Carlos Corberan's verdict on when West Brom fans will see the best of Mikey Johnston

Carlos Corberan has spoken out on Mikey Johnston's progress at West Brom

Star signing Mikey Johnston is now "more ready" to show special performances akin to last season, says his manager Carlos Corberan. Johnston arrived with much fanfare after signing on a permanent deal following a highly impressive loan stint last season from Celtic. But he has not quite hit those heights this year as of yet and made his first start last time around in a goalless draw at Millwall. Corberan reminded us of his far from ideal pre season and also the fact that the left hand side is different this season owing to Conor Townsend moving to Ipswich and Karlan Grant’s early season form. "Personally now I see him more ready," he said on Johnston. "His pre season was very strange. He was probably in a place where you know that you are not going to stay (Celtic) so you have been doing the pre season waiting for movement. The movement arrived in the last moment of the market. He had a problem with contact (cheek bone) that stopped him to play. "Karlan Grant has been competing at an excellent level. Even if Johnston came to the same club, we are not the same team. Last year, for example, on the left he was playing with Townsend. This year they are not playing together. He is playing with another player who does different things. "Last year we were playing with Asante and Wallace mainly as strikers. This year you are playing with Josh Maja so it means that the type of solutions you need are different. These things need time to adapt for him, for me, for the team and for everyone. "The minutes of the last game that he was playing (Millwall) helped him massively. I can tell you this because I can see this. Now when I see him in training I can see the work in defence, I can see his reactions, I can see the link with the players so I can see more now again let’s say with more integration to the team. Now he is getting closer to the level of integration that he had before he left the club. "Against Millwall I saw good things and I see things to improve. I saw both but I know that this game exposure can only help you to achieve your level. "Sometimes you may click immediately. Last year this happened. Townsend was more of an offensive full back attacking there and the way we start to play was not the same this year. "Our winger on the left has been a false striker. Our striker has been taking the number 10 positions but the skills of Grant are different to the skills of Johnston so when you change a player you still need time to adapt. "Some players connect very well between them, some players need another type of complement between them. Some players need more players to run to the spaces, some players need more players that run and create spaces for them, some players need players that drop and link. "If you have one full back that likes to make overlaps and your winger likes to dribble to the right, at the end both are going to make the same so probably there is not going to be a good association. "If you have a very good winger that is going to put balls in the box and your striker is never going to be in the box, if you have a striker that is a runner but there is no forward players the runs are for no one. "That’s why I think it’s important to have complements within the players. The first 11 we start playing with this year there was a lot. That’s why for me the team was competing and playing well."