West Brom season review 23/24: The strikers
Jonny Drury and Lewis Cox bring you the latest part of their 23/24 positional review.
In this latest video they talk about the strikers and the Albion frontline's performance over the campaign.
In this latest video they talk about the strikers and the Albion frontline's performance over the campaign.
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00:00Hello Baggies fans, welcome back to the latest end-of-season review. We're down here again
00:13at the Hawthorns and we're going to talk today about the Strikers, a department which has
00:18caused many, many a headache for Carlos Kulban. First question from Ash Coxey, Dale DK, more
00:28heartbreak in that department, but how do you see his future? Is that the million-dollar
00:37question? Yeah, I think, I mean we've probably said this before so I don't want to repeat
00:44myself, but I think, I don't think he can afford another serious one. I don't think
00:48we expect to see DK again until December time, maybe as a best-case forecast, but none of
00:56this is his fault by the way, clearly. But I think when he comes back, he can't afford
01:01to break down again and we've probably said that when he came back from the Achilles midway
01:07through last season. He'd had that nightmare at Stoke, hadn't he? This time last year in
01:12these videos we'd have been talking about it and saying there'll be DK by October, November,
01:18December as it was. Well, it was December or Jan really, wasn't it? Here we are after
01:23that February injury at Ipswich, that heartbreaking sight of him in tears. It was really tough,
01:27wasn't it, to see? Here we are again, not expecting him back until December and January
01:32again and look, still under contract, still got a good time left on that deal. But just
01:37physically, he's a great age as well, isn't he still, by the way? I think he's still only
01:4023, something like that, 22, 23. But how many setbacks can the body take? It's an Achilles
01:48on either side, isn't it? They always say they're hard to come back from. I mean, we
01:54saw him come back and did the other one straight away in such sad scenes. I think he can still
02:01have a career at Albion. He can still come back and reignite or kick-start his career
02:06here, which he would have to do. But I don't think we can be having this review again this
02:13time next year, talking about another one. He's had four, in what, two and a bit years,
02:19Albion, two and a half years, he's had four serious injuries. What would it have been,
02:23two muscle ones and the two Achilles ones? And look, none of them are his fault, they
02:27just aren't. How long can you persevere with it? It's horrible to say, but look, I'm still
02:38absolutely convinced he's strong and too strong, but hopeful and optimistic that he can come
02:44back and hopefully hit the ground. That's given Cor Brown a headache. Obviously, he
02:50brought Josh Maddrey in last summer, who's had injuries. The other two have been his
02:55main two strikers, which has been Brandon Thomas Asante and Jed Wallace. And you could
03:01say that they're not strikers, neither of them. Brandon Thomas Asante has scored over
03:0610 goals this season, Jed Wallace has, for me, done a valiant job up front, but he's
03:10not a striker. So, given the fact that Albion got into the play-offs with not really having
03:15a striker for the majority of the season, for me, it's pretty impressive. The praise
03:21has to go to the rest of the side, has to go to Cor Brown, but I think it has to go
03:24to Wallace and Thomas Asante. It underlines the achievement of the season, doesn't it,
03:28getting to the play-offs. It certainly does. I think Thomas Asante finished on 12 goals
03:33in all comps. But yes, look at the wealth and riches and squad that those other play-off
03:41sides had. Even Norwich, who did nothing in their play-off semi. Well, they got a draw,
03:47but were battered in the second leg, obviously. Even they've got Sargent on top, haven't
03:52they? An absolute lethal player at this level and wanted by levels above. But you talk about
03:59the whole season of Depay dropping out, Madger. How is your luck with Madger, really? I mean,
04:06again, you talk about not being a player of sport. Madger took two contact ones on the
04:10ankle. The one at Sunderland we all know about being an absolute scandal, really, don't
04:14we, in terms of the challenge and it going unpunished. Awful luck for the whole club,
04:20the head coach. He made Josh Madger his man last, as well as Sarmiento, the loan. Madger
04:27was the only permanent signing. All that was realistically affordable that could be done.
04:33Made it the striker to ease the load on Asante with DK out and Madger's nowhere to be seen.
04:39Now there's a separate conversation about he couldn't get back and fit enough for the
04:42play-offs. That's an interesting debate to be had, isn't it? One will have to assess
04:46it on pre-season and the friendlies. You can't say anything more on Madger, really,
04:53above that, can you? When it comes to Thomas Asante, when it comes to Wallace, I think
04:58both did admirable jobs in trying circumstances. I've said it before and this isn't Thomas
05:03Asante's fault. It's not right that he should shoulder everything in terms of goals, in
05:08terms of being a striker to deliver. Should he have scored more? Yes, we can think of
05:13loads of games of clear chances, can't we? He'd have got Albin in a better position,
05:18really. Would he have gotten him into the top four? I don't know. But he should have
05:23made his 12 goals closer to 20. Should have scored more. Had the opportunities to, the
05:29chances in the side to. Came out at times for Wallace. Wallace had to do the job, didn't
05:36he? He's a winger. He's an out-and-out winger. He's a natural winger. He had good spells
05:42up front and brings different qualities and troubled defenders. But you lose him from
05:48out wide. Should he be playing many games up front? No. But Thomas Asante couldn't keep
05:54going, could he? His levels dipped. He was missing chances, confidence low at times.
06:00None of that his fault. I mean, in terms of playing, none of that his fault. In terms
06:04of his composure, his finishing at times. He'd score an amazing finish, wouldn't he,
06:10Thomas Asante? But miss some sitters. It was that sort of natural instinct that at
06:17times, maybe when he had too much time to think, sort of a bit more clouded for him.
06:21Look, there's a player in there I really like. I like him. I'm a fan of his. But he needs
06:26to have strikers around him to share the load, where he should be able to come off the bench
06:31as a sub with his fresh legs to impact things, to charge down defenders. And he should be
06:37able to play alongside a major who's a bit deeper or play alongside a DK or a new recruit
06:42that comes in in the summer. And I hope that's the case. I hope he's one of a quartet up
06:47front next season, including DK. We'll have to wait and see. I think he did a fair job.
06:53But he was lacking in parts, in goals. I think it's hard to say anything like he failed overall
06:59because the circumstances on him were too extreme, weren't they? And ditto Wallace.
07:03I think Wallace did as well as he could, as well as could be expected from him, really.
07:08Sorry for the Grussman lorry there. But yeah, Wallace and Asante gave it their all, I think.
07:14Deserved some credit for it, but obviously it wasn't enough.