Huddersfield Town’s surprise injury return may have come at exactly wrong time for Sorba Thomas
David Kasumu was an unexpected inclusion against West Bromwich Albion while the Welshman was sidelined, and a good outing from the former may make Thomas’ life difficult
With Sorba Thomas out with a knock and Tom Edwards seemingly viewed more as an out-and-out full-back, the Terriers surprisingly lined up with David Kasumu fulfilling the right wing-back role against West Bromwich Albion.
Let’s not overstate Kasumu’s case: it was not a flawless performance. But it was a good one, certainly good enough to make you wonder whether he has more chance of further Huddersfield Town outings in that position than in his usual central midfield role.
That was far from the first time Neil Warnock had used Kasumu out wide, after all: having been used as an emergency right-back against Stoke City by caretaker boss Narcis Pelach, the newly-arrived gaffer kept Kasumu there for his first game in charge against Birmingham City.
Kasumu subsequently played a variety of roles up that right flank over the rest of the campaign, in amongst some outings in his usual central midfield position – though even then he was tasked with drifting wide to help build play up the flanks, especially when a more defensive option was in the full-back/wing-back role.
Read more: Tom Lees return turns Huddersfield Town debate into hard reality for Neil Warnock
So if that continues, where does Thomas fit in? There’s an easy answer if Town revert to 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1: he was the right winger of choice prior to his injury and probably remains the best candidate for that role. But it’s less clear-cut if 3-5-2 is retained: Warnock seems to quite like the balance that Kasumu brought to the role, and the manager’s tendency (not always the case, but a tendency nonetheless) is to reward good performances with more opportunities in the same role.
There is another possibility for Thomas: centre-forward. He has been used up front before: Carlos Corberan grew fond of deploying the Welshman in the front two towards the end of the 2021/22 season, doing so on four occasions in an attempt to give Town a pacier option up front who could help stretch the play on the counter-attack. Town did not lose any of those games, for the record, but nor did Thomas register any goals or assists.
It’s hard to call those experiments an unqualified success, then, and in truth, Town now have better options for that role. With Josh Koroma out of form, their alternatives at the time were Danny Ward, Jordan Rhodes, Danel Sinani and Fraizer Campbell, none of whom were especially noted for their pace, not at that stage of their careers at least.
