Jed Wallace makes honest admission about Carlos Corberan behind the scenes at West Brom
Jed Wallace has admitted West Brom have reached a turning point this season because Carlos Corberan is less serious on the training pitch.
The Baggies have been flying high in the Championship this season but endured a spell of poor form heading into the international break, with one loss and two draws in the past three outings seeing them drop from the top of the table into fourth place.
West Brom are still on track in the race for promotion this season and, as Wallace revealed on 72+: The EFL podcast [17 October, 22:20], the fantastic league form is down to the boss taking a more lenient approach with the players.
He said: “It was a massive loss for us in the summer, we lost [first-team coach] Michael Hefele, who sort of brought that laugh and joke and humour to the staff. With Carlos it is very serious quite a lot of the time.
“But, I’ll be honest, I think he has got a lot better since he first come in, in terms of when we need to have a little bit more of a laugh and a joke at times even if that’s just something like a cross and a finishing drill – I think that’s something that’s really adapted this season.
“We never did five-a-sides, little things like that. I think that’s really helped us this season. Sometimes the lads that aren’t playing, you’ve gone and done a little bit of crossing and finishing rather than doing an hour’s meeting every single day on the opposition if you know you’re not going to play.
“I think what’s been a massive turning point this season is that he’s really managed to engage every single player from the most important player in the eleven at the time to the lads that aren’t even making the squad.”
Carlos Corberan is building a united West Brom side
One aspect of the game that has become lost in the modern era, when teams are able to splash out countless millions, is a manager who can build a cohesive team with a strong bond to earn success.
It seems Corberan is trying to build a strong bond among the players, which could be the deciding factor in attempting to improve on last season’s Championship play-off semi-final defeat and earn promotion back to the Premier League.
The Spaniard has been hailed a “genius” for his efforts at The Hawthorns this season, and while no West Brom fan will deny those claims, there is still plenty of football left to play this year and the immediate focus must be overturning a disappointing run of form.
With a trip to Oxford United up next in the Championship on Saturday [19 October], the Baggies should make easy work of the midtable side but the same was said before the 3-2 loss to Sheffield Wednesday.
It is fantastic to hear all Albion players are enjoying life under the boss because he will need every player to play a role this year.
In other West Brom news, a talkSPORT host has paid tribute to Albion fan Liam Payne.
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