Jonny Drury & Lewis Cox preview West Brom's trip to Sheffield Wednesday

Express & Star

Jonny Drury and Lewis Cox preview West Brom's trip to Sheffield Wednesday. They discuss Carlos Corberan's pre-match press conference and how the Albion chief came prepared. They also give their take on who will lead the line at Hillsborough on Saturday.

Transcript

00:00 Welcome to Expressenstar.com. My name is Jonny Drury. I'm here with a West Brom update alongside

00:13 Albion correspondent Lewis Coxsey this week has been to meet with Carlos Corberan ahead

00:18 of the trip to Sheffield Wednesday as the Baggies look to wrap up their place in the

00:24 Championship playoffs and Coxsey Carlos is always interesting to listen to but there's

00:30 been some very interesting things going on in that press conference this week. He was

00:34 sound like he was prepared when he come into the press conference. Just explain a little

00:38 bit more about that to us. Yeah well I mean he's always prepared but I take your point

00:43 absolutely Jonny. So yeah he what you're referring to there he came in it was actually a Wednesday

00:50 not not breaking any confidence. It was a Wednesday press conference this week. So a

00:54 couple of days ago obviously we've done a few pieces on the back of that since he came

00:59 into the press conference room at the training ground with a piece of paper which is sort

01:04 of I was a bit curious as to what it might be but he got on to explain and there's a

01:10 couple of league tables on there a couple of graphs of yeah of like league standings

01:15 and got on to explaining to us that this is a piece of paper and information he'd showed

01:19 to his players in a meeting a few hours before and it was actually the league relative to

01:27 Sheffield Wednesday's record of late. So it was relative to Sheffield Wednesday's record

01:33 since Danny Roll their head coach was appointed in October and it was the last 25 game. There

01:39 was another table as the last 25 games of the championship season within which the 25

01:46 games Albion's record is seventh best in the division and Sheffield Wednesday's record

01:51 is eighth in the division just three points apart. So that for a consistent playoff side

01:58 against the 21st based I think 21st relegation battling side it's quite interesting I would

02:05 say and paints a picture that look I know Albion haven't been absolutely flawless in

02:09 that in that period but they've been good haven't they as we know. I think it paints

02:12 a picture of a good Sheffield Wednesday side under Danny Roll. I think he's certainly sorted

02:18 them out up there got them got them running fighting harder playing more and got more

02:23 consistent results I think and giving them a chance to stay up and that's that's what's

02:28 on the line obviously for the Owls tomorrow and in their final game obviously this one

02:33 at Hillsborough is the penultimate game. We know what's on the line for Albion. Unfortunately

02:37 they can't mathematically secure a top six place can they Carlos Cobran side tomorrow

02:42 I know you wrote a permutations piece. Well they can until the so if Albion win tomorrow

02:51 Cob failed to win at Blackburn and then Hull failed to win at Ipswich in the eight o'clock

02:57 game. Sorry yes yes yes then it will be done but by five o'clock even if Albion have won

03:02 by five o'clock it's still on the line although there will have to be a massive goal swing

03:08 so it can be all but sewn up by by five o'clock tomorrow. Just on another point Cox in terms

03:13 of team news obviously there's nothing really fresh in terms of players coming back but

03:18 I want to get your opinion on who's going to lead the line tomorrow because we saw Jed

03:22 Wallace up there against Leicester Jed Wallace although he's got his he's had his critics

03:26 I think he's done a very good job up front and there has been games like Leicester and

03:30 Preston earlier in the season and other fixtures where he's done it really well and Albion

03:34 have been successful. Do you see a world where Wallace leads the line tomorrow or does Brandon

03:38 Thomas Sassanti come back in or even does Josh Madger get the nod? I've been thinking

03:44 and seeing a world where Wallace leads the line tomorrow and it's probably what I do

03:50 what I would say is I think there are elements to the game where Wallace starting up front

03:54 makes Albion a click a little bit better and seems to make them play better and be a better

03:59 side however that's not always a given and it seems to me that for example if we're talking

04:05 about a playoff game against the top four top six side semifinals or the final I'd be

04:10 a little bit inclined to see Wallace up front because I think Albion do well against the

04:14 better sides and have done with Wallace leading the line however there'll be those watching

04:20 and listening to this that will want to see a natural out and out striker up top obviously

04:25 Brandon Thomas Sassanti back from his suspension as you say. I just think Albion played so

04:31 well last week and yes Carlos Corbin said to me this week there's an element of Leicester's

04:37 weak areas marrying up with Albion's strong areas I guess at full back and out wide but

04:42 I'd be inclined to sort of keep it as was in that regard and that won't fully happen

04:49 will it because I don't think we'll see Okai Yukushlu in a back three up at Hillsborough

04:54 and MV in his place in midfield I expect the usual sort of return to a back four and two

05:00 four two three one so yeah Carlos Corbin revealed some question marks over Tom Fellows didn't

05:08 he this week over his fitness but I expect Fellows to be fine to be honest it didn't

05:11 seem that serious so my gut is sort of Fellows one side Johnson the other Dean Garner and

05:17 then Wallace leading the line and I could see Thomas Sassanti being on the bench alongside

05:22 obviously the returning Maggia I just think from an attacking perspective the way Albion

05:28 were able to create and hurt a side like Leicester last week stick with it really it seemed to

05:34 work fluently able to penetrate the Foxes back line just time and time again it was

05:41 as creative as we've seen in Albion's side this season so I'd like to see it again to

05:46 be honest I think it will be Wallace but it's a hard call isn't it I can understand the

05:51 arguments for Thomas the fan play and yeah it will be interesting touch wood Albion may

05:57 obviously the playoffs having these debates ahead of those semifinals will be very interesting

06:01 because I think this case is for and against who's up top in those big big you know games

06:06 against the top opposition but an interesting one tomorrow yeah I can see the formation

06:12 sort of reverting to how we come to expect it generally but as I mentioned in the first

06:17 answer we're talking about the piece of paper Carlos bought in and showed us the form of

06:22 Wednesday under their new head coach really good form to be honest yeah over the course

06:27 of a season playoff form similar similar to Albion's really so sold out Hillsborough isn't

06:32 it obviously sold out away allocation again I've read this morning that the the bottom

06:36 end of the Leppings Lane which I don't think he's always open has been opened to I think

06:41 1200 extra home fans so a real boosted home crowd and obviously there's so much on the

06:48 line for them isn't there's so much on the line for Albion clearly it's just a really

06:52 juicy game to be honest and yet another like last week at Leicester and recent away games

06:57 another booming away and there's been great away allocations and capacity crowds following

07:04 I've been around the country of late and I think it's gonna be loud tomorrow isn't it

07:08 Johnny I think we're looking forward to to a trip to Hillsborough Albion fans certainly

07:13 haven't been there in a little while have they because the game in the COVID season

07:17 was behind closed doors the 3-0 win was it so like Leicester haven't been there with

07:22 fans for a little while and I think the travelling baggies will enjoy it in South Yorkshire but

07:26 obviously only if their side get a result and I don't think it's gonna be easy for a

07:29 second I think it's gonna be a proper blood and thunder game but hopefully the one the

07:35 baggies can come out on the right side of and wouldn't it be nice as we're driving back

07:39 down back down the country on Saturday night to hear the hear the right results coming

07:44 elsewhere and for Albion's job to be sort of sewn up ahead of that final day against

07:49 Preston because we don't want any extra unnecessary nerves to hit the whole phones in a week's

07:55 time so yeah looking forward to it.

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