In West Bromwich Albion’s first home game of the season, Karlan Grant found the net just before half time. He came on the heels of Ismaila Sarr’s impressive opening long-range goal, but for those who watched the game that night, going on break level was the least Albion deserved.
Grant received a delicate ball over the top from Grady Diangana with a superb first touch before lifting the ball past Daniel Bachmann and finally beating the goalkeeper who had kept Watford in front with a series of impressive saves. For Grant, Albion’s top scorer in a team that struggled for consistency the previous year, it was as if normal service had resumed.
Days later, Grant came off the bench to settle Albion’s League Cup tie with Sheffield United, and was among the goals again in Steve Bruce’s only win in charge this season, when Hull City visited. Once again, he rescued a rather dismal Albion in Wigan with a fine finish out of nowhere.
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By the end of August, Grant had four goals to his name, and for all intents and purposes it looked like he was on pace to equal his tally from the previous year. It was good, too, with Daryl Dike set to be out for months and Brandon Thomas-Asante still adjusting to his big step forward.
However, Grant’s season hasn’t really moved from that point, practically six months later, for a multitude of reasons. His only goal since that Wigan strike came against non-league opposition in the FA Cup, and the change in management, as well as Thomas-Asante’s acclimatization and Dike’s return to fitness, have created a situation for Grant which no longer warrants any inspection.
Carlos Corberan operates in a 4-2-3-1, meaning Grant, who scored all of his 18 goals last season on the left of a three-front, operates as a more conventional centre-forward or winger each time. that appears. , though even starters have been hard to come by in the league. That’s down to the competition, of course, and Corberan’s preference for using the aforementioned forwards, as well as the likes of Matt Phillips, Jed Wallace, John Swift and Diangana, as well as January newcomer Marc Albrighton.
Injuries and illnesses have not helped Grant’s cause either. It was a situation that meant he nearly left the club in the January window, with Swansea City set to take him on loan for the rest of the campaign, but the dominoes didn’t fall and Grant ended up staying at Los Thorns. Since then, minutes have been a commodity and opportunities are slim, at a time when Albion’s favorite forwards aren’t shooting: Thomas-Asante is their top scorer in the league with five goals.
“It has been a different situation than last season. He was one of the players who, when I arrived at the club, was one of the minutes with minutes, ”Corberan began. “He mainly played as a striker. Asante was a new player on the scene, coming from League Two he needed time to adjust to the needs of the Championship.
“Dike had the injury. The team planned to have two strikers with Grant as a winger or striker. Then you have four wingers, with Grant as a winger or striker. This is what I was able to show. We have two number tens, two nines, two right-backs, two left backs and Grant playing between the two positions.
“Then you had Dike’s injury, and Asante’s adjustment moved the previous coach to play Grant as a striker. It is true that one of Grant’s strengths is scoring goals. Grant always had a lot of influence in the Championship with the goals he can give you, sometimes it’s more difficult for him to score when he’s a winger, or a striker, or a second striker when he could find even more freedom and is less marked.
“He can be linking, he can make a moment, he can find good actions from the left or as a striker. When I arrived here, when you analyze it, it is true that he first came out of the first XI because he had an injury in one of the first games, I think it was Blackpool, this injury took time and he was unable to recover until the World Cup.
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“After the World Cup he was ill and the illness lasted for a couple of weeks. After he returned to the group he injured himself again, in the quadriceps in training. I remember it was before Luton, and he was out.” At that time the team was growing, it was showing that Asante was more adapted to play in the Championship, Dike came back from an injury and we started to create good levels for him to help him compete in the group.
“He had this injury, which meant that the other two forwards were ahead of him and he needed to get back to the same conditions to compete. On the left, I saw Phillips put in good performances, and Diangana was also playing on the left because Grant couldn’t He moved into a position where I thought he could recover as well as possible, and he moved Diangana to the right.
“It is true that we are still in the process of helping him get his best back, he is a player who can make an impact. When we arrived at the market, we analyzed the situation and in the end he stayed with us. In the end, what he wants is to have an impact on football matches, unfortunately he couldn’t complete a normal week this week, it’s a doubt for Middlesbrough.
“After this, we always want to have the best players on the court, at the level they can show. He is working a lot to get to this level. During the days that he was able to train this week and the weeks before, I was watching him grow. This is what he wants and what we need.”
Grant, who is a doubt for Saturday’s match with Middlesbrough due to an unspecified injury that has prevented him from training normally for the entire week after Watford, continues to be backed by Corberan to rediscover the best of himself, even if it is not in your favorite role to the left of a three.
The Spaniard acknowledges that playing on the left winger is not Grant’s preferred position, but he will continue to work with the former Huddersfield Town striker to help him rediscover his best form.
“I think the way we play, he can play number 10, he can play nine and he can play eleven,” Corberan said. “I don’t think any of these positions… I don’t know which one is the main one, but I don’t think any of them are bad for him. I think Grant’s main ability is that he’s good as eleven, as ten, and as nine. at his level, he can hit all three positions, not all players can hit all three positions.
“If you’re looking at him as a number nine, you’ll see his number nine strengths, but at the same time we have Dike and Asante. There are two players you could play Grant on to increase the competition. As a ten, he can play Swift, and Rogic can play as well. , of course, he could play there too, more than as a playmaker ten, as a second striker.For me, it also suits him perfectly.
“As a number 11 it’s in his least interest to be wide, this is not his main strength. Even then, against Chesterfield, the assist for Asante came from him on the left. Normally he’s a false number 11, if he starts there , he will find the possibility to attack from behind For different reasons, we are not getting the best of Grant, and he knows that he is not getting the best of him, but I think he is working, I am watching and he is working in the right way to achieve it “.
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