The Baggies were beaten by a late Sheffield Wednesday winner.
West Bromwich Albion boss Carlos Corberan spoke of his pain after watching his side's unbeaten run at the start of the Championship season come to a shocking end in a 3-2 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday. A dramatic Hillsborough contest saw West Brom claw back from two goals behind to draw level—only for a late winner that was devastating for Corberan and his team. West Brom were, however, going into the break with an own goal from Darnell Furlong and Josh Windass's header, seeing them in front.
The hosts staged a spirited second-half turnaround, with goals from Josh Maja and Alex Mowatt leaving it 2-2 until substitute Anthony Musaba brought the Baggies' campaign to an untimely end with a late winner in the 86th minute. Corberan cut a frustrated figure after that game. He admitted that the defeat was hard to swallow. "The level of pain that I have, or my players have now, is huge because it's the first defeat," he said. "You cannot think that you will never lose a game in the championship, but at the same time we wanted to extend the momentum of the team."
West Brom's manager was not happy about the absence of aggression and intent during the first half of the match, which his team played. "I think we showed too much respect," he said. "We competed at a level beneath ourselves, and we need to analyze why that happened. When you don't show your level, you give the opponent the option to beat you." That was a game exactly what Corberan and his team expected from Huddersfield: a lot of high-pressing and quick balls into the channels behind their defense. However, in his opinion, his side did not dominate the match as they were supposed to, especially in attack. "We have had some goal opportunities, and I think Karlan Grant had a pretty clear chance, but their keeper made a very good save," said Corberan.
Even as the scoreline was not in his favor, Corberan refused to let go of that defeat. "The most important thing I can say to my players is not to waste minutes of football without showing our style on the pitch. We have to move forward and find solutions," he concluded. On the other side, Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Rohl was pleased with his team's behavior but admitted the win was just a little victory in the right direction. Wednesday won their first league victory since that first day of the season, freeing them out of a continued slump as the team could not claim points for months.
Defending Resilience Praised as Rohl Praises Overall Organization of His Team Against Strong West Brom Outfit. "All in all, our performance today, against a really strong side, was good," he said. "We defended very well as a team, very compact. All three goals were fantastic." Rohl, however, wasn't one to go over the top, ensuring instead that consistency remains something his team needs to work on for the future. "For me, it's just a small step today. It's about consistently taking points and having a high performance every week," Rohl explained. "We dropped off in some phases of the game, but we came back. We need 100 percent commitment as a basic, and then we'll have a chance to take something from each game."
One has to wonder what might have been had the table's top team taken the chance to kill the game off early. Manager Rohl agreed, saying: "At 2-0, we had the chances to make it 3-0 or 4-0. Then the game is over. When it's 2-1, it's always close, and West Brom have so much quality. That's why they are up there on the table." Despite the tension at the end of the game, Rohl's takeaway from his team was this: teamwork for tomorrow, the rest of the season, and in practical terms. "It's all about the team. Without the team, we have no chance of winning games," he said. Victory may be a tiny step forward, but for Wednesday, it marks a crucial one in terms of climbing up the table.
