Charlie Austin issues frank West Brom verdict as Baggies slip to bottom of Championship table | OneFootball

A new era was ushered in at West Bromwich Albion this afternoon, but as far as the 2022-23 season has gone it was the same old story under Carlos Corberan.

The Spaniard was appointed as Steve Bruce’s successor earlier in the week and was able to get a few days of coaching on the training pitch with his new squad, but it wasn’t enough to secure a result against one of the big-hitters of the Championship in the form of Sheffield United.

The Baggies out-possessioned the Blades massively at The Hawthorns and also had more shots on target, but United only needed two on target to get the job done, with goals from Iliman Ndiaye and Oli McBurnie in the first half sealing the three points for Paul Heckingbottom’s side.

Quiz: Did any of these 20 ex-West Brom players ever actually score a goal for the club?

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It is a result that leaves Albion bottom of the table following Huddersfield Town’s victory over Millwall, and their performances are not impressing one ex-West Brom man.

Charlie Austin plied his trade for Albion between 2019 and 2021 after signing from Southampton and scored 10 league goals in 39 appearances, with all of those strikes coming in the club’s 2019-20 Championship promotion-winning campaign.

He has not been too complimentary about the current Baggies setup though, making it very clear on social media that they are far away from the side that were promoted over two years ago, despite having some of the same players in the squad, writing: “West brom look an absolute shadow of what they was 19/20 champ season.”

The Verdict

West Brom still have some fantastic talents in their side, but it’s clear to see they lack a real focal point in the final third.

In 2019-20, West Brom not only had a manager who was very experienced in Slaven Bilic, but Matheus Pereira was pulling the strings in the middle of the park and was a class above the Championship.

The Baggies now don’t have that kind of player – John Swift and Jed Wallace are good but they are no Pereira.

Therefore, it is no surprise that they’re not as good as they were two to three years ago, but being bottom of the table with the squad that they have is just not good enough in the slightest – Corberan for sure has his work cut out.