Express & Star

West Brom boss Carlos Corberan tells the players ‘it’s on me’

Albion boss Carlos Corberan is willing to front up any blame for his players’ style teething problems early this term.

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The Baggies were undone at Blackburn on day one of their Championship campaign by two quickfire first-half goals, directly from two extremely basic, sloppy errors.

Head coach Corberan, who was sent off for two yellow cards late in the Ewood Park clash, has put Albion through a style change this summer and is focused on a more ball-playing style, which brings its risks.

New club captain Jed Wallace, speaking instead of Corberan who was not permitted to speak to the press following his dismissal, said: “He stressed at half-time ‘don’t worry about individual errors, that’s on me and that’s the way it is’, when you watch the Amazon Prime stuff with Man City and Pep that’s the way football is now.

“You can’t be afraid because that’s the philosophy he’s trying to build and it’s exciting to have him as a manager of this great club.

“I’m sure the fans can see like us how lucky we are to have him.”

Conor Townsend failed to clear for Blackburn’s opening goal before an awful Cedric Kipre howler just seconds after the restart handed the hosts a quickfire second.

Wallace, though, remains upbeat. He added: “For me it’s been really refreshing working with someone like Carlos, I think you’ve seen a lot of detail, even from goal kicks, there’s so many ways we can set up.

“That’s why when new lads like Jeremy (Sarmiento) and Josh (Maja) come in it’s not just a case of just going straight in, they need to understand what we’re trying to do and build.

“As a manager if you come in and just want to smash it to the channels it’s probably a quicker way to get results but in the long term Carlos is trying to build the philosophy and the mental resilience he talks about with us all the time.”

Corberan is likely to serve a touchline ban for at least one fixture – with Albion at Stoke in the EFL Cup first round tomorrow – after his two cautions.

A first was for arguing about a penalty not given after Jayson Molumby saw a strike blocked for a potential handball. It was not clear what the head coach had issue with for the second remonstration.

The FA will review the referee’s report and decide on the punishment.

“You guys have met Carlos enough to know that nobody wants to win more than him,” Wallace said.

“I’m on the pitch busy running around, so I didn’t know what went on, but he spoke to us after, gave us his thoughts on the game and we’ll dissect it properly and move on.”