Yahoo News Carlos Corberan's West Brom press conference notes - Weimann, Marshall and Steve Jobs
Carlos Corberan was in a fired up mood as he spoke with the press ahead of West Bromwich Albion's penultimate away game of this regular Championship season at Leicester City. Albion could be a victory away from securing the play-off spot they've held since November, and Corberan's squad is almost at full strength - bar the absence of Brandon Thomas-Asante, who is suspended.
Albion's attacking department has experienced a season of change. Daryl Dike's return to the squad was regrettably all too fleeting in the aftermath of the festive period. Josh Maja has endured some rotten luck since September, in the form of successive and serious ankle injuries. Albion acted in January and moved to bring in Andreas Weimann and Callum Marshall - two players with impossibly different profiles, when it comes to age and Championship experience.
One of those players has since been allowed to return to parent club West Ham United, while the other - Weimann - has struggled to accumulate minutes lately. The Austrian had a major early impact with goals against Blues and Cardiff City, as well as an assist against Ipswich Town - a game in which he should've netted a winner, but the goal was rightly ruled out for handball.
Weimann started at Plymouth Argyle and had chances to break through before Albion eventually ran riot. He then came off the bench at Stoke City more recently and passed up a golden opportunity to clinch a late winner from inside the Potters penalty area. Weimann has been an unused substitute in the last couple of games after being handed only limited minutes in the meetings with Stoke and Watford.
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Still, Corberan has been pleased with what the versatile Weimann has offered his squad since he pitched up at The Hawthorns on loan from Bristol City in the January transfer window and indicated that he very much has a part to play in the side's remaining fixtures - provided they are the correct circumstances in which to introduce him.
"I am very happy with the contribution of Andi with us, and I tell you honestly," Corberan said. "When the player starts the game, he knows he is going to play. As soon as he is on the bench, you cannot guarantee minutes to any player, because the minutes depend on the needs. Could Andi have played against Rotherham instead of Maja? Yes, because the need was there. In this moment I considered that it was important to give the option to Maja to have this feeling.
"After, it increases the game time. He wasn't ready to be involved but Wallace was sick, he was in the pitch and as soon as you have this possibility, I think it was beneficial for him and the team, plus the minutes with the B team. That's why Andi didn't play that game. In the next game, it was a game more of counter attacking and transition was more beneficial for the running in behind of Wallace.
"If you told me we'd play a game in the attacking half, it probably is ideal for Andi, to use his instinct in the box. If you are playing the game 50 metres from the goal, you need runners who are going to help you. It doesn't mean Wallace can't play when we are close to the goal, nor does it mean Andi can't play when we are far away from it - it depends on the game, and the options you have."
Marshall, as mentioned, has been allowed to return to West Ham for the remainder of the season. It's a unique situation; clubs can't officially sever ties with loanees in between transfer windows, so the Northern Irishman remains on the Baggies' books until the summer. They have the opportunity to recall him into their squad if Corberan sees fit, but for now he is permitted to represent West Ham in the PL2 - where he'd bagged 16 goals in the first half of the season.
It didn't work for Marshall at Albion, in the respect of minutes on offer. The teenager joined a club which was recovering a number of attacking players from injuries and who had already added fellow January recruits Weimann and Mikey Johnston. That all said, Corberan has been left in no doubt of the quality Marshall possesses.
He predicts that he has a exciting career ahead of him - one in which he'll later down the line appreciate the difficulties of this loan and pointed to the late Steve Jobs, the genius behind Apple, in outlining how certain experiences in life - not always those which are positive - can help to shape how you become in the future.
"When you're a young player and you make your first loan, the loan sometimes isn't related to the level of the player, but the potential of the player. Some players progress after a loan without minutes. It doesn't mean it's a good loan or a bad loan. Minutes aren't the only thing that creates character in the players," Corberan explained.
"The decision he made to come here was a brave decision, because when you're a young player with no loan experience or first team experience, and you move to the Championship with a team who is in a good position in the table, you are going to have competition - and it'll help you progress.
"If you thought he was having minutes previously, and your target is more related to minutes, you have probably different possibilities to have minutes. When we make a loan, I am very honest with the player - they come here to compete. If you don't see something important in the player they cannot come here. When you bring a player, it's because they have talent.
"Some players with talent need a short space of time to make an impact, sometimes the talent needs more space of time. Sometimes the player can be more patient to wait, or they understand that the minutes they want is going to be further from their expectations. In the past, we agreed and accepted the fact he was coming back to West Ham, to have minutes in the B team, to have the minutes in training.
"At the same time, if we have the need, we can bring him back - while he is progressing there. Not always not having minutes means you are having a bad experience. Sometimes you need this experience and only in the future you'll understand why you had it. Steve Jobs said something about life in a speech he gave - sometimes you only understand why you've had a different experience, a difficult experience, with the passing of years and experiences.
"I don't have a doubt that he is going to have an amazing career, for his talent. The other thing is about when the player is ready to make an impact. For me, he has the skills to be a very good striker, in terms of the work and commitment, in terms of the mobility, his skills. At the same time, I need to think of the team. If you compare the minutes for Andi, they were very well used minutes and the other minutes were more difficult for him to impact.
"When you have a big squad you need to make decisions. It doesn't mean the players out of the squad don't have the level. Pieters has been out of the squad many times, and he has been in the first XI. Sometimes you make the decisions based on what you've been watching but it doesn't mean the player isn't ready - you just need to make the best decision."
