[baggiebof]

Valerien Ismael took Barnsley to a play of semi final. That’s great he overachieved with a really average Huddersfield team but what you’re not understanding is you’ll never get promoted playing like that at WBA. We need a coach who is comfortable coaching a possession game as most teams will come to our place and defend in a low block. Where is the evidence in Corberan’s coaching career he can do that?

2 wins in 11 with Olympiakos.

This is an interesting viewpoint and we are a middling attacking team for sure. However, as we are in the Championship longer and longer, is it still true that teams will come to our place and defend in a low block? Our overall quality will dip so having a manager who can give a tactical edge and make you hard to beat, will surely be our best approach to overcome the quality gap in playing squads?

[JMullen95]

This is an interesting viewpoint and we are a middling attacking team for sure. However, as we are in the Championship longer and longer, is it still true that teams will come to our place and defend in a low block? Our overall quality will dip so having a manager who can give a tactical edge and make you hard to beat, will surely be our best approach to overcome the quality gap in playing squads?

Yeah, I think that’s a good point. The longer we are here the less likely it is teams will come for a point. Having said that, I still feel many teams see us as a top end championship club and will continue to play to frustrate us.

[JMullen95]

Absolutely. He's done exceptionally well in the circumstances. I'm sure the team against Preston will be much stronger and we will at least get the point we need to make the playoffs, which will be a result many if not most of us thought very unlikely at the beginning of the season

As another poster has already pointed out, the more players Corberan has available the more tactical mistakes he makes.

[Standaman]

Corberan deserves a lot of credit for getting us into this position given we have lost key players for large parts of the season. However he inevitably will shoulder some of the blame if we end up blowing what is still a promising position. I think not starting Mowatt today was a mistake being our only genuinely press resistant midfielder. Across the the last few games I think he has invested too heavily in the declining abilities of M'Vila.

However that said any coach does have a reasonable expectation for a very experienced starting XI (not one of them had less than 100 senior games under their belt) to do their job. Today they did not and there is no hiding that fact. The season will play out and hopefully there are four more games to come, however regardless of the outcome both club and coach need to take stock about how they want to move forward.

[BalisPen]

This just reads like something written by a fan who’s never ready any kind of coaching manual or even ready anything about the tactical aspect of football.

I actually predicted this weeks ago on this very thread.

You stick to your manuals I'll stick to what I know having travelled the world to watch football and having forgotten what you'll ever know having lived and  breathed football since I can remember.

I'll be there next week hoping for the best, but expecting the worse, but unlike you I will know who to blame and it's not cc.

On the pitch if we do it, go home if we don't, that the life of an Albion fan, you just live in this different universe with your manuals etc, etc.

Excited and cannot wait.

COYB!!!!

[the other AJ]

Sunday musings from Perth Australia
Watched the game till the wee small hours. Is Carlos resting certain players for the play offs or is he twitching? That line up was odd.

[KN22]

The current run is of course a major concern. Personally I think the lack of a true centre forward has been a major cause of the problem. The manager has been so limited in terms of striking options. BTA, despite massive effort, is just not good enough. Dike and Maja unavailable and Weimann not a centre forward at all. This seems to have been overlooked by some but it is very noticeable to me every time I see the team play. It has cost us and will continue to do so.

[Dexy]

The current run is of course a major concern. Personally I think the lack of a true centre forward has been a major cause of the problem. The manager has been so limited in terms of striking options. BTA, despite massive effort, is just not good enough. Dike and Maja unavailable and Weimann not a centre forward at all. This seems to have been overlooked by some but it is very noticeable to me every time I see the team play. It has cost us and will continue to do so.

One of our main problems IMO , best will in the world not one of those will get you 18 + goals over the season.

[kris_boing]

Then why did we bring in Weimann and The lad from West Ham who barely played? M'Villa wasn't needed as we are stacked in midfield.


Those wages could have been better spent on a freebie striker or a league 1 striker will to fight for the chance. They are out there I believe.

[mikehy]

Then why did we bring in Weimann and The lad from West Ham who barely played? M'Villa wasn't needed as we are stacked in midfield.


Those wages could have been better spent on a freebie striker or a league 1 striker will to fight for the chance. They are out there I believe.

we tried a lower league in Asante and everyone slags him off! Our fans will never be happy

[Standaman]

Then why did we bring in Weimann and The lad from West Ham who barely played? M'Villa wasn't needed as we are stacked in midfield.


Those wages could have been better spent on a freebie striker or a league 1 striker will to fight for the chance. They are out there I believe.

In January we were trying to cover a number of bases not just Centre Forward. Remember Swift was struggling and Grady was away at AFCON and hadn't been tried in the 10 role.  Wiemann potentially  covered a number of options. We weren't stacked in midfield if we assume that Mowatt and Yokuslu aren't playing every minute and if they do they are going to burn out (which they might have anyway).

There wasn't a decent freebie on the market, but there were genuine Centre Forwards available on loan but at what price and whether they wanted to come to a Championship club is unknown. All that said I would have traded Wiemann and Marshall for a better striking option. Particularly as the latter was very obviously not ready for Championship football.

[SmethDan]

Maybe he's rotating the squad so that some of our best players are refreshed and ready for the play offs (or Preston if required). That would be intelligent and good management in my eyes.

What is difficult to fathom here?

He's managing players after a very energy zapping season.

The players he has aren't very good for what we are paying them and he has no striker worthy of the name.

Yet, he's got you 45 minutes from a po position.

We have no money, spent no money and he's kept us competitive.

Please get some perspective and try and remember what it was like under Bruce ( a seasoned manager with over a thousand games under his very big belt).

It really wasn't that long ago to forget.

Will you pair kindly resist the temptation to post anything remotely thoughtful or based in likely common sense and allow the forum to return to its natural hormonal ranting equilibrium please?

It's early on a Sunday afternoon, I'm wading my way through the .com I've become familiar with over the years and posts like these play havoc with my concentration so cut it out. Thanks in advance and have good days both  .

[Baggie79]

He has gone the whole season without a recognised striker and he has got this team into the play-offs. I dont see how anyone would see that as anything but a very well done job by CC.

[Aztech]

He has gone the whole season without a recognised striker and he has got this team into the play-offs. I dont see how anyone would see that as anything but a very well done job by CC.

Totally agree, a point off securing a play off place with one game to go with what is effectively a mid table championship squad.

[MarkW]

I generally try to not overewct to individual results - I wasn't trying to get carried away when Mikey Johnston was firing in rockets from 20 yards every week, and neither am I totally concerned about these last three losses. We looked in control Vs Sunderland until BTA's red, and we gave Leicester as good as they gave us - plenty of people were saying how threatening we looked with Wallace up front and we should have been 3-0 by the time they scored their first.

Carlos can't control those things, as much as some fans will try to pin things on him.

Looking at the underlying numbers, our attack has been up and down all season, but it's our defence that has worsened as the season has progressed.

Palmer's shot-stopping, by the numbers, is net neutral, so the quality and quantity of chances we give up tends to be consistent with how many goals are scored against us. I haven't the time to look into why we are giving up better chances of late, but fatigue will definitely play a factor.

In terms of signings, I'm not overwhelmed by the players he's brought in, but we know that the recruitment team at the club have a poor record, and we don't know to what extent CC is involved in the identification of targets, Vs having sign off on what is presented to him. He seems to be very detail focused so I would be surprised if he isn't involved in the process.

As for not improving players, I think Kipré, Mowatt and Furlong are all better players than they have been for us before. The likes of Wallace have also spoken of the individual coaching he gives, highlighting things in their game to improve.

I do wonder if his approach is a little too disciplinarian, however. Daily weigh-ins must grate on some players.

[Albionfan1983]

Recruitment has been poor for years. Look at the signings we have made this year (Free/Loans) its just "Experienced names" or people who Carlos knows (Pipa who is now out of favour). Marshall was a waste of a loan. Johnston and players of his age and experience are players we should be looking at.

CC has done the very best with the players he got. Not many of them would even make a PL bench. I've posted a thread about what (IMO) we should keep and get rid off. If we somehow make the PL, The list will be far shorter. (Fellows, Okay, Johnston, Palmer, Kipre & Mowatt are the 6 i would keep, the rest is open to debate)

This squad is not in the same class as 01/02, 03/04, 07/08, 09/10 & 19/20


 

[gazberg]

I said at start of season based on the squad that CC would have us 4th-6th and he's got us smack bang in the middle of my prediction. 7/10 for CC for the season. Going up to a 9.5/10 if we win play offs!

[liverbaggie]

Thank you CC, brilliant result and were off into the playoffs 

[timdon]

I said at start of season based on the squad that CC would have us 4th-6th and he's got us smack bang in the middle of my prediction. 7/10 for CC for the season. Going up to a 9.5/10 if we win play offs!

Mate, that is harsh. For me, he's already over 8/10. Done a brilliant job this season, and that doesn't change even if we lose the play offs at the semi final stage, which I expect

[gazberg]

Mate, that is harsh. For me, he's already over 8/10. Done a brilliant job this season, and that doesn't change even if we lose the play offs at the semi final stage, which I expect

I'm still giving him a 7/10 even if we lose both legs to Saints but for me he got the squad right where they should be. I don't expect promotion hence i would give him 9.5 if we did. Hell i'd give him a 10!

[timdon]

I'm still giving him a 7/10 even if we lose both legs to Saints but for me he got the squad right where they should be. I don't expect promotion hence i would give him 9.5 if we did. Hell i'd give him a 10!

Hahaha, I'll hold you to that in the unlikely event we do it

[gazberg]

Hahaha, I'll hold you to that in the unlikely event we do it

I hope you have too

[ttree30]

I said at start of season based on the squad that CC would have us 4th-6th and he's got us smack bang in the middle of my prediction. 7/10 for CC for the season. Going up to a 9.5/10 if we win play offs!

It’s all about opinions Gaz, but I don’t personally think this was a top 4-6 squad and I’d give Corberan much, much higher marks.

We finished midtable in the last two seasons and I think given the weaknesses we have that would have been about par for the course, or even a bit above par.

We started the season without an established striker (and basically played all season without one), an owner who couldn’t care less, and we’ve been taking out loans to keep the club solvent. We had a midwinter transfer season with no money available and no new owner. We spent nothing in transfer fees and we’ve been losing money hand over fist.

Yet he’s managed to get the best out of players - some of whom we’d pretty much written off - and integrated Fellows into the side too. Palmer now looks ann established keeper. And he seems to have created a togetherness amongst the players that can make up for limitations.

To get fifth place out of all that is a 9/10 or 10/10 for me. I think we’re very lucky to have him, and especially to have had him at this incredibly challenging time for the club.

[gazberg]

It’s all about opinions Gaz, but I don’t personally think this was a top 4-6 squad and I’d give Corberan much, much higher marks.

We finished midtable in the last two seasons and I think given the weaknesses we have that would have been about par for the course, or even a bit above par.

We started the season without an established striker (and basically played all season without one), an owner who couldn’t care less, and we’ve been taking out loans to keep the club solvent. We had a midwinter transfer season with no money available and no new owner. We spent nothing in transfer fees and we’ve been losing money hand over fist.

Yet he’s managed to get the best out of players - some of whom we’d pretty much written off - and integrated Fellows into the side too. Palmer now looks ann established keeper. And he seems to have created a togetherness amongst the players that can make up for limitations.

To get fifth place out of all that is a 9/10 or 10/10 for me. I think we’re very lucky to have him, and especially to have had him at this incredibly challenging time for the club.

I respect everyones opinions mate whether they agree with me or not and it's not so much that i think this is a great squad,i t's more i don't rate most of the division! The CHampo is going to get worse year on year as the gap widens each season. Until the PL, EFL, FA blah can try and come to a fairer agreement i can't see it changing sadly.

Delighted to be confirmed in play-offs

[robnewbold]

CC has done an outstanding job given all the issues on and off the field. I think we will beat Saints.