West Brom boss issues Tony Mowbray verdict after Sunderland defeat - and reveals Jobe prediction

Carlos Corberan paid tribute to Tony Mowbray's work at Sunderland after his departure from the club ahead of West Brom's 2-1 defeat at the Stadium of Light on Saturday afternoon.

Corberan was asked if he had noticed any significant changes following Mowbray's departure but said that the Black Cats still bore the hallmarks of their former head coach. The West Brom boss also added that he felt Mowbray had been unfortunate with recent results in the final weeks of his tenure, saying the quality of the team's all-round play warranted more points.

Interim head coach Mike Dodds made two changes to the side that drew at Millwall last week, bringing back Patrick Roberts as expected and pushing Jobe Bellingham up front after he was rested at The Den. Corberan said he and his team had prepared for Bellingham to come back into the side and up front, too.

"Sunderland looked like the team of the players they have, two good centre backs and very great full backs, quality midfielders, and wingers very good 1-v-1," Corberan said.

"They played at the level they have and in one week, what Tony Mowbray did at this club is not going to disappear. It's impossible, especially with the same players.

"When I started to prepare for this game thinking that it would be Tony in charge, I was thinking that Bellingham would play as a striker to be more dominant. I saw this solution when I was preparing and I prepared for this type of game.

"If the players had more accuracy with Tony, with the performances that they produced under Tony, they would be in a higher position in the table because I watched a lot of games where they played at a high level and deserved more from the game, but the last action wasn't there. But I know the quality of this team and so nothing surprised me today."

Sunderland's win cut the gap between the two sides to just two points ahead of the midweek fixtures. Sunderland welcome Leeds United to the Stadium of Light on Tuesday night, while West Brom travel to Rotherham.