Rotherham defeat "totally unacceptable" as Carlos Corberan's questions West Brom image
Annoyed Albion boss Carlos Corberan called into question his team's attitude in a 'totally unacceptable' insipid defeat at lowly Rotherham United.
Albion's fading play-off hopes are hanging by the finest of threads but in reality look all-but done after a 3-1 Good Friday humbling at the New York Stadium that could easily have been seven or eight.
The visitors edged ahead in front of more than 2,000 travelling fans through John Swift's penalty but former loanee Jordan Hugill headed an easy double and Tariqe Fosu added a late third.
The Baggies' miserable away record extended to winless in seven with six defeats. Angry supporters chanted "you're not fit to wear the shirt" as players in the green and yellow stripes toiled in South Yorkshire.
Corberan admitted his squad gave a totally "wrong image" of the club against the Millers.
"Totally unacceptable, not only for the result but the way we competed today was not enough to beat them," Corberan said.
"I was talking with you on Thursday about the demand that this game will have, very similar to the demanding of Millwall.
"Against Millwall we gave the right answer, but today we didn't show well enough in the pitch.
"More than the result, it was the image that was not acceptable. I told the players exactly this. Today is a day to be very disappointed with the result and the performances.
"It is a day to feel the pain, it's the only way we can move forward. Our only target is to change what we showed in the pitch here, and we have to do it on Monday."
Corberan refuted the idea that a decision not to send on Kyle Bartley as a half-time substitute to help deal with Hugill's aerial prowess cost Albion.
He surmised that no player took responsibility to mark Hugill and tried to change that tactically at the interval rather than turning to a change, but the ex-Baggies loanee rose to head his second five minutes after the restart, at which point the head coach made his double change.
Albion's stretched squad took another hit as it was revealed Adam Reach, who missed the clash, would not play again this season due to a quad injury picked up in training yesterday.
Corberan insisted there should have been no surprises by how Matt Taylor's Rotherham approached the clash as they scrap for Championship survival.
When asked why he felt Albion lacked heart at the New York Stadium, the head coach replied: "I think sometimes you play against opponents that make you very easy to play with the right mindset.
"And sometimes you play against some opponents that if you are not prepared then you are going to be surprised.
"I think the team received the right preparation for the game because we all knew the type of game we'd play today, the type of play they were doing, we knew their need to play long and win second balls, the way we had to compete in set-pieces and their diagonals.
"So it can't be anything in the pitch that surprised us, they just found a way to impose their style in the game, and only a couple of moments we found our way."
The Spaniard added: "I think today has been one of the worse performances we've shown since I've been here at the club."
