff hopes to be extinguished.

When it comes to attacking football, the Bielsa stamp of arrival goes along the way. The Spaniard was then forced into a more conservative style of play with Huddersfield and he made that work, showing his versatility.

The jury is still out on how he and his team can perform this year although the quality is most definitely there on paper. Doing a better job than the likes of Steve Bruce and Sam Allardyce isn't that much of an ask and playing more attractive football than them shouldn’t be too hard, but Corberan will need to combine the two. This could be the year that the Baggies can make a legitimate promotion push with the Championship landscape currently being uncertain elsewhere.

What heights can this group reach?

A number of the aforementioned individuals are supremely talented, but at the end of the day, West Brom’s attacking success will only come as a result of them forming a coherent unit.

Wallace and Swift started as a player of somewhat fluid wingers in the win over Swansea whilst Phillips was the central man and, with all due respect, that isn’t a particularly impressive triumvirate. New arrivals Sarmiento and Maja were used off the bench and they will likely get chances as the season progresses.

The sky is the limit for the three newly relegated teams but any uncertainty at those clubs can be pounced upon by the likes of West Brom, Watford, Coventry City, and the rest of the chasing pack. Leeds United, Leicester City, and Southampton have all lost some key individuals so a sniff of instability there is what Albion will be hoping for.