Yahoo News Carlos Corberan left with West Brom striker decision after Josh Maja update
Carlos Corberan has maintained a relaxed approach as he prepares to make a decision on whether to include West Bromwich Albion striker Josh Maja in his squad for the play-off semi-final showdown with Southampton on Friday night. Maja was a surprise omission from the Albion squad during Sunday's first-leg goalless draw at The Hawthorns.
The forward has endured some rotten luck in his first season with the club. Having suffered ankle ligament damage at Bristol City in September, Maja was on the receiving end of a challenge at former club Sunderland in December which involved a recurrence of the setback. Having returned at the back end of the regular campaign, Corberan decided to leave Maja out of the squad when the Saints visited.
It all leaves an intriguing question: will Maja be involved at St Mary's? Corberan, who also has Brandon Thomas-Asante and Andreas Weimann to call on - alongside his versatile captain Jed Wallace - isn't fretting about how the land lies and will make a call this week based on what he sees of Maja.
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"If I didn't have a striker, the decision with Josh would be done," Corberan explained. "If I have another striker, the decision is different. I am not worried because I am going to have a striker anyway, so there are more decisions which are more important than that one. We signed Josh Maja as a number nine.
"He is a part of the process and he is an important player for us and he will be a very important player for us, but there are moments in which you need to see where you are right now. It's a decision that I still didn't make, but I will analyse the week and how the other players are and I will do the ordinary process I do to make a decision on this.
"He's always trained well. He's not one who trains bad or plays bad. The only thing is how many opportunities he's had to compete against Championship players - and not just Championship players, but one of the best teams who are going to make you defend in attack. You need to press, counter press, attack, counter attack at Southampton. You can only go to Wembley if you manage every single game moment.
"You need to defend well, attack well, press well, defend the set pieces, attack the set pieces. There are many things you need to do well to arrive to Wembley. Just having your quality as a player is not enough. You need to be in 100% conditions to compete in this game."
Corberan also confirmed that he has no fresh injury worries, more than 48 ahead of kick off: "Positively, the team has been training very well and we didn't suffer any injuries in any of the days."
