West Brom head coach Carlos Corberan accepted his side had to suffer as they held on to beat Swansea 3-2 at The Hawthorns.
The Baggies appeared to be cruising towards a first three points of the new Sky Bet Championship season after Semi Ajayi, a Carl Rushworth own goal and a John Swift penalty put them 3-0 up just after the hour.
However, Swansea fought back with late goals from Harry Darling and Nathan Wood after Jerry Yates hit the bar gave the Baggies a mighty scare.
“We won a game by suffering without managing it the way we needed to do,” Corberan said.
“The best thing of course was the result and the worst thing was that we suffered more than we had to suffer during one part of the game.
“Two things happened – firstly they started to play 4-3-1-2 and had quality players in the middle of the pitch, then they switched to 5-3-2.
“Secondly, when they changed, they didn’t create chances from open play, but they started to create set-pieces and actions from those.
“We were not on it from those set-pieces and conceded two goals and a lot of chances that put the result at a lot of risk.”
Corberan believes he needs to persevere with playing three central defenders because he is convinced the team needs the extra protection.
“I need to make the team grow from the solidity in defence,” he said.
“But we have conceded in every game we have played so far – four goals – and for me it’s important to stop this.
“It’s important for us to have one defender more (three at the back) because it can help you recover the solidity.”
West Brom’s early dominance was rewarded with an 18th-minute lead.
A long throw-in by Darnell Furlong was flicked on and Conor Townsend nodded it back across the box for Ajayi to volley home from six yards.
Another set-piece gave Albion their second goal in the 50th minute.
Swift’s corner was met by a flick by Furlong and after it struck a defender, Rushworth made a hash of twice trying to catch the ball before it squirmed through his grasp and over the line.
West Brom’s third goal came after Darling fouled Townsend for a clear penalty and Swift calmly beat Rushworth from the spot.
Swansea started an unlikely recovery when Darling nodded in Charlie Patino’s corner with 15 minutes left and Wood’s towering header set up a tense finish for the hosts.
Swansea head coach Michael Duff admitted his side had just left it too late.
“It was frustrating because we waited until we were 3-0 down before we started playing with any purpose,” he said.
“We were too slow and too passive in the first half and never played with any intensity – balls coming into our box, they headed them, we didn’t.
“We went 3-0 down and it kicked us into life. We started heading those balls because we were angry and we started moving the ball quicker and with intensity and purpose, then we looked like a good team.”
Kane gunning for Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record
Harry Kane has his eyes set on Robert Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record after scoring twice in Bayern Munich's 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, though he knows he needs "to get a move on".
Kane scored in both halves on Saturday to take his tally to 42 goals this season across all competitions, also reaching the 400-goal mark at senior level for clubs and country.
The striker scored 280 of those goals for Tottenham, holding the honour of being the club's all-time leading scorer, while he is also the most prolific player in England history with 62 goals for the Three Lions.
With 35 goals in 31 Bundesliga appearances this season, Kane now has his eyes set on another piece of history.
Former Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski holds the record for the most goals scored in a single Bundesliga campaign, netting 41 times in 2020-21.
Asked about the possibility of breaking that record with just three games remaining in Bayern's league campaign, Kane said: "It's possible, but obviously I have to get a move on!
"I've got to maybe score a few goals next week. It's there, it's in touching distance.
"It depends on the last few games of course, but it was nice to add to it today and score a couple of goals to help the team."
Bayern next host Real Madrid in the first leg of a Champions League semi-final tie on Tuesday, before travelling to face Stuttgart on Saturday.
Pochettino says VAR 'damaging' English football as Chelsea denied Villa win
Mauricio Pochettino claimed VAR is "damaging" English football after Chelsea saw a potential winning goal chalked off at the end of their 2-2 Premier League draw with Aston Villa.
Despite a bright performance, Chelsea found themselves 2-0 down at half-time on Saturday with Marc Cucurella putting through his own net before Morgan Rogers added Villa's second.
Goals from Noni Madueke and Conor Gallagher dragged Chelsea level as they penned Villa back after the break, but the Blues were enraged in stoppage time when Axel Disasi saw a potential winner ruled out.
Disasi headed home in the fifth minute of stoppage time to spark wild celebrations among the visiting Chelsea fans, only for referee Craig Pawson to disallow the goal following a pitchside VAR review, ruling Benoit Badiashile pushed Diego Carlos in the build-up.
With that incident coming just one week after Chelsea were denied a penalty in their FA Cup semi-final loss to Manchester City despite Jack Grealish appearing to handle Cole Palmer's free-kick, Pochettino has had enough.
"Everyone that was watching the game will feel disappointed. The referee said it was a foul and disallowed the goal after going to the VAR to confirm," he told TNT Sports.
"The referee is unbelievable and it's ridiculous. It is difficult to accept these types of things. In the semi-final it was handball and it was no penalty, the referee didn't check it.
"It is painful as it has damaged English football and I think Villa players and their fans didn't understand why the goal was disallowed.
"They said it was a foul and if you see the challenge… if we go into every single challenge like this and it is going to be a foul, we wouldn't finish the game with 11 players.
"We can talk about the performance or the decision – it is damaging the game."
Pochettino had no complaints about Chelsea's performance, though, as they avoided defeat for just the fourth time in 51 Premier League games when trailing by two or more goals at half-time.
The Blues previously achieved that feat in a 3-3 draw with Sheffield Wednesday in 1992, a memorable 2-2 draw with Tottenham in 2016 and another 3-3 draw with West Brom in 2020.
Chelsea racked up 21 shots to Villa's nine and put up 1.57 expected goals (xG) to the hosts' 1.1, with Nicolas Jackson and Palmer spurning glorious chances in either half.
"The performance was very good," Pochettino said. "We played really well and it is true in the first half we conceded too easily.
"To play Villa, who are fighting for the top four, I am pleased with the team. Now, we have to move on and the headlines will be about the disallowed goal."
New England Revolution 1-4 Inter Miami: Messi at the double as Herons run riot
Lionel Messi scored twice and laid on a goal for Luis Suarez as Inter Miami retained their three-point lead at the Eastern Conference summit with a 4-1 win over the New England Revolution.
A franchise-record crowd of 65,612 people witnessed a flying start from the Revs as they took the lead within just 37 seconds at Gillette Stadium. Carles Gil pounced on some sloppy play from Miami to tee up Tomas Chancalay, who lobbed Drake Callender for the opener.
However, Miami roared back with Messi leading from the front. They had a deserved equaliser just after the half-hour mark, Messi slotting home after latching onto Robert Taylor's throughball.
Messi had his second after 67 minutes, producing another composed finish after former Barcelona team-mate Sergio Busquets split the New England backline.
Messi was involved in another two goals as Miami added some gloss to the scoreline late on; his first-time shot was saved by Henrich Ravas but Benjamin Cremaschi was on hand to score on the rebound after 83 minutes, then the Argentine teed up Suarez for a curled finish five minutes later.
Miami stay three points clear of Supporters' Shield holders FC Cincinnati at the top of the East, with the Orange and Blue keeping pace by beating the Colorado Rapids 2-1 on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Messi rolls back the years
Ahead of Saturday's game, some feared Miami boss Gerardo Martino would opt to rest Messi after speaking of the risks of fielding the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner on New England's artificial pitch.
However, Messi came through 90 minutes with another mesmerising performance. He has now recorded a goal involvement in 10 straight club matches for the seventh time in his glittering career, last doing so for Barcelona between September and December in 2018.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
