Carlos Corberan happy to have West Brom selection posers

The Baggies are in action at Sheffield Wednesday today where victory in the penultimate fixture, coupled with results elsewhere, would seal a top-six ticket.

Corberan’s squad has recovered from a position of being significantly stretched a couple of months ago to one of strength, leaving the head coach with head-scratchers in the final weeks of the campaign.

Top goalscorer Brandon Thomas-Asante returned to contention after a one-match ban last time out, leaving Corberan a decision to omit three senior players from his matchday squad. At Leicester last weekend, defensive duo Erik Pieters and Pipa were left out of the 20-man cohort. Spanish loanee Pipa has been on the fringes of late, as has experienced Dutchman Pieters.

Corberan is pleased to have the options to make decisions, but stressed they are “unfair” and that Pieters was close to being called into a back three at the King Power Stadium last weekend.

“One more decision? No! Three decisions. Three good players will miss out,” Corberan insisted.

“The good thing that they’ll be three top players. I can promise you, I was thinking how to approach the previous game with Pieters as a left centre back or with Okay as a right centre back. I was thinking on this.

“For me, Pieters is a very, very useful player who I am very pleased to have here. I rate him a lot. I promise, if you saw how Pipa is training – but if you see how (Darnell) Furlong is playing – and sometimes you have to make a decision.”

Full-back Pipa will return to Bulgaria with parent club Ludogorets at the end of his loan and Pieters’ contract expires after a relatively successful 18 months at The Hawthorns.

Albion’s struggles in the early months of 2024 were mostly out wide as Jeremy Sarmiento was recalled by parent club Brighton, Matt Phillips was injured, as Adam Reach, and Grady Diangana was away at the Africa Cup of Nations for six weeks. Other attacking niggles around that period stretched Corberan’s numbers to breaking point.

“Always you can need, from a strategic point of view, to cover everything,” he added. “Pipa, when we didn’t have wingers because Sarmiento left, because Phillips was injured and Reach was injured, Pipa was playing as a winger. He was very useful, Pipa isn’t a winger but he gave an assist to Asante at Sunderland as a left winger.

“Against Swansea, away, Pipa was playing as a number ten, for a few minutes of the game. Then you’re not in this situation now.

“Now we have wingers, now we have strikers, now we’re in a strong squad position which makes me make unfair decisions. If it’s not true, then I wouldn’t tell you. I am making unfair decisions.”

Corberan continued: “It’s positive that I have this problem, that I have to make unfair decisions. Imagine now, three players from the previous week, I need to leave three players out of my squad. With my squad, in my first XI, I could play with any of them.

“Imagine how difficult it can be, to leave someone who could play in the first XI, out of the squad.”