Carlos Corberan details reasons for West Brom tactical decision v Watford
West Brom boss Carlos Corberan revealed reasons for his tactical switch against Watford as both John Swift and Jed Wallace played in unfamiliar roles at Vicarage Road.
The Baggies fell behind to Ken Sema’s first-half effort at Vicarage Road and struggled to threaten the hosts during a lacklustre opening 45 minutes.
However, Corberan’s men did show some improvement in the second half, equalising twice through Conor Townsend and Wallace, before seeing a deflected goal win the game for ex-boss Slaven Bilic and Watford.
Much of the opening stages saw two of Corberan’s most creative outlets deployed in unfamiliar roles on Monday, and the Spaniard detailed his reasonings behind the tactical switch. Speaking to Birmingham Live [22 February], he said:
“I think the main position of Marc Albrighton is the right side and he is a player who of course I decided he would play.
“That’s why I moved the position of Wallace. If I put Wallace on the left, I think that we would lose an option on the counter attack because he is one of the faster players – in him and Asante, we had the possibility to make counter attacks.
“After, with Swift, he wasn’t playing as a winger, but as a false playmaker in from the left. The idea was to attack with four players in the middle – Chalobah, Okay at the base, and the next line of Swift on the left and Wallace on the right, to have in Marc a right winger and to give us options to attack.
“What we tried to do didn’t work. It isn’t about the structure or the shape – there is one point in football when you need to want the ball, you need to attack and you need to find the passes that create things.”
Back to basics
It’s now no win in three games for Corberan and his men as a playoff charge which looked healthy and strong a few weeks ago is swiftly petering out, and one of the main factors for that has been the Baggies’ worrying lack of goals.
Corberan’s tactical switch for the Watford game was understandable as he wanted Wallace to have more of the ball in central areas for more transitional opportunities and to get Brandon Thomas-Asante more involved.
As Corberan admitted above, it simply didn’t work. With high-flying Middlesborough their next crucial encounter in the Championship, the Spaniard may be tempted to go back to basics as they look to get their playoff aspirations back on track.
Why not play Swift through the middle, and Wallace out wide as much of the 28-year-old’s attacking threat does regularly derive from the wide positions through his tremendous crossing abilities?
The former Huddersfield Town boss certainly has a major decision to make against Michael Carrick’s rampant Boro’.
In other West Brom news, Bilic has shared his verdict on Corberan after Watford’s win over the Albion.