West Brom ‘lacked intensity’ in defeat against Birmingham City – Carlos Corberan
West Brom boss Carlos Corberan admitted his side lacked “intensity” and “good management” in Friday night’s 2-0 defeat to local rivals Birmingham City.
On-loan Manchester United midfielder Hannibal Mejbri scored the first and laid on the second as Birmingham City comfortably beat Corberan’s men at St Andrew’s.
The Baggies failed to create goalscoring opportunities and rarely threatened John Ruddy’s goal in what was drab showing, losing ground on the Championship playoff places.
In what was a testing week in which Corberan was linked with the Leeds United vacant manager’s position before committing to a new contract at the club until 2027, his side failed to deliver and the Spaniard didn’t hold back on criticism of his players.
He said after the match [WBA Official Site, 10 February]: “They interrupted the game with a lot of challenges, a lot of second balls and I think it was one game that it takes some time to adapt to, and they surprised us in the first minutes.
“We couldn’t adapt to the intensity of the game. After the surprise of the goal, it created some lack of good management of the game.
“In the Championship we know that we always need to play with a high level of intensity, and today it’s true that we didn’t find the way to attack well enough.
“It was one game that we didn’t have the intensity. The second half you analyse the chances and it was set pieces. We conceded two goals today from set-piece actions, and if you can’t be better than your opponents you can’t be worse than them.”
Complacent
It’s safe to say, the Baggies were completely dominated and overrun by a Birmingham City side who perfected their gameplan by disrupting and stifling Corberan’s attacking talent.
However, West Brom made the home side’s work easy for them as they did lack the intensity and game management to deal with their aggression. In such a high-stakes encounter against their local rivals, Corberan’s simply failed to deliver.
There were poor performances all over the pitch, most noticeably in Daryl Dike, Grady Diangana and Okay Yokuslu who were all hooked off soon after half-time. If the Baggies are intent on returning to the Premier League in the near future, they simply cannot approach games like they did at St Andrew’s.
The Sky Bet Championship is really unforgiving, in which there is no room for complacency or else even the best teams can be punished. It is crucial Corberan and his men pick themselves up and go again in their next game.
In other West Brom news, this Baggies striker will be gutted by the news that Corberan has signed a new deal at the Hawthorns.