Sideways Sammy

The proven Championship goalscorer meant to boost an already strong attack even further, one league goal from 25 appearances tells a lot of the story about Brandon Thomas-Asante’s start to life at Coventry City. While it’s true that the forward has not benefitted from a run of starts in order to play himself into form, Thomas-Asante has done little with the football he has been given to suggest that he deserves that opportunity in order to do so. Relative to the transfer fee reportedly paid, Thomas-Asante is increasingly looking like one of the highest profiles recruitment misfires in the club’s recent history. The forward has plenty of work to do to reverse that impression.

Blame for Brandon Thomas-Asante’s poor start to life at the club cannot be placed entirely at his feet. Seemingly brought in to play that pinch-hitter role from the bench to take advantage of defences worn down by the threat of Ellis Simms and Haji Wright, the combination of often being brought on to chase games, or in a variety of different positions due to different formations being tried, Thomas-Asante hasn’t been utilised in optimal circumstances. Nonetheless, just what those optimal circumstances are seem unclear, with Thomas-Asante lacking the physicality to be trusted as a starting centre-forward and is short of the close control to play as a winger. While there have been occasional moments of encouragement with Thomas-Asante’s combination of work-rate and pace, it’s rarely been harnessed into something positive for the team.

Brandon Thomas-Asante may be under the spotlight in recent games for missing chances, the truth is that missing chances has been the least of the forward’s problems at Coventry City. Simply being able to make an impact wherever he’s been played has been the issue. That he’s been able to recently get in positions to miss chances should probably be viewed as more encouraging for Thomas-Asante than it is discouraging. The sad thing is that it really isn’t a lack of effort for Thomas-Asante and he seems a wonderful character who, under better circumstances, would be a much-loved character among the fans. Perhaps all it will take is grabbing a couple of goals for Thomas-Asante to reverse his fortunes at Coventry City but he has already been given a lot of opportunities and failed to do so yet.