Carlos Corberan rages over ‘terrible’ Dan Ballard incident after West Brom loss v Sunderland
Carlos Corberan has hit out again over the Dan Ballard incident in the reverse fixture between West Brom and Sunderland back in December.
Speaking in his post-match press conference after the 1-0 defeat against the Black Cats on Saturday (13 April, via The Northern Echo), the Albion boss admitted that Brandon Thomas-Asante had a “lesson” to learn after his two yellow cards, which resulted in him receiving his marching orders at The Hawthorns.
But speaking about how much of a disadvantage playing with 10 men can be for some teams, the Spaniard brought up the “terrible” foul by Ballard on Josh Maja in the previous meeting, where the defender got on the scoresheet after escaping a red card or even a caution at the Stadium of Light.
“If the referee understood it to be a yellow card, it has been our mistake to achieve two yellow cards,” said Corberan. “It’s a lesson for Brandon and it’s a lesson for us. We haven’t had the experience to play with a player less since I arrived. I know for some teams how much of a disadvantage it can be.
“For me, it was unfair that in the first game, they injured Maja. It was a terrible action. It was unbelievable. The player (Ballard) who scored that day injured a player and the referee didn’t send him off or give him a yellow card.
“It was ridiculous – not just because it was against us, I am talking about football. If somebody today breaks their limits with two actions, they’re two yellow cards. When you have a yellow card, you must control yourself.”
West Brom boss Carlos Corberan frustrated after Sunderland loss
It’s understandable that Corberan is frustrated after seeing his West Brom side suffer a narrow defeat against Sunderland after going down to 10 men.
But it was a silly challenge for Thomas-Asante to make when he was already on a yellow card, with Pierre Ekwah opening the scoring for the visitors just moments later.
It seems as though the Baggies manager is annoyed by the lack of consistency in general as the Ballard challenge back in December should have resulted in at least a yellow card.
But there is nothing the Spaniard or his team can do about that now and they just need to focus on securing their place in the playoffs.
While Albion do still hold a healthy advantage over seventh-placed Hull City, who have a game in hand on them, they have some tricky games coming up over the next few weeks.
In other West Brom news, an ex-FIFA official has slammed a controversial Albion decision against Rotherham United.
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