Town boss Graeme Jones says Charlie Austin will be a ‘big threat’ if he plays for West Brom against Luton on Saturday, but that they have many more plays that can cause a problem.
The 30-year-old transferred from Southampton last week in a £4million transfer deadline day switch and then opened his account for his new club on his debut in the Carabao Cup defeat to Millwall on Tuesday.
Baggies boss Slaven Bilic said after the midweek game that it would have been ‘dangerous’ for the forward to have played any longer than the 60 minutes he was allowed, as he did not feature for the Saints in pre-season prior to his move.
Jones, a former striker himself, knows that if Austin does have a part to play at Kenilworth Road this weekend, the Hatters need to be wary.
“He is a traditional target man who is never forgot how to score goals,” said the Town chief, adding: “He is a Premier League player. Mentally, he is a Premier League player, but he’s dropping down to the Championship, so he’s going to be a big threat.
“We need to be aware of the threats it doesn’t just come from Charlie Austin it comes from all over the pitch.”
Jones was the assistant manager at West Brom last season until boss Darren Moore got the sack in March, so he knows much of the Albion squad. But asked if that made it easier for him to prepare his Hatters side, Jones quipped: “It scares you.
“No, it’s a bit of both because, obviously I’ve got a bit of insight into what their strengths are and what their weaknesses are, and every player carries them no matter who you are. There’s very few who are perfect. So, we’ll be looking to nullify their strengths and exploit their weaknesses.
“Individually, and as a team, it’s just that the quality of players that they are, they’ve got are they’ve got less weaknesses than other teams because they are ex-Premier League players, the majority.
“They will be expected to be up there, again, and they’ve spent a lot of money in the summer, I know they brought in a lot of money. West Brom was a Premier League club for a long, long time, I would imagine that’s the intention.”
Last week Jones spoke of Cardiff’s Premier League physicality and he expects the Baggies to be just the same.
“We need to match that in picking the team. That needs to be in the forefront of our minds, we need to match that physicality, we need to play on top, and many, many other aspects of the game that you take into consideration when you’re picking the team.
“I think Tuesday night (against Ipswich) was really good preparation for us. When you take stock, after the event, as I said we used to 23 players in two games, so it’s a healthy squad a healthy situation so will see where we are on Saturday.”
