West Brom: Boss Carlos Corberan happy just to see Baggies 'competing'
- Published
Victory for Carlos Corberan against Southampton would mean he has won exactly half his 50 games in charge
West Brom boss Carlos Corberan faces one of his toughest tests yet when he takes charge of his 50th Baggies game, at in-form Southampton on Saturday.
The relegated Saints were working with a larger budget than Albion while new boss Russell Martin rebuilt his squad during the summer.
Yet the two sides meet with Saints fourth in the table and fifth-placed Albion just a point behind.
"When I see my team competing well I am pleased," Corberan told BBC Radio WM.
"But it is not fun, being honest. It is hard for me to relax.
"Every week you are challenged by your opponents. It is about being aggressive and being solid. You only enjoy it after the game when you know the team was performing well.
"I know the circumstances that I am working in. I know I have these circumstances and what we need to do is get the best from these circumstances."
Corberan, stymied by comparative transfer-market inactivity because of Albion's financially-challenged situation, knows it has been a different story on the south coast.
"They rebuilt their team in the summer," he said. "They have a clear target. They want to get back to the competition that they were in before."
Whether the Baggies can realistically achieve that same ambition, two years on from being relegated themselves, and without the financial cushion of any Premier League payments, is still the stuff of dreams.
But Corberan sure has them dreaming in the blue and white quarter of the Black Country, thanks to a frankly amazing record in his first 13 months since succeeding Steve Bruce.
In his 45 league games to date, Albion have gained 78 points. Only Middlesbrough (79) have taken more over the same period.
By way of context, Luton Town finished third last season on 80 points, so the Baggies are well on course to challenge in the end-of-season shake-up.
Martin's side have responded well to losing four games on the spin in September, all against key promotion rivals, by taking 17 points out of a possible 21 from their current unbeaten seven-game run.
But, despite all Albion's off-field issues and injury woes, Corberan has been consistently getting a tune out of his comparatively low-budget side.
"There's so much quality in that dressing room," said defender Semi Ajayi, who has started less than half of Albion's games this season after an ankle injury, but came back to score in last weekend's 3-1 home win over Hull City.
"And we've still got a few more to come back after the international break."
Despite thinking Albion had lost Cedric Kipre for the season, he has still missed just one game following his summer return loan at Cardiff
Ajayi's injury was the same one he suffered prior to the October international break but, with Kyle Bartley reporting fit too, Corberan now has a nice selection problem at Southampton, with Cedric Kipre also in fine form.
Corberan feared that Kipre would be out for the rest of the season with a knee injury after an innocuous aerial challenge against QPR, but he recovered in time to play in both their next games, at Coventry and against Hull.
Having begun the season without long-term absentee Daryl Dike, Albion have also more recently been without three other sources of goals - summer signings Jeremy Sarmiento and Josh Maja, as well as top scorer John Swift.
Yet they have still won all three games. And, while the Spaniard's rapid-fire delivery and use of the English language sometimes struggles to get his point across in press conferences, he is making himself understood where it really matters, in the dressing room and on the training field - and, most importantly, on the pitch.
Carlos Corberan was talking to BBC Radio WM's Steve Hermon