West Brom boss Carlos Corberan reveals key reasons behind Sunderland’s 2023/24 struggles | OneFootball

West Bromwich Albion boss Carlos Corberan believes injuries and turbulent moments have arguably been the key reasons behind Sunderland's struggles this term, speaking to the Baggies' media team.

The Black Cats made a decent start to this campaign, but they struggled during the latter stages of Tony Mowbray's tenure and a decision was taken by the board to dismiss the 60-year-old.

Despite the Wearside outfit's form just before his dismissal, this decision to sack him didn't go down well with many fans and the reaction to successor Michael Beale's appointment was also extremely negative.

Beale survived just two months before the Black Cats fired him, with Mike Dodds taking charge for the remainder of the campaign.

Unfortunately for Dodds, he hasn't been able to be that successful during his latest caretaker spell at the Stadium of Light and that could rule him out of the race to become the club's next permanent boss.

Not only have managerial changes caused turbulence, but injury issues have also affected the Black Cats, with Niall Huggins struggling again and Jack Clarke spending much of Dodds' current interim spell on the sidelines with an ankle ligament injury.

Currently sitting in 13th place, they look set to finish well adrift of the play-offs and that will disappoint the club, who finished in the top six at the end of last term.

Carlos Corberan on Sunderland's struggles

Albion boss Corberan talked up the Black Cats ahead of today's clash between the two teams.

Speaking about Dodds' side's struggles this season, he said: "I think sometimes the position a team finds themselves in in the table shows more about injuries and turbulent moments than the level of the squad.

"Right now, if I analyse Sunderland’s squad it’s easy to see that they are a very good squad and I saw that against Leeds the other night. They drew with them at Elland Road and they’ve kept two clean sheets in-a-row now. It’s not easy to do that.

"They are a very attacking team with a lot of good players. They’ll be competitive and it’s a massive game."

It's clear that the club's managerial decisions have had an impact on the Black Cats.

Sacking Mowbray clearly wasn't the right move at the time and the decision to appoint former Queens Park Rangers boss Beale wasn't wise either.

Beale never looked as though he was going to be a popular appointment, even though he is highly rated as a coach from his time at Rangers and Aston Villa.

Having been labelled as an extremely valuable figure under Steven Gerrard, he has failed to build on this during his managerial career.

Dodds' interim spell hasn't been brilliant either and Clarke's injury has obviously had an impact.

These factors, combined with the squad's inexperience, have all arguably contributed to the Black Cats' underwhelming season.