Carlos Corberan confident new West Brom stars will adapt

The Baggies duo, loancaptures from Premier League sides Fulham and Leicester respectively, have been offered early opportunities to stake their claim as part of Corberan’s starting line-up.

Central midfielder Chalobah has started the last two fixtures and Foxes winger Albrighton has been in from the off in all matches since checking in from the King Power Stadium. Both, however, were withdrawn at half-time as Corberan made rare substitutions at the interval during Monday night’s 3-2 defeat at Watford following a blow-par first half. The visitors were much improved after the interval, albeit Albion’s play-off chase still took a hit with the reverse.

“It’s clear that, for me, the new players are going to help us a lot, with no doubt,” Corberan said.

“But if we analyse Chalobah, he didn’t play any full game this season before he arrived with us.

“So in some point he needs the game minutes to arrive to the level he has. You cannot do many things in training that can be better than the game time.

“With Albrighton he was one player in the Premier League with his team he didn’t play more than once per week.

“In the Championship it is completely different, now we play many times in a row, it’s an important adaptation to have. But I know that both have the mentality to do, to adapt to the behaviours and needs of the Championship.”

Both Chalobah and Albrighton struggled to adjust to the pace of Monday’s defeat, though they were not alone in a poor first-half showing, and were sacrificed for Jayson Molumby and Grady Diangana at the break.

Corberan’s changes were telling of a torrid evening as they were the first half-time substitutions the head coach had made in almost four months in charge at The Hawthorns.

Chalobah had overcame a bang on the knee having impressed in his maiden Baggies start, the 1-1 home draw against Blackburn last Wednesday, but the former Watford and Fulham midfielder only managed 50 minutes. Molumby, whose place he took in the side, has enjoyed some fine form under Corberan.

Experienced winger Albrighton’s debut in the 1-0 win over Coventry was eye-catching but there have been some lower-key displays subsequently against Blues, Blackburn and the Hornets.

Albion’s head coach, whose side sit 10th ahead of Saturday’s Championship visit of in-form Middlesbrough, has drawn questions from supporters about starting winger Jed Wallace in a central role, with John Swift in a more unfamiliar left-sided role early on at Watford.

Corberan explained Wallace was used centrally for more pace in counter-attacks alongside Brandon Thomas-Asante. Swift was a ‘false playmaker’ from the left, not winger, with the idea to help create space for Conor Townsend to exploit.