The year is 2022. West Bromwich Albion sit second from bottom of the Championship with one win in their first 13 league games under Steve Bruce. The squad seems in disarray and the club’s elusive, hapless owner is driving them closer and closer to financial ruin.

Now, two years on, they sit top of the table, with 13 points from their first five games of the 2024/25 season.

But what is the reason behind their change in fortunes and the club’s improved prospects?

The short answer – Carlos Corberán.

The Spanish manager has completely revolutionised the Baggies in his two-year spell thus far and he does not seem like stopping.

With West Brom playing some of the best football they’ve produced since they dropped down a division, it seems pertinent to analyse how Corberán has facilitated such a miraculous recovery for the club, when all the odds appeared firmly stacked against them.

THE ARRIVAL

Corberán arrived at West Brom with a good Championship reputation under his belt, having led Huddersfield Town to a 3^rd place finish in 2021/22, just one season after helping them survive relegation.

Despite the fact Huddersfield lost the play-off final 1-0 to Nottingham Forest that season, Corberán was seen by the Albion hierarchy as the man to save them from the catastrophe in which they found themselves.

Corberán joined on 25^th October 2022, with West Brom having accrued just 11 points from their first 13 games, winning only once and sitting second from bottom. Steve Bruce was sacked having won only eight of 32 games in charge during a ten-month spell.

Corberán, clearly with a lot of work to do, delivered immediately.

After losing his first game 0-2 to Sheffield United, he then guided the West Midlands club to ten wins from the next 12 games.

The club that had looked destined for relegation finished the season with 66 points, only missing out on a play-off spot after a 3-2 defeat to Swansea City on the final day.

Corberán had cemented himself as the right man for the job, but the turmoil surrounding the club proved to be far from over.

OWNERSHIP TYRANNY

Corberán’s first summer transfer window at West Brom came prior to the 2023/24 season, at which point Guochuan Lai was still the club’s owner. Lai’s ownership had been filled with controversy, which would make Corberán’s job even more challenging.

Lai had loaned £4.95 million from West Brom to another of his companies, Wisdom Smart Corporation, with a fixed interest payment of £50,000, as well as taking out a £20 million loan from MSD to fund ‘day-to-day running’ of the club.

The second loan had an interest rate of 10% and the club’s assets, such as the stadium, training ground and even the players, were used as the loan’s security.

Essentially, the club found itself in huge amounts of debt with high interest rates thanks to the chaotic stewardship of its absent owner.

Due to the club’s insurmountable debt at that time, Corberán was forced to sell key players.

These included Dara O’Shea to Burnley for £6.6 million, allowing Jake Livermore to leave on a free, and terminating £8m signing Kenneth Zohore’s contract in January 2023.

However, the Spaniard made the best of a bad situation, as it was during that same window that he signed Josh Maja from Bordeaux on a free transfer, as well as promoting Tom Fellows to the first-team squad.

But, with the formation of supporter action groups such as Action 4 Albion, protests against the club’s ownership, and important players leaving the side, it looked set to be a very tough season for Corberán.

FIRST SEASON SUCCESS

But how wrong we were. Despite all the club’s turmoil, the manager led the Baggies to a 5^th place finish.

After amassing 75 points, conceding only 47 goals and keeping the second most clean sheets with 18, Corberán’s first full season in charge had massively defied expectations.

Although they lost the play-off semi-final to Southampton 3-1 on aggregate, Corberán had taken a side languishing at the bottom of the league to the top six in merely a season and a half.

It was also during the 2023/24 season that current owner Shilen Patel bought the club from Guochuan Lai.

The businessman took on £40 million of debt, cleared the interest fees owed by the club and agreed to a funding agreement with the English Football League that would allow West Brom to meet its liabilities.

Finally, Lai’s reign of tyranny had come to an end.

THE TACTICS

While it is easy to see that Corberán’s tenure has been a success thus far, it is important to demonstrate the tactics that got the club to its current position.

The manager likes to play a low block, low-conceding 4-2-3-1 style that uses direct, incisive passes to counter-attack when the opposition turn over possession.

This is displayed by West Brom having conceded only 39 goals in 22/23 after Corberán took over, and 47 goals in total during 23/24.

Overall, the Baggies often play less passes than their opposition and have less possession, but still create more shooting chances.

This can be seen in their recent 0-3 demolition of Portsmouth on 15^th September 2024, where they had 45.8% possession, made less passes, but had seven shots on target to Portsmouth’s zero and won by a comfortable margin.

More examples from some of West Brom’s most recent matches plainly demonstrate Corberán’s tactics.

The video above shows Josh Maja’s second goal against Queens Park Rangers on 10^th August 2024.

His two other goals on the day were almost identical to this one. Each goal involves a direct pass from the centre to a wide player who can either beat his man or provide an accurate cross, followed by a finish from close range by Maja.

This demonstrates Corberán’s focus on bringing wide men into play and having them deliver quickly, rather than passing back to retain possession. It also shows the direct nature and counter-attacking mentality employed by Corberán, as the goal only needed two passes to be created.

This video shows a chance created by Albion against Swansea on 31^st August 2024.

The ball is won high up as Corberán asks his front 4 players to press high against oppositions who try to play out from the back. This rushes opponents into losing possession, as demonstrated by the opportunity fashioned from the press.

The graphic above shows all the areas that West Brom won back possession against Portsmouth.

The diagram demonstrates West Brom’s low block, as the ball is won mostly near the team’s own penalty area.

Consequently, this plays into Corberán’s counter-attack system. The ball is won when opposition players have pushed high up the pitch, allowing West Brom to incisively attack the spaces ceded by the opponent when possession is turned over.

The image above from Albion’s game away to Ipswich in 23/24 indicates how Corberán sets up his team defensively.

The wingers are asked to retain shape by helping their full back defend against the opposing wide players. Here, Tom Fellows can be seen helping Darnell Furlong to shut down potential crossing opportunities.

This means the side becomes more like a 5-3-2 in defence, as the winger always creates a 2v1 in favour of the defenders to eliminate chances from wide areas.

Overall, Corberán’s robust defensive strategy coupled with his direct, higher risk attacking style has paid dividends, and has proven his managerial capabilities.

THE CURRENT SITUATION

As the new owner has focused on repaying West Brom’s debt, there are still very few transfer funds available for the manager to exploit.

In the most recent summer transfer window, he was once again forced to sell key players to balance the books, with Brandon Thomas-Asante joining Coventry, Okay Yokuşlu departing for Trabzonspor and last year’s player of the season, Cedric Kipré, leaving for free to join Reims.

However, against all odds, West Brom currently sit top of the table with 13 points from their first five games.

Josh Maja has scored five goals in as many games and the team’s defence are working just as effectively, having conceded only two goals so far.

This is testament to Carlos Corberán’s incredible management. Since taking over at West Brom he has faced a barrage of challenges, overcoming each one more effortlessly than the last.

Even with star players leaving in every window, Corberán has still managed to hold together a squad capable of winning Championship games, and now they seem set to mount a genuine promotion push.

With the dust beginning to settle regarding the club’s issues off the pitch, as well as possessing a side in red-hot form, the sky really is the limit for this West Brom side.

If one thing is for certain about the club’s recent success, it is that they owe it all to Carlos Corberán.

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