This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
West Bromwich Albion left Staffordshire with all three points and a return to the Championship’s summit on Monday night.
The Baggies eased to victory over Stoke City after a goal in each half from Matt Phillips, bagging his sixth of the season, and Hal Robson-Kanu, who slotted home a penalty to secure a two-point cushion to a trio of sides in second place.
But manager Slaven Bilic may have left the Potteries with more questions than answers after his Welsh substitute striker bagged his third goal in four games.
The Croatian has opted for Charlie Austin regularly this campaign, but without much result, as the £4m summer signing has scored just one league goal in ten starts.
And then again, Kenneth Zohore has hardly set the league alight with his two penalty attempts in nine appearances, so there is quite the dilemma on who fulfils that sole striker role.
Bilic can hardly be questioned on the matter either, he knows better than most from what he sees in training, and it’s not as if it is a major issue considering they are top of the league and well on their way to securing automatic promotion, should they keep this up.
Previous history should be enough to dictate the situation until additions can be made in January – get that image of Dwight Gayle out of your head for just a couple more months.
Despite his red hot form as of late, Robson-Kanu should keep his place amongst the bench as he is better utilised as a super-sub, and that’s no disrespect on his ability either.
His presence always causes a nuisance and that works best when the other team are starting to feel a little bit leggy as his physicality and work-rate is needed to stretch games – this was seen when he won the game-clinching free-kick against Queens Park Rangers not too long ago.
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Bilic describes him quite well, he said: “He’s not a goalscorer but he is scoring goals. He’s like a number 10 up front. He’s got such good skill. He can keep the ball, bring other guys into the game.”
That is exactly why he should remain as an option from the bench.
Last time when he started a game, it didn’t go to plan as Albion suffered their only defeat of the season to Leeds United.
Austin meanwhile still looks some way off the pace, but given his record in the division – 69 goals in 143 appearances – he quite rightly garners the starting acclaim.
The simple solution is to keep running what is working. Austin could well do with a goal or two to spring him into life, but in the second-half Bilic knows he can call on the 30-year-old to come on as a substitute and make a considerable impact.