West Brom boss Carlos Corberan saw his side concede two goals a game for five of their first six matches – since they’ve kept seven clean sheets in nine.
Under Gary Megson, West Bromwich Albion narrowly defeated neighbouring Wolves to secure promotion in 2001–02. They won 27 games in the league that year, 15 of them by a score of 1-0. They managed 24 clean sheets in all, which is more than half of their campaign’s total number of shutouts.
Twenty-two years later, they have rediscovered the foundation that, under Carlos Corberan, gave their campaign a slight boost a year ago. To put it plainly, the defensive instability that was present at the start of the season was unsustainable, and the Huddersfield loss proved to be the tipping point just before the September international break.
Forensically examining that loss in the days that followed was Albion, working under Corberan. The fact that Albion has only let up goals in two of the nine games since may not be a coincidence. They’ve changed from being at the top of the clean sheet tree early in the season to being among the leakiest backlines. One important role has been played by Alex Palmer.
But before him, Albion has finally found a solution that works; just as in Corberan’s early days, he discovered the collaboration between Erik Pieters and Dara O’Shea, the Dutchman is now accompanied by Kyle Bartley and Cedric Kipre. It just works, but the change in fortune hasn’t happened without careful planning and intensive training.
“With any type of doubt like we said at the beginning [of the season] we were conceding many goals and when you concede many goals it is difficult to score the goals to come with three points,” Corberan said.
“It’s not about balance; it’s about defending at the highest level possible, and the team is rising to the challenge. I train the team using both four and five players each week, and it can be challenging to handle the differences between the two tactics.
“I was observing the players in a position to adjust to our comprehension of the game and our opponents, and I like to award points for this degree of player adaptation. It’s critical to continue improving both offensively and defensively while also making defensive progress. Since attack and defence are two sides of the same coin, you must play both at your highest possible level.”
All six of the upcoming games, which are scheduled either side of the November international break, are against teams that are currently ranked in the top eight. The next six games will be a true test of this team and will reveal exactly where they are in their development under Corberan.
“Our two next games are going to be… oof, two games very difficult to prepare and very challenging ones,” he stated. “I like to train for the upcoming games and develop after experiencing a successful outcome because doing so will only serve to strengthen our will to keep winning football games.
