Pundit Ali Maxwell has fired a potential warning regarding West Brom and their race for top six.
West Brom have drawn their last three Championship fixtures now, with the last being a 2-2 draw with Stoke City over the weekend.
The Baggies were two goals in front before the hour mark, though Stoke would be back on level terms with two goals in 10 minutes.
Carlos Corberan now finds his side in 5th place of the Championship table and with a six-point gap over Coventry City in 7th.
Coventry though have a game in hand.
West Brom suffer Stoke setback in Championship promotion race
Stoke have been down near the foot of the table all season and so West Brom would’ve fancied their chances in this one.
Then after going two goals in front, a win seemed nailed on, though maybe complacency crept in and forced the Baggies to share the points.
And a win at Stoke would’ve counteracted similar results for West Brom, against similarly struggling opponents.
The Baggies drew with Watford and Millwall before Stoke City, coming from behind in both games.
Before that was a 2-0 win vs Bristol City, then before that, West Brom came from a goal behind to beat Huddersfield Town 4-1.
And commenting in this trend, EFL pundit Maxwell said on the Not The Top 20 podcast:
“West Brom drew 2-2 with Stoke, they threw away a two-goal lead in this game. And before this game they had conceded the first goal in four of their previous five games, and then in this one, they get the lead and they throw it away. Now, neither of those feel very ‘Corberany’.
“We think of him as one of the master tacticians in the league, and that’s the sort of managerial quality that, I think, certainly leads to a team that has a great game plan and knows how to execute it, and therefore not a team that would conceded the first goal to that extent, and certainly not a team that would throw away a two-goal lead when they get it. So I would not nearly go as far to say ‘alarm bells ringing’, but just something to look out for.”
Why Carlos Corberan won’t be worried about emerging trend
There is certainly a theme emerging here; West Brom going a goal behind and then struggling against teams who they should really be beating.
And for ‘master tactician’ Corberan, it’s definitely an area that he’ll be aware needs addressing, and he could come up with a quick fix before the end of the season.
But it surely won’t be worrying the Spaniard to mcuh.
Whilst West Brom aren’t mathematically in the play-offs, they still look good to go on and claim a place in the top six.
And should they get in the play-offs, the Baggies may find it easier than playing the likes of Stoke City, Watford, and Millwall.
West Brom boast a very good record against teams in and around the top six this season having beaten Coventry City twice in the Championship, Hull City, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, and Norwich City.
Although West Brom still rely quite heavily on their form at The Hawthorns, sitting 9th in the current away table, there’s reason to believe that the Baggies would fare well against their fellow play-off teams next month.
Corberan’s men seem to live for the big occasions but right now they need to get through the likes of Rotherham United and Sunderland coming up next.
Potential banana skins, but games that the Baggies should be winning.
Kick off vs Rotherham United is at 8pm on Wednesday.