Carlos Corberan’s magic is taking effect at West Bromwich Albion. The Spanish coach guided his side to their sixth Championship win of the season as they came from behind to beat Sunderland 2-1 at the Stadium of Light last time out. The Baggies are on their best run of form since August in 2021 and have won four games on the bounce.
In the 12 points that they have picked up in this recent run, Corberan has picked up 46% of the Baggies points tally for 2022-23 and he’s only been in charge for just shy of two months - and there has been a World Cup in between.
But while many of the top-performing sides before the split for Qatar will have hated the break impacting their momentum, it came at a good time for the new Baggies boss. It gave him time to become more familiar with his surroundings and the players he has at his disposal.
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When Corberan came in he almost had no time to work closely on specific things or individuals because he had to start getting results out of a talented, yet underperforming squad. It is still quite baffling just how badly this group were under his predecessor Steve Bruce, but Corberan is already correcting the Baggies’ course and they could be set for a strong second half to the season.
The former Huddersfield Town boss has lifted West Brom up six places in the table and their 11-point deficit on the play-off places has now been reduced to eight with 25 games still left to go of the campaign.
There is no denying that his players started the game against Sunderland poorly. Fans were getting flashbacks of the football they were having to endure at the start of the season and the manager knew he needed to spice things up after the interval. Corberan inspired a livelier performance after the break and his side took control of the game and got their just rewards.
Tom Rogic’s introduction changed the game, with the Australian’s strike pulling his team level at a point where they were on the ascendency. It was the first time that the former Celtic man gave a performance reminiscent of his best days at Celtic Park. It was fitting that his first Albion goal was described by regular Scottish Premiership commentator Ian Crocker and Rogic’s Hoops days all came flooding back with his maiden goal for West Brom.
His arrival inspired his teammates to complete the turnaround with Jed Wallace whipping in one of the most perfectly-weighted crosses in between two defenders to give substitute Daryl Dike the simplest of headers to tuck away for his long-awaited first goal for the club.
It was night and day as the two halves were concerned but in the right order. Corberan demonstrated that he can inspire these players to victory even when they start a game slow and on the back foot. The second half also showed that the stars of the side are starting to gain belief that they can still impact games even when they fall behind, something that seemed impossible before Corberan arrived. In fact, it was the first time they won a game after coming from behind to win since September 2021.
The Spaniard has been highly regarded as a coach from his Leeds United academy days through to his play-off final-reaching moment with the Terriers last year and he is already delivering to the demands of the West Brom fans by getting consistent results. Before a ball was kicked this term, the Baggies were expected to be fighting for promotion due to the strength of their squad. The label was wasted on the players under Bruce but under Corberan they seem to have found a new lease of life and you can expect them to start climbing the table further.
He has a lot of talent and experience within his ranks. There’s Rogic as already mentioned, as well as Wallace and John Swift, who are two of the best creative talents in the division. With those two architects in the side it’s been baffling to see Albion struggle this year for as long as they have.
For all the talent they have offensively, it is going under the radar how much security has been brought to the defence since Corberan took charge. In his five games managed, they have conceded just three goals and kept three clean sheets, the same number they accomplished in 16 league matches before he arrived.
He may not have been around long but Corberan has already concocted a winning formula. Four on the trot is always praised at this level due to the ferocity of the league and West Brom have not enjoyed a better winning run since November/December 2019 under Slaven Bilic where they won six on the bounce. You get the feeling that the new gaffer can match it because of the strong mentality he appears to have already instilled at The Hawthorns.
And given that it is universal knowledge that the Championship this season is the tightest it has been in a long time with just 10 points separating sixth from 22nd, if Albion can keep building up the momentum they will thrust themselves back into the promotion picture which is where they should’ve been all along.
