Carlos Corberan sets Nathaniel Chalobah new challenge at West Brom after his impressive reaction
Carlos Corberan has challenged Nathaniel Chalobah to earn a spot in the West Brom starting XI after the Baggies boss was impressed by his reaction this week.
Alongside Pipa, the former Watford midfielder played 45 minutes for the Baggies’ Under-21 side as they were beaten 3-0 by Fulham but, having been limited to short cameos so far this season, the fixture offered a chance for the midfielder to play some valuable minutes.
Corberan is a fan of Chalobah’s work defensively but has said that his starting XI will be picked based on the level of work he has witnessed in training and, given the competition for places in midfield at The Hawthorns, the 28-year-old has to take his chance when he’s offered it.
As quoted by Birmingham Live (30 September) Corberan said: “In football, I cannot tell you what is going to be my first XI in the next month. I don’t know. Why? Because I don’t know how they’ll progress and perform. What I’ve seen in Chalobah is important; the way he’s reacted this week, I like a lot.
“I like when players react by working harder than before in order to have more chances to play. After, when they have chances to play, they need to work even harder to have more minutes in the next game. That’s the challenge not just with Chalobah, with everyone.
“When he plays, then he is challenging to defend his position in the team. When they can’t use this chance in the starting XI or from the bench, they have the week to prepare themselves. It’s a psychological strength to prepare themselves so that they’re ready, and when the opportunity comes they use it.”
Perform
The task seems incredibly simple for Chalobah at The Hawthorns, start improving your performances both in matches and on the training pitch and you’ll get more minutes in matches, now it is down to the midfielder to meet those challenges.
Corberan has shown that he will reward effort, no matter how far down the pecking order a player seemingly is. That was obvious in Alex Mowatt’s inclusion last week against Millwall, where he impressed despite not starting a single other league match this season.
No one doubts the technical ability of Chalobah, he is more than capable of being a very good Championship midfielder and a glance at his CV demonstrates that. But he needs to start showing that ability more often otherwise he’s going to be rooted to the bench.
Judging by Corberan’s comments there has been an improvement to his training performance this week and now he has to match that standard if he takes to the field against Preston. Otherwise, it’s hard to see how he’ll start a game for the Baggies any time soon.
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