Carlos Corberan defends substitutions as West Brom fans vent frustration

Carlos Corberan defends substitutions as West Brom fans vent frustration

Carlos Corberan justified his changes following West Brom’s 1-1 draw with Preston in the Sky Bet Championship.

Karlan Grant opened the scoring for the Baggies in the 13th minute, before Emil Riis equalised 10 minutes later.

The draw was the Baggies’ tenth of the season, the most in the division, and several away fans expressed their displeasure with the decision to remove Tom Fellows and Josh Maja as the second half progressed.

“I think they are the right decisions,” Corberan remarked. “I understand the people’s frustrations, but when you realize that you have good options on the bench and the energy to compete again (you must make these decisions).

“I appreciate that these calls will not make everyone pleased. I respect what the supporters say, but I make the decisions that I believe to be correct.”

Corberan acknowledged to being shocked by Preston’s deeper formation at Deepdale, but conceded that tactical tweaks after the break made the game much more difficult.

“(Preston) were less aggressive than we expected,” a source stated. “We handled the game well. We took advantage of the fact that they were less hostile towards us.

“The second half was a completely different game, and they outperformed us in the first 10-15 minutes.

“In the last 20 minutes of the second half, with everything that happened, I think we found the right competitiveness and right level to perform, but it was not enough to win the game.”

Corberan said of Grant’s contribution: “He has been one of the key players that is helping us to compete.”

Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom lauded Riis and believes the Danish forward has had some unlucky moments this season.

Heckingbottom said: “I remember when he first started at Burnley, scored a goal that was called out, and that made it 1-0, and then we played Coventry, and he scored the goal, and we won that one.

“People would have said completely different things about him (if the Burnley goal had been allowed).” He’s been excellent for us, especially given that he’s been our sole recognised striker for much of the season.

The former Sheffield United manager has only lost one league match at Deepdale, but like Corberan, he has drew a lot of games (nine in total), and he wants to turn those draws into wins.

He stated, “I want to make sure that we win games like (today) when we’re the best team, but I also want to get to the point where we win when we’re not the best team in terms of how the game has flowed.”

“But we’ve had moments, and we have players who can win matches. This game is the perfect example. The first-half block was followed by (Ali McCann’s) header, which hit (Riis) on the line in the second half. Those tiny things aren’t going our way right now.

“This last block of games we’ve had so many performances like (this one) and not come away with the three points.”

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