Carlos Corberan admits ‘worst feeling in football’ as West Brom lose 1-0 v Coventry City
By Christopher Heath
West Brom manager Carlos Corberán was left to reflect on a disappointing Wednesday night at the CBS Arena after Viktor Gyökeres’ 93rd-minute penalty secured a 1-0 victory for Coventry.
Heading into the match on the back of a morale-boosting unbeaten run in the Championship, the Baggies’ team bus would have been in high spirits entering the final game before Christmas following maximum points from their last five league matches.
However, at the sound of Keith Stroud’s final whistle, the atmosphere in the Baggies’ dressing room would have been less festive as Gyökeres, the Championship’s leading goalscorer, handed home supporters an early Christmas present with the last kick of the game.
“It is necessary to have the feeling of defeat,” said Corberan, as quoted by The Athletic. “It is necessary to have and keep hold of perspective.
“We lost one game that we wanted to win, it was a game where we almost took a point and achieved another clean sheet to allow us to get the point, but now it is important to feel the defeat.
“Of course, we hate this feeling – it is the worst feeling in football, but it is the feeling that gives you the strength to keep going.”
There’s a chance…
Sitting only five points outside the playoff positions, Corberán’s newly-inherited troops at The Hawthorns could find themselves in the top six by the end of a fast and furious festive footballing period with victories over Bristol City, Preston North End and Reading.
It’s unlikely but if Albion do continue to buck their ideas up under the Spaniard’s lead, it’s not impossible.
Possessing arguably one of the best squads throughout the Championship, it is inconceivable that a club with the calibre of West Brom have been flirting with the prospect of plying their trade in the third tier of English football for the first time since the early 1990s.
Absent from the pinnacle of English football since being relegated from the Premier League in the 2020/21 season, it would be a surprise if the West Midlands-based outfit were not challenging for the playoff positions until the very last minute.
In other West Brom news, Alex Palmer shared an honest message after the 1-0 defeat v Coventry.