Right beneath my nose, I discovered West Brom’s missing piece of the transfer window.
Cedric Kipre has come a long way since his debut against Blackburn in August – the defender has become vital to West Brom.
When Carlos Corberan mentioned Cedric Kipre limping off in West Brom’s recent win over QPR, your heart plummeted. ‘Not another one?’ exclaims the elderly West Country lady in the popular YouTube clip. Kipre’s expression was as serious as any of his teammates’, despite the fact that he was dealing with the absence of a slew of key players.
The prognosis was that it would take at least a few weeks. The planned scan could have revealed an even more serious problem. Unbelievably, Kipre lined up six days later and played 90 minutes.
If you’d read those two opening paragraphs immediately after the first weekend of the season at Blackburn in August, not many Albion fans would’ve taken them seriously – the idea that Kipre had made himself indispensable, a crucial member of a transformed defence and a figure who started as many attacks as he cut them out.
Sure, Blackburn was a poor day at the office, but because Albion fans had little to go on about Kipre prior to that – other from countless assurances from their Cardiff counterparts who gushed about his season in Wales – many wrote him off after that first half. Corberan, having recognized the wider picture, persisted with him.
“We were analysing all of his games in the last year and we found one player – even having some mistakes – had some behaviours that are not easy to find,” he said. “He is a player who, when we lost Dara O’Shea, was an option in the squad given our market constraints.” There were aspects of his personality that I admired.
“He was comfortable playing in both a line of five and a line of four last year.” The first thing we wanted to do as a squad this year was play in a line of four or five and feel comfortable in both.
“The second thing is that he can play in the line of four on either the right or left side. Last season, he played more games on the left side of a four-man line than on the right. When you only have Pieters as a left-footed player, you need another one.
“Having one right-footed player who can play on the left was another important factor for us.” He is a player with Championship experience, but perhaps a lack of positive consistent behaviors.”
According to Corberan, Kipre has struggled with concentration. His ability with the ball at his feet is unquestionable.
That is becoming less common. The general perception on Kipre has shifted, and to his credit, it is completely his fault. In order to help the team succeed, he has established himself as one of the most crucial players in the starting XI. Nobody who watched him consistently last season will be surprised.
“Ask the fans of Cardiff how pleased they would be to keep him, because he was one important player last year in difficult moments,” he said. “He was a very interesting player for us to work with and adapt to ideas and how we see football, as well as what we want to find in our players.”
“He’s a good player who has responded well to our concepts.” Is he flawless? No. It implies we’ll keep working with him to help him improve even more so that everyone can grow. As a man, he’s a wonderful human being with the appropriate mentality, which is also a plus.”
