Carlos Corberan highlights area West Brom failed to exploit in Stoke City draw
A disappointed Carlos Corberan admitted he wanted more from his wingers as Albion were held to a 1-1 home draw against Stoke.
The lowly Potters held on for a deserved point after goalkeeper Jack Bonham starred with a string of late saves as the spoils were shared.
But head coach Corberan wanted more from his troops, specifically starting wingers Grady Diangana and Jeremy Sarmiento, and highlighted in behind Stoke's wing-backs as an area Albion could – and should – have profited from more.
Asked if he wanted to see his side come on stronger before a flurry of chances inside the final 10 minutes, Corberan replied: "And in the first half too – it was not difficult to progress on the sides and we did not progress with enough determination.
"It was enough times we received the ball to our wingers and we could've created something else and it's true that it was Tom Fellows and Wallace the two players making more crosses than Grady and Sarmiento, who were playing on the sides.
"So for me we should have created more from every single winger that was playing on the pitch."
Corberan added: "We created some good opportunities in the last 10 minutes, so it meant from the players we had in my opinion it was enough today to win that game.
"Of course we are going to miss Josh Maja, (Matt) Phillips and (John) Swift, three players injured in the attacking areas, but I don't think we didn't win today because we didn't have them – I think we didn't win because we didn't use enough the advantages we had to progress more and create more goalscoring opportunities."
Jed Wallace, back in the starting line-up after a shoulder injury, was Albion's main source of inspiration as others struggled to reach his levels.
The managerless Potters, who sacked Alex Neil last week, took a fortuitous lead as American wing-back Lynden Gooch netted his first Stoke goal as a wayward cross sailed in over Alex Palmer.
Brandon Thomas-Asante struck back 10 minutes before the interval at The Hawthorns with a fierce volley through a crowded penalty area.
Despite peppering Bonham with a host of late chances as Wallace, Thomas-Asante and substitute Pipa all went close, Corberan was underwhelmed by what his side delivered.
A a point was enough to climb a place back to fifth but it was a missed opportunity to put more daylight between sides below seventh and make up ground on the top four.
"I think it was not the best game that we played at home, it was a game where we did more things than the opponent to win the game," Corberan added.
"I think we didn't achieve the win because the keeper was doing his job and made very good saves but these things happen and what we need to do is create more. That's what we didn't do.
"The difference today between to win or draw was instead of creating three or four big ones (chances) – we should've created 10.
"But not because you have more probability when you create more, because there were possibilities or advantages we should've used more times to attack more."
Stoke looked threatening after the break and could turn to attacking talent from the bench but never came especially close to adding to Gooch's fluked opener.
"In football you need to be able to face every situation," Corberan added. "Today it's true they didn't find a way to create a chance and one bad cross found a way to go into the net.
"The only thing you can do is to beat this difficult, this moment, and insist in things that will help us create something to hurt the opponent. The only thing I can feel is we should have created more goal opportunities."
