It was a case of admirable consistency but not enough to go all the way for Albion and Carlos Corberan this season.
The head coach’s first full campaign in charge at The Hawthorns took the Baggies to the play-off semi-final, where eventual promotion-winners Southampton proved too strong. We address five key segments of Albion’s 2023/24 campaign with the final word on the season.
Successes
Taking the squad into the play-offs has to be deemed a success. Albion stood firm for the most part over the course of seven months to keep the dream of promotion to the Premier League alive well into May.
Few genuinely thought Corberan’s team would have a chance to advance; maybe only his performance in the previous campaign gave them hope. With several players nearing the end of their careers, Albion’s roster was an aging one assembled by multiple managers.
An effective rearguard was essential to the team’s success. For the majority of the season, Albion was the team with the most clean sheets as Alex Palmer, the goalkeeper, and the sturdy defense that included Cedric Kipre, Kyle Bartley, Darnell Furlong, and Conor Townsend held firm. Up until late September, shutouts were hard to come by, but the Baggies were virtually unbeatable between then and the new year thanks to a tactical tweak. Only Leeds and Leicester improved on the goals against column overall. In January, Mikey Johnston added a little of magic, Grady Diangana’s form after the AFCON, and the rise of prodigy Tom Fellows ensured that the team continued to perform well even though their away form and defense were leaking points. Albion yearned for a
Failures
ErrorsA play-off loss could never be considered a failure, as they finished in fifth place after hanging onto the spot for such a long time and falling well short of Leeds and Southampton above them.
In the second leg of the semi-final at St Mary’s, Corberan’s team did not appear. Before then, Albion seemed like they might barely make it through the season after suffering three straight losses.
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