West Brom debrief: Flurry of chances unlike Albion but boss catches the eye

Here are the big talking points.

Good defending or bad finishing?

Albion created chance after chance at the King Power, all of them clear-cut too. There haven’t been too many games under Corberan where the Baggies have been so creative.

But they let so many go by the wayside. Good defending or bad finishing? Both. The visitors were guilty, but Hamza Choudhury, and others, were excellent for City.

Grady Diangana was most guilty for Albion. On a couple of occasions his close-range reactions didn’t quite come off. Another gilt-edged opening went wide. Okay Yokuslu’s early strike lacked composure. Mikey Johnston was at his best and couldn’t have done much more with his efforts.

These are the games at the stage of the season that counts. Albion must be sharper.

Unlike Albion

Corberan’s Albion don’t tend to create anything near the volume of opportunities they did against the Foxes. It is interesting that happened against the best side in the division.

It shows there is a higher-tempo streak within this squad, sometimes lacking, by design or not.

The Baggies under Corberan are usually methodical. Built on organisational prowess, tactical acumen and a mindset of limiting the opposition.Albion have been largely clinical under the Spaniard. That don’t create chances by the bucket-load but they tend to take enough. Corberan has stressed his desire for my tempo and opportunities, at times, and Saturday was that in a nutshell.

Attention on Carlos

Albion’s effort within a difficult context off the pitch have largely gone under the radar.

But, with thanks to TV broadcasting, I noted a handful of well-followed football analysts online purr over the Baggies’ performance and Corberan’s work generally.

Some referenced a big future ahead for the head coach. I’ve always agreed with that – but Albion won’t be too desperate to see the boss’s stock rise among interested suitors elsewhere.

Yokuslu tweak

It's not unusual to see Albion with a back three this season but it is a switch from Corberan's preferred formation.

What was unusual was seeing Okay Yokuslu a part of that. The midfielder typically drops deep to pick up the ball and is stationed as a deep-lying midfielder, but here he was a fully-functioning part of a trio, to the right of defenders Kyle Bartley and Cedric Kipre.

The Turk found himself everywhere, still. He fired over from the Foxes' box inside two minutes and the main task was to shackle the supremely talented Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

He was obviously caught out by livewire Vardy after watching a ball sail over his head, but many have been there. Albion's set-up was similar to when they faced Wolves in the FA Cup, a system Corberan looks to enjoy against stiffer opportunity.

Remaining job

Sheffield Wednesday, Albion’s penultimate fixture and hosts on Saturday, climbed out of the drop zone with a win at Blackburn on Sunday.

That was probably a decent result for the Baggies as it might take a little bit of the motivation and ‘do-or-die’ feel out of Saturday’s clash at Hillsborough.

But the atmosphere will still be white-hot.

Albion could mathematically confirm top-six with a win on Saturday but it would depend on rivals dropping points. Hull and Coventry play each other tomorrow in their game in hand, a draw is probably the best result for Albion.

Regardless, three points in South Yorkshire are required.